"Every city in the Midwest has a half-finished canal in it."
I love canals, so this makes me want to do a tour of the midwest US and its half-finished canals - and a boat tour of the *finished* canals. But I'm in Scotland so... let me do it online.
First up: Indianapolis!
[image from https://mathstodon.xyz/@susankayequinn@wandering.shop/116635972190246192]
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In 1836, Indiana's Mammoth Internal Improvement Act authorized eight major canal projects on a $10 million loan.
After the Panic of 1837, the state went broke; by 1841 it could no longer make interest payments, and of the eight projects, none were completed by the state and only two were ever finished - by London creditors who took them over.
The Central Canal was supposed to run roughly 300 miles down the middle of the state. Only about 8 miles around Indianapolis were ever built. That stub still exists: it's the Canal Walk downtown, now a beautiful pedestrian promenade. See the picture!
South of the city you can still find unfinished culverts, locks, and an abandoned aqueduct where work stopped in 1839. Anyone got good pics of those? I like the melancholy charm of such things.
Next: the Clinton-Kalamazoo canal, which was supposed to go all way across Michigan!
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John Carlos Baez
j_bertolotti
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