History
The canl was designed by Robert Mills. Construction began in 1820, using slave labor and skilled laborers from the northern United States under the supervision of Robert Leckie. It was 2 mi (3.2 km) long. It was 12 ft ( 3.7 m) wide and ten ft (3 m) deep. It had five locks for the 32 ft (9.8 m) descent of the river.
The canal was not a financial success. In 1824, one of the locks collapsed due to a poor foundation. Canal traffic, which was never high, had apparently ceased by 1840. The granite locks and the lock keeper's house survive.
The Landsford Canal was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. There are additional pictures, architectural drawings, and information about the lock keeper's house available from the Historic American Building Survey at the Library of Congress. Their documentation indicates the lock keeper's house at Landsford Canal was moved from Rocky Mount Canal near Great Falls downstream.
Read more about this topic: Landsford Canal
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