Miami & Erie Canal Lock #9 in Piqua, OH

(Satellite)

Miami & Erie Canal Overview

Justin Beebe, May 2021

They built the pavilion and restored the lock as an access ramp. Note the notches in the walls for the lock gates.

Rylan Stoltz (cdt_squirel_yt), Sep 2025

The lock was excavated and officially opened on Jul 18, 2024. [GambleAssoc]

The ramp in the lock allows users of the Great Miami River Trail to access downtown Piqua for food and potty. It also provides a connection between the Great Miami River and Ohio to Indiana Trails. The Ohio to Indiana Trail follows the abandoned Pennsy Panhandle route, including their bridge over the Great Miami River.

Satellite

Like the Ohio & Erie Canal on the east side of Ohio, this canal was severely damaged by the 1913 flood, which caused it to close.

Matthew Good, Jun 2019

1800's, and newer, Canals Overview

Interactive Canals Map

Metrotrails posted

A good overview of the historic canals of the northeastern United States. 

As a group we have traced all of the Morris Canal, Delaware and Raritan Canal, Union Canal, Schuylkill Navigation, Lehigh Canal, Delaware Canal, and Delaware and Hudson Canal.

We have traced sections of the Pennsylvania Canal (all of Susquehanna Division, Juniata Division, and Allegheny Portage Railroad), parts of Western Division, North Branch Canal, Susquehanna and Tidewater, Erie, Champlain, Blackstone, New Haven & Northampton, and more than half of Chesapeake and Ohio. 

Each has been amazing.

Vince Gargiulo: So out of the group how many used inclined planes?

Metrotrails: Vince Gargiulo Morris Canal had 23, 24 if you count the electric one. I understand there was one connected to the Potomac. Other than that no inclined planes on the canals themselves. The early connection railways had them, but it wasn't the same. The most were on Delaware and Hudson Gravity Railroad. Second most on Pennsylvania Coal Company Gravity Railroad. Allegheny Portage Railroad had 10, Philadelphia and Columbia had 2. Lehigh and Susquehanna had 3. Mauch Chunk had 2 main, several connecting. Many early anthracite lines had them.

Comments on the above post

Comments on the above post

This is why the Erie Canal sparked such a canal building frenzy in the Midwest before the railroads made them obsolete.

Unify posted

"Why is patience so important?"

"Because it makes us pay attention."

— Paulo Coelho

Paul Petraitis shared

Old, and some newer, canals that I have noted:

• Welland
• Illinois & Michigan
• Miami & Erie
• Wabash & Erie and Whitewater
• Ohio & Erie and Muskingum River
• Hennepin/Illinois & Mississippi
• Erie
• Beaver & Erie
• C&O
• Lower Fox River and Milwaukee & Rock River
• Kentucky River
• Pennsylvania Union
• Morris
• Delaware and Raritan
• Lehigh Navigation
• Sandy and Beaver Canal

M&E Feeder Canal and St. Ate Diversion Dam on Great Miami River near Port jefferson, OH

Dam: (Satellite, it has been washed out)

Feeder Canal Headwaters: (Satellite)

Feeder Canal: (Satellite, the algae on the stagnant water makes it easy to identify.)

M&E = Miami & Erie Canal

I discovered this feeder canal while studying the B&O bridge over the Great Miami River and River Road.

Satellite

From that Canal Feeder Park, I followed the canal upstream until I found the diversion dam.

1913/34 Sidney Quad @ 62,500

Some of this feeder canal is now part of the Canal Feeder Trail.

Christy Leigh Wilkins, Dec 2022

In the Lockington area, there is more left of this feeder canal than there is of the original canal. I marked where the canal leaves the Great Miami River Valley and heads west to provide water for the five locks in Lockington.

Satellite

As the canal went downstream along the river from the diversion dam, it climbed a bluff so that it would be on top of the bluff where it then heads west to Lockington.

1914/31 Troy Quad @ 62,500

Miami & Erie Canal Aqueduct over Sixmile Creek

(Satellite)

Street View, Jul 2023

Gray Geisel posted

Six Mile Creek Aqueduct / Miami + Erie canal  - restored 2022

Auglaize County, Ohio / USA

Photo taken 7 -Aug - 2024

The falling water is overflow from the canal.

