Old Santee Canal is considered one of the crowning engineering achievements and economic development projects of its day. One of the earliest canals built in the United States, construction of the canal began in 1783 and in 1800 the canal began operating. The twenty-two mile canal connected the Santee River with the Cooper River, providing a direct outlet to Charleston Harbor. It was originally 22 miles long with two double locks and eight single locks. Unused after 1865, much of the canal was flooded by the construction of Lake Moultrie in the early 1940s.