James River & Kanawha Canal
The James River and Kanawha Canal was completed as far as Buchanan in 1854. The canal provided a continuous navigable waterway from Tidewater to Buchanan, a distance of 197 miles. Consisting of ninety lift locks and a total lift of seven hundred and twenty-eight feet, traffic on the canal flourished to its peak in the late 1850's. With the expansion of railroads the canal suffered heavily, and in 1880 was sold to the Richmond and Allegheny Railroad Company, who built tracks along the towpaths of the canal. That company was sold to the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, which is now CSX.
Marker can be reached from the intersection of South 12th Street and East Byrd Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
