The East Side Canal

Almost as soon as people started arriving at the valley of the rapids on the Grand River, they were thinking about how to harness the power of the river to their benefit.  Of course, they had to start by altering the landscape.  And alter it.  And alter it.

"Canals and Dams 
Navigation being so essential, demands were made by the earliest settlers for improvements on the river. Accordingly, in 1838 the state legislature made an appropriation of $30,000 for improving the harbor at Grand Rapids, for clearing the channel at the foot of Pearl street, and for removing logs from the stream above,as far as Lyon street. An ample portion of the appropriation was expended for the removal of boulders from the channel near the head of the islands. In 1847 the state made an appropriation of 25,000 acres of land, "to construct a canal and locks around the rapids at Grand Rapids." 

But in 1835 Lucius Lyon and N. O. Sargeant had begun constructing an east side canal and locks. The canal was dug from the head of the rapids to near Michigan street. It was completed to its southern terminus June 30, 1842, nearly a mile long and 80 feet wide and five feet deep. At its foot a basin 200 feet square was excavated. At its upper end, north of Sixth street, a wing dam projected upstream, to turn the current into the canal. The legislative appropriation of 1847 was used to build a dam across the river and some work was done on the locks at the foot of the basin, to provide for the passage of boats. The dam at Sixth street was completed in 1849 and excavations for the lock pit began in August of that year. In 1850 the legislature granted an extension of time to complete the lock, but the appropriation was soon exhausted and the work never done.

William T. Powers, one of the city's most enterprising residents, built the west side power canal and guard gates in 1866 and 1867, having previously purchased the river front property from Seventh street to the Pennsylvania railroad bridge. This canal, more than three quarters of a mile long, cost, including the lands through which it runs, more than $90,000. Mr. Powers joined with the east side water power company in constructing the present dam across the river. It is about two blocks below where the first dam was built."

The above is from A Citizen's History of Grand Rapids, Michigan, by William J Etten, 1926, p 86-7.

In the above City Engineers Map from Etten's 1926, A Citizen's History of Grand Rapids, you can see the locks and the basin and the lower part of the canal starting above Island #1.

Here is the Henry Hart map of 1853 showing the same area.  (Sometimes I don't feel like connecting links, but you can see all the sources that I mention by clicking on the "Page" tab above the post.)

Here is the middle part of the canal.

And here is the upper part, showing the dam, although I don't know why it is not funneling water into the canal.  The map goes up to about the area of Leonard Street, but the canal continues past that on this map.

In 1849 the original dam was "constructed of logs, brush, stone and gravel.  It was about five feet high with a slope of about 30 degrees."

The wonderful Ruger map of 1868 shows details of the businesses along the East Side Canal, and also the new West Side Power Canal of William T Powers.

Here is the same area in 1876.  You can see the basin is filled in and the locks are gone.  The canal must be underground where it empties back into the river.

Here is the upper part in 1876 showing the wing dam and the top of the west side canal and dam.  The upper part of the east side canal is now filled in past Newberry Street.  


Another version of how the East Side Canal came to be is found in Franklin Everett's "Memorials of the Grand River Valley", 1878, starting on page 8.

Later, in 1849, this happened (from the same source, but page 266):

No less personages than Rix Robinson and Daniel Ball, were supervisors of Mr Davis' contract.

One of the businesses on the canal was The Bissell Carpet Sweeper Company.  This illustration from an 1889 publication shows the canal in use.

Detail of 1907 Sanborn Fire Map

By 1907 the East Side Canal only stretches from Bridge Street to Fourth Street and the dam is controlled by the G R East Side Water Power Company.

Of course, there were rivalries and differences of opinion between owners of the canals on each side of the river.  Read "The Northwestern Reporter", Volume 72, 1898, pages 339 - 348 for one of them.

Today, all that is left of the East Side Canal is Canal Street.