Canal Tunnel - Akron, OH

This is Cascade Race. It is a 558 foot brick and stone tunnel that runs alongside the Ohio & Erie Canal. The race once supplied power for dozens of factories. Today there is just a trickle of water flowing through it and deep sediment that swallows your boots as you try to walk. It runs beneath a nearby street and also under a building. At the point that it is beneath the building there is a wooden trap door in the ceiling. I would imagine that it was either used simply as a place to drain and dump materials, or maybe at some point was the location of the turbines that would have supplied power to the factory. One great thing about this tunnel is that it appears that it is not very well known. There is no graffiti and very little trash. The entrance seems to be well hidden enough that the usual vagrants have yet to notice it.

Our pictures from here are not the most interesting. The tunnel is beautiful but monotonous, Especially when you're by yourself and the sediment is so thick it makes painting with light a very difficult task. We hope to get back down here and get some better pictures sometime soon.