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The Great American Canals
Archer Butler Hulbert
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by
Google
STANTORD UNIVERSITY IVERSITY LIBRARYS
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HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA
VOLUME 13
The Great American
Capals
LIBRARIES
BY
ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT
With Maps and Illustrations
Volume I
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
and
The Pennsylvania Canal
H
ALISHBAINO
LELAND MISTANFORD JUNIOR
THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY
CLEVELAND, OHIO
1904
S
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973
H912
V.13
COPYRIGHT, 1904
BY
THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
УПЕЯЗИИИ
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CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE
II
I. INTRODUCTORY
. 15
II. THE POTOMAC COMPANY
. 33
III. THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL
AND ITS RIVAL
. 65
IV. THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL AND ITS
SUCCESSOR
. 169
APPENDIXES
217
85242
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ILLUSTRATIONS
I. FOUR ROUTES TO THE WEST Frontispiece
II. MAP OF THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO
CANAL
. 81
III. THE CACTOCIN AQUEDUCT
117
IV. SCRIP ISSUED BY THE CHESAPEAKE
AND OHIO CANAL COMPANY
. 147
V. A VIEW OF THE CHESAPEAKE AND
OHIO CANAL (at the entrance of the
tunnel near Cumberland, Mary-
land)
165
VI. MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA CANAL AND
PORTAGE RAILWAY
185
VII. THE FIRST AMERICAN TUNNEL (by
which the Portage Railway crossed
the Mountains)
201
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f Penn
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Coogle
PREFACE
important part in
movement west-
ward in America. Two mono-
graphs of this series, therefore, are devoted
to the rise and building of three great
canal routes westward, the Chesapeake and
Ohio, the Pennsylvania, and the Erie
canals.
The present volume is devoted to the
Potomac Company and its successor, the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, and
finally the Pennsylvania Canal. In each
case the birth and development of the two
great railroad routes which follow these
canals, the Baltimore and Ohio and the
Pennsylvania Railways, is also sketched.
The history of the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal is contained in the reports of
the company; Hon. Theodore B. Klein has
written a very interesting account of the
Pennsylvania canals, The Canals of Penn-
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12
PREFACE
sylvania, and the System of Internal Improve-
ments of the Commonwealth; Mr. William
Bender Wilson has included a fine sketch
of the Allegheny Portage Railway in his
History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com-
pany. To both of these the author is in-
debted for advice and assistance.
A. B. H.
MARIETTA, OHTo, March I, 1904.
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The Great American Canals
Volume I
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
and
The Pennsylvania Canal
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
C
ANALS are of two classes, those ad-
mitting large and those admitting
small craft; the former are techni-
cally known as ship canals, the latter,
barge canals. It is, of course, the barge
canal, in its relation to the western move-
ment of the American people, that agrees
in all essentials with our present study of
Historic Highways and which should be
considered in any study of the subject.
The subject of fast and safe transporta-
tion of freight has become so commonplace
in our day of railways that it is with
difficulty that we catch any true idea of the
economic importance to our forefathers of
the invention and general use of such an
ordinary thing as a good wagon. The
meaning of the successful opening of a
great canal, such as the Erie Canal, can
hardly be understood unless one has known
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16
THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
nothing of the problem of transportation
save as represented by the pack-saddle and
" Conestoga" wagon. When looked at
from such a standpoint, the lock canal is at
once seen to be one of the grandest inven-
tions of any age; it was every whit as far
ahead of any system of transportation when
it was discovered as the railway is in
advance of the best canal today.
From this point of view - that of the
comparative value of this method of mov-
ing freight over any method known before
it - it must seem most inexplicable that
the lock canal was the invention of mod-
erns. The simple canal lock, with all its
immense benefits, escaped the notice of the
builders of pyramids or the "Hanging
Gardens," of the Parthenon and of the
engineers of the Cloaca Maxima. Egypt,
Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, with all
their vast needs in the way of handling
heavy freight, never invented the simple
hydraulic lock. And this is the more as-
tonishing because they dug great canals;
the Royal Canal of Babylon was twice as
long as our American Erie Canal; the
Fossa Mariana, from the Rhône to the
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INTRODUCTORY
17
Gulf of Stomalenine (102 B. C.), the Em-
peror Claudius's canal from the Tiber to
the sea, the canal from the Nile to the port
of Alexandria, Odoacer's canal from Men-
tone, near Ravenna, to the sea, the
Roman canals in England and Lombardy,
the Moorish canals in Granada (which lan-
guished when Ferdinand conquered the
country!) all indicate the knowledge the
ancients had with this form of inland
navigation.
The general early theory was to make
inland navigation possible by means of a
"canalization" of rivers. One of the most
successful efforts in this direction is the
Grand Canal of China, the great highway
of the Middle Kingdom; it was built in
the thirteenth century, to connect the
waters of the Yang-ste and the Pei-ho
Rivers, the former the great waterway of
central China, the latter the waterway of
the strategic province of Chili. This great
work nearly a thousand miles in length is
a series of canalized rivers. Other canals,
such as that pushed forward by Charle-
magne to unite the Rhine with the Danube,
were almost impossible until the invention
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18
THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
of the lock. The blockheadedness of the
Spaniard is most clearly shown in the atti-
tude of a certain state paper, though, in
fact, it very nearly voices a fundamental
scientific law; with reference to the canali-
zation of Spanish rivers a decree of a state
council read: "
if it had pleased
God that these rivers should have been
navigable, he would not have wanted
human assistance to have made them such,
but that, as he has not done it, it is plain
that he did not think it proper that it should
be done. To attempt it, therefore, would
be to violate the decrees of his providence,
and to mend these imperfections which he
designedly left in his works." There was
a vast deal of mending the imperfections of
Providence before men found the secret of
one of Providence's simplest laws.
In 1481 two engineers at Viterbo, Italy,
invented the canal lock by which craft
could be lifted or lowered from one level
to another. The discovery gave great im-
petus to canal building, especially in Italy.
The first canal in France was the Braire,
built in 1605-1642. The Orleans was
opened in 1675. Of all European works of
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INTRODUCTORY
19
this character the Languedoc Canal, built
by Riquet, from 1667 to 1881, was the most
conspicuous. It connected the Bay of Bis-
cay and the Mediterranean, its termini
being Narbonne and Toulouse. It is one
hundred and forty-eight miles in length
and its summit level is six hundred feet
above the sea, while the works on its line
embrace upwards of one hundred locks and
fifty aqueducts, an undertaking which is a
lasting monument of the skill and enter-
prise of its projectors; and with this work
as a model it seems strange that Britain
should not, till nearly a century after its
execution, have been engaged in vigorously
following so laudable an example."1
The Romans had built two canals in
England, the Caer Dyke and the Foss
Dyke; of the former only the name re-
mains. "Camden in his Britannia states
that the Foss Dyke was a cut originally
made by the Romans, probably for water
supply or drainage, and that it was deep-
ened and rendered in some measure navig-
able in the year II2I by Henry I. In
1762 it was reported on by Smeaton and
Encyclopedia Britannica, "Canals."
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
Grundy, who found the depth at that time
to be about two feet, eight inches. They,
however, discouraged the idea of deepening
by excavation.
It was resolved
[1840] to increase the dimensions of the
canal, and to repair the whole work
and thus that ancient canal, which is quoted
by Telford and Nimmo as 'the oldest
artificial canal in Britain,' was restored to
a state of perfect efficiency, at a cost of
£40,000."⁸
The internal navigation of Great Britain
was the subject of legislation in 1423; locks
were known on the river Lee as early as
1570. The seventeenth century saw con-
siderable canal digging, but the island is so
narrow that in early days the coasting trade
and navigable rivers answered almost all
purposes of commerce. About the middle
of the eighteenth century the growth
of manufacturing centers wrought great
changes, and for half a century canal build-
ing in England came to the fore, though
south of Durham no point was fifteen miles
from navigation. The Duke of Bridgewater,
procuring a grant for construction of canals
"Id.
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INTRODUCTORY
21
in 1758, was the great promoter in this line
of industry at this period. These were the
brilliant days of John Smeaton, civil engi-
neer and improver of hydraulic machinery.
Born near Leeds in 1724, he achieved per-
haps his most celebrated success in 1759, by
the completion of the Eddystone lighthouse.
His other famous works were building
Ramsgate Harbor and the Forth and Clyde
Canal in Scotland; this work, first proposed
by Charles II, was completed in 1789, accord-
ing to Smeaton's plans. It is thirty-five
miles in length, passing over a summit
level of one hundred and sixty feet, by
means of thirty-nine locks. In Ireland the
Grand Canal from Dublin to Ballinasloe,
with a total length of one hundred and
sixty-four miles, was built in 1765. In
1792 the Royal Canal leading from Dublin
to Tormansburg, ninety-two miles, was
completed. Nearly five thousand miles of
canals have been built in Great Britain.
It was natural that an echo of the awaken-
ing of internal improvements in England
should have been heard in her American
colonies where such a vast field for such
enterprise lay awaiting a similar awaken-
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
ing. It is believed that as early as 1750 a
canal or sluice was dug in Orange County,
New York, by Lieutenant-governor Colder
for the transportation of stone. The earli-
est planned lock canal in the provinces was
the Schuylkill and Susquehanna, surveyed
from the Schuylkill River near Reading,
Pennsylvania, to Middletown on the Sus-
quehanna in 1762. Work on this canal was
not begun until 1791, but only four miles
were opened by 1794, when the work again
paused. Not until 1821 was it resumed,
and the canal was completed in 1827 under
the name of the Union Canal. It became
a division of the later Pennsylvania Canal.
The second canal survey in the Ameri-
can colonies was of a route between Chesa-
peake Bay and the Delaware River in 17643
A new survey was made of this proposed
canal in 1769, under the auspices of the
American Philosophical Society; it was
not, however, until 1804 that work was
commenced on this canal - the Chesapeake
and Delaware, as it was known - and this
was soon suspended. The route was re-
surveyed in 1822 and completed, thirteen
and one-half miles long, in 1829.
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INTRODUCTORY
23
It is interesting to note that the subject
of canals was being widely mooted in
America at a time far remote from the day
when they came actually into existence.
