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Muskingum Navigation Facts

Dates of operation: 1841-1913; 1958 to present
Length: 91 miles
Northern terminus: Dresden, Ohio
Southern terminus: Marietta, Ohio
Type: steamboat, lift locks, slackwater
Width/depth: variable/10 feet
Locks: original locks were to be 150 feet in length by 34 feet wide; 1 lock that is 120 feet long and 22 feet wide
Enlarged: 1838
New locks: 11 original locks altered to 175 feet in length and 36 feet wide
Cargo transported: grain, coal, general merchandise, and lumber
Chief engineer(s): Timothy S. Bates
Owner: State of Ohio, 1836-1885; federal government, 1886-1958; State of Ohio 1958 to present

History of the Muskingum Navigation

In 1836, the State of Ohio authorized the Muskingum Navigation System or the Muskingum River Improvement as part of a larger program of extending the state’s canals. Besides providing another connection between the Ohio River and the Ohio and Erie Canal, this waterway brought canal and Ohio River transportation to communities in the Muskingum River Valley. It also connected with the National Road in Zanesville.

Chief Engineer Timothy S. Bates plotted the route of the Muskingum System, one of the earliest complete river canalization achievements in the United States. Began in 1836, Bates completed the project in 1841. Local commercial interests in Washington, Morgan, and Muskingum Counties, in 1838, pressured the state to increase the size of eleven of the twelve locks from 150 to 175 feet in length and from 34 to 36 feet in width. This enlargement allowed larger steamboats from the Ohio River to use the waterway. Ohio spent approximately $1,000,000 to build this navigation system.

In 1886, the State of Ohio ceded the Muskingum River Improvement to the federal government. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operated the system until 1913, when a disastrous flood destroyed the waterway. The Muskingum Navigation remained in derelict condition until 1958, when the federal government returned it back to the state. Since then, the State of Ohio has restored the waterway for recreational boating.

A two mile sidecut or lateral canal, which ran from Webbsport to Dresden, connected the Muskingum River Improvement to the Ohio and Erie Canal. The entire system overcame an elevation change of 125 feet. Its engineering features include 5 sidecut canals, 11 dams, and 12 locks. 

Today, the Muskingum Navigation has become an important recreational and tourist attraction. The Ohio River Museum is located near its southern terminus in Marietta.

Special Feature—Hand-operated locks and dams

The Muskingum Navigation is the only hand-operated lock and dam system remaining in the U.S.

Suggestions for further Reading

Jack Gieck, A Photo Album of Ohio’s Canal Era, 1825-1913. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1992.

Harry N. Scheiber, Ohio Canal Era: A Case of Government and the Economy, 1820-1861. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1967.

Frank W. Trevorrow, Ohio’s Canals. Oberlin, Ohio: author, 1973.

Links

Muskingum River Parkway www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/explore/magazine/spsu2001/spotlight.htm

Muskingum River State Park www.ohiodnr.com/parks/parks/muskngmr.htm