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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Michigan became a state in 1837 and immediately borrowed $5 million to build canals and other stuff. The Clinton-Kalamazoo Canal was supposed to cross the Lower Peninsula - 216 miles from Lake St. Clair to Lake Michigan - saving ships from the long sail around the mitt.

Construction started in 1838 with great fanfare. But they finished only about 16 miles - Mt. Clemens to Rochester - before the money ran out.

"Bank payments were not being paid, and workers weren’t getting their wages, which led to boozing it up, numerous fights, and stealing supplies. Disgruntled, many of the workers began destroying and ripping up parts of the canal they had constructed."

Work on the canal ground to a halt in 1843. The legislature formally abandoned it in 1895. Reconstructed fragments can be seen today in Clinton Township and Bloomer State Park.

You might never guess this stream running through the woods was part of a colossal, overambitious engineering project - though the suspiciously straight banks are a clue.

Next: some big canals in Ohio that were actually finished!

[image by John Meszaros at Atlas Obscura; for more see https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/clinto-kalamazoo-canal]

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Ohio actually completed both of its big canals: the Ohio & Erie (Cleveland to Portsmouth, 1832) and the Miami & Erie (Cincinnati to Toledo, 1845).

In the 1840s, Ohio grew to become the third most prosperous state, thanks in part to these canals. But by the dawn of the Civil War, they were losing business to railroads that could deliver goods cheaper and faster. They fell into disrepair, and after some feeble attempts to revive these canals, people gave up on them.

Cities like Akron, Dayton, Cincinnati, Toledo, and Cleveland have prominent canal remnants. But they're not half-finished: they were finished and then abandoned!

This remnant of the Ohio & Erie canal in downtown Akron has been made into something quite nice, called the Towpath Trail:

https://www.downtownakron.com/go/towpath-trail

Next stop: the Miami & Erie Canal!

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@johncarlosbaez England's canals were also abandoned, particularly after they were frozen in the hard winter of 1962-3.

But they since been revived by the Canal and River Trust https://canalrivertrust.org.uk so that now there are more boats on the canals than there were in the industrial revolution.

The CRT also does far more for Birmingham (the centre of the network) than Birmingham City Council does.
(I hope that will change now that we have kicked out the arrogant incompetent Labour administration.)

@Paul_Taylor they were not revived by the Canal and River Trust (CRT) - they manage them now, but they are a relatively recent creation (2012).

I am not an expert on the history, but some more history over at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_British_canal_system#Restoration

There is a *lot* of credit to give volunteer enthusiasts, I see it as a big win for community/volunteer/love... (the CRT does not embody those principles).

@johncarlosbaez