Canal Association in worldwide magazine
By Jennifer Archibald

The Carroll County Wabash & Erie Canal Association has received local, state, and national recognition, and is now getting some worldwide publicity.

The January issue of World Wide Waterways carried almost a whole page on the local association, the Canal Conference and Interpretive Center in Delphi, and the national award the association received last fall. Two photos and an aerial view of the restored canal ran with the story.

The magazine is a publication of Inland Waterways International (IWI), which brings together people and organizations who support the conservation, use, development, and proper management of inland waterways worldwide. It also promotes restoration, where appropriate, of waterways which have become derelict. Its membership covers 15 countries from around the world.

The IWI and its magazine learned about the canal association in Carroll County through the association's president, Dan McCain. He gave a report and had a booth at the World Canals Conference last September in Pennsylvania. The conference alternates between North America and Europe.

McCain is a director with the American Canal Society, which had its own board meeting at the world conference.

McCain is also on the board of directors for the Canal Society of Indiana, which will have its 25th anniversary annual meeting and tour in Delphi in May.

McCain said the local canal center will attract even more visitors after its latest project is completed. The project will include an 1850s-style canal boat, a replica warehouse built over the water, and a functioning dock.

"Costs for the complete project are estimated at about $750,000," McCain said. "Significant grants and donated money have been received, and the project is now in the design stage."

McCain said the canal boat will be 9 feet wide by 54 feet long and will hold up to 35 people at a time.

"Some of the boat's amenities will include an onboard restroom and a retractable canopy to protect from direct sun and rain," he said.

McCain expects completion of the whole project to be in the spring of 2009.