Steve Lesh commented on Gray's post
Oct 2015, been all up and down the Canal, such a history🤩

Nick Feathers provided a 0:17 video on Gray's post

It didn't look like it was in too bad of shape before the 2022 restoration. Then I read below that it was damaged by floods in 2018 and 2019.

Street View, Sep 2015

We need a view between 2019 and 2022 to see why restoration work was needed.

"In 2018 and 2019, the aqueduct suffered a series of failures due to deterioration and exceptional rain events. With assistance from local and state agencies, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources prevented complete loss of the structure and successfully restored the aqueduct." [OhioDNR]

I forgot that an aqueduct can be ruined in just a day or two because of a flood. That is what happened to the Morris Nettle Creek Aqueduct on the Illinois & Michigan Canal in April 2013. I'm glad to see that Ohio did a good restoration in just a few years. That is certainly better than what Illinois has done for their canal even though it is part of a National Heritage Trail.

Miami & Erie Canal Aqueduct over Mad River in Dayton, OH

(Satellite, the ruins of the eastern abutment)

The ruins of the east abutment of the Miami & Erie Canal Aqueduct.

Trail View, Aug 2016

Jon Zee posted seven images with the comment: "Miami Erie canal in western Ohio.  Mad River Aqueduct- site near Dayton Children’s Hospital. The new addition covers canal bed.  The only part left is the south abutment across the MadRiver on the bike path (easy access)"

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Jon Zee posted two images with the comment: "Mad River Aqueduct Miami Ans Erie Canal."

1

Timothy Payton Earick: Interesting. I was unaware that a lock existed there too.

Cool

2

Jon Zee posted six images, this is the only new one.

1906/35 Dayton Quad @ 62,500

1854-1913 Miami & Erie Canal Locks #1,#2,#3,#4,#5 in Lockington, OH

(Satellite, 204 photos)

These five locks raised the Miami & Erie Canal 67' (20.4m) to the highest point on the canal between Cincinnati and Toledo. Since this was the summit of the canal, a feeder canal was built starting from a little northeast of Port Jefferson, OH.

These are the top two locks.

Street View, Sep 2024

This clearing allows us to not only see those top two locks, but part of the hill that the canal had to climb. The upper lock is obvious on the right side of the view. We can see only part of the far wall of the lower lock on the left side.

Street View, Sep 2024

Jim Kerste, May 2023

This photo and the above plaque clued me into the fact that there are more than just the two locks we can see from the streets.

Nathan Brown, Apr 2022

The three lower locks are lost in the shadows in the current (Nov 2024) satellite map. So I fired up Google Earth. We can clearly see all five locks in this image.

Google Earth, Nov 2021

The cartographer omitted the uppermost lock.

1914/31 Tory Quad @ 62,500

VisitSidneyShelby
"The extensive stair step canal lock walls, among the best preserved in Ohio, were part of the Miami and Erie Canal system which opened for navigation in 1845 and connected Cincinnati and the Ohio River to Toledo and Lake Erie. For decades, the canal provided Ohio with valuable transportation and waterpower. The lockmaster’s house—now a private residence—and a dry-dock basin for boat repair are still visible."

18:24 video
Best-Preserved (and COLLAPSING?) 19th Century Locks!

@ 14:20

Tytus Avenue Lift Bridge over Miami & Erie Canal in Middletown, OH

(Satellite, Verity Parkway is built on the canal's right-of-way.)

Preserve Madison Township posted

Postcard featuring the Tytus Avenue, Middletown, Ohio, lift bridge. Postcard is dated circa 1900. The bridge crosses the Miami and Erie Canal at Tytus Avenue and is designed to lift to allow canal boats to safely pass under.

George Crout used this image in the program titled "Miami-Erie Canal at Middletown" as slide No. 18 of 55. Text from the program reads: Take a closer look at a hoist bridge which once stood over the Canal between Main St. and Tytus. It was cut down and installed over the Hydraulic, being the one you crossed on the way to the Museum.

The Miami and Erie Canal stretched from Cincinnati to Toledo and created a water route from the Ohio River to Lake Erie. Groundbreaking for the canal took place in Middletown on July 21, 1825. In 1845, work on the canal was completed. The rise of railroads eventually diminished the value of the canal, and it was officially closed on November 2, 1929, again in Middletown. With the canal’s closing, sections of the canal were filled in and converted into streets, while other sections became abandoned. In Middletown, what was once the canal became Verity Parkway. Middletown was also home to the Middletown Hydraulic Canal – a local canal used to supply water to Middletown’s early paper mills and industry, and the Warren County Canal – a canal that connected the Miami and Erie Canal to Lebanon. In addition to the Miami and Erie Canal, Ohio’s other prominent canal was the Ohio and Erie Canal constructed in the eastern part of the state.

