Industrial History: Whitewater Canal Locks and 1846 Duck Creek Aqueduct near Metamora, IN

Lock 25: (Satellite)

Lock 24: (Satellite)

Locks 23+22: (Satellite, if they still exist, they are hidden under the tree canopy)

Aqueduct: (Satellite)

See "Metamora, IN: 1845 Grist Mill and Whitewater Canal State Historic Site" for more photos in this town.

Street View of Lock 24, May 2018

Christine McCalley, Aug 2020

Lock 25 is just north of the mill building.

Lilly Tree, Feb 2019

Bridges Now and Then posted
'Duck Creek Aqueduct is a rare surviving example of a covered timber aqueduct. It was one of several similar structures on the Whitewater Canal, which operated between the Whitewater Valley and the Ohio River from 1839 to 1865. After being displaced by the railroad, the canal supplied hydraulic power for the industrial districts at Metamora and Brookville." (Anthony Dillon)

Darrin Fowler: Alas, it has seen better days, and now the mill just up the canal is closed due to budget cuts. Here's a video of it from last summer, after it was punctured by a tree during a flood. https://youtu.be/yd5y0G1YuwY?si=JhoxAr2wzRLdAjKZ

[This is the video that I have had the bottom of these notes.]

Will Truax commented on the above post

Note that Duck Creek Aqueduct is the only covered bridge aqueduct in the United States.

E.E. Corum, Jul 2020

IndianaMuseum
"Originally constructed in 1843, the aqueduct was partially destroyed by a flood in 1846. Shortly afterward, it was rebuilt with a modified Burr arch truss more than 75 feet long. The Duck Creek Aqueduct is very unique — so much so that it was featured in an edition of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. It is perhaps the only covered wooden aqueduct still operating in the United States. Engineers designed this aqueduct to carry the canal and its boats above Duck Creek. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark."

Canal Society of Indiana posted
"A 'tumble' acts like a spillway on a lake, allowing excess water to bypass a lock in the canal. Without a bypass water would pool behind the lock and spill over the banks of the canal as water by gravity flows from higher to a lower level."

Inside INdiana Business posted
After years of fundraising and advocacy, officials have secured the full $14.4 million needed to restore the Whitewater Canal State Historic Site, allowing planning to begin on one of Indiana’s largest historic preservation projects.
FULL STORY: https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/.../planning-begins... [paywall]

Wikimedia, Public Domain

Canal Society of Indiana posted
Timmers enjoying a summer evening at Gordon's Lock in Metatmora
[The date was June 2010. It certainly had a lot better flow back then than I caught with the Jul 2020 Street View above.]

Canal Society of Indiana posted
The second type of aqueduct was the enclosed or covered bridge type. The construction is the same as the open trunk. Then the structure is enclosed with a wooden frame above to protect the timber frame that is exposed to weathering in the open trunk style. There is a total of 20 aqueducts on the Wabash & Erie Canal in Indiana, but only 5 were roofed and enclosed. The longest, 510 feet long, was across the White River near Petersburg. It was roofed. On the Whitewater Canal there were 2 aqueducts. One crossed the Whitewater River just south of Laurel, and the next was at Duck Creek as shown in the photo below [above].
Kirk Patrick Shorter: There is a 3rd on the canal.... very small & easily missed. It is at the area of Goose Creek.

Joseph Tuch Santucci posted five photos with the comment: "The aqueduct taking the canal over Duck Creek."

8:21 video @ 2:50
The were only 10 covered wooden aqueducts in the United States, and this is the last one remaining.

Aug 2026: 1000-Year Flood

Bituminous Kole posted two photos with the comment:

This flooding across Indiana is a mind blow, and I feel for those suffering its effects. The rail world here has not been spared. The Whitewater Valley Railroad is especially hard hit and are going to need help. https://www.zeffy.com/.../whitewater-valley-railroad...
Pics from my drone- a happier, dryer time just 6 weeks ago.

Gary Pope: I’ve seen pictures of Metamora, Indiana with water in the streets and fields.

Bituminous Kole: Gary Pope Yes, it's bad. Take my pics here and just imagine mud water covering the entirety of the ground, and a foot or more high against every building.

This flooding on the White River shows how widespread the flooding is in Indiana. The Wabash in Lafayette, IN, is also high. Communities can't borrow help from other communities for first responders, etc., because they are also in trouble. I'd like to see a comparable diagram for the Whitewater River.

Meteorologist Nick Dunn

RECORD: The White River in Noblesville, IN has exceeded the previous forecast and has broken an old record from the 1913 Flood (23.8 Feet) and is currently at 24.23 Feet.

Many homes, businesses, and industrial areas are flooding tonight. Below is the maximum extent of floodwater tonight when the river hits an eventual crest before slowly receding.

Just awful what’s happening just across the state line this week. Please keep them in your thoughts.

- 10:37 PM 8/14/26

Metamora is cutoff from US-52 on both sides.

Satellite

David Hammer posted seven photos with the comment:

Duck Creek Aqueduct, also known as the Metamora Aqueduct and Whitewater Canal Aqueduct, is a historic aqueduct carrying the Whitewater Canal over Duck Creek in Metamora Township, Franklin County, Indiana. Built in 1846, it is the only surviving covered wood aqueduct in the United States. The aqueduct was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2014.
The Duck Creek Aqueduct is located on the eastern fringe of the village of Metamora. The canal is paralleled by Metamora's Main Street as well as railroad tracks. Due to its wooden construction, the aqueduct closely resembles a traditional covered bridge. It is a single-span Burr through truss aqueduct and measures approximately 90 feet long and 25 feet wide, with a structural height of 25 feet. The trough carrying the canal is formed out of oak beams and panels and carries water to a normal depth of 2–3 feet. Water management valves and a spillway at the western end of the structure permit regulation of the water level of the canal. The roof is a 20th-century metal standing seam roof.
Note: The written material was found on Wikipedia.

Red Caboose IN: The twin arches are the only original structures from the flood before 1846.

Bonnie Carpenter: Those wooden arch beams was actually were hughed by my father- in-law Jones Carpenter. Sometime in the 1940s

Will Truax: Are these images recent, as in post-high-water event?

The one with the canal boat is clearly a few years old.

The trough is no longer oaken.

Joseph Andrew Certolic: Will Truax They’re not recent. I was just there last Saturday for the Canal Days Festival. The boat hasn’t been in service for 7 or 8 years at least.

Michael D Wengler: Length is actually 72 feet.

Skip Landsmann: Bridges next to bridges and a canal! Sign me up!

William Arnold: Skip Landsmann , unfortunately, the Canal is currently dry. Flooding a couple months ago plugged up where water is supplied from. The Canal Boat broke in half about 5 years ago when trying to be put into dry dock for inspection.

A grant has been obtained for repairs to the Canal and Aquaduct. But I wouldn't expect to see water for a while.

Fluffer_Nutter777: William Arnold the boat broke in half because it rotted due to locals breaking the locks that held the boat during winter months. It actually didn’t break being taken from the canal it broke overnight after it was already dry docked.

Mike Santosusso commented on David's post
There is the Tohickon Aqueduct in PA. It is a boxed pony truss, still considered an authentic covered bridge.

Oct 2026:

Larry Callahan posted two photos with the comment: "This is a covered bridge aqueduct in Metamora , Indiana. The canal is now dry but you could ride a canal boat through it several years ago."