Alan Kaiser, assistant professor of archaeology, said students in Archaeology 320, “Archaeological Field Methods,” are digging for the Wabash and Erie Canal in the Martin Luther King Dream Park, located at the corner of Lincoln and 10th Street. Constructed in the 1830s, the canal was a connecting point between Lake Erie and New Orleans.

“This would be a key link in the primary trade route of North America,” Kaiser said. “The end point was in Evansville.”

He said construction of the project stopped in 1837, when a depression hit the area, and was not completed until 1853. But the cost of the project, the Civil War and technological advancements caused the canal to be abandoned.

“It was a disaster from the beginning,” Kaiser said. “In the 1870s, the canal was filled and the boats used in it were left. What I wanted to do for this project was to try to find the canal.”

A home built in the 19th century used to sit where the park is currently located. The land is now owned by the Evansville Housing Authority, which brought in landfill to level the location’s surface when they built the park in 1982.

Kaiser said the class analyzed aerial photos taken of the area and historical records to determine which areas to dig. Students chose a dig site at the location of the old house’s garage because they believed it to be adjacent to the canal.

“We think we found Canal Street,” he said.

Senior Alissa Troutman said participating in the dig has been a good learning experience.

“As students, and people interested in archaeology, we really just wanted some experience on a dig and to dig up exciting things,” she said.

Kaiser said students have been finding objects from the 19th century such as toys, broken bottle pieces and even small animal bones.

“We haven’t found the canal,” Kaiser said. “But we have been collecting the garbage of life in Evansville from about the last 150 years.”

Students usually dig on Wednesdays, but because of inclement weather, Kaiser said the remainder of the semester will be spent looking at reconstruction possibilities of broken pieces, cleaning and dating the artifacts.

“We had to be very technical with measurements and that got pretty tough,” Troutman said. “We found so many little pieces of glass and we had to keep them all, but I think we all really enjoyed it and had a wonderful time.”

Kaiser hopes to get through the layers of landfill to find deposits relating to the house.