England waited a century after the cele-
brated Languedoc Canal in France proved
what vast good this form of internal im-
provement could bring, before she took up
the canal problem in earnest. Within half
a century, and less, after canal building
was common in England it became com-
mon in young America. We were com-
paratively quick to make the most of oppor-
tunities in this as in every branch of inven-
tion and promotion which helped toward
annihilating distances. The great extent
of our territory in itself was an induce-
ment to this end. Our colonial roads were
often impassable in the winter season and
wretched in any wet weather; the main
line of communication was the Atlantic
Coast, never easily navigated and, for a
large part of the year, extremely dangerous
in these early days before the invention of
the blessings of our present coast surveys,
lighthouses, and lightships. As a conse-
quence, it was natural that the idea gained
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
ground rapidly that if the splendid rivers
which are scattered in profusion up and
down our seaboard could be connected by
canals a new era would dawn in our coast-
wise trade, which was, in fact, almost our
only trade. Thus it came about that hosts
of schemes were proposed for connecting
our Atlantic rivers and bays.
In many cases our rivers were easily
navigated for long distances into the in-
terior; but these distances varied in differ-
ent seasons of the year, and when, in the
last quarter of the eighteenth century the
western movement became prominent, and
the rivers were ascended further than
before, the question of the navigation of
unnavigable waters came quickly to the
fore. Unfortunately for their pocket-
books, our forefathers did not agree with
the Spanish idea that improving unnaviga-
ble rivers was a wilful attempt "to mend
the imperfections of providence." The
story of the sorry attempts to make such
rivers as the Mohawk and upper Potomac
navigable proves that the Spanish decree
was somehow in the right, whether the
Spanish reasoning was correct or not.
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INTRODUCTORY
25
The following letter written by Benjamin
Franklin to S. Rhoads, Mayor of Phila-
delphia, from London, August 22, 1772,
with reference to the improvement of rivers
and building of canals is an interesting
early view of the subject.' Mayor Rhoads
had evidently applied for and received data
respecting the canals of Great Britain:
"I think I before acknowledg'd your
Favour of Feb. 29. I have since received
that of May 30. I am glad my Canal
Papers were agreeable to you. I fancy
work of that kind is set on foot in America.
I think it would be saving Money to engage
by a handsome Salary an Engineer from
here who has been accustomed to such
Business. The many Canals on foot here
under different great Masters, are daily
raising a number of Pupils in the Art,
some of whom may want Employment here-
after, and a single Mistake thro' Inexperi-
ence in such important Works, may cost
much more than the Expense of Salary
to an ingenious young Man already well
acquainted with both Principles and Prac-
tice. This the Irish have learnt at a dear
rate in the first Attempt of their great
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
Canal, and now are endeavoring to get
Smeaton to come and rectify their Errors.
With regard to your Question, whether it
is best to make the Schuylkill a part of the
Navigation to the back Country, or
whether the difficulty of that River, sub-
ject to all the Inconveniences of Floods,
Ice, &c., will not be greater than the Ex-
pense of Digging, Locks, &c., I can only
say that here they look on the constant
Practicability of a Navigation, allowing
Boats to pass and repass at all Times and
Seasons, without Hindrance, to be a point
of the greatest Importance, and, therefore,
they seldom or ever use a River where it
can be avoided. Locks in Rivers are sub-
ject to many more Accidents than those in
still water Canals; and the Carrying away
a few Locks by Freshets of Ice, not only
creates a great Expense, but interrupts
Business for a long time "till repairs are
made, which may soon be destroyed again,
and thus the Carrying on a Course of Busi-
ness by such a Navigation be discouraged,
as subject to frequent interruptions. The
Toll, too, must be higher to pay for such
Repairs. Rivers are ungovernable things,
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INTRODUCTORY
27
especially in Hilly Countries. Canals are
quiet and very manageable. Therefore
they are often carried on here by the Sides
of Rivers, only on ground above the Reach
of Floods, no other Use being made of the
Rivers than to supply occasionally the
waste of water in the Canals. I warmly
wish Success to every Attempt for Improve-
ment of our dear Country.
The Revolutionary War put an end to
many plans for the improvement of Frank-
lin's dear country." Immediately after
the close of the war, however, the various
projects were again advanced here and
there as the young republic began to grasp
the great opportunities that lay before it.
Among the most important early undertak-
ings were those which looked forward to a
new West and the need of lines of commu-
nication in advance of the rough roads which
were the only avenues of commerce. The
scheme of improving the rivers which rose
in the Alleghenies, and connecting their
heads with the waterways which flowed
into the Ohio River at Lake Erie, was one
of the moving projects of the hour. The
improvement of the James, Potomac, and
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
Mohawk Rivers for this purpose com-
manded the attention of the nation at the
time; these projects were the first steps
toward building the Chesapeake and Ohio
and the Erie canals, and will be treated in
the chapters devoted to those topics. It is
our purpose here only to emphasize in
general terms the mania for improving the
minor waterways in which so many mil-
lions of dollars were wasted before such
advice as that given by Franklin in 1772, as
quoted, was found to be well-grounded.
The spirit of this enterprising but unfor-
tunate movement cannot be caught better
than by studying the papers and projects
of a " Society for promoting the improve-
ment of roads and inland navigation,"
formed in Philadelphia at the beginning of
the last decade of the eighteenth century
and of which the able but unfortunate
Robert Morris was president. Much of
Pennsylvania's leadership in works of im-
provement was due to the activity of this
organization. One of the main objects of
the society is stated in a memorial to the
Pennsylvania Assembly dated February 7,
1791, the introduction of which reads:
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INTRODUCTORY
29
"The memorial of The Society for pro-
moting the improvement of roads and
inland navigation,'
"Refpectfully sheweth,
"That your memoralifts, refiding in
various parts of this ftate, with a view to
contribute their beft endeavors to promote
the internal trade, manufactures and popu-
lation of their country, by facilitating every
poffible communication between the differ-
ent parts of the ftate, have lately formed
themfelves into a fociety, by the name
above mentioned. And knowing that the
Legiflature, with the laudable intention of
advancing the beft interefts of this com-
monwealth, and availing themfelves of the
extenfive information, which they have
obtained of the geography and fituation of
the country, have now under their confid-
eration the important fubject of roads and
inland navigation; we, therefore, beg
leave, with all poffible deference, to fuggeft
fome important confiderations which have
occurred to us in our enquiries into this
fubject." A description of the position of
Pennsylvania then follows, with an outline
of her rivers which, as was then believed,
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
were to become by improvement the com-
mercial avenues of the dawning age.
"To combine the interefts of all the parts
of the ftate, and to cement them in a per-
petual commercial and political union, by
the improvement of thofe natural advan-
tages, is one of the greateft works which
can be fubmitted to legiflative wifdom; and
the prefent moment is particularly aufpi-
cious for the undertaking, and if neglected,
the lofs will be hard to retrieve."
Following this the river systems of Penn-
sylvania are taken up in order, showing
the number of miles of waterways which
it was supposed were capable of being
connected and made avenues of trade.
The two main divisions and their various
subdivisions were as follows:
"Delaware Navigation
I. From the tide water at Trenton falls
to lake Otfego, the head of the northeaft
branch of Sufquehanna
2. From the tide water on Delaware to
Ofwego on lake Ontario
"An Historical Account of the Rise, Progress and
Present State of the Canal Navigation in Pennsyl-
vania (Philadelphia, 1795), p. I.
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INTRODUCTORY
31
Sufquehanna Navigation
I. From Philadelphia, or the tide wa-
ters of Schuylkill, to Pittfburgh on the
Ohio
2. From Philadelphia to Prefqu'Iñe on
lake Erie, by the Juniata and Kifkemine-
tas &c
3. From Philadelphia to Prefqu'Ifle, by
the weft branch of Sufquehanna, Sinne-
mahoning and Conewango.
4. From Philadelphia to Prefqu'Ifle, by
the weft branch of Sufquehanna, Sinne-
mahoning and Toby's creek.
5. From the tide waters of Sufquehan-
na to Pittfburgh.
6. From the tide waters of Potomack,
at George Town, to Pittfburgh
7. From Conedeffago lake to New York
8. From the middle of the Geneffee
country to New York"
The Pennsylvania Assembly responded
liberally to the appeal of Robert Morris's
society, and appropriated, April 13, 1791,
£22,220 for the improvement of Pennsyl-
vania rivers; the largest appropriations
were for the Sufquehanna, from Wright's
ferry to the mouth of Swatara creek, inclu-
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32
THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
sive" £5,250; "For the river Delaware,"
£3,500; " For the river Schuylkill," £2,500;
Conemaugh, £2,800; Allegheny, £150; and
Lehigh, £1000.4 Thus it will be seen that
the improvement of rivers was firmly con-
sidered to be one of the important under-
takings of the day.
'Id., pp. 73, 74.
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CHAPTER II
THE POTOMAC COMPANY
G
EORGE Washington's efforts to
promote internal improvement in
Virginia and Maryland with special
reference to the Middle West have been
lightly sketched in other portions of
this work.5 A more or less complete
examination into the Potomac Company
must be essayed here, for among the
improvements of internal waterways in
America that of the Potomac urged by
Washington meant to the last quarter of
the eighteenth century what the building
of the Erie Canal meant to the first quarter
of the nineteenth.
Having maintained with earnestness for
many years that Virginia and Maryland
should, through the Potomac River, secure
the trade of the rising empire west of the
"Historic Highways of America, vols. iii, pp. 189-
204; xii, pp. 15-30.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
Alleghenies, Washington, at the close of
the Revolution, gave himself wholly up to
this commercial problem. Before peace was
declared he left the Continental camp at
Newberg and made a long, dangerous tour
up the Mohawk Valley, examining care-
fully the portages to Wood Creek at Rome,
and to Lake Otsego at Canajoharie. With
that far-sighted shrewdness which, of
itself, made him a marked man, he felt
that this route which avoided the mountains
was the great rival of his Potomac River.
Yet he was no narrow partisan. Returning
from his tour he wrote Chevalier de Chas-
tellux from Princeton, October 12, 1783:
"Prompted by these actual observations,
I could not help taking a more extensive
view of the vast inland navigation of these
United States and could not but be struck
with the immense extent and importance
of it, and with the goodness of that Provi-
dence, which has dealt its favors to us with
so profuse a hand. Would to God we may
have wisdom enough to improve them. I
shall not rest contented, till I have ex-
plored the western country, and traversed
those lines, or great part of them, which
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THE POTOMAC COMPANY
35
have given bounds to a new empire."
This clear cry of enthusiasm was from
the heart, and within a year Washington
carried out his plan of western exploration.
