Muscle Shoals Canal at Sheffield, Alabama
Image from the Collier Library Special Collection

            One of the most dangerous stretches of river travel was the area between Florence and Decatur,
        Alabama.      This area was marked by a series of rapids, shoals, and shallow water that would be known
        as the Muscle Shoals.  The first steamboat to pass over the Muscle Shoals and reach Knoxville was the
        Atlas in 1828.  By 1835 steamboats regularly traveled  from Knoxville, Tennessee to Decatur, Alabama.
        However, even this leg of the river was only reasonably safe when water was high.
             In 1836 a canal was built around the Muscle Shoals by the State of Alabama with help from the Federal
        government.  The shoals were a area of dangerous water that posed a threat to navigation.  The canal
        bypassed the shoals using a series of  locks.
             The canal was not entirely successful and by the mid 1800’s the railroads began to replace the river as
         the primary means of transporting goods.  The canals and there locks were submerged with the daming
        of the river, however in some locations their remains can still be seen.
 

Image from the Collier Library Special Collection
Above is Lock number 8 at Muscle Shoals.  Note the Tennessee River to the right and the railroad in-between.

The steamer Clinch
Image from National Archives and Records Administration
 

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Created by MM 5/99 Revised July 29, 1999 KMM.