A report on Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and Tiber Creek

Landscape showing a train crossing Tiber Creek, northeast of the Capitol (not pictured) in Washington, DC in 1839

Tiber/Goose Creek around 1800, and the modern shorelines of the Potomac River

Canal boats waiting to be unloaded in Georgetown.

Andrew Ellicott's revision of L'Enfant's Plan, showing Washington City Canal

Low-angle bird's-eye view of central Washington toward the west and northwest with The Capitol in foreground. The Canal is visible running along the mall.

Survey map showing Goose Creek running along North Capitol Street in 1855

C&O Canal in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Boat construction yard in Cumberland, MD

Map of Terminus in Cumberland in the mid 1890s. Yellow dots indicate modern highways as well as current (2013) location of Canal basin.

Register of waybills in the Cumberland Office, in 1858. Each canal boat had to have a waybill, even if empty, for passage through the canal. Fines were levied for lack of a waybill.

5 and 10 dollar notes, from C&O Canal company

Great Falls feeder culvert (no longer used) indicated by yellow arrow(14.08 mi), and Lock 18 (R).

An informal overflow. The towpath dips, allowing water to flow over it. Note the boards in the background for people to walk on.

Culvert #30 lets Muddy Branch under the canal

A steamboat on the C&O Canal. Note the steering wheel and the smokestack on this boat

Children tethered to canal boat. This photo was probably taken in one of the Cumberland basins.

Model interior of a C&O Canal freight boat

Recent view of the 9 mile level (between 33 and 34 miles) where the ghosts were reported to haunt.

Monocacy aqueduct in 2011, where the ghost of a robber could allegedly be seen on moonless nights

A lock keeper's house from the Washington branch of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal remains at the southwest corner of Constitution Avenue and 17th Street, NW, near the former mouth of Tiber Creek, and the western end of the Washington City Canal.

- Tiber Creek

By 1833, the canal's Georgetown end was extended 1.5 mi eastward to Tiber Creek, near the western terminus of the Washington City Canal, which extended through the future National Mall to the foot of the United States Capitol.

- Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

3 related topics with Alpha

Washington City Canal

1 links

Library of Congress View of the City of Washington in 1792, showing Goose Creek (Tiber Creek) and James Creek (18??).

Boston Public Library Facsimile of manuscript of Peter Charles L'Enfant's 1791 plan for the federal capital city (U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1887).

Library of Congress L'Enfant Plan as revised by Andrew Ellicott incorporating the Canal.

The Canal in front of the Capitol Building in construction (1860).

The Canal in front of the Capitol and the US Botanical Gardens.

The Canal in 1863 with the Smithsonian Castle and Armory Square Hospital.

The Washington City Canal operated from 1815 until the mid-1850s in Washington, D.C. The canal connected the Anacostia River, termed the "Eastern Branch" at that time, to Tiber Creek, the Potomac River, and later the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O).

National Mall

1 links

Landscaped park within the National Mall and Memorial Parks, an official unit of the United States National Park System.

National Mall proper and adjacent areas (April 2002). The Mall had a grassy lawn flanked on each side by unpaved paths and rows of American elm trees as its central feature. (Numbers in the image correspond to numbers in the list of landmarks, museums and other features below.)

June 2004 view from the United States Capitol, facing west across the National Mall towards the Washington Monument

Facing east on the National Mall, as viewed near the 1300 block of Jefferson Drive, S.W. in April 2010. Rows of American elm trees line the sides of a path traversing the length of the Mall.

West side of the U.S. Capitol building (September 2013)

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in July 2005, facing east towards the Washington Monument

The view of the Lincoln Memorial from the Reflecting Pool in April 2007.

National World War II Memorial (July 2017)

The west side of the Jefferson Pier in April 2011, with the Washington Monument in the background.

Rows of young American elm trees on the National Mall, looking east from the top of the Washington Monument circa 1942

This view from the top of the Washington Monument shows rows of elm trees lining the Reflecting Pool (November 2014).

Portrait of the Mall and vicinity looking northwest from southeast of the U.S. Capitol circa 1846-1855, showing stables in the foreground, the Washington City Canal behind them, the Capitol on the right and the Smithsonian "Castle", the Washington Monument and the Potomac River in the distant left.

The Lockkeeper's House in 2018, looking northwest

Route of the Washington City Canal, showing the Mall (1851)

The Smithsonian Institution Building ("The Castle") in February 2007, looking north from the Enid A. Haupt Garden

The National Mall was the centerpiece of the 1902 McMillan Plan. A central open vista traversed the length of the Mall.