Of this journey we had occasion to speak in
our sketch of the Old Northwestern Turn-
pike.⁶ In that connection our attention
was confined to the portage route between
the Cheat and Potomac Rivers. Here his
plan for a water avenue from East to West
must be emphasized as the first chapter in
the history of both the Potomac Company
and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. This
cannot be so well done as by quoting the
summary of the Journal of this trip, which
has never been published." It will be seen
that it is the basis and, in part, the first
draft of his famous Letter to Harrison writ-
ten upon his return to Mount Vernon:8
"And tho' I was disappointed in one of the
objects which induced me to undertake this
journey namely to examine into the situa-
tion quality and advantages of the Land
which I hold upon the Ohio and Great
'Historic Highways of America, vol. xii, ch. iii.
"Id., note I.
"October, 1784.
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Kanhawa - and to take measures for rescu-
ing them from the hands of Land Jobbers
& Speculators - who I had been informed
regardless of my legal & equitable rights,
Patents, &cª; had enclosed them within
other Surveys & were offering them for
Sale at Philadelphia and in Europe.- I
say notwithstanding this disappointment I
am well pleased with my journey, as it has
been the means of my obtaining a knowl-
edge of facts - coming at the temper &
disposition of the Western Inhabitants- -
and making reflections thereon, which,
otherwise, must have been as wild, inco-
hert, or perhaps as foreign from the truth,
as the inconsistency, of the reports which
I had received even from those to whom
most credit seemed due, generally were
"These reflections remain to be summed
up.
"The more then the Navigation of
Potomack is investigated, & duely con-
sidered, the greater the advantages arising
from them appear.-
"The South or principal branch of
Shannondoah at Mr Lewis's is, to traverse
the river, at least 150 Miles from its Mouth;
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all of which, except the rapids between the
Bloomery and Keys's ferry, now is, or very
easily may be made navigable for inland
Craft, and extended 30 Miles higher.-The
South Branch of Potomack is already navi-
gated from its Mouth to Fort Pleasant;
which, as the Road goes, is 40 computed
Miles; & the only difficulty in the way (and
that a very trifling one) is just below the
latter, where the River is hemmed in by
the hills or mountains on each side - From
hence, in the opinion of Col° Joseph
Neville and others, it may, at the most
trifling expense imaginable, be made navi-
gable 50 Miles higher.-
"To say nothing then of the smaller
Waters, such as Pattersons Creek, Cacape-
hen, Opeckon &cª; which are more or less
Navigable; - and of the branches on the
Maryland side, these two alone (that is the
South Branch & Shannondoah) would afford
water transportation for all that fertile
Country between the bleu ridge and the
Alligany Mountains; which is immense -
but how trifling when viewed upon that
immeasurable scale, which is inviting our
attention!
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
"The Ohio River embraces this Com-
monwealth from its Northern, almost to its
Southern limits.-It is now, our western
boundary.-& lyes nearly parallel to our
exterior, & thickest settled Country.-
"Into this River French Creek, big
bever Creek, Muskingham, Hockhocking,
Scioto, and the two Miamas (in its upper
Region) and many others (in the lower)
pour themselves from the westward through
one of the most fertile Country's of the
Globe; by a long inland navigation; which,
in its present state, is passable for Canoes
and such other small craft as has, hitherto,
been made use of for the Indian trade.-
"French Creek, down wch I have myself
come to Venango, from a lake near its
source, is 15 Miles from Prisque Isle on lake
Erie; and the Country betw" quite level.—
Both big bever creek and Muskingham,
communicates very nearly with Cuyahoga;
which runs into lake Erie; the portage
with the latter (I mean Muskingham) as
appears by the Maps, is only one mile;
and by many other accts very little further;
and so level between, that the Indians
and Traders, as is affirmed, always drag
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THE POTOMAC COMPANY
39
their Canoes from one River to the
other when they go to War - to hunt,- or
trade.- The great Miame, which runs into
the Ohio, communicates with a River of the
same name, as also with Sandusky, which
emp themselves into lake Erie, by short
and easy Portages.- And all of these are
so many channels through which not only
the produce of the New States, contem-
plated by Congress, but the trade of all the
lakes, quite to that of the Wood, may be
conducted according to my information, and
judgment - at least by one of the Routs- -
thro' a shorter, easier, and less expensive
communication than either of those which
are now, or have been used with Canada,
New Yk or New Orleans.-
"That this may not appear an assertion,
or even an opinion unsupported, I will
examine matters impartially, and endeavour
to state facts.-
"Detroit is a point, thro' which the
Trade of the Lakes Huron, & all those
above it, must pass, if it centres in any
State of the Union; or goes to Canada;
unless it should pass by the River Outa-
wais, which disgorges itself into the St
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
Lawrence at Montreal and which necessity
only can compel; as it is from all accts
longer and of more difficult navigation than
the St Lawrence itself.-
"To do this, the Waters which empty
into the Ohio on the East Side, & which
communicate nearest and best with those
which run into the Atlantic, must also be
delineated - -
"These are, Monongahela and its
branches, viz, Yohiogany & Cheat.-and
the little and great Kanhawas; and Green-
brier which emptys into the latter.-
"The first (unfortunately for us) is
within the jurisdiction of Pensylvania
from its Mouth to the fork of the Cheat,
indeed 2 Miles higher - as (which is more
to be regretted) the Yohiogany also is, till
it crosses the line of Maryland; these
Rivers I am persuaded, afford much the
shortest Routs from the Lakes to the tide
water of the Atlantic, but one not under
our controul; being subject to a power
whose interest is opposed to the extension
of their navigation, as it would be the
inevitable means of withdrawing from
Philadelphia all the trade of that part of its
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41
western territory, which, lyes beyond the
Laurel hill.- Though any attempt of that
Government to restrain it I am equally
well persuaded wd cause a separation of
their territory; there being sensible men
among them who have it in contemplation
at this moment.- but this by the by.-The
little Kanhawa, which stands next in order,
& by Hutchins's table of distances (between
Fort Pit and the Mouth of the River Ohio)
is 184½ Miles below the Monongahela, is
navigable between 40 and 50 Miles up, to
a place called Bullstown.- Thence there
is a Portage of 9½ Miles to the West
fork of Monongahela- - Thence along the
same to the Mouth of Cheat River, and up
it to the Dunker bottom; from whence a
portage may be had to the N° branch of
Potomack.
"Next to the little, is the great Kan-
hawa; which by the above Table is 981/2
miles still lower down the Ohio.— This is
a fine Navigable river to the Falls; the
practicability of opening which, seems to
be little understood; but most assuredly
ought to be investigated.
"These then are the ways by which the
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
Produce of that Country; & the peltry and
fur trade of the Lakes may be introduced
into this State; & into Mary1d; which
stands upon similar ground.- There are
ways, more difficult & expensive indeed by
which they can also be carried to Philadel-
phia - all of which, with the Rout to A1-
bany, & Montreal,- and the distances by
Land, and Water, from place to place, as far
as can be ascertained by the best Maps now
extant - by actual Surveys made since the
publication of them - and the information
of intelligent persons - will appear as fol-
low - from Detroit - which is a point, as
has been observed, as unfavourable for us
to compute from (being upon the North
Western extremity of the United territory)
as any beyond Lake Erie can be.-
viz -
From Detroit to Alexandria
is
To Cuyahoga River
125 Miles
Up the same to the Portage
60
Portage to Bever Ck
8
Down Bever Ck to the Ohio
85
Up the Ohio to Fort Pitt
25
303
-
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48
The Mouth of Yohiogany
15
Falls to Ditto
50
Portage
I
Three forks or Turkey foot
8
Fort Cumberlᵈ or Wills Creek 30
Alexandria
200
304
Total
607
To Fort Pitt - as above
303
The Mouth of Cheat River
75
Up it, to the Dunker bottom
25
North branch of Potomack
20
Fort Cumberland
40
Alexandria
200
360
To Alexand* by this Rout
663
From Detroit to Alexandria avoiding
Pensylvania
*
To the M° of Cuyahoga
125 Miles
The carrying place with
Muskingham River
}
54
Portage
I
The M° of Muskingham
I92
The little Kanhawa
I2
384
*The Mouth of Cheat River & 2 Miles up it is in
Pensyla
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
Up the same
40
Portage to the West Bra 10
Down Monongahela to Cheat 80
Up Cheat to the Dunker Botm 25
Portage to the N° bra.
Potom
20
Fort Cumberland
40
Alexandria
200
415
Total by this Rout
799
From Detroit to Richmond
To the Mouth of the little Kan-
hawa as above
384
The Great Kanhawa by Hut-
chins's Table of Distances
98½
The Falls of the Kanhawa
from information
90
A portage (suppe)
IO
The Mouth of Green brier & up
it to the Portage
50
Portage to James Rr
33
281
Richmond
175
Total
840
Note - This Rout may be more incorrect
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45
than either of the foregoing, as I had only
the Maps, and vague information for the
Portages - and for the distances from the
Mouth of the Kanhawa to the Carrying
place with Jacksons (that is James) River
and the length of that River from the Car-
rying place to Richmond - - the length of
the carrying place above is also taken from
the Map tho' from Information one would
have called it not more than 20 Miles.
From Detroit to Philadelphia
is
Miles
To Presque Isle
245
Portage to Lebeauf
15
Down french Creek to Venango
75
Along the Ohio to Toby's Creek
25
115
I
To the head spring of D°
45
By a Strait line to the nearest
Water of Susque
15
Down the same to the West
branch
50
Fort Augusta at the Fork
125
Mackees (or Mackoneys) Ck
I2
Up this
25
By a strait line to Schuylk1
15
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
Reading
32
Philadelphia
62
381
Total
741
By another Rout
To Fort Pitt as before
303
Up the Ohio to Tobys Ck
95
Thence to Phila as above
381
Total
779
Note - The distances of places from the
Mouth of Tobys Creek to Philad* are taken
wholly from a comparative view of Evan's
and Sculls Maps - The number, and length
of the Portages, are not attempted to be
given with greater exactness than these -
and for want of more competent Knowl-
edge, they are taken by a strait line between
the sources of the different Waters which
by the Maps have the nearest communica-
tion with each other - consequently, these
Routs, if there is any truth in the Maps,
must be longer than the given distances -
particularly in the Portages, or Land
part of the Transportation, because no
Road among Mount" can be strait - or
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THE POTOMAC COMPANY
47
waters navigable to their fountain heads.
