Built 1820-1823 Area 2.671 km² Nearest city Lancaster | NRHP Reference # 69000163 Added to NRHP 3 December 1969 Architect Robert Mills | |
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Location Chester / Lancaster counties, South Carolina, USA Similar 40 Acre Rock, Andrew Jackson State Park, Robert Mills House, Lancaster County Jail, United States Marine H | ||
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The Landsford Canal was the farthest upstream of a series of canals built on the Catawba and Wateree Rivers to provide a direct water route between the upstate settlements and the towns on the fall line. It is located along the Catawba River in Chester County and Lancaster County west of Lancaster. It is named for an early settler, Thomas Land, who owned the land with a ford across the Catawba River. It is the centerpiece of the Landsford Canal State Park.
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History
The canal was designed by Robert Mills. Construction began in 1820, using slave labor and skilled laborers from the northern United States under the supervision of Robert Leckie. It was 2 miles (3.2 km) long. It was 12 feet (3.7 m) wide and 10 feet (3.0 m) deep. It had five locks for the 32-foot (9.8 m) descent of the river.
The canal was not a financial success. In 1824, one of the locks collapsed due to a poor foundation. Canal traffic, which was never high, had apparently ceased by 1840. The granite locks and the lock keeper's house survive.
The Landsford Canal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. Additional pictures, architectural drawings, and information about the lock keeper's house are available from the Historic American Buildings Survey at the Library of Congress. The documentation indicates the lock keeper's house at Landsford Canal was moved from Rocky Mount Canal near Great Falls downstream.