40                  HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

pleted in 1849, or early in 1850, and the reservoir filled with water in
the fall of the latter year. The Side Cut, leading from the dam to the
reservoir, a distance of seven miles, was completed and the water let into
it in the spring of 1850. On the 1st day of May, the water from Eel
river first reached Terre Haute through the Cross Cut. As soon as the
channel was sufficiently filled to admit of navigation, communication was
established between Terre Haute and Bowling Green, as slack water on
Eel river extended as far up as the Thomas Ferry. The people of Clay
county were very highly elated over the consummation of the work and
its promises for the future, and not a few of them were ecstatic with
enthusiasm and excitement. Prominent citizens of Terre Haute and
officers of the canal company were equally impulsive and jubilant, and
over-anxious to open the communication and celebrate appropriately the
event. So, on the 13th day of May, 1850, a party set out from the Prairie
City, with a small cannon aboard, bound for Bowling Green, but their
launching out proved premature, as their boat was grounded before
going any considerable distance, and they were compelled to return and
await the arrival of more water. Very soon after this, however, perhaps
latter part of May or first of June, the boat Oleus made the trip, carrying
aboard a number of distinguished personages, with cannon and ammuni-
tion. Men, women and children flocked from all directions to witness
the event, and the Oleus and her crew were given big ovations at the
Junction, the Dam, Bellaire and Bowling Green, which were reciprocated
by numerous salutes from the cannon. At Bowling Green, it is said,
resident citizens and their visitors indulged in a hilarious jollification.
This was the only trip ever made to Bowling Green by a boat plying on
the main canal, not owned and operated by Clay countians. The opening
of the canal stimulated business enterprise and commercial activity. At
Bowling Green, the head of slack-water navigation, the firm of Fuller,
Melton & Kennedy, composed of Jesse Fuller, John M. Melton and
Joseph Kennedy, built a warehouse, just below the bridge, which was
afterward converted into a brewery, and also built the canal boat Belle
of Bowling Green, which first went out in August, 1850, in command
of John W. Ecret, loaded with grain, and bound for Lafayette. From
this time on the Belle continued to make regular trips to Lafayette and
Toledo, taking out grain and produce, and bringing back to Bowling
Green such freights as the local business demanded. After passing from
the Side Cut into Eel river, boats were pulled or towed to Bowling
Green. As a motive power, to facilitate this work, the firm heretofore
named constructed a rude tow-boat, which bore the euphonious name,
Bull of the Woods. In 1851, a company was organized to build a small
steamer to propel canal boats up from the dam, of which Oliver Cromwell,
Sr., was the leading spirit, but from delay of execution the project was
abandoned. Some years later, after the dissolution of the firm of Fuller,
Melton & Kennedy, the Ohio, owned and operated by John W. Ecret and
John M. Melton, made regular trips up to the spring of 1861, when it
went out for the last time, taking a mixed load of produce. This was
the last boat ever seen at Bowling Green. After the opening of naviga-
tion, A. H. L. Baker, who had real estate interests at the bend of the
river, three miles south of Bowling Green, at the mouth of Six Mile,
conceived the idea of building up an important commercial center and
resort at this point. Though his plans were much more visionary than
substantial, he proved his faith by his works in the building of a large