From Detroit to Albany
is
To Fort Erie, at the N° end of
Lake Erie
350
Fort Niagara - - 18 Miles of
Wch is Land transp"
30
380
-
Oswego
175
Fall of Onondaga River
12
Portage
I
Oneida Lake by Water
40
Length of D° to Wood Ck
18
Wood Ck very small and
Crooked
25
Portage to Mohawk
I
97
I
Down it to the Portage
бо
Portage
I
Schenectady
55
Portage to Albany
15
131
In all
783
To the City of New York
160
Total
943
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
From Detroit to Montreal
is
To Fort Niagara as above
380
North end of Lake Ontario
225
Oswegatche
бо
Montreal - very rapid
110
395
In all
775
To Quebec
180
Total
955
"Admitting the preceding Statement,
which as has been observed is given from
the best and most authentic Maps and
papers in my possession - from informa-
tion - and partly from observation, to be
tolerably just, it would be nugatory to go
about to prove that the Country within,
and bordering upon the Lakes Erie, Huron,
& Michigan would be more convenient
when they came to be settled - or that
they would embrace with avidity our Mar-
kets, if we should remove the obstructions
which are at present in the way to them.-
"It may be said, because it has been said,
& because there are some examples of it
in proof, that the Country of Kentucke,
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49
about the Falls, and even much higher up
the Ohio, have carried flour and other arti-
cles to New Orleans - but from whence
has it proceeded? - Will any one who has
ever calculated the difference between
Water & Land transportation wonder at
this? - especially in an infant settlement
where the people are poor and weak
handed - and pay more regard to their
ease than to loss of time, or any other cir-
cumstance?
"Hitherto, the people of the Western
Country having had no excitements to In-
dustry, labour very little; - the luxuriancy
of the Soil, with very little culture, pro-
duces provisions in abundance - these sup-
plies the wants of the encreasing popula-
tion - and the Spaniards when pressed by
want have given high prices for flour -
other articles they reject; & at times, (con-
trary I think to sound policy) shut their
ports against them altogether - but let us
open a good communication with the Set-
tlements west of us - extend the inland
Navigation as far as it can be done with
convenience - and shew them by this
means, how easy it is to bring the produce
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
of their Lands to our Markets, and see how
astonishingly our exports will be encreased;
and these States benefitted in a commercial
point of view - wch alone is an object of
such Magnitude as to claim our closest
attention - but when the subject is con-
sidered in a political point of view, it
appears of much greater importance."
By means of letters, urging these private
speculations on public attention, to Gover-
nor Harrison and James Madison, the mat-
ter of improvement of the Potomac was
brought before the Virginia legislature.
The consent and coöperation of Maryland
being of greatest importance, General
Washington, General Gates, and Colonel
Blackburn were appointed by the legisla-
ture to obtain the concurrent action of the
Maryland legislature. On December 20,
1784, the deputation, with the exception
of Colonel Blackburn who was detained by
illness, reached the Maryland capital. A
committee from that state being duly ap-
pointed to confer upon the matter in hand,
a conclusion was reached as contained in
the following report.
"That it is the opinion of this confer-
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THE POTOMAC COMPANY
51
ence, that the removing the obstructions
in the River Potomac, and the making the
same capable of navigation from tide-water
as far up the north branch of the said river
as may be convenient and practicable, will
increase the commerce of the common-
wealth of Virginia and State of Maryland,
and greatly promote the political interests
of the United States, by forming a free
and easy communication and connection
with the people settled on the western
waters, already very considerable in their
numbers, and rapidly increasing, from the
mildness of the climate and the fertility of
the soil.
"That it is the opinion of the confer-
ence, that the proposal to establish a com-
pany for opening the River Potomac,
merits the approbation of, and deserves to
be patronized by, Virginia and Maryland;
and that a similar law ought to be passed
by the legislatures of the two governments
to promote and encourage so laudable an
undertaking." It was further agreed that
the commonwealths of Virginia and Mary-
'Pickell's A New Chapter in the Early Life of Wash-
ington, p. 44.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
land should each subscribe for fifty shares
of stock in the undertaking in order to
"encourage individuals to embark in the
measure" and as a substantial proof to
our brethren of the western territory of our
disposition to connect ourselves with them
by the strongest bonds of friendship and
mutual interest." How closely Washing-
ton's plan was carried out is suggested in
the following resolutions: "That it is the
opinion of this conference, from the best
information they have obtained, that a
road, to begin about the mouth of Stony
River, may be carried in about twenty or
twenty-two miles to the Dunker Bottom or
Cheat River; from whence this conference
are of opinion, that batteaux navigation
may be made, though, perhaps, at con-
siderable expense. That if such navigation
cannot be effected by continuing the road
about twenty miles further, it would inter-
sect the Monongahela where the navigation
is good, and has long been practiced.
That it is a general opinion, that the navi-
gation in the Potomac may be extended to
the most convenient point below, or even
above the mouth of Stony River, from
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58
whence to set off a road to Cheat River;
and this conference is satisfied that that
road, from the nature of the country
through which it may pass, wholly through
Virginia and Maryland, will be much bet-
ter than a road can be made at any reasona-
ble expense from Fort Cumberland to the
Youghiogheny, which must be carried
through Pennsylvania." In a succeeding
resolution it is affirmed that the Dunkard
Bottom route is more feasible than one
from Fort Cumberland to Turkey Foot
[Connellsville, Pennsylvania], though the
latter road, if improved, would be of great
value to many settlers upon and near it.
The legislatures of the respective states
were asked to appoint examiners to view
the doubtful portions of the South Branch
(from Cumberland to the mouth of Stony
Creek) and the Cheat (from established
navigation and Dunkard Bottom) and lay
out a road between the heads of practicable
navigation on each. It was also suggested
that Virginia and Maryland ask permission
of Pennsylvania to lay out a road from
Cumberland to Turkey Foot on the Yough-
iogheny.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
Accordingly Virginia and Maryland
passed laws authorizing the formation of a.
company for the improvement of the
Potomac River. "I have now the pleas-
ure," wrote Washington to Richard Henry
Lee, February 8, 1785, "to inform you
that the Assemblies of Virginia and Mary-
land have enacted laws, of which the in-
closed is a copy.10 They are exactly simi-
lar in both States. At the same time, and
at the joint and equal expense of the two
governments, the sum of six thousand six
hundred and sixty-six dollars and two
thirds is voted for opening and keeping in
repair a road from the highest practicable
navigation of this river to that of the River
Cheat, or Monongahela, as commissioners,
who are appointed to survey and lay out
the same, shall find most convenient and
beneficial to the western settlers." Wash-
ington believed fully that the project was
to be a great success for stockholders; he
estimated that they would receive twenty
per cent from investments in Potomac im-
provement in a few years. 11
10 See appendix A, p. 219.
11 E. Watson's History of the
Western Canals
in the State of New York, p. 87.
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THE POTOMAC COMPANY
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The subscription books of the new com-
pany having been, as the law required,
opened on February 8, 1785, a summons
was issued for a meeting of the subscribers
at Alexandria, Virginia, on May 17. The
meeting having been called to order,
Daniel Carrol was elected chairman and
Charles Lee, clerk.¹⁸ The books being
opened, it was found that Virginia had
subscribed for two hundred and sixty-six
shares, the Richmond book showing one
hundred shares, the Alexandria book, one
hundred and thirty-five, and the Winches-
ter book thirty-one; Maryland had sub-
scribed for one hundred and thirty-seven
shares, divided as follows: Annapolis,
seventy - three; Georgetown, forty - two;
Frederick, twenty-two. The total shares
were therefore four hundred and three,
giving the company a capital of £40,300.
President and four directors of the Potomac
Company, as it was known, being ballotted
for, George Washington was elected presi-
dent, and Thomas Johnson, Thomas Sim
"All particulars concerning the inner history of the
Potomac Company are from Pickell's A New Chapter
in the Early Life of Washington; the author had
access to all documents in the case.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
Lee, John Fitzgerald, and George Gilpin
were elected directors.
The services of Mr. James Rumsey, the
mechanician, being secured, as general
manager of improvements, the president,
directors and manager made an examina-
tion of the river with a view to planning
the work to be done. Three important
impediments to navigation were immedi-
ately attacked; these were known as
"Great Falls," "Seneca Falls" and
"Shenandoah Falls." The Great Falls'
of these early days are the rapids and falls
above Washington which bear the same
name today. Seneca Falls were early
known as Sinegar Falls," in the Revolu-
tionary era on Fry and Jefferson's map.
They lie just above Great Falls, near the
mouth of Seneca Creek. Shenandoah
Falls were at the present Harper's Ferry
at the mouth of the river of the same name.
In the summer of 1785 parties of workmen
were blasting and removing the boulders
at these two points until the fall rains put
an end to the work. Attention was then
given to excavating a canal around Great
Falls, concerning which there was a great
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diversity of opinion, especially as to its
lower termination.
The work of this first season quickly
brought out the fact that it was a great
task which the cómpany had undertaken.
This may have been the reason why pay-
ment on shares had been so slow; already
the company's treasury was almost de-
pleted. "The original motive which
actuated the stockholders seemed for some
cause to have abated, and it required the
master spirit of the enterprise to be exerted,
to prevent at this important and critical
juncture, a total abandonment of the pro-
ject.
The State of Maryland had
failed to pay the sums due on the shares it
held, and a large number of individual
stockholders had also neglected to meet
their instalments.
The treasury
was no longer able to liquidate the claims
of individuals against it, and a total pros-
tration of its credit seemed inevitable
unless soon relieved." 18
Strenuous efforts on the part of the
officers brought desirable results and with
"A New Chapter in the Early Life of Washington,
pp. 83-84.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
the opening of the season of 1786 work on
the improvements was being pushed with
earnestness. At the annual meeting, Au-
gust 7, the same officers were re-elected
and the treasurer's books were examined
and found in good order. The president
and directors were allowed thirty shillings
in Virginia currency for the time they had
spent in the business of the company. It
was determined that the directors should
visit in person the river from Great Falls
upward, to inspect the ground, choose a
channel, and take such action as, in their
judgment, the case demanded. This was
done, the trip covering four days; and as
a result the legislatures of the states were
requested to extend the time limit from'
three years to November 17, 1790. In this
the legislatures acquiesced.¹⁴
During the new fiscal year additional
difficulties arose to unite with those of
unpropitious weather and financial distress
to delay and discourage. The appoint-
ment of Mr. Richardson Stewart as prin-
cipal Assistant Superintendent" resulted
in the resignation of Mr. Rumsey, who
"Hening's Statutes at Large, vol. xii, ch. cxiv.
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THE POTOMAC COMPANY
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preferred charges of incompetency against
Mr. Stewart.¹⁸ The directors replied to
the charges in the order they were made,
finding Mr. Stewart guilty of.only one,
namely of "causing another servant. to
burn Michael Barnet with a hot iron with-
out reason; the directors declared, with-
out fear or favor, that in this Mr. Stewart
acted with an impropriety the Board disap-
proves of "!16 A difficulty had arisen, early
in the work, in securing workmen and in
keeping them in submission to law and
order when once obtained. In the fall of
1785 half the laborers were dismissed from
the company's service. The secretary of
the company now, and at numerous times
thereafter, was in correspondence with par-
ties in Baltimore (Messrs. Stewart and
Plunket) and in Philadelphia (Mr. John
Maxwell Nesbit) who might secure work-
men for the Potomac improvements."
