James River and Kanawha Canal - Building The Canal

Building The Canal

The James River Company, promoted by such men as George Washington, Edmund Randolph, and John Marshall, opened in 1790 the first commercial canal in the United States, stretching from Richmond to Westham and paralleling the James for 7 miles (11 km). The canal supplemented existing bateaux transportation on the James River. Bateaux, flat-bottomed boats laden with tobacco hogsheads, floated down the James to Richmond and returned with French and English imports, furniture, dishes, and clothing.

The canal boats were packets, which drew more water than the smaller capacity bateaux. Mules and horses pulled the packet boats along the towpaths. Locks were necessary at points where the river had rapids. The American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 each slowed construction. Work was slow, expensive, and very labor intensive through the rocky terrain of Virginia's Piedmont region, a transitional area between the sandy coastal plain and the mountains. Enslaved African-Americans did most of the labor thus made another major contribution to Virginia's wealth. Typically the slaves were hired from plantation owners who lived near the route of the canal. After work stalled for a number of years, the canal company went broke and gave up.

In 1820, the Commonwealth (state) of Virginia took control of the James River and Kanawha Canal and resumed construction. It received the financial help of state funds through the Virginia Board of Public Works. Work stalled yet again, however. In 1835, construction of the James River and Kanawha Canal resumed under the new James River and Kanawha Company, with Judge Benjamin Wright as Chief Engineer. He was assisted by his son Simon Wright, Charles Ellet Jr., and Daniel Livermore. By 1840, the canal was completed to Lynchburg. Service was inaugurated by William Henry Harrison who was elected president that same year. In 1847, Walter W. Gwynn was hired as Chief Engineer of the James River and Kanawha Canal, with Edward Lorraine as his assistant.

The canal eventually extended 196.5 miles (316 km) west of Richmond to Buchanan by 1851. There, the plan was to link it to the James River and Kanawha Turnpike to provide passage through the most rugged portions of the mountains. The goal was to reach the Kanawha River at its head of navigation, about 30 miles (50 km) east of today's Charleston, West Virginia. The portage necessary made competition with the railroads a real threat. Construction of a planned railroad across the portage route was delayed by the American Civil War. However, both war damage and interruption in the flow of commerce along the canal did great harm to it.