More along the canal

This explains why the deep cut was needed. I cannot imagine the conditions or how hard they worked to put this strip of the canal in. Remember this is the highest point. There was no ditch diggers, no bull dozers, no earth movers. The trees had to be cleared off first. They built the towpaths first, then the canals.
When the canal was first started this land was all swampy too. It ran from the Ohio River to Toledo 249 miles. The Miami and Erie canal was built between 1825 to 1845. The canal had 19 aqueducts, three guard locks, and 103 lift locks. The series of 105 canal locks raised canal boats 395 feet above Lake Erie, and 513 above the Ohio River at Cincinnati, Ohio. Each canal lock was 90 feet long by 15 feet. The peak of the Miami and Erie Canal at the "Loramie Summit" extended 21 miles from Lock 1-N in New Bremen Ohio to lock 1-S in Lockington north of Piqua, OH. The entire canal system was 301.49 miles long and cost $8,062,680.07. The canal touched 44 of the 88 counties in OH.

Canal minimum construction standards included:
1. 4ft. water depth
2. 40 ft. wide at water level
3. 10ft. wide towpath in addition to mandated outer slopes
4. All slopes are 4-1/2 ft. horizontal to 4 ft. perpendicular

Canal boats could be up to 14 Ft. wide. If the boats needed to meet each other, one would hug the edge of the bank, there just wasn't much room. They would have to drop there rope in the water.
You might want to know the state mandated a speed limit of 4 miles per hour, they averaged 3 miles per hour for the trip. It took time to go through the locks. The reason to keep the speed limit down was to keep from having a wake that washes against the bank and washes the bank away. It was also easier on the mules. They would travel 16 to 20 miles before changing mules.

This is how too many of the canals look today with hardly no water. Just growing up with brush.
You realize the ST Marys Reservoir was formed in St Marys (formerly Gyrtys town), the Loramie lake named after Pierre Loramie and Indian Lake (formerly Lewistown Lake) were all formed to supply water for the canal. I'll bet you thought they were just for your enjoyment!