Furnishing the workmen with liquors also
seems to have been a troublesome item.
In November, 1785, a contract was made
"A New Chapter in the Early Life of Washington,
pp. 94-95.
16Id., p. 98.
"Id., p. 78.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
with William Lyles and Company to furnish
what rum might be necessary for the use
of the hands employed by the company on
the river at the rate of two shillings per
gallon. 18 For the winter 1786-7 the mana-
ger was directed to retain such a force as
was deemed necessary at a monthly wage
(from November I2 to April 12) of thirty-
two shillings for common laborers, and
forty shillings for prime hands, with the
usual ration except spirits, and with such
reasonable allowance of spirits as the
manager may from time to time think
proper.
" 19
At a meeting of the directors January 3,
1787, the financial crisis was faced sternly.
The funds were quite exhausted and work
would have to be suspended unless the
delinquent stockholders immediately ad-
vanced the assessment long overdue. It
was determined to warn delinquents that
unless advances were made within the next
five months the legal recourse of reselling
subscribed stock at auction would be
18Id., p. 83. Cf. Historic Highways of America,
vol. v, p. 142.
"Pickell, ut supra, p. 100.
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THE POTOMAC COMPANY
61
resorted to. A few responded but the
"large majority continued delinquent." In
accordance with the threat of the directors,
it was announced in public advertisements
that forty-six shares of stock in the Poto-
mac Company would be offered at auction
at the court house at Alexandria on Mon-
day, May 14, and nine shares at Shuter's
tavern in Georgetown on May 21. The
attitude of the general public toward the
Potomac improvement scheme was revealed
clearly at these auctions - for at neither
Alexandria nor Georgetown was a single
bid made when these shares were offered
for sale, though numbers of people had
gathered out of interest or curiosity.
A meeting of the board of directors was
called at the mouth of the Shenandoah
(Harper's Ferry) June 2, 1788, at which it
was determined to cut down expenses
"without jeopardizing the progress of the
work." It was now the opinion of the
board that by the ensuing season loaded
boats could descend from the pool or
"reach" above Seneca Falls to tide-water;
this meant that a channel in Seneca Falls
wId., p. 104.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
had been opened and the canal about Great
Falls completed. It was given out that in
July the entire force of workmen would be
concentrated at Shenandoah Falls to hasten
the opening of a channel at that point. At
the annual meeting in Alexandria, August
4, it was reported that high water had
delayed operations but that by November
I, the channel would be open from tide-
water to Cumberland. Since the last meet-
ing of the company £2,990 sterling had
been paid into the treasury, making a total
of paid up assessments to date of £13,719
18s 8d.
The election of a president for the year
ensuing was postponed, as it was plain that
Washington was soon to be named Presi-
dent of something of more note than a
Potomac Company. In May 1787 he had
been elected president of the National Con-
vention at Philadelphia, and it was clear
that he would be first choice as executive
of the new republic. He was elected
President of the United States for the term
beginning March 4, 1789. From the day
of his withdrawal from the Potomac Com-
pany its affairs languished - proving
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THE POTOMAC COMPANY
63
clearly that but for Washington's name
and energy the organization would proba-
bly never have existed.
On ten different occasions did the legisla-
tures of Virginia and Maryland extend the
time demanded by law for the completion
of the Potomac improvements, between
1786 and 1820. By this time the promotion
of the Erie Canal aroused the proprietors
to inquire into the feasibility of cutting a
canal from the Potomac to the Ohio River.
During thirty-six years $729,380 had been
spent in the attempt to improve the Poto-
mac and little had been accomplished;
an inquiry into the affairs of the Poto-
mac Company by a state commission,
appointed in 1821, and reporting July,
1822, resulted in the following report:
"
that the affairs of the Potomac
Company have failed to comply with the
terms and conditions of the charter; that
there was no reasonable ground to expect
that they would be able to effect the
objects of their incorporation; that they
have not only expended their capital stock
and the tolls received, with the exception
of a small dividend of five dollars and fifty
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
cents on each share declared in 1802, but
had incurred a heavy debt which their
resources would never enable them to dis-
charge; that the floods and freshets never-
theless gave the only navigation that was
enjoyed; that the whole time when produce
and goods could be stream bourne on the
Potomac in the course of an entire year,
did not exceed forty-five days; that it
would be imprudent and inexpedient to
give further aid to the Potomac Com-
pany." The committee advised a more
effectual method of inland navigation and
suggested the plan of a canal through the
region in which the Potomac Company
had proposed to operate, to be connected
with Baltimore, the metropolis of the
Chesapeake, by means of a lateral canal,
from some point along the Potomac Valley.
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CHAPTER III
THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL AND
ITS RIVAL
IT is exceedingly interesting to note that
the old plan of Washington's, by
which the Middle West and Northwest
were to be held in fee by those who con-
trolled the Potomac, was as dominant now
in 1823 as it was, within a limited circle,
in 1784. In fact this is what the Potomac
Company, the Potomac Canal Company,
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company
and the Baltimore and Ohio Railway Com-
pany have all stood for - this commercial
control of the trans-Allegheny empire.
Our general plan demands a full examina-
tion of this phase of our subject at the time
at which we now have arrived - 1823.
In view of the canal project now on the
tapis the Potomac Company adopted a reso-
lution on February 3, 1823, signifying their
willingness (!) to surrender their charter
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
on liberal terms to a new company for the
prosecution of the new plan of communica-
tion. A bill was introduced, in accordance
with the same plan in the Maryland legis-
lature, to incorporate a joint stock com-
pany to be known as The Potomac Canal
Company." It was estimated that the pro-
posed work of cutting a canal, from Poto-
mac tide-water (Washington, D. C.) up the
valley, across the mountains to a branch of
the Ohio, and down the same, at a million
and a half dollars, of which Virginia,
Maryland, and the District of Columbia were
each to subscribe one-third."
A commission was appointed by Virginia
and Maryland to examine the old route
across the Alleghenies marked out by
Washington with a view to the possibility
of constructing a canal from the head of the
Potomac to one of the heads of the Ohio.
James Schriver made an examination of the
Alleghenies with reference to the new
canal in the summer of 1823, and the result
was given to the public in the form of a
report entitled: An Account of Surveys and
Examinations with Remarks and Documents
"Scharf's, History of Maryland, vol. iii, p. 156.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 67
relative to the projected Chesapeake and Ohio,
and Ohio and Lake Erie Canals.* Though
we find Mr. Schriver a United States As-
sociate Civil Engineer in 1826,* he seems
to have made his explorations to satisfy
himself and a few friends. Since the
day of Washington's explorations in 1784 it
was generally understood that the most
practicable route for a road or canal from
the Potomac to an Ohio tributary would fol-
low the portage route outlined by Washing-
ton from the Potomac at the mouth of
Savage River to the Cheat River. But the
emphasis given by Washington to this
portage was not based wholly on utilitarian
motives. He desired his route to keep
within the bounds of Virginia and Mary-
land - the possessors of the Potomac - for
any more northerly course would carry the
route into Pennsylvania. Washington,
however, was searching for waterways
which could be made navigable; Schriver,
a generation later, sought only for streams
which could furnish sufficient water for a
"Baltimore, 1824.
House Docs. no. 10, 19th Cong., 2d. Sess., p. 9.
"An Account of Surveys and Examinations, p. 3.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
canal. As a result, Schriver was satisfied
with the head of the Youghiogheny which,
though it could never be made navigable,
yet contained plenty of water to fill a
canal. Schriver's proposed route, there-
fore, left the Potomac at the mouth of
Savage River, ascended that stream and
its tributary, Crabtree Creek. Reaching
Hinch's Spring by means of a tunnel,* the
canal would follow the North Fork of Deep
Creek and Deep Creek itself to the Yough-
iogheny. Descending the Youghiogheny
and Monongahela, the Ohio River would
be reached at Pittsburg. The vital ques-
tion was thought to be whether there was
a sufficient current of water to supply the
summit level of the canal at the tunnel
under Little Backbone Mountain.
The bill to incorporate the Potomac
Canal Company, however, failed to pass the
25 The probable success of a tunnel of a mile and a
half in length was not doubted at this time. The Trent-
Mersey Canal in England had five tunnels in ninety-
three miles, and one (at Harecastle) was more than a
mile and a half long, and over two hundred feet beneath
the surface of the earth. Its cost was £31 IOS 8d per
yard. The Chesterfield canal had a tunnel at Hartshill
three thousand yards long.-An Account of Surveys
and Examinations, p. 57, note.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 69
Maryland legislature. This brings us at
once face to face with one of the most
interesting phases of the subject- - the
position and commanding influence of Bal-
timore in the commercial world at that
day. "The progress of the [Potomac
Canal Company] bill," writes the Maryland
historian Scharf, caused much excite-
ment in Baltimore. The people of that
city, notwithstanding they were in favor of
internal improvements, and had freely sub-
scribed for the construction of roads,
bridges, etc., were unanimously opposed to
this bill, because it called for an appropria-
tion of the funds or credit of the State (one-
third of which they would be compelled to
pay) to an object that would be rather an
injury than a benefit to the trade of the
city. Though they had but a fortieth part
of the power of legislation in the House of
Delegates, they paid one-third part of the
taxes of the State, and as the funds of the
State were not sufficient to meet the ordin-
ary expenses of about $30,000 a year, the
financial burden bore with great pressure
upon them. Besides, they especially ob-
jected to the Potomac canal, because, under
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
the bill in question, the canal was to termi-
nate as at present, in Georgetown, and the
privilege was virtually denied them of tap-
ping it so as to connect it by a canal with
Baltimore, if they so desired; besides, the
State was asked to cede to the company all
its rights to the waters of the river [Poto-
mac], thus virtually preventing the future
connection of the canal with the City of
Baltimore. To produce concert of action
in the next session of the Maryland and
Virginia legislatures, the friends of the
measure began to hold meetings in various
parts of the country.
[These
meetings] resulted in the assembling of a
convention in the city of Washington, on
Thursday, the 6th day of November, 1823,
with delegates from Maryland, Virginia,
Pennsylvania, and District of Columbia.'
