This photograph from 1896 illustrates the origins of the term "towpath." Horses or donkeys tethered to canal boats would literally "tow" the boats along the canal while walking on dirt paths that extended throughout the length of the canal. While top speeds only reached a few miles per hour, this was still a vast improvement over the unreliable and often impassable dirt roads that existed at the time the Ohio & Erie Canal opened. | Date: 1896 | Source: Cleveland State Library Special CollectionsDownload Original File