Eastward view of the National Mall from the top of the Washington Monument in 1918. The three structures and two chimneys crossing the Mall are temporary World War I buildings A, B and C and parts of their central power plant.

Westward view from the top of the Washington Monument in 1943 or 1944 during World War II. In the foreground, temporary buildings on the Washington Monument grounds house the Navy's Bureau of Ships. The Main Navy and Munitions Buildings stand to the right of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Temporary buildings to the left of the Reflecting Pool house the Navy's Bureau of Supplies and Accounts.

Uncle Beazley on the National Mall between 1980 and 1994

National Park Service map showing the National Mall's designated reserve area referenced in the 2003 Commemorative Works Clarification and Revision Act

Barricade blocking walkway adjacent to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during the 2013 federal government shutdown, looking east toward the Washington Monument undergoing repair

Aerial view of the Mall facing west between 1980 and 1999

Looking east from the top of the Washington Monument towards the National Mall and the United States Capitol in December 1999

2007 aerial view of Capitol Hill and the National Mall, facing west

Inlay of L'Enfant Plan in Freedom Plaza, looking northwest in June 2005 from the observation deck in the Old Post Office Building Clock Tower

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (June 2010)

National Christmas Tree (November 28, 2018)

A Christmas tree in front of the Capitol in December of 2013.

Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial at dusk, facing south in October 2011.

1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on the National Mall facing east from the Lincoln Memorial

The first inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009, facing west from the Capitol

Independence Day fireworks display between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, July 4, 1986

The April 9, 1939, concert by Marian Anderson, facing east from the Lincoln Memorial

Britney Spears performs during the "NFL Kickoff Live from the National Mall Presented by Pepsi Vanilla" concert, September 4, 2003

The Concert for Valor on the National Mall on November 11, 2014, looking west from the United States Capitol grounds

The Smithsonian station on the Washington Metro in 2005

1863 photograph of the National Mall and vicinity during the Civil War, looking west towards the U.S. Botanical Garden, Washington City Canal, Gas Works, railroad tracks, Washington Armory, and Armory Square Hospital buildings. The Smithsonian Institution Building, the uncompleted Washington Monument (behind the Smithsonian's building), and the Potomac River are in the background.

The Victorian landscaping and architecture of the Mall looking east from the top of the Washington Monument, showing the influence of the Downing Plan and Adolph Cluss on the National Mall circa 1904. The Department of Agriculture Building, and above it, "The Castle", are in the foreground. A railroad route leading to a shed attached to the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station (not visible) crosses the Mall behind the Arts and Industry Building, the Army Medical Center, and the Armory.

View looking north of the National Mall with the Treasury Building in the background in April 1865.

View the National Mall with its livestock and the Treasury Building in the background in April 1865.

Looking east from the top of the Washington Monument towards the United States Capitol in the summer of 1901. The Mall exhibited the Victorian-era landscape of winding paths and random plantings that Andrew Jackson Downing designed in the 1850s

The Armory as a hospital during the Civil War

Department of Agriculture Building (circa 1895)

<center>Center Market circa 1875, looking northwest from The Mall</center>

Center Market between 1910 and 1930, looking southwest from 7th Street NW (at left)

Arts and Industries Building, looking southwest (March 2017)

Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station, looking southwest from 6th Street NW (at bottom and left)

Army Medical Museum and Library, looking northeast from Independence Avenue SW

Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool before reconstruction (April 2010)

Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool undergoing reconstruction (June 2011)

Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool undergoing reconstruction (December 2011)

Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after reconstruction (May 2016)

Axis of National Mall before restoration (July 2012)

Axis of National Mall undergoing restoration (April 2015)

Axis of National Mall undergoing restoration (October 2015)

Axis of National Mall after restoration (September 2016)

Aerial view of National Mall, Looking South

The Washington City Canal, completed in 1815 in accordance with the L'Enfant Plan, travelled along the former course of Tiber Creek to the Potomac River along B Street Northwest (NW) (now Constitution Avenue NW) and south along the base of a hill containing the Congress House, thus defining the northern and eastern boundaries of the Mall.

Some consider a lockkeeper's house constructed in 1837 near the western end of the Washington City Canal for an eastward extension of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal to be the oldest building still standing on the National Mall.

Potomac River

0 links

The Potomac River drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay.

