TOPEKA — The Kansas Historical Society announced that two portions of the Soule Canal in Gray County are the newest Kansas properties added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places entered the listings into the Register on October 15. This brings the total number of Kansas listings in the National Register to 1,379.
Below is a summary of the listings:
Soule Canal – Gray County Segments One and Two
The Soule Canal was one of the largest irrigation projects in Kansas during the late 19th century, and segments of the 96-mile earthen ditch are intact outside the various city limits in Gray and Ford counties.
Brothers John and George Gilbert partnered with financier and New York native Asa Soule to develop the canal, which was constructed to carry water from the Arkansas River to farms in southwest Kansas for irrigation purposes. Construction of the canal began in April 1884 and was completed in 1889. It took two years, 60 horses, 150 men, and between $250,000 and $1 million to dig the channel that stretched from Ingalls in Gray County to Spearville in Ford County.
The canal was a complete failure, due in part to the nature of its construction, including a risk of side slopes collapsing and water loss due to seepage, and the fact that there was nobody in charge of maintaining it. Attempts to revive the canal in 1909 and 1931 were unsuccessful.
The two nominated sites include the westernmost extant segments of the canal located nearest the long-buried sump or collecting pool that was adjacent to the Arkansas River southeast of Ingalls.
The westernmost site, known as Gray County Segment One, includes a remnant of the early 20th century alignment of U.S. Highway 50, which cuts through the west edge of the canal structure. The roadbed and associated roadway elements illustrate a considerable obstacle to the efforts to revive the canal in the early 20th century, thus ending future attempts to utilize the ditch for irrigation purposes.
The second nominated site, known as Gray County Segment Two is a linear area with two distinct portions of the canal located adjacent to the north of U.S. Highway 50 east of Ingalls.
Both sites were nominated as part of the Historic Resources of the Soule Canal for its statewide significance in the areas of agriculture, community planning and development, engineering, and archeology.