Tolls were charged based on the items shipped; coal was the cheapest, so it became the predominant product on the canal. Some smuggling in order to avoid higher tolls on other products was practiced, to varying degrees of success.
The film is dated 1917, just seven years before the closure of the route.
The canal route took approximately 7 days. It was closed in favor of transport of the coal via train, since improved technology in locomotives, and reliable and speedier schedules, allowed for lower costs per load than shipping via canal boat.
At about 4:30, the canal boat enters the Paw Paw Tunnel, hand dug at 1 mile, it saved a circuitous water route of many miles.
The video leads the canal boat through many locks of the 86 locks along the 180 mile route; some veterans of the United States Civil War tended the locks.