Lock No. 13 & Independence Dam

Through Lock No. 13 passed many canal boats carrying produce, goods, and passengers from Ohio and Indiana and from as far south as New Orleans and as far east as New York City. Boats were drawn by horses, or more often by mules, two to six in number depending on the size of the load. Spare animals were either carried on board the boats, to the discomfort of the passengers, or stabled along the canal. Speeds varied from five to eight miles per hour. Huge rafts of logs cut from the virgin forests also traveled on the canal, floating to mills operated by canal water power and sawed into lumber for many uses. Independence Dam, on the Maumee River just below, was built to provide slack water for the canal. It took its name from a town a mile upstream that sprang up during the canal construction period. Independence grew into a thriving center of commerce, rivaling Defiance at one time, but like many canal boom towns, it all but disappeared when the canal was abandoned.

Ohio · United States