The Hennepin Canal

~While visiting Sterling, I took several evening walks along the nearby Hennepin Canal.  This canal was built at the turn of the century to link the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, shaving several hundred miles off of the trip  in order to facilitate shipping.  Unfortunately, the canal was not a commercial success; decades-long delays (construction was supposed to start in 1834 but did not commence until 1890) meant that by the time the canal was finished in 1907, railroads had become the major method of bulk transport between the areas the canal was intended to service.  At its commercial peak in 1929, the canal transported around 30,000 tons of shipping...which sounds like a lot, but that was only 1/600th of the canal's projected annual shipping capacity.  With the cost of maintenance exceeding its return value, the canal was closed to commercial traffic in 1951.

Still, despite its commercial failure, the canal was a landmark engineering feat.  It was the first canal constructed with concrete without cut stone facings, a technique which some engineers believed would not work.  The builders of the Hennepin proved these naysayers wrong; in fact, the materials and techniques (such as new types of canal locks) created and tested to build the Hennepin served as a model for the Panama Canal.

After its closure, the length of the canal was later made into Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park, reinventing it as a recreational area for boating, kayaking, hiking, and cycling.  And of course, for visitors like me to enjoy.

Part of the canal system that goes under a bridge.

The far side of the canal.

A path leading through the woods parallel to the canal.  The embankments on either side of the canal are heavily wooded, but narrow; beyond them stretch endless fields of corn.

Ruined bits and pieces were scattered throughout the woods, such as this reinforced concrete bar.  I'm not sure if this is left over from the construction of the canal, or is more recent.

Mushrooms growing on a fallen tree trunk.

Lovely autumn colors on the trees that line the canal.  What a great reflection in the water!

Beautiful red leaves.  Any guesses as to what species of tree this is?

A classic old automobile, now on display in a park near the canal.

The shattered trunk of a fallen tree.  It was getting dark at this point, so I turned back towards the hotel.  I did hear many owls hooting in the woods, and startled a heron who was walking along the edge of the water.