The Ohio Board of Canal Commissioners was created in 1822 through an act passed by the State of Ohio General Assembly. Early members included Thomas Worthington, Isaac Minor, and Alfred Kelley. Their duties were to examine, survey, and estimate the practicality of a canal connecting the Ohio River with Lake Erie, and to make an estimation of cost. During construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal, each commissioner was responsible for certain sections of the canal, including hiring laborers, engineers, and building suppliers. In the 1830s, Commissioners continued to mange the completed waterway, employing toll collectors, maintenance laborers, and resident engineers. Commissioners also approved requests for water rights and were responsible for the canal's finances. The canal continued to operate until a flood in 1913 destroyed much of it. The collection consists of correspondence, proposals for work on the canal, receipts for supplies ordered and delivered, legal records, and engineers' notes and reports. Most of the material documents the first twenty years of the canal's operation between Akron and Cleveland, including its planning and construction. Includes correspondence, both pro and con, concerning construction of a canal, letters requesting jobs and water rights for sawmills near the locks, and proposals for work digging the canal by individual property owners. Alfred Kelley is well-represented in the material contained in this collection.
