The Farmington Canal

In the early 1800s Middletown and Hartford were becoming very wealthy cities because of their proximity to the Connecticut River. The goods that were produced in the interior rural areas of Connecticut could be loaded onto boats and barges and easily shipped off to places where they could be sold. The boats and barges would, of course, arrive full with goods and supplies to, in turn, supply those same rural areas. These cities were booming because of trade.

New Haven had enjoyed good trade by ship throughout the world, but they were hard pressed for trading to the northern inland communities. The roads of that day not were very good for travel and it must of been near impossible to send any amount of goods loaded into a wagon very far at all without destroying the wagons contents. New Haven had an asset in their port and was receiving goods from the West Indies as well as other portions of the American east coast.

That old yankee ingenuity brought on the idea of a canal that would extend north and furnish the towns along the way with goods, as well as be an easy route for their manufacturing and produce to return to New Haven for sale there as well as to be shipped elsewhere. This may sound like an outrageous undertaking, that would never work, but if you consider history many canals have been built and many have been successful. Canals were in use in Italy as far back as 1500. Actually it was an outrageous undertaking. Can you imagine digging a ditch 4 feet deep, 20 feet wide stretching some 80 miles all the way to Massachusetts in the early 1800s? The tools of choice at that time were shovels and wheelbarrows. I'm sure they had a pick or two also. If that's not outrageous ... I don't know what is!

At this time the Erie Canal was being built. Perhaps this spawned the idea to build the Farmington Canal. At the time there were big plans that would connect Boston to Albany, NY by canal. Of course the Farmington would be part of that plan. They also wanted to connect it through the Erie Canal and into the Great Lakes. This was an ambitious plan that never came to be realized. Times were changing back then, as they always will, and newer and better ways of transportation were on the horizon. The locomotive was around, but it wasn't in widespread use yet.

In 1822 the 17 towns along it's proposed route conducted a survey and were told that it was a promising project. Stock was sold to the public to raise enough capital for it's construction. On July 4th, 1825 with much pagentry and ado the first shovelful of dirt was unearthed and the construction began. Three years later the channel from New Haven to Farmington was complete. The first canal boat to travel it was called the "James Hillhouse and started it's float downstream from Farmington.

It took until 1835 to finish construction to Northhampton, MA and connect to the Connecticut River. There were many problem associated with the building of the canal. The type of soil that the canal ran over was not suited to holding water and the canal would run dry. The task itself of hauling the sandy loam and rock was an immense chore. The expense of building proved to be more than expected and costs were cut in constructing the banks of the canal. This proved a big mistake as the banks washed out during storms. Nature itself was quite a problem. A drought in 1843 closed the canal for four months encompassing the summer. Ice would block the canal and prevent shipping.

Some land was basically just taken from landowners who, of course, were not at all happy about that. Lawsuits were filed as well as some of these people taking more immediate action such as blocking off feeder streams and breaking down the embankments. The landowners often complained of the canal. Bridges were constructed over the canal in those places where the canal cut farms in two, but they were not constructed in such a way as to make the transport of wagons loaded with harvests to easily use them. The canal leaked in many places and turned some pastures into swamps.

There were many locks on the route. Although there were many flat stretches between New Haven and Northhampton the canalboats had to be lifted and then lowered over the rises and falls in the landscape. There were 21 locks between New Haven and Southington. The locks would be flooded lifting the boats up and then as they progressed along the route they would be drained to lower the boats. Throughout the entire canal the boats had to be lifted 310 feet and lowered 213 feet.

The canal boats were powered by horses. The entire route had a tow path next to it. The horses were frequently changed and usually were locally owned. Boats powered by steam were common in this day, but it was considered a risk to operate them on the canal, as the wake would disrupt the embankments. Although the canal operators did try to entice steamboat traffic none ever emerged.

The canal was a very interesting entity to the public. Watching the boats go by was a favorite way to pass the time. The boats did become a means of travel and people would take the boats to town and on outings such as picnics along the banks.

In the late 1830s repairs to the canal cost more than the canal produced. The canal did better as a business in the early 1840s but problems were everywhere. The general idea of the times was that rail transport would be a better way to move goods along the route of the canal. By 1847 construction of a rail bed was underway and the end of the Farmington Canal was written upon the banks that made the canal both a success and a failure.

The Railroad operated successfully along this route for many, many years. It certainly had its ups and downs but not nearly as much as the Canal had. As time has gone by and our highways much improved trucking has taken over much of the railroads business. I can recall trains running regularly over the canal line in the 1960s. Between then and now however business failed.

Now all the tracks have been removed from the rail bed and it is being slowly converted to a park area. The path is being paved much of the way and is frequented by cyclists and hikers alike. It's a very historic route and a walk along it's path will bring to mind many pictures of how life must of been in the heyday of the canal.

Locks can be visited at the Enfield Canal and Lock 12 near Brooksvale is now a small museum along the Rails to Trails park in Hamden and Cheshire. The remains of 35 foot tall stone piers that supported an aqueduct can be seen in Farmington where the canal crossed the Farmington River.