Louisville and Portland Canal

The modern canal after many enlargements

The Louisville and Portland Canal Company was an American corporation which built and for many years controlled the Louisville and Portland Canal, a 2-mile canal bypassing the Falls of the Ohio in the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky.

Background

The Falls of the Ohio are the only natural obstruction in the Ohio River, and both Louisville and other early towns later absorbed by Louisville, Portland and Shippingport were founded before a canal was available, and based much of their early growth on portage from ships traveling down the river, which were unable to navigate the falls fully loaded except for a few weeks in Spring when water was very high. Although this source of income was popular with locals, shippers and boatmen disliked the expense and hassle. The situation caused wide fluctuations in price for farmers upstream and merchants in the river's eventual destination, New Orleans, as there was a glut of shipments during the few weeks of high water each year.

File:Picture 1661.jpg

1863 mansion with a direct view of the Portland Canal, of which the first owner was superintendent. It was later used at the corporate offices of the Ky. & Ind. Terminal Railroad Co.

Precursors

As early as 1805, with rival sides supporting a canal either on the Kentucky (south) or Indiana (north) side of the river. Proponents of an Indiana-side canal included Cincinnati businessmen, who feared economic competition from Louisville. Both Kentucky and Indiana chartered canal companies in 1805, although nothing came of either effort. Indiana chartered a second company in 1818, which made preliminary excavations, but all efforts were halted by the Panic of 1819.

In 1808 Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin suggested federal backing of a Kentucky-side canal. The United States Senate passed bills to this effect in 1810 and 1811, but both died in the House. Although little materialized politically, the subject of the canal and federal funding for it was widely debated in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Washington D.C. in the 1820s.

Formation

The Louisville and Portland Canal Company was chartered as a private company in 1825 by the Kentucky Legislature.