A ride on the Delphi, the replica 19th century canal boat that cruises through Wabash & Erie Canal Park, is a relaxing way to take in the scenery of west central Indiana and learn about the history of this American waterway. The 35-minute tours, which take place weekends until October 24, feature interpreters who share stories of everyday life on the canal 150 years ago.The Wabash & Erie Canal stretched 468-feet, from Toledo to Evansville, making it the largest fabricated structure in the United States. Irish immigrants began working on the canal in 1832 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, using shovels, picks, wheelbarrows and the horse-drawn slip-scoop. In 1840 the canal came to Delphi. Boats were soon floating through the canal, sometimes carrying passengers and often transporting goods. Limestone was a major natural resource in Carroll County, and after it was quarried and processed, boats shipped it down the canal to New York City and New Orleans. The Wabash & Erie Canal promoted trade and commerce but was no match for the railroad boom, which brought an end to the canal era by the 1870s.
Besides offering boat tours, the Wabash & Erie Canal Park is home to the Interpretive Center, with interactive exhibits on the canal’s history, and the Pioneer Village and Reed Case House, which offers tours by appointment. Trails run through the park and past sites on the National Register of Historic Places, and hikers and bikers can retrace the towpath once traveled by mules and horses pulling canal boats.
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Photo: Boat Ride Under The Red Bridge, Constructed 1874, courtesy of Tawnya Patterson.
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