A report on Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

Map of planned route.
A boat on the canal, circa 1900-1924
Canal boats waiting to be unloaded in Georgetown.
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.
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
Floodwaters around Lock 6 in 1936
Great Falls feeder culvert (no longer used) indicated by yellow arrow(14.08 mi), and Lock 18 (R).
Boat at Big Slackwater
An informal overflow. The towpath dips, allowing water to flow over it. Note the boards in the background for people to walk on.
Paw Paw Tunnel
Remains of the inclined plane
Culvert #30 lets Muddy Branch under the canal
Repairs at Big Pool
Mules being fed.
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

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal and occasionally called the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River between Washington, D.C., and Cumberland, Maryland.

- Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

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Potomac Company

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Created in 1785 to make improvements to the Potomac River and improve its navigability for commerce.

Created in 1785 to make improvements to the Potomac River and improve its navigability for commerce.

Although the company charter was surrendered to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company in 1828, its curtailment has overall minor significance only as in that it serves as an example of how a deficient amount of support from the responsible leadership balancing the federal government can seem to undermine a large, desirable infrastructure project that is a conceptual overreach, or could attract sufficient private funding.

A short pound on the Chesterfield Canal in England, United Kingdom.

Canal pound

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Stretch of level water impounded between two canal locks.

Stretch of level water impounded between two canal locks.

A short pound on the Chesterfield Canal in England, United Kingdom.
A feeder canal to feed the Georgetown level of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
Canal drained for winter. Note: water "stain" on lock masonry indicates normal water level.
Summit pound (level) on the Morris Canal, fed by Lake Hopatcong through a feeder canal.
Map showing extended intermediate pounds at Caen Hill locks
A spillway on the towpath of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
Indentation in the tow-path for the Regent's Canal in London, to accommodate horse submerged steps so that horses towing a barge that fell into the water could clamber out
Work crew removing sand bar by inclined plane 5E on the Morris Canal

On some American canals, some pounds acquired nicknames due to the mileage between locks, e.g. the "Eight Mile Level" on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was between Riley's Lock (Lock 24) and Edward's Ferry (Lock 25), a distance of about 8 mi.

Allen Bowie Davis

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American businessman.

American businessman.

This in turn led to him becoming the director and trustee of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal during the final 50 miles of construction.

Adams c. 1843–48, photographed by
Mathew Brady

John Quincy Adams

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American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829.

American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829.

Adams c. 1843–48, photographed by
Mathew Brady
Adams's birthplace in Quincy, Massachusetts
1815 US passport issued by John Quincy Adams at London.
Adams portrait – Gilbert Stuart, 1818
Painting of John Quincy Adams by Thomas Sully, 1824
In the Adams–Onís Treaty, the United States acquired Florida and set the western border of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.
1824 presidential election results
General Andrew Jackson, Adams's opponent in the 1824 and 1828 United States presidential elections
Painting of Quincy Adams by Charles Osgood, 1828
Quincy Adams appointed Henry Clay as Secretary of State
1828 presidential election results
Daguerreotype of Quincy Adams by Philip Haas, 1843
Portrait of Quincy Adams by William Hudson, 1844
John Quincy Adams, c. 1840s, Unknown author
BEP engraved portrait of Adams as president
Adams's portrait at the U.S. National Portrait Gallery by George Bingham c. 1850 copy of an 1844 original
Adams's cenotaph at the Congressional Cemetery
John Quincy Adams's original tomb at Hancock Cemetery, across the street from United First Parish Church
Presidential Dollar of John Quincy Adams
Official portrait of Adams by George Peter Alexander Healy, c. 1858
Peacefield - John Quincy Adam's Home
Tombs of Presidents John Adams (far left) and John Quincy Adams (right) and their wives Abigail and Louisa, in a family crypt beneath the United First Parish Church.

The Adams administration also saw the beginning of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal; the construction of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal and the Louisville and Portland Canal around the Falls of the Ohio; the connection of the Great Lakes to the Ohio River system in Ohio and Indiana; and the enlargement and rebuilding of the Dismal Swamp Canal in North Carolina.

Charles F. Mercer

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Nineteenth-century politician and lawyer from Loudoun County, Virginia who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Virginia General Assembly.

Nineteenth-century politician and lawyer from Loudoun County, Virginia who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Virginia General Assembly.

Before his service on the House Committee on Roads and Canals, he had been the first president of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Co., serving from 1828 to 1833.

C&O Canal monument in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal commemorative obelisk

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C&O Canal monument in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal commemorative obelisk is an 8 ft marble obelisk erected in 1850 in Washington, D.C., to mark the completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal to Cumberland, Maryland.

Cumberland Dam, c. 1900

Cumberland Dam

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Cumberland Dam, c. 1900

The Cumberland Dam was built across the North Branch of the Potomac River at Cumberland, Maryland, for the purpose of diverting water of the river into the head of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

Muddy Branch

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Tributary stream of the Potomac River in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, located about 14 mi northwest of Washington, D.C.

Tributary stream of the Potomac River in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, located about 14 mi northwest of Washington, D.C.

Muddy Branch, crossing under the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, just before emptying into the Potomac River
Muddy Branch Stream and the Muddy Branch Greenway Trail
Muddy Branch near Quince Orchard Road in North Potomac, Maryland
Muddy Branch Stream behind Morris Park, Gaithersburg, Maryland

The headwaters of the stream originate in Gaithersburg, and the stream flows southwest for 11.9 mi, through Muddy Branch Park and Blockhouse Point Conservation Park, under the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal near Pennyfield Lock, to the Potomac River.

Oldtown, Maryland

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Unincorporated community and census-designated place in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, along the North Branch Potomac River.

Unincorporated community and census-designated place in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, along the North Branch Potomac River.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal reached Cumberland, Maryland, from Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) in 1850, passing Oldtown at milepost 166.5.

Morris Canal Overflow and Waste Weir site

Waste weir

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Slatted gate on each canal level or pound, to remove excess water and to drain the canal for repairs or for the winter shutdown.

Slatted gate on each canal level or pound, to remove excess water and to drain the canal for repairs or for the winter shutdown.

Morris Canal Overflow and Waste Weir site
Engineering drawing of a waste weir from the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Waste weir. Note boards to adjust water height. The wicket at Pennyfield lock were open, draining the canal of water, hence, why the water level is lower than the boards.
Boards are out. Note the iron wickets (paddle valves) closed. Those could be opened to drain the canal further.
Concrete Waste weir. Note rods for attaching handles to control paddle valves.
Outflow from the waste weir at Swain's Lock.
A small waste weir without paddle valves to drain the prism.
A circular overflow weir on the Droitwich canal

On the Erie Canal and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, waste weirs were often constructed from masonry or concrete.