Indiana Central Canal

Flatboats were a popular form of transporting goods and people at the time that construction began on the canal, and navigation proved difficult in Indiana's crooked natural rivers. Noah Major, a pioneer of Morgan County, estimated the number of flatboats that traveled through the state at this time to be about 15 boat per year between 1829 and 1853. In order to increase the potential for transportation and commerce in the state, the Indiana Central Canal would be planned to span 296 miles from Peru, Indiana, to Evansville. However, the $3.5 million dollar project would be brought to a halt due to the economic Panic of 1837, leaving only eight miles completed in Indianapolis, with another 80 miles partially constructed between Anderson and Martinsville.

In 1871, the canal was purchased by the Indianapolis Water Company to provide power for pumping well water into Indianapolis residents' homes. In 1904, the company began using water directly from the canal as a source of drinking water for its customers. Today, the Canal moves water from the White River six and a half miles to the Citizens White River Treatment Plant, just west of downtown Indianapolis.

Anderson, J. (1947). White River - Historical Influences Observed in Morgan County. Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 43, No. 3, https://www-jstor-org.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/stable/pdf/27787630.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Aa5eb6616745f9180f33f0d3326650423, Accessed 23 Apr. 2021.

Citizens Energy Group. 2021. Central Canal. https://www.citizensenergygroup.com/My-Home/Utility-Services/Water/Supply-and-Sources#:~:text=Central%20Canal,Street%20just%20west%20of%20downtown

The Environmental Practicum Course – Butler Univeristy. 2010. Scenario Planning: Central Canal, Broad Ripple. https://www.butler.edu/file/87157/download