Canal warehouse site Work has begun on pouring the foundation for the warehouse that will be the nightly and winter home of the Canal Association's future replica canal boat. The location is in the canal turning basin in the Canal Annex. The outside of the structure will look like an 1850s canal warehouse. Outside panels with murals will depict the inside, where goods would have been loaded. Both the boat and warehouse are slated for completion in June 2009. These two projects, plus a future dock project in 2012, are all funded largely with federal grants, administered by INDOT, for historic transportation projects. Photo provided The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has awarded the City of Delphi $325,000 in Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Transportation Enhancement (TE) funds for the Delphi canal boat dock project.

These federal funds, which are administered by INDOT, may be used as reimbursement for up to 80 percent of the project's total eligible costs. Canal board president Dan McCain said the 20 percent local match will be paid by the Canal Association.

Delphi was one of the 10 municipalities competing for TE funding appropriated to the INDOT LaPorte District this year. After district officials reviewed the applications and made their recommendations, a selection committee in Indianapolis recently confirmed the award.

The dock, which will be near the Canal Center, is part of a larger project that includes an operational replica canal boat and a warehouse for storage of the boat. Both the boat and the warehouse are slated for completion in June 2009. The federal funds for the dock grant will not be available until 2012. Mc- Cain said a dock will be needed before then, so volunteers are building a transitional wooden plank dock with money awarded by the Carroll County Community Foundation.

This dock will be built near water level, just offside of the main visitor towpath access to the waterfront.

McCain said the wooden dock will allow handicap access and give shoreside access for fishermen.

The replica boat is being built by Scarano Boat Company in Albany, N.Y.

Michiana Contracting, Inc., working though their earth and concrete subcontractor LaPorte Excavators, has begun work on the warehouse, with the first pour of 40 yards of concrete for the foundation. A huge concrete 'pumper' was brought in to transfer the mix from the delivery trucks to the far out forms along the canal basin in the Canal Annex. The 1850s turning basin is a "widewater" area where boats would have docked and loaded or unloaded their cargo.

The U-shaped foundation will depict the "slip" that the replica boat will ride in on when being stored.

The warehouse will protect the boat from the weather and will be used for mooring daily after carrying passengers. In the winter, the boat will be raised up and above the ice in that bay.

McCain said the building will look much like a canalside warehouse of the 1850s. Doorway panels will be painted with murals that depict the inside where goods would have been loaded. These murals can be seen from the towpath trail across the canal or from the new boat as it passes.

The warehouse is being built strictly under federal contract by INDOT and this doesn't involve the volunteer crew normally associated with projects along the canal and trails.

McCain pointed out that the canal is dry to allow for the construction work.

"We started with improvements to the canal by dredging sections from 1996 through 2004. When the warehouse is finished and the replica boat arrives in June 2009 the venue for the public will ply the mile-long reconstructed waters of the old canal as it passes under Washington Street between Canal Park and Canal Park Annex," McCain said.