Construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal began in 1825, starting in Cleveland and running south to Portsmouth. To help pay debts on the community's 5,500 acres of Tuscarawas County land, members of the Society of Separatists of Zoar contracted to build this portion of the canal, receiving $21,000 for work completed in 1827. Surplus goods were carried on Society-owned and operated canal boats to outside markets through the canal, which also brought manufactured items into Zoar. Use of the canal declined steadily after the 1850s as railroads became the most efficient form of transportation. Despite efforts to keep it economically viable, a widespread flood in 1913 brought disaster to the Ohio and Erie Canal as a transportation system. After the flood, portions of the canal were sectioned off for a fish hatchery that remained in use until construction of the Zoar Levee in 1935. The canal's towpath is now used as a recreational trail, and within a few hundred yards lie the preserved Canal Inn, Lock 10, and other feeder locks and millraces.