The Sunfish Lock No. 27 South along the Miami & Erie Canal was constructed in 1826 in Sunfish, Ohio.
The Sunfish (Smiley’s) Lock No. 27 South along the Miami & Erie Canal was constructed in 1829 in Sunfish, Ohio. The canal was completed in 1845 between Cincinnati and Toledo, Ohio, creating a water route between the Ohio River and Lake Erie.
The canal, spanning 246 miles and incorporating four miles of slack water, featured a total of 103 canal locks, three guard locks, and 19 aqueducts, along with various feeder canals and man-made water reservoirs. All locks on the Miami Canal were of cut limestone masonry 3 except for the 36 wooden locks between Loramie Summit and Defiance. 1 Some of the wooden locks were later replaced with concrete structures. Each lock was 80 feet long and 14 feet wide, able to lift a boat 10 feet. 4
The canal was initially profitable but started experiencing a decline in revenues in 1852. 2 This decline was mainly due to the emergence of competition from railroads, which provided faster and more spacious transportation for both passengers and freight. By 1906, the Miami & Erie Canal had largely stopped operating. Despite this, Sunfish Lock No. 27 South was rebuilt in 1907.
The canal infrastructure south of Dayton, which ran parallel to the Great Miami River, was heavily damaged by the Great Dayton Flood of March 1913. 5 After a winter of record snowfall, heavy spring rains flooded the canal, destroying aqueducts and washing out banks. The remaining segments of the canal elsewhere were neglected and gradually deteriorated.
Sunfish Lock No. 27 South was overhauled in 1990 to serve as an interpretative exhibit about the Miami & Erie Canal.
Information
- State: Ohio
- Route: Miami & Erie Canal
- Type: Lock
- Status: Abandoned / Closed
Sources
- Trevorrow, Frank W. and David G. Barber. “Miami & Erie.” American Canal Society, 27 Jan. 2010.
- Oda, James C., and Linda Grimes. “The Miami & Erie Canal.” Piqua Public Library, 1991.
- Wallace, Rich. “Construction of the Canal.” Shelby County Historical Society, Dec. 1998.
- Wallace, Rich. “Managing the Canal Locks.” Shelby County Historical Society, Dec. 1998.
- Wallace, Rich. “The Demise of the Canal.” Shelby County Historical Society, Dec. 1998.