The business of the convention, of which
Congressman Joseph Kent was chosen
chairman, was to advocate the enlargement
of the plan of the Potomac Canal Company
so that it would include Baltimore as its
*eastern terminus, by means of a lateral
canal or an extension of the main canal
"History of Maryland, vol. iii, pp. 156-157.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 71
from its terminus at Georgetown.
"Whereas, a a connection of the Atlantic
and Western waters, by a canal," read the
introduction to the resolutions adopted,
"leading from the seat of the general
government to the river Ohio, regarded as
a local object, is one of the highest import-
ance to the states immediately interested
therein, and, considered in a national
view, is of inestimable consequence to the
future union, security, and happiness of
the United States:
"Resolved, unanimously, That it is ex-
pedient to substitute, for the present defec-
tive navigation of the Potomac river above
tide water, a navigable canal, by Cumberland
to the mouth of Savage Creek, at the eastern
base of the Alleghany, and to extend
such canal, as soon thereafter as prac-
ticable, to the highest constant steamboat
navigation of the Monongahela or Ohio
river." 27 Another resolution outlined a
plan of enlargement of the Potomac Canal
Company by the appointment of commit-
tees " each consisting of five delegates, to
prepare and present, in behalf of this
"Niles Register, vol. xxv,p. 173.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
assembly, and in co-operation with the
central committee, hereinafter provided,
suitable memorials to the congress of the
United States, and the legislatures of the
several states before named [Virginia,
Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the District
of Columbia], requesting their concurrence
in the incorporation of such a company
and their co-operation, if necessary, in the
subscription of funds for the completion of
the said canal: And whereas, by an act of
the general assembly of Virginia, which
passed the 22d February, 1823, entitled,
6 an act incorporating the Potomac canal
company,' the assent of that state, so far as
the limits of her territory render it neces-
sary, is already given to this object, and for
its enlargement to the extent required by
the preceding resolution, the said act appears
to furnish, with proper amendments, a
sufficient basis: Be it, therefore, resolved
That it will be expedient to accept the
same as a charter for the proposed com-
pany, with the following modifications,
viz: That in reference to its enlarged
purpose, the name be changed to the
6 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.'' These
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 73
resolutions 28 are practically embodied in
the act incorporating the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal.20
The two hundred delegates concluded
their convocation by a banquet at Brown's
Hotel, Washington, on Saturday evening.
Certain of the 'spontaneous sentiments"
were: By the Secretary of State, John
Quincy Adams, the first right and the
first duty of nations - self-dependence and
self-improvement;" by the Secretary of War
John C. Calhoun, Canal navigation be-
tween the Atlantic and the western waters,
essentially connected with the commerce,
the defence, and the union of the states -
may it receive the patronage and support
of the nation;" by C. F. Mercer, soon to
be the first president of the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal, "the eastern and western
country - whom the Author of Nature has
joined together, may no man put asunder;"
by Mr. James Schriver, pioneer surveyor
on the upper Potomac, The Chesapeake
and Ohio; they have' passed meeting' 30_______________________
s⁸Id., pp. 173-175.
29 See note 33.
30 '' Passed meeting," a practice among the Friends
previous to the marriage ceremony.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
may their marriage be speedily consum-
mated." A toast which tells of Clay's
presidential ambitions was proposed by
B. S. Forrest of Maryland after the speak-
er's withdrawal from the board in the fol-
lowing technical phrase: "Henry Clay,
qualified to pass the summit level; neither
giddy in ascending, nor dismayed in
descending!" The members of the im-
portant Central Committee were Charles
F. Mercer, John Mason, Walter Jones,
Thomas Swann, John McLean, William
H. Fitzhugh, H. L. Opie, Alfred H.
Powell, P. C. Pendleton, A. Fenwick, John
Lee, Frisby Tilghman, and Robert W.
Bowie. The committee to memorialize
Congress was as follows: Walter Jones,
John Mason, George Washington Park
Custis, Robert I. Taylor, S. H. Smith.81
That George Washington's original plan
of connecting the Potomac with the Great
Lakes was still dominant, a resolution of
this convention proves; the Virginians and
Marylanders were bound to control the
commerce of the Lakes even with the Erie
"National Intelligencer; Niles Register, vol. XXV,
p. 175.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 75
Canal as a rival. Their resolution read:
"And be it further resolved, That a com-
mittee of five delegates be appointed
to prepare, and cause to be presented, in
behalf of this convention, a suitable me-
morial to the state of Ohio, soliciting the
co-operation of that state in the completion
of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, and its
ultimate connexion with the navigation of
Lake Erie; and that, for the latter pur-
pose, the memorial shall respectfully sug-
gest the expediency of causing the country,
between the northernmost bend of the
river Ohio, and the southern shore of
Lake Erie, together with the waters of
Great Beaver and Cayuga [Cuyahoga]
creeks, and all other intervening waters
near the said route, to be carefully sur-
veyed, with the view of ascertaining the
practicability and probable cost of a canal,
which, fed by the latter, shall connect the
former.' Mr. Schriver, in his volume
quoted, gives much attention to this west-
ern extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal. "The proposed Ohio and Lake Erie
Canal," he affirms, " is intimately blended
"Id., pp. 174-175.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
with that of the Chesapeake and Ohio. In
the opinion of many, it is embraced and
constitutes only a part of the same grand
design; but whether it be considered in
connexion with it, or independently, it is
confessedly a project of vast public impor-
tance, involving considerations of great
national and local concern."
The Washington canal convention
brought forth much fruit; its demands
were eminently reasonable; the plan of
operations proposed was logical, and fair
to all concerned. The Potomac Canal
Company could not face the future success-
fully without the friendship of Maryland and
Maryland's commercial metropolis. The
legislature of Virginia passed an act incor-
porating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Company, January 27, 1824.8 Upon being
slightly amended, it was passed by the
Maryland legislature January 31, 1825. A
perusal of the act will show that the new
company was capitalized at $6,000,000,
divided into 60,000 shares of $100 each.
Certificates of stock in the old Potomac
Company, or debts of the same, were to be
as See appendix B, p. 225.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 77
accepted at par or nominal value for certifi-
cates in the new company, under certain
conditions and limitations. The canal was
divided into Eastern and Western sections,
the mouth of the Savage River being the
division point; 84 if the company did not
begin work in two years, or if one hundred
miles were not completed in full in five
years, the charter should become null and
void. If the western section was not begun
within two years after the time allowed
for the completion of the eastern section,
or was not completed in six years, the
right and title of the company in said
western section, shall cease and determine."
It will be noted that failure to complete
the western section did not affect the
company's right to the eastern section.
The annual dividends were not to exceed
fifteen per cent, and unless one-fourth of
the capital should be subscribed all sub-
scriptions were to be void.
In December 1823 President Monroe
84 While the law divided the canal into only two sec-
tions, eastern and western, the engineers divided it into
three, eastern, middle, and western. The two former
met at Cumberland, and the latter began at the mouth
of Casselman's River.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
presented the internal improvement pro-
posed by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Company to Congress, and in April 1824
an appropriation of $30,000 was made to
procure surveys and estimates in order to
prove the feasibility of the plan. In May
the President appointed Brigadier-general
Simon Bernard and Lieutenant-colonel
Totten and Civil Engineer John L. Sullivan
of Massachusetts as a board to outline the
most suitable route for a canal from Poto-
mac tide-water to the Ohio River. Their
report was made October 23, 1826.85 The
four memoirs of the report include a survey
of the Potomac Valley from tide-water to
Cumberland, Maryland, by Lieutenant-
colonel J. J. Abert; a descriptive state-
ment with reference to the eastern section
of the summit level between the Potomac
and the heads of the Ohio by Captain
William G. McNeill; a descriptive ac-
count of Casselman's River or the Som-
erset route, also by Captain McNeill; a
review of other routes by James Schriver.
In the eastern section the canal was
planned on the Maryland side of the
ss,State Papers 19th Cong., ad Sess., Doc.no. 10.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 79
Potomac River, because the obstacles on
that bank were of less magnitude than
those on the opposite Virginia shore, the
exposure was more favorable, an earlier
navigation could be secured there in the
spring, and a later navigation in the fall,
and no aqueduct would be required at
Cumberland, as Wills Creek enters the
Potomac at that point from the Maryland
shore. Moreover the water supply from
Maryland to the Potomac exceeded that of
Virginia, the rivers of the latter sending
I90 cubic feet of water per second into the
Potomac, and the former 267.35 cubic feet.
While perhaps not fully accurate, these
figures approximated the truth.
The length of the eastern section was
placed at one hundred and eighty-six miles,
and it was divided into eleven subdivisions
marked by the following points beginning
at Cumberland: South Branch of the
Potomac, Great Cacapan, Licking Creek,
Great Conococheague, Antietam Creek, one
mile below Harper's Ferry, Monocacy
River, Seneca Creek, Great Falls, Little
Falls, and Georgetown. The old canal of
the Potomac Company was to be used by
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
the new canal as far as possible. A sum-
mary of the eastern section reads:
Distance (miles)
1855/8
Descent (feet)
578
Number of locks
74
Estimated cost
$8,177,081.05
In seeking a route across the towering
ridges between the Potomac and heads of
the Ohio, the course first suggested by
Washington and studied by commissioners
since his day was discarded by the board of
surveyors which now planned the actual
course of the canal. The Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal Company being incorporated in
Pennsylvania, it was now no object to
keep the highway within the territories of
Virginia and Maryland alone. Upon
exploration, it was found that a route up
Wills Creek from the Potomac at Cumber-
land, Maryland, and across to Casselman's
River, a branch of the Voughiogheny, was
a more favorable route than that by way of
Savage River and Deep Creek to the
Youghiogheny. The question was deter-
mined by the supply of water at summit
level. The reservoirs in the Deep Creek
plan would have to be twelve miles in
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 83
length, while those by the more northerly
route would be but three and one-half
miles in length. A saving of six million
cubic yards of water by evaporation in the
Casselman's route made that way far more
advantageous. The lockage on the Deep
Creek route was eight hundred and seventy-
three feet more than by the Casselman
route; on the other hand this was equalized
by the fact that the tunnel on the latter
route was to be four miles and eighty yards
long, while the Dewickman tunnel on the
Deep Creek route was only one mile and
five hundred and sixty-eight yards long.
With all factors taken into account, it was
estimated that the Deep Creek route would
cost $2,861,288.90, and the Casselman's or
Flaugherty Creek route $2,324,315.37, or
more than a half million dollars less than
the Deep Creek route.