Douglas Butler shared

Tytus Avenue Lift Bridge was removed Middletown, OH.

1908 Miamisburg Quad @ 62,500

Owen "Big O" Bowen, Apr 2024

"The Canal Museum was erected in 1982 as a replica of a lock tender's house." [MiddletownHistoricalSociety]

Middletown Historical Society posted

Tytus Avenue Bridge, Middletown Ohio, c. 1900

Publisher Fay, John T., druggest, Middletown; Norwood Souvenir Co., Cincinnati, O.

Date c. 1900

Description: The Tytus Avenue bridge was one of several that crossed the Miami-Erie Canal. Since this is an electric hoist bridge, it must have been constructed near the end of the canal era. It was located on Tytus over what today is Verity Parkway, but was then the canal. Part of this bridge was moved to the Hydraulic Canal, and now provides a walkway to the Middletown Historical Society's Canal Museum. This is slide 39 of 80 used in the slide program titled "Canal Days - Miami-Erie Canal." The text reads: This type of bridge was at Tytus and the Canal, and known as a lift bridge, with the mechanism shown, lifting the whole bed of the bridge.

Jeff Muohio: Can somebody tell me how the hydraulic canal got its name?

Middletown Historical Society: Jeff Muohio In 1852, the Middletown Hydraulic Canal was an extension of the Miami and Erie Canal that supplied water and boat access to Middletown’s paper mills and industry. It was originally built and operated by the Middletown Hydraulic Company. When finished, the canal was 2.5 miles long. When the canal was built, it supplied water to power Middletown and its various industrial needs. The construction of the Hydraulic helped give rise to Middletown’s prominent paper industry. Eventually, electricity replaced the need for waterpower, diminishing the value of the hydraulic canal. In 1993, the state dam that provided water to the hydraulic canal broke, depriving it of water. At the time, the Sorg Paper Company and Aeronca were still using the canal for cooling purposes, while the City of Middletown was using it as a storm sewer. As of 2020, vestiges of the Hydraulic Canal still existed and were used for various sewer and wastewater purposes.

Douglas Butler shared

Tytus Avenue Lift Bridge is located in Middletown, OH credit to Middletown Historic Society.

Miami & Erie Canal, Covered Bridge and 1847 Flour Mill in St. Marys, OH

Lock #13: (Satellite, 66 photos)

Display Boat: (Satellite, 76 photos)

Covered Bridge: (Satellite, 5 photos)

Flour Mill: (Satellite)

Aqueduct: (Satellite, I noticed on the topo map that the canal crossed the river, so I looked for an aqueduct.)

Julie Baumgartner posted
Postcard, St. Mary's, Ohio, Old Lock on Miami Canal, postmarked Saint Marys, Ohio, Nov. 5, 2:30 PM, 1908.  Postcard sent to Mrs. L. D. Hellwarth, Celina, O. Back of postcard in comments.

Street View, Oct 2013

Notice the pristine concrete walls in the lock. It was built in the 21st, not the 19th, Century,

Street View, Jun 2009

The turn in the canal channel is consistent with the photo at the top. That photo was probably taken from the High Street Bridge.

Satellite

A topo map shows that they have restored a remnant of the original canal channel.

1911/42 Spencerville Quad @ 24,000

Justin Beebe, May 2021

The replica canal boat was built in 1990. [plaque]

Eric Salas, Jul 2021

Gerry is a little lost, lock #44 has to be quite a ways further south. I'm saving this for future reference.

Gerry Laureys, Sep 2016

Street View, Jun 2023

Debra Elliott, Jan 2023

K Lego, Mar 2024

Note in the Oct 2013 street view near the top of these notes just after the historic lock photo that there is an old building in the right background. That was a mill.

Street View, Sep 2015

My first reaction was that the restoration gutted the flour mill. Actually, it removed the additions and renovated the original 1847 building. [plaque1, plaque2]

Street View, Nov 2021

Calvin Schubert, Dec 2023, cropped