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History
Built in 1845 as a source of power, water and transportation, the Augusta
Canal is the only intact industrial canal in the American South in continuous
use. During the Civil War it was the site of the Confederate State of
America Powderworks complex. Deepened and widened in the 1870s, the canal
brought an industrial boom to the city, especially in textile manufacturing.
In 1975 the Canal
and its mills were listed on the National Register of Historic Places
and declared National Historic Landmark in 1978. In 1996 the United States
Congress designated the Augusta Canal and nearby land a National Heritage
Area. Several canal-side structures pre-date the War Between the States
and others to the later 19th Century and the heyday of America’s Industrial
revolution.
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Geography
The Augusta Canal was built in three levels. The
first level begins at the Headgates located at Columbia County’s Savannah
Rapids Park. This level reaches 7 miles. terminating at gates a 13th
Street near Walton Way, just north of the University Hospital main campus.
The towpath trail which runs along the north side is limited to pedestrians/cyclists
from the headgates to the Augusta Waterworks Raw Water Pump Station at
the end of Goodrich street. Goodrich Street parallels the canal to King
Mill.
The canal’s second and third levels wind thru downtown
and are less visible and accessible that the first level. The Second
level branches from 13th Street toward the northeast, where it intersects
with the third level near 11th and Telfair Streets, adjacent to Davidson
Fine Arts Magnet School. From there, the Third level flows in two directions:
northwest toward Hawks Gully at 15th Street where the water re-enters
the Savannah River, and southeast, where it flows into Beaver Dam Creek.
Currently, the Third Level is undergoing restoration.
Environment
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 Although
the Augusta Canal is man-made, many areas along its banks have returned
to a more natural state.
The canal occupies a unique ecosystem created along the granite ledges
that separate the Piedmont plateau
from the Coastal plain –an area known as The Fall Line. The undeveloped
land between the canal
and the Savannah River rapids along the upper First Level has formed a
wetland,
creating an urban wildlife refuge that is home to varied flora and fauna,
including several rare and endangered species.
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