This Middle Section, therefore, extended
from Cumberland, or the western extremity
of the Eastern Section, to the mouth of
Casselman's River in the Voughiogheny,
the Turkey Foot" of pioneer days. Its
length was seventy miles and one thousand
See Historic Highways of America, vol. iii, p. 133.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
and ten yards. The lockage was nineteen
hundred and sixty-one feet and the sum-
mit was to be crossed by a tunnel four
miles and eighty yards long, dug at eight
hundred and fifty-six feet below the sum-
mit of the ridge. The Middle Section was
divided into an eastern and a western por-
tion. The former had two subdivisions;
the first, descending from the summit, was
fifteen miles in length, with a descent of
one thousand and sixteen feet, from the
eastern end of the summit level to the
mouth of Little Wills Creek; the second
subdivision, nearly fourteen miles long,
and with a descent three hundred and nine
feet, extended from Little Wills Creek to
the western end of the Eastern Section,
below Cumberland. The western portion
of the Middle Section was, likewise, divided
into two subdivisions; the first, sixteen
miles long with a drop of two hundred and
sixteen feet, ran from the western end of
the summit level to the mouth of Middle
Fork Creek; the second, nineteen miles
long, with a descent of four hundred and
twenty feet, ran from there to the mouth
of Casselman's. The summit level was
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 85
five miles and one thousand two hundred
and eighty yards long, to be crossed by a
tunnel four miles and eighty yards long
and a deep cut the remaining distance.
The summary of the Middle Section
reads:
Ascent Number
Distance and
Estimated
of
descent
cost
locks
miles yds.
Eastern Portion
20
240
1325
I66
$3,856,623.60
Summit Level
5
1280
3,471,967 01
Western Portion
35
I250
636
80
2,699,532.25
70
IOIO
1961
246
10,028,122.86
The Western Section began four hundred
and forty yards below the junction of Cas-
selman's River with the Youghiogheny and
extended to Pittsburg on the Ohio River.
The canal was planned on the right bank
of the Youghiogheny and Monongahela
Rivers, and was divided into four subdi-
visions:
Descent
Termini
Miles (feet)
Western end of Middle Section to Con-
nellsville
27½
432
Connellsville to Sewickly Creek
27½
144
Sewickly Creek to mouth of Youghiogheny
16½
8
Mouth of Youghiogheny to Pittsburg
14
35
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
The summary for the Western Section
was:
Distance (miles)
85½
Descent (feet)
619
Number of locks
78
Estimated cost
$4,170,223.78
The total estimate of the board, there-
fore, for the entire work was as follows:
Ascent Number
Estimated
Distance and of
cost
miles. yds. descent locks
Eastern Section . 185 1078 578 74 $8,177,081.05
Middle Section
70
IOIO
1961
246
10,028.122.86
Western Section 85 348 619 78 4,170,223.78
Totals
.
341 676 3158 398 $22.375,427.69 37
Under the head of " General Considera-
tions 88 the board treated minutely the
proposition presented by the acts incor-
porating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Company, and the treatise is one of the
most interesting studies of early commerce
between the East and the West. The
great population and area concerned on
both sides of the Alleghenies, the increased
value of real estate which would follow the
8'Id., p. 62.
⁸Id., pp. 65-80.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 87
building of the canal, the articles of import
and export which would pass and repass
over the great highway, the probable
revenue which would be derived from tolls,
the enhanced value, commercially, of a
canal to the Ohio River whenever the Ohio
was in turp connected with Lake Erie,
and the strategic military position and
value of the canal on the shortest route
from Atlantic tide-water to the Ohio River
and the Great Lakes by way of the national
capital, are points considered at some
length.
This report of the board, naming over
twenty millions as the cost of the canal
was an overwhelming and disappointing
surprise. The capital of the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal Company was, as we have
seen, only six million - in itself a tremen-
dous sum in that day. The blow fell
heavily on Baltimore; while the building
of the canal in the Potomac Valley was
entirely reasonable, it was the larger inter-
ests of the great scheme that had a special
appeal to the capitalists of the Maryland
metropolis. As a highway between tide-
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
water and the Ohio Basin the scheme had
been greatly favored by them. Already,
on March 6, 1825, the Maryland legislature
had provided for the formation of what
was known as the Maryland Canal Com-
pany" with a capital of half a million dol-
lars, which should bind the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal with the city of Baltimore. In
any lesser sense - as merely a canal in the
Potomac Valley - the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal was of far less interest to Balti-
moreans than an improvement of communi-
cations, for instance, to the rich Susque-
hanna country. And the moment it was
known that merely the Middle Section, of
seventy miles, of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal was to cost nearly twice the entire
proposed capitalization of the company,
the idea of a continental canal to the West
through the Alleghenies was deemed im-
practicable at Baltimore. A new estimate
of the expense was undertaken by James
Geddes and Nathan S. Roberts, who cut
down the figures named by General Bern-
ard one half. Those greatly interested
in the advancement of the scheme hailed
"Scharf's History of Maryland, vol. iii, p. 165.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 89
this announcement with delight, but the
more conservative relied upon the esti-
mates of the national board as being the
most reliable.
The actual resulting effects of the dis-
couraging report of the board concerning
the cost of this enterprise were so far-reach-
ing, that it is altogether proper to pause a
moment here and consider the position and
influence of the city of Baltimore, and note
what the failure of the canal scheme
meant to her. As a commercial metropolis
Baltimore's reputation was very great, and
second only to that of Philadelphia. Not
only was it a great seaboard market, but
throughout the preceding half century it
had been one of the great markets for wes-
tern produce. Its position was unique;
although a seaport it was many miles
nearer the Ohio Valley than any rival. In
laying out possible landward routes from
the Ohio River to the seaboard for the
Cumberland National Road, the commis-
sioners found that the route to Baltimore
was thirty-nine miles shorter than to Phila-
delphia, and forty-two miles shorter than
to Richmond. The distance from the sea-
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
port of Baltimore to Brownsville, Pennsyl-
vania, on the Monongahela, where naviga-
tion by boat was almost always possible,
was only two hundred and eighteen miles.
Thus Baltimore was the natural eastern
metropolis for the trade of the West.
Moreover, Baltimore had, up to date, taken
perhaps all advantages of her situation,
and had grown rich in consequence; the
building of the Cumberland Road had been
of great benefit, for Cumberland was but
the half-way house to Baltimore. Balti-
more and Maryland had improved their
opportunities by building many miles of
fine roads, really extending the Cumber-
land Road to Baltimore and tide-water.
Baltimore's commercial prestige was
secure so far as land ways were concerned.
New measures calling for water ways now
on foot, made popular by the great success
of the Erie Canal, promised to overturn all
previous considerations. The coach and
freighter, it seemed, were now to be re-
placed by the easy-gliding canal-boat.
Baltimore had been the metropolis for
western trade during the reign of the
freighter. Must she resign her place upon
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 91
the advent of the canal-boat? This was
the question which was being agitated
throughout the years of the Potomac
chimera; the failure of that scheme again
restored the confidence of the Baltimoreans.
But the revival of the plan under the new
arrangement of a canal from tide-water to
the Ohio Basin again created alarm. The
position of the Marylanders in this ex-
tremity is well indicated by one of Niles's
editorials as follows: "The ' National In-
telligencer' of Tuesday last [November,
1823], in an article signed ' Multum in
Parvo,' contains a very illiberal attack on
the people of Baltimore, because of their
supposed opposition to the Potomac, canal.
It accuses us of ' avarice and ambition' -
of being 'selfish' - as ' jealous' of Wash-
ington, and as preparing to oppose a resto-
ration of their ' political rights' to the
people of the District of Columbia! It also
puts it down as impossible to conduct an arm
of this canal to our city.
Balti-
more avaricious and ambitious!' We refer
to the support afforded by loans, and the
great disbursements made on our own re-
sponsibility, during the late war; the splen-
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
did public roads with which we have inter-
sected the country, and the beautiful edi-
fices, fountains, &c. that we have built in
our city, in proof of our 'avarice' - and
direct public attention to North Point and
Fort McHenry, for evidences of our am-
bition:' and, as to being 'selfish' or
' jealous,' these are nearly the last things
that should be said about Baltimore;
So far as my information goes,
the
citizens of Baltimore are not opposed to the
Potomac canal: but how is it possible to
expect their support for it when the follow-
ing facts are considered:
"I. We have expended a million of
dollars on certain public roads, to obtain
that trade which the canal is designed to
deprive us of.
"2. Yet, and notwithstanding we are
to suffer this loss of capital and trade, if
the canal should be made as heretofore
proposed, we must pay one third of Mary-
land's share of the expense of making it:
that is to say, 10,000 dollars a year will be
added to the amount of our taxes, though
such is our present condition that the usual
taxes can hardly be collected, through the
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 93
depreciation of property and want of busi-
ness.
"3.
As well might we accuse
the people of the District of Columbia of
selfishness, because they will not help us to
make a canal to the Susquehannah, as they
can censure us for preferring that canal to
one on the Potomac. We are willing that
the Potomac canal should be made - but
not at our cost; until, at least, we have
fully ascertained what can be done in re-
spect to a favorite measure of the same
nature. But we must be permitted to
doubt whether the people of the district
would feel very zealous about the naviga-
tion of the Potomac, provided it was ascer-
tained as practicable, and conditioned, that
an arm of the canal should be extended to
Baltimore, though the last is so much
nearer the sea than Washington, &c. 40
As noted, Maryland refused to pass the
bill incorporating the Potomac Canal Com-
pany, because of the objections, largely, of
Baltimoreans. To the enlarged plan em-
braced under the name of Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal Company, assent was given,
"Niles Register, vol. XXV, p. 145.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
under the impression that full connection
with the West by canal was possible, and
that Baltimore was to become, virtually,
the eastern terminus. The report of the
national board as to the enormous expense
of the canal precluded the thought of the
building of the Middle and Western Sec-
tions, and, consequently, deprived it of its
genuinely national character. The dis-
couragements discovered by the Maryland
Canal Company in their attempt to find a
satisfactory location for a canal route from
the Potomac to Baltimore, 41 also had its
effect in strengthening the opinion of Balti-
more capitalists that Baltimore could never
hold the trade of, the West by water routes
as for half a century she had held it by
land routes. New York and Philadelphia
were fast surpassing her, and, by means
of the Pennsylvania and Erie Canals,
seemed in a fair way to secure the trade of
the West which once had been hers. In
the editorial already quoted the discourag-
ing state of trade in Baltimore is hinted at.
Philip E. Thomas, president of the Me-
chanic's Bank of Baltimore and a commis-
41 Scharf's History of Maryland, vol. iii, p. 164.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 95
sioner for Maryland for the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal Company, resigned his office
upon reviewing the report of General
Barnard, and, calling into his counsels
George Brown, the two in private faced the
situation in which Baltimore was placed.
