The route of the proposed Milwaukee and Rock River Canal, 1838.

Plat of the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal


Increase Lapham, secretary of the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal Company, drew this map in 1838 to show the proposed route of a canal that would connect Lake Michigan to the Rock River. It would have gone roughly through Menomonee Falls, Pewaukee, Delafield, and Fort Atkinson, where it would have joined the Rock River. Although the route was surveyed and docks were begun on the Milwaukee end, the canal was never built. See the documentary history of this effort presented elsewhere at Turning Points in Wisconsin History. This map contains a fair amount of detail; click "Zoom & Pan" to bring it into view.

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Related Topics: Immigration and Settlement
Great Lakes Steamships and Canals
Creator: Lapham, Increase Allen, 1811-1875
Pub Data: In: Memorial of the president and directors of the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal Company: praying a grant of land in aid of that work, March 6, 1838. (Washington, D.C. : Gov't. Printing Office, 1838) Series: Senate doc. / 25th Congress, 2d session; no. 271. Also in Wisconsin Historical Society rare pamphlet 98-2764.
Citation: Lapham, Increase Allen. "Plat of the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal." In: Memorial of the president and directors of the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal Company: praying a grant of land in aid of that work, March 6, 1838. (Washington, D.C. : Gov't. Printing Office, 1838). Online facsimile at:  http://wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=110; Visited on: 4/23/2024