Hocking Canal Lock 19 photograph   Save
Canal locks
Description: This 1967 photograph shows the remnants of Lock #19 of the Hocking Canal, located north of Nelsonville, Ohio, near U.S. Route 33. The Hocking Canal, built between 1829 and 1843, was a 56-mile-long canal that linked to the Ohio and Erie Canal at Carroll, Ohio. Stretching from Carroll to Athens, the Hocking Canal stimulated the growth of Lancaster, Logan, and Nelsonville, and opened the Hocking Valley to trade. Its major exports were salt, coal, and iron. Imports included goods from the East, such as cloth, shoes, and dishes. The advent of railroads in the 1850s meant the beginning of the end for canals. The Hocking Canal was abandoned in 1894. The nineteenth lock on the Hocking Canal was known as the "Sheep Pen Lock. Built as a guard lock, it was intended to permit slackwater navigation of the Hocking River by regulating water depths where river and canal met. Those plans were later abandoned, and the mechanism was converted to a lift lock, which raised and lowered boats as required by changes in the canal's elevation. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06112
Subjects: Hocking Canal (Ohio); Canals--Ohio--History--19th century; Transportation--Ohio--History; Nelsonville (Ohio); Hocking County (Ohio); Ohio Economy--Transportation and Development
Places: Nelsonville (Ohio); Hocking County (Ohio)