Columbus Feeder Canal photograph

This photograph is a reproduction of an original, probably taken ca. 1881-1885, which shows boats on the Columbus Feeder Canal right before its terminus at the Scioto River near West Main Street, formerly Friend Street. The Columbus Feeder linked Columbus with the Ohio Erie Canal at Lockbourne.The two businesses pictured in the background are C. Harris & Co. Dealers in Coal and the Jackson-Guldan Violin Company. The Ohio History Connection's copy of this photograph is from the collection of Pearl S. Nye who was a boat captain on the Ohio and Erie Canal. According to a note on the photograph's reverse, the boat in the foreground, the Wave, was run by Adam Harman. The boat behind the Wave is the Friedley, which was owned by Captain John Hayes. Nye wrote "Wave" on the negative, faintly visible on the right side. The Ohio and Erie Canal was one of Ohio's most important canals during the mid nineteenth century. During the late 1810s, Governor Thomas Worthington and Governor Ethan Allen Brown both supported internal improvements, especially canals. Both men believed that Ohioans needed quick and easy access to the Ohio River and to Lake Erie if they were to profit financially. In 1820, Brown convinced the Ohio legislature to establish the Ohio Canal Commission. Construction began in 1825, and the canal was completed in 1833. Once completed, thirty-three of Ohio's eighty-eight counties either had portions of canals running through them or quarries to mine rock for construction. Most canals remained in operation in Ohio until the late 1800s