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Landsford Canal State ParkField Trip

Lesson Title: Canals- Internal Improvement Projects of early 1800's

Pacing Suggestions: Three Days0

Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions:Identify groups and individuals involved in the canal movement and construction.How did Poinsett, Blanding, Mills, Davie, Leckie, and Irish laborerscontribute to the canal movement and/or Landsford Canal?

Analyze the reasons for the construction of canals in the early 1800's.What were the problems with other modes of transportation that spurredinterest in canal constructions?How were canals expected to improve the economy of our state?What developments brought about the sudden abandonment of the canal systems?

Standards Correlation:8.3.5 Describe the revolutions in energy, manufacturing, and transportation andtheir spatial distributions.8.3.6 Compare and contrast the Northern industrial system with the Southernagrarian society.

Materials:Park Information:

Landsford Canal State ParkRoute #1, Box 423Catawba, SC 29704(803)789-5800Park Hours: Thursday-Monday, 9-6Office Hours: Daily, 11:OO-noon

Teacher's Guide to the Canal Trail(historical information, canal site information, scavenger hunt)

Landsford Canal Field Trip ChartReflection Essay Guide

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Landsford Canal State ParkField Trip

Procedures:1. Explain the origin of the name- Land's Ford.

Explain the use of the ford by Europeans and Catawbas.Explain the use of the ford by soldiers during Revolutionary and Civil Wars.Explain the increased interest in internal improvements, i.e. canals, during the early1800's.

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2. Identify Landsford namesake, Thomas Land; architect, Robert Mills; engineer, RobertLeckie; mill-owner, William Richardson Davie.

3. Divide class into eight groups. Students visit eight stations in the room, each devotedto one site on the Canal Trail. Students have four minutes to study each station andcomplete the Canal Chart.

4. Visit Landsford Canal. Students complete Scavenger Hunt.

Assessments:

1. Student completion of the Canal Chart prior to a field trip.2. Student completion of Scavenger Hunt during site visit.3. Student reflection essay.

Extension Activites:1. Study primary documents from the 1970's- Landsford Canal Map (topographic) and

Canal Index document from American Canal Society.

2. Research and report on Robert Mills or William Richardson Davie.

3. Discuss the Catawbas and Catawba Pottery.

Landsford Canal State ParkField Trip

Reflection Essay Assignment:

Choose a historical figure involved with Landsford Canal from the list below. Considerhis/her/its contribution to the canal. Write a one-pagejournal entry from the point-of-view of the figure you have chosen. Describe the events of one day for that individual.Would the individual be proud, tired, frustrated, sad, etc? Describe the events of one dayand their effects on the contributor.

Robert Mills

Robert Leckie

William Richardson Davie

Irish workers

Mule or donkey.pulling boats

Landsford Canal State Park

Field Trip0

Interpretive Sign Fast Facts

#1 Diversion Dam l.

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#2 Guard Lock l.

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#3 Footbridge l.

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#4 Culvert l.

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#5 The Construction of Landsford l.Canal

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#6 Mill Complex l.

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#7 Lifting Locks l.

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Landsford Canal State ParkField Trip

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Of interest to both historians and scientists, Landsford Canal State Park

declares the dogged detennination of both man and nature to thrive. Our

early agrarian forbears feared the instability of an economy that did not use its

own natural resources for profit. An effort to construct canals throughout the

South Carolina rivers to allow the shipment of goods through our own markets and

ports occurred in the early 1800's. Rivers were not navigable prior to this effort due

to rapids created by the fall line through the state. Likewise, the abundant

flora and fauna of the Catawba River exhibits a stubbornness to flourish.

From the countless species of birds overhead to the ever-famous endangered

Spider Lilies persisting in the rocky waters below, Landsford Canal State Park

communicates the beauty of the labor of man and beast.

From the native Catawbas and early European explorers to Revolutionary and

Civil War soldiers making crossing at Land's Ford, Landsford Canal State Park whispers

secrets and hints of those who went before. The Catawba River has witnessed human

development at its banks for over 10,000 years. Early immigrants from the Low Country

and the North used the ford and upon crossing met the inhabitants of the river. In the

mid-1700's, a merchant named Thomas Land (thus the name, Land's Ford) utilized the

popular crossing as a center for trading and selling. Leaving his sick and wounded men

at a nearby mill, Lord Cornwallis traversed these waters as well.

The canal itself, however, keeps few secrets- as it remains largely visible and

intact. For students, the canal provides the main focus of historical study. One of many

0 Landsford Canal State ParkField Trip

canals built in South Carolina during the internal improvement projects of the 1800's,

Landsford was the uppermost of four canal projects on the Catawba-Wateree River.

System.! Robert Mills, architect of the Washington Monument and other famous sites,

designed the canal. Robert Leckie engineered the building of the canal. William

Jefferson Davie, "Father of the University of North Carolina", owned a mill on the canal.

Irish Americans excavated and constructed the canal using mainly man and animal

power. Explosives were the only aide, providing a way to cut through rock during the

digging of the canal. The elements of the canal- the diversion dam, the guard lock, the

footbridge, the culvert, the former mill complex, and the lifting locks, support the notion

of man's ingenuity, skill, and capacity for enduring hard labors. Students will identify

the function of the various aspects of the canal in stations before the field visit and

through interpretive signs posted throughout the trail during the visit.

To increase student interest in the site, a focus on the human element of the

structure would be helpful. Students can imagine a long, narrow boat carrying bales of

cotton pulling into the guard lock and moving into the canal. Students might visualize

the mules pulling the boats through the canal. Also, picture the mill on the site humming

with activity.

A story of most interest to students, however, might be the "feud" between

engineer Robert Leckie and Superintendant of the Catawba River projects, John

Couty. Couty, according to Leckie, had questionable competence for his job and

aso had questionable morals. Couty supposedly tried to bribe Leckie into

allowing his brother to have the job of the guard lock construction. Leckie

Landsford Canal State ParkField Trip

refused the offer of additional pay in exhange for giving the job to Couty's

brother. The time of the building of the canal was undoubtedly a difficult one for

Leckie. The tragic deaths of his wife and children along with the ongoing

disagreements with Couty bore heavily on him.2

Students should be familiar with South Carolinian Robert Mills. Architect

of the Landsford Canal, Mills is famous for having designed many public buildings in

Washington D.C. He built many of the prominent structures in South Carolina,

and wrote a book entitled, Internal Improvement of South Carolina, 1822.

English-born William Richardson Davie, a historical figure of interest in

relation to the Landsford Canal, "retired" to South Carolina after having made a case for

himself as a lawyer and a patriot. Davie attended the Constitutional Convention,

urged its ratification, and acted as an ambassador in securing a treaty with France.

Davie operated a mill on the Landsford Canal.

The components and construction of the Landsford Canal are of such interest to

me! The contributors to the canal's construction are important to our state history as well

as our sense of identity with this land we call home. Hopefully my enthusiasm for the

history hidden back in the beautiful wooded banks of the Catawba will be contagious!

The place and the people of Lands ford show us the history of transportation in South

Carolina, and the economic needs of the region at this time. Standards 8.3.5 and 8.3.6

deal with the revolutions in transportation and the characteristics of the Southern agrarian

society.

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Landsford Canal State ParkField Trip

Bibliography

1. Richardson, L.W. "American Canal Society: Canal Index." New York: Canal IndexComittee, 1973. 1 page.

2. South Carolina Parks. "Landsford Canal State Park, Teacher's Guide to the CanalTrail." 15 pages

3. James; AI. "Where Nature and History Blend." -copy of an article. No informationknown.