The Potomac River in Washington, D.C., with Arlington Memorial Bridge in the foreground and Rosslyn, Arlington, Virginia in the background

Map showing the five geological provinces through which the Potomac River flows

The North Branch between Cumberland, Maryland, and Ridgeley, West Virginia, in 2007

Canoers at Hanging Rocks on the South Branch in the 1890s

Confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah at Harpers Ferry

View southwest across the tidal Potomac River from the south end of Cobb Island Road on Cobb Island, Charles County, Maryland

Tundra swans were the predominant species of swan on the Potomac River when the Algonquian tribes dwelled along its shores, and continue to be the most populous variety today.

View of the Potomac River from George Washington's birthplace in Westmoreland County, Virginia

Sunset over the Potomac near Mount Vernon

Map of the Potomac River and its environs circa 1862 by Robert Knox Sneden.

The Potomac River surges over the deck of Chain Bridge during the historic 1936 flood. The bridge was so severely damaged by the raging water, and the debris it carried, that its superstructure had to be re-built; the new bridge was opened to traffic in 1939. (This photograph was taken from a vantage point on Glebe Road in Arlington County, Virginia. The houses on the bluffs in the background are located on the Potomac Palisades of Washington, DC.)

Eutrophication in the Potomac River is evident from this bright green water in Washington, D.C., caused by a dense bloom of cyanobacteria, April 2012

This chart displays the Annual Mean Discharge of the Potomac River measured at Little Falls, Maryland for Water Years 1931–2017 (in cubic feet per second). Source of data: USGS

After an absence lasting many decades, the American Shad has recently returned to the Potomac.

Several hundred bottle-nosed dolphins live six months of the year (from mid-April through mid-October) in the Potomac. Depicted here, a mother with her young.

Eastern Box Turtles are frequently spotted along the towpath of the C&O Canal.

The South Branch near South Branch Depot, West Virginia

Confluence of the Cacapon River (barely visible) with the Potomac

Oblique air photo, facing southwest, of the Potomac River flowing through water gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Virginia on the left, Maryland on the right, West Virginia in upper right, including Harpers Ferry (partially obscured by Maryland Heights of Elk Ridge Mountain) at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.

The Great Falls of the Potomac, viewed from the Virginia bank of the river (Engraving based on an aquatint drawn by George Jacob Beck in 1802)

View of the Potomac River, Analostan Island, Georgetown, and, in the distance, buildings of the nascent City of Washington. (Engraving based on an 1801 watercolor by George Jacob Beck)

Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., viewed from across the Tidal Basin of the Potomac

The Pentagon, looking northeast with the Potomac in the distance

East Branch of the Potomac (now called the Anacostia River) near its confluence with the mainstem Potomac in Washington. (Watercolor drawn in 1839 by Augustus Kollner)

Potomac River seen while landing at Reagan National Airport

View northeast down the North Branch Potomac River from the Gorman-Gormania Bridge (U.S. Route 50) between Gormania, Grant County, West Virginia and Gorman, Garrett County, Maryland

The North Branch Potomac River near Piedmont, WV

The South Branch Potomac River near South Branch Depot, WV

The South Branch of the Potomac River at Millesons Mill, WV

Potomac River Watershed in West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland

Along the way the following tributaries drain into the Potomac: Pimmit Run, Gulf Branch, Donaldson Run, Windy Run, Spout Run, Maddox Branch, Foundry Branch, Rock Creek, Rocky Run, Tiber Creek, Roaches Run, Washington Channel, Anacostia River, Four Mile Run, Oxon Creek, Hunting Creek, Broad Creek, Henson Creek, Swan Creek, Piscataway Creek, Little Hunting Creek, Dogue Creek, Accotink Creek, Pohick Creek, Pomonkey Creek, Occoquan River, Neabsco Creek, Powell's Creek, Mattawoman Creek, Chicamuxen Creek, Quantico Creek, Little Creek, Chopawamsic Creek, Tank Creek, Aquia Creek, Potomac Creek, Nanjemoy Creek, Chotank Creek, Port Tobacco River, Popes Creek, Gambo Creek, Clifton Creek, Piccowaxen Creek, Upper Machodoc Creek, Wicomico River, Cobb Island, Monroe Creek, Mattox Creek, Popes Creek, Breton Bay, Leonardtown, St. Marys River, Yeocomico River, Coan River, and Hull Creek.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal operated along the banks of the Potomac in Maryland from 1831 to 1924 and also connected Cumberland to Washington, D.C. This allowed freight to be transported around the rapids known as the Great Falls of the Potomac River, as well as many other, smaller rapids.