The Santee Canal was one of the earliest

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

s built in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It was built to provide a direct water route between Charleston and Columbia, the new state capital of

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. It was named to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1982.

History

In 1786, the South Carolina General Assembly chartered a company to construct and maintain an inland canal linking the Cooper River near Charleston, with the Santee River. The Santee River connects to the Congaree River and the City of Columbia. Construction started in 1793, directed by Engineer Col. John Christian Senf. It opened in 1800. It was long. It had two double locks and eight single locks. Its width was at the water's surface and at the bottom. Its depth was . Due to sparse traffic, poor construction, and droughts, the canal was not a financial success. The construction of railroads sealed its fate. It lost its state charter in 1853. It was not used after 1865. Much of it was covered eventually by the reservoir Lake Moultrie. Additional pictures and information are available from the Historic American Buildings Survey at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. Old Santee Canal Park is located in

Moncks Corner, South Carolina Moncks Corner is a town in and the county seat of Berkeley County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 7,885 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census. As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, Moncks Corner is included within the Ch ...

. The park is situated at Stony Landing, the former southernmost section of the canal.Canal History
.

References

External links

* * Porcher, F. A. 1809-1888. (1903). The history of the Santee Canal. Charleston, S.C.: South Carolina Historical Society
Accessed
June 12, 2018.

History

References

External links

See also