Lock 17 is on County Road 25 (Haydenville Road, which is actually the old OH-33) right at where County Road 25 intersects OH-33.

The Hocking Canal was authorized in 1836 as a branch of the Ohio and Erie Canal with which it made a junction at Carroll Ohio and traveled south with its terminus in Athens. It was intended to tap the coal and salt fields of the Hocking Valley and traffic in those bulk commodities was substantial. Coal primarily came out of the coal mines around Nelsonville, and there were several salt processors located in the Athens area.

A privately built canal, 9 miles long, between Carroll and Lancaster, was taken over by the State of Ohio when the Hocking Canal was authorized and enlarged to become part of the Hocking Canal. Partial abandonment of 7 miles of the canal below Chauncey to Athens, including the Athens terminal, took place in 1874. Final abandonment and lease of some canal property to the Hocking Valley Railroad took place in 1894.