After title to Miami and Potawatomi lands was conveyed to the State at the 1826 Treaty of Paradise Springs, a corps of U.S. engineers went to Fort Wayne in 1826 to survey the portage connecting the Maumee and Wabash river systems, continuing the canal line from the Rapids of the Maumee to the mouth of the Tippecanoe and down the rivers in both directions from Fort Wayne. Although running lines and levels was well understood, mechanical engineering was still in its infancy. Before construction began in 1832, a water source on the summit of the surveyed route was located in Allen County, Indiana, and water impounded by a dam across the St. Joseph River was directed through a feeder to the mainline in Fort Wayne; surveyors' stakes then marked the route for work to begin. The federal government granted Indiana land amounting to five miles of alternating sections on each side of the survey line, while various plans were suggested, including cutting a channel from the Maumee Rapids to the mouth of the Tippecanoe on the Wabash River. When completed in 1853, the canal extended from Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio, to Evansville, Indiana, on the Ohio River, making it the second longest canal in the world. Its design centered on securing an adequate water supply, usually by using a drop in altitude from a higher summit level and by adding reservoirs as needed. The canal bed was pitched with a slight fall to keep water moving slowly without hindering upstream boats, and lock gates met in a V shape pointing with the current so water pressure helped seal them more tightly. Maintenance required constant effort to keep the channel watertight, as light gravelly soil and porous limestone caused leaks that demanded a thick layer of stiff clay called puddle, which did not always hold porous substrata. Indiana canals were also damaged by crawdads, muskrats, and other animals, so state boats patrolled the line, repaired towpath breaks, and dealt with grass that had to be cut from the channel. Construction camps resembled shanty towns, with bunkhouses for dozens of laborers sleeping in tiered bunks and family shanties serving married workers with wives and children.