American Agriculture History Minute: Ohio Canal Commission Established

I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute.

In 1820, Ohio Governor Ethan Brown established the Ohio Canal Commission, the purpose of surveying a route for a canal that would connect Lake Erie with the Ohio River. But the U.S. government stood in the way, refusing to sell the land that was needed and the Commission was dissolved.

Well, two years later, again, a new Canal Commission was formed and three years after that, July 4th, 1825, work finally began. Over 4,000 workers employed at one time to build the canal, which took seven years to construct and by 1833, the Ohio and Erie Canal was fully operational. That’s today’s American Agriculture History Minute. I’m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.