Navigational Canals of the Connecticut River

1793 map of Vermont

1794 map of Vermont

1817 map of Vermont

The navigational canals of the Connecticut River were made to allow transport of goods from Long Island Sound to upper Vermont without portage. At the end of the canal days, one could go from Old Saybrook Connecticut to the Wells River in Vermont 280 miles upstream. This was a difference in elevation of 500 feet.

	canal	LINK	location	starts	ends	length	falls (feet)	locks
1	Enfield Falls Canal	LINK	Windsor Locks Connecticut	1829	1970s	5.25 miles	30	4
2	South Hadley Falls Canal	LINK	South Hadley Massachusetts	1794	1862	2.5 miles	58	10
3	Turners Falls Canal	LINK	Montague Massachusetts	1798	1856	3 miles	55	10
4	Bellows Falls Canal	LINK	Rockingham Vermont	1802	1858	0.5 miles	52	9
5	Sumner Falls Canal	LINK	between North Hartland and Hartland Vermont	1803 to 1806	1856	feet	12	2
6	Olcott Falls Canal	LINK	Wilder Vermont and New Hampshire	1810		feet	40	5

Farmington Canal – external VIDEO

Farmington Canal – 1840 map