The canal was privately built with the support of steamship owners Mr David Napier and Mr John McMurrick[2] in order to permit steamers to avoid the sometimes shallow water, gravel banks and bends of the River Falloch's course to the head of Loch Lomond and also to allow convenient travel directly to Inverarnan, which was a stagecoach stop and had a drovers' inn which provided refreshments, accommodation, etc.

[4] Mails, goods and passengers were transported and stagecoaches ran at first from Inverarnan to Killin and Ballachulish, later also running to Inverness, Aberfeldy, Oban and Crieff.

[2] Construction started in 1842; however due to very wet weather and severe winters with heavy snows, the canal was not completed until 1844, despite being only 530 yards or 485 metres long with no locks.

The steamer ran all year round although only weekly during the winter and passengers using the coach services to Killin and Fort William could claim a special reduced fare.

[2][11] It is unclear when steamers finally ceased to travel as far as Inverarnan Harbour basin, as the general term "Head of Loch Lomond" was often used in published timetables.

[5] The quarter of a mile long Inchfad Canal was built on the Loch Lomond island of that name in the 19th century to serve the distillery that had been legally established there.