Emergency Repairs to ODNR’s Dam No. 6: Muskingum Lock and Dam System, Stockport, Ohio

In 1836, the State of Ohio authorized the Muskingum Navigation System or the Muskingum River Improvement as part of a larger program of extending the state’s canals. Besides providing another connection between the Ohio River and the Ohio and Erie Canal, this waterway brought canal and Ohio River transportation to communities in the Muskingum River Valley. It also connected with the National Road in Zanesville.
Chief Engineer Timothy S. Bates plotted the route of the Muskingum System, one of the earliest complete river canalization achievements in the United States. Began in 1836, Bates completed the project in 1841. Local commercial interests in Washington, Morgan, and Muskingum Counties, in 1838, pressured the state to increase the size of eleven of the twelve locks from 150 to 175 feet in length and from 34 to 36 feet in width. This enlargement allowed larger steamboats from the Ohio River to use the waterway. Ohio spent approximately $1,000,000 to build this navigation system.