Published: September 13, 2007 11:56 pm         

Wabash & Erie Canal wood to stay in Vigo County

County agrees to keep wooden platform to add to new Riley Lock No. 47 Park

TERRE HAUTE — Vigo County will retain a 19th century wooden platform that served as a foundation for a former stone culvert along Indiana’s Wabash & Erie Canal.

Earlier this week, state officials had planned to transport and turn over hand-hewn timbers to Whitewater Canal Trail Inc. near Metamora, about 30 miles northwest of Cincinnati, Ohio.

The news upset Vigo County historian Michael McCormick, who contacted county and state officials.

“I was distressed to find that we were shipping out what I refer to as ‘our artifacts’ to another community,” McCormick said. “That disturbed me because Terre Haute was the headquarters of the Wabash & Erie Canal from 1847 to 1876. Then in 1876, the auction was held here to sell canal lands,” McCormick said.

McCormick, along with Vigo County commissioners, members of the Canal Society of Indiana and the Indiana Department of Transportation, met at the site Thursday.

Also Thursday, workers began removing what turned out to be 57 timbers along the bed of the Little Honey Creek on McDaniel Road, north of Gross Drive. State officials agreed to allow Vigo County to keep the timber.

The timbers are to be placed in water on county property to preserve the wood. The timbers will remain underwater until the county develops a park centered around a stone lock of the Wabash & Erie Canal several miles away near Riley.

The timbers, which range in length from 20 to 40 feet, often measuring 14 inches square, were discovered early this year during construction of the bypass. At least two timbers measure 28 inches wide and 14 inches tall. Other timbers had square-head nails still visible.

“It is not over yet and until everything is in place, I’ll be nervous, but I think this is encouraging,” McCormick said.

Each timber has been marked with a blue circular tag to allow the wooden platform to be reassembled, said Alice Roberts, principle investigator for Gray and Pape Inc., a Cincinnati-based cultural resource management firm that has a statewide contract with the Indiana Department of Transportation to document historical finds.

Chris Koeppel, administrator of the cultural resources section for the Indiana Department of Transportation’s environmental services, said the state would provide $3,000 to relocate the timbers.

That matches the cost the state would have paid to ship the timbers by truck to Metamora, Koeppel said. Only sandstone blocks remain of the former culvert, which served the function of a modern day bridge, but carried the canal, instead of a road, over the creek bed.

The stone culvert likely was built around 1837 to 1839 as part of the Cross Cut Canal, which became part of the Wabash & Erie Canal, said Jeff Koelher, a member of the Canal Society of Indiana and the Clay County historian.

Vigo County Commissioner David Decker said a “cherry-picker crane” capable of lifting two tons can be rented for $1,500 a day. Each timber is estimated to weigh a ton.

“We want to keep this in Vigo County until we are ready for our park. We will keep the timbers wet until that time. It doesn’t make sense to ship it out of the county to Metamora, then ship it back. It belongs here for display and education of our children,” Decker said.

“I know that so many times, when something leaves, it is much harder to get it back. They don’t need to leave Vigo County,” Decker said.

The timbers will be displayed as part of a new county park focused on Wabash & Erie Canal Lock No. 47, one of only two surviving stone locks in Indiana (the other is in Lagro).

Vigo County in 2002 was awarded a $400,000 state grant, matched by $80,000 from the county, for the park. The county also had targeted some funds from its Economic Development Income Tax for the park.

However, an archeological study started in 2003 was not completed until July. County Engineer Jerry Netherlain said Thursday the county is reviewing a contract with Storrow Kinsella Associates Inc., a landscape architectural firm based in Indianapolis, to design the Riley Lock park.

“It could be signed within a week, pending a review,” Netherlain said.

Netherlain said he thinks the Riley Lock park project would not be started until 2009, as a proposed July 2008 bid for the project likely would not be feasible.

The Wabash and Erie Canal opened in Terre Haute on Oct. 25, 1849. The first two boats through the city were the E.A. Hannegan and the G.R. Walker, McCormick said.

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.