Without hope of taking any advantage of
the Potomac to gain the trade with the
West, with New York and Pennsylvania
fast outstripping Baltimore in trade and
population and both pushing canals to the
West, the outlook for Baltimore seemed
unpromising indeed. These two energetic
and daring men, in comparatively a
moment's time, changed the whole com-
plexion of affairs, and brought not only the
eyes of the world to Baltimore but in very
fact brought back to her the commercial
prestige, so far as western trade was con-
cerned, which she had enjoyed in the day
of the' stagecoach and freighter. On the
twelfth of February, 1827, the plans of
Thomas and Brown had gone so far that a
meeting at the home of Mr. Thomas of
over a score of Baltimore merchants and
promoters was called "to take into con-
sideration the best means of restoring to
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
the City of Baltimore that portion of the
Western Trade which has lately been
diverted from it by the introduction of
steam navigation and other causes."
The plan of Thomas and Brown compre-
hended the building of a railway from
Baltimore to the Ohio. Both men had
brothers in England who had forwarded
reports of railway experiments there. The
matter had received considerable previous
attention and the great proposition was
discussed with an intense interest. From
all the data which were gathered by the
correspondents abroad, the proposition
was wholly reasonable. And in its realiza-
tion the promoters would find a relish in-
tensified a hundred-fold, because of the
rumors circulated that Baltimore must
resign her commercial position to Alexan-
dria or Georgetown because of the building
and influence of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal. The two railways then in operation
in the United States were at Quincy,
Massachusetts, a road to a quarry; and at
Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, from the
Lehigh River to the Summit Coal Mine,
nine miles distant. As means of conveying
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 97
heavy freight rapidly the success of the
" rail road" was assured. The idea of
conveying passengers was an afterthought;
it was the freight traffic that Baltimore had
lost - it was the freight traffic which the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal would draw
from even the best roads Baltimore could
build or have built. By means of rails,
cars with freight could be moved, it was
estimated, at least twelve miles an hour,
and railroads could be built anywhere
macadamized roads could go. The supply
of water at the summit level was not a
critical factor.
The result of this meeting at the home
of Mr. Thomas was the appointment of a
committee which was ordered to review the
whole proposition, and report a plan of
action. On February 19, the committee
report was ready, and the second meeting
was held. The report affirmed that rail
roads promised to "supercede Canals as
effectually as Canals have superceded Turn-
pike Roads," and recommended that a
double Rail Road" be constructed "be-
tween the City of Baltimore and some
suitable point upon the Ohio River, by the
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
most eligible and direct route, and that a
Charter to incorporate a Company to execute
this work be obtained as early as practi-
cable."⁴ On February 28, 1827, a charter
was granted by the Maryland legislature;
it was confirmed by Virginia on March 8,
and by Pennsylvania February 22, 1828.
Mr. Thomas resigned the presidency of the
Mechanic's Bank to give his whole atten-
tion to the affairs of the enterprise.
A unique situation now presents itself to
the historical inquirer. On the one hand
we find the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Company, under the presidency of Charles
F. Mercer of Virginia, chairman of the
Committee of Roads and Canals of the
National House of Representatives, backed
by a capital of over three and one-half mil-
lion dollars, ready to proceed in building a
canal through the Potomac Valley from
Washington to Cumberland; on the other
hand is the new rail road company called
the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Com-
pany, with Mr. Thomas at its head,
backed, in 1828, by four millions of dol-
48 W. P. Smith's A History and Description of the
Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road (Baltimore, 1853), p. 13.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 99
lars, beginning to build a rail road from
Baltimore to the Potomac Valley, up the
valley to Cumberland, and across the moun-
tains to the Ohio River. It was evident
at the start that the rivalry would be
tremendously bitter; that the two com-
panies would give rise to factions which
would harm and decry each other in every
way possible. The canal idea was, com-
paratively, very new, and the Erie Canal
being successfully prosecuted from the
Hudson to the Lakes had created immense
enthusiasm. On the other hand the rail
road was almost an untried novelty; on
such roads as were in operation in England
and America horse power was the only
power to be relied upon; sails were in use
but were not successful under many cir-
cumstances. The steam engine had not
been successfully adapted as yet; the road-
beds were far more costly than even the
most expensive macadamized roads; there
was still a question whether the mountains
could be spanned by this method of trans-
portation, and whether, even if the locomo-
tive could be utilized on a straight track,
it could ever be useful on a curved track!
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
The bitterness of the rivalry was intensi-
fied by the fact that the two companies
were organized within the same states, to
operate in exactly the same territory and
both seeking the same carrying trade.
And, lastly, one company had its origin in
a detrimental report from the highest
authority made concerning the other. The
seed of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway lay
in General Bernard's report of 1826, in
which the cost of building the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal across the mountains was
estimated at a prohibitive figure.
Both companies went to work eagerly,
and both sure of success. The infancy of
the rail road science, and the fact that as
yet nothing had been done in all the world
on such a scale as was proposed by the Balti-
more and Ohio Rail Road, naturally rend-
ered public opinion more or less skeptical;
while as for the canal, success was prac-
tically assured. It would be taking a very
narrow outlook upon the situation to de-
scribe the building of the canal, without
presenting a briefly sketched-in history of
its great rival for western trade. The two
must go hand in hand.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 101
Early in 1828, both companies were in
the field surveying the route of their two
highways. At the point of conflict, where
the railway approached the Potomac River,
it was easily seen that trouble would be
precipitated. In fact, as early as June 10,
the canal company got from Judge Bu-
chanan an injunction against the railway
company, to prevent them from encroach-
ing upon lands needed by the former and
granted them by charter rights.⁴³ The
railway company returned the compliment
by obtaining an injunction from the
"chancellor of the state of Maryland"
likewise restraining the canal company.44
"
If we understand it [the situa-
tion]," wrote the perplexed editor of the
Register, June 28, the state of things is
as it was, before the injunction obtained of
Judge Buchanan.' 45 The canal promoters'
view of the affair was thus voiced by the
editor of the National Journal: It appears
to us to be very essential to the harmonious
prosecution of these two great works, that
"Niles Register, vol. xxxiv, p. 266.
Id., p. 282.
"Id.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
the rights of each company should be pre-
cisely defined. It was with this view, we
believe, that the injunction [of June I0] in
the present stage was applied for; in order
that the question how far the charter
granted to the canal company, giving to
them the privileges of condemning such
land as may be necessary for the construc-
tion of that work, barred any other com-
pany from obtaining land along the same
line, until the objects of the canal company
should be accomplished. By the final set-
tlement of this question, in the beginning,
all ground for future collision would be
removed. We should regret, therefore, if
our Baltimore neighbors should regard as
an act of hostility to them, that which is,
in fact, simply an assertion of our own
rights. There is no disposition to embar-
rass their work, to which we desire all suc-
cess; there is no wish to delay it, as is evi-
dent from the offer which is said to have
been made
to refer the ques-
tion to
the court of appeals now
sitting at Annapolis." 46
Plans were already making by the rival
"Id,, p. 267.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 103
companies for grand celebrations on the
Fourth of July succeeding, when, near
Washington, the ground should be broken
for the canal, and, at Baltimore, the
"Foundation of the Rail Road," in the
shape of the corner-stone, should be laid.
These rival celebrations attracted great
crowds to the two cities on the day named.
At Washington the streets were alive with
people at an early hour, and at seven
o'clock the directors of the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal Company met the honored
guests of the day at Tilley's Hotel. These
included the President of the United States
and cabinet, and the various ambassadors
of foreign countries then in the city, and
other dignitaries, including survivors of
the Revolutionary War. The procession,
attended by troops and regaled with the
music of bands, marched to the Potomac
and embarked on the steamboat Sur-
prize," for a journey to the Great Falls of
the Potomac. Crowds followed on either
bank of the river. "The sun shone now
and then from the clear blue heavens
through the fleecy clouds," wrote the
inspired reporter of the National Intelli-
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
gencer; all nature" seemed to smile upon
the scene." Disembarking, the company
marched to canal-boats lying in the old
canal built by the indefatigable labors of
Washington's Potomac Company nearly fifty
years before. During the journey up the
canal, we are assured, the senses of the
company were regaled by a scene at once
novel and really enchanting.
There
was a part of this passage, when the music
of Moore's sweet song of 6 The meeting of
the waters,' poured its melody on the ear
so as to suspend the labor of the boatmen,
and charm to silence every voice." Two
companies of riflemen saluted the arrival
of President Adams on the ground. "Thou-
sands hung upon the overlooking hill to
the north, and many climbed the umbrag-
eous trees." Within a hollow square, sur-
rounded by the crowds, a spot was marked
for the raising of the first spadeful of earth
by John Quincy Adams. Then amidst a
silence so intense as to chasten the anima-
tion of hope and to hallow the enthusiasm
of joy,'' the mayor of Georgetown handed
Mr. Mercer, president of the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal Company, the implement
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 105
with which the ground should be broken.
"There are moments," said Mr. Mercer,
in the progress of time, which are the
counters of whole ages. There are events,
the monuments of which, surviving every
other memorial of human existence, eternize
the nation to whose history they belong,
after all other vestiges of its glory have
disappeared from the globe. At such a
moment have we now arrived. Such a
monument we are now to found." At this
point Mr. Mercer handed the spade to
President Adams who, in turn, delivered
the address of the day. In the course of
his oration the speaker said: "To subdue
the earth is pre-eminently the purpose of
the undertaking, to the accomplishment of
which the first stroke of the spade is now
to be struck. That it is to be struck by
this hand, I invite you to witness." At
this point the President attempted to sink
the spade into the ground; but it struck a
root. " Not deterred by trifling obsta-
cles," wrote an eye-witness, from doing
what he had deliberately resolved to per-
form, Mr. Adams tried it again, with no
better success. Thus foiled, he threw
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
down the spade, hastily stripped off and
laid aside his coat, and went seriously to
work.
The multitude
raised a loud and unanimous cheering,
which continued for sometime after Mr.
Adams had mastered the difficulty." 47
Simultaneously with this memorable
celebration, an imposing ceremony was
being enacted at Baltimore. "Fortu-
nately," we read in the Baltimore American,
"the morning of the fourth rose not only
bright but cool, to the great comfort of the
immense throng of spectators that, from a
very early hour, filled every window in
Baltimore street, and the pavement below,
from beyond Bond street on the east, far
west on Baltimore street extended, a dist-
ance of about two miles." It was estimated
that seventy thousand people were in
attendance. During the early morning the
crowds streamed toward the spot about two
miles from the city, just south of the
Frederick turnpike, where