The Cincinnati and Whitewater Canal Tunnel is a historic yet abandoned

canal tunnel {{Refimprove, date=September 2009 A canal tunnel is a tunnel for a canal. The building of a canal tunnel is crucial to help a waterway that is normally used for shipping cross a difficult section of terrain. They are also constructed to reduce th ...

in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Ohio. Located within the village of Cleves near Cincinnati, it was constructed in 1837 as part of the

Whitewater Canal The Whitewater Canal, which was built between and , spanned a distance of and stretched from Lawrenceburg, Indiana on the Ohio River to Hagerstown, Indiana near the West Fork of the White River. History Birth of a canal As with most transpor ...

system. Since the canal's closure, it has largely been forgotten, but it has been designated a historic site. After Indiana began building the Whitewater Canal in the 1830s, Ohio businessmen urged the construction of an extension from the canal to Cincinnati. The resulting Cincinnati and Whitewater Canal was completed in 1843, including a canal tunnel near the village of North Bend,Cincinnati and Whitewater Canal Tunnel
2013-07-17. Accessed 2015-07-03. which was finished six years before the canal opened for business. This tunnel was needed because of a steep ridgeline on the village's northern side, separating it from Cleves, on land owned by retired war hero William Henry Harrison, who as one of the canal's proponents was happy to sell land for its right-of-way and to supply wood and bricks for the tunnel. After his ascension to the presidency and sudden death, Harrison was buried atop the ridgeline near the tunnel's southern portal.Cincinnati & Whitewater Canal Tunnel
Ohio Historical Society, 2000. Lined with brick, the tunnel includes

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stonework portals with

wing wall A wing wall (also "wingwall" or "wing-wall") is a smaller wall attached or next to a larger wall or structure. Bridges In a bridge, the wing walls are adjacent to the abutments and act as retaining walls. They are generally constructed of the same ...

s. Upon completion, the tunnel was long, and there was between the ceiling and the underwater bottom of the canal. Unusually, the tunnel included room for a towpath instead of requiring the use of leggers, but the typical canal boat nevertheless relied on manpower while allowing the beasts of burden to climb the hill. As the state's first tunnel of its type, the Cincinnati and Whitewater Canal Tunnel has suffered two separate collapse incidents. The first occurred during the construction process, and six workmen died, while another segment caved in during the 1950s during a project to improve the portion of

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlanti ...

that travels over the tunnel.Bridge, Tunnel Named to Historic Register
, '' Cincinnati Post'' via archive.org, 2001-07-06. Accessed 2007-08-07. Despite the efforts spent on building the Whitewater Canal, it was abandoned in 1856 after numerous floods had destroyed much of its length. This resulted in the abandonment of the canal tunnel, a period of stagnation that ended in 1863 when a railroad company began a twenty-five-year period of using it as an ordinary rail tunnel. Since the rail line was rerouted in 1888, the tunnel has become completely unusable, having silted up almost all the way to the ceiling.Reilly, Mary Bridget.
Unearthing a Buried Treasure
. University of Cincinnati, 2000-03-14. Accessed 2015-07-03. However, the tunnel has not been completely forgotten; the Ohio Historical Society and a group of private organizations placed a historical marker by the tunnel's northern portal in 2000, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in mid-2001. Its historic significance derives from its rarity: only a handful of canal tunnels were ever built in the United States.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cincinnati And Whitewater Canal Tunnel 1837 establishments in Ohio Tunnels completed in 1837 Canal tunnels in the United States Canals in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Hamilton County, Ohio Tunnels in Ohio Water tunnels on the National Register of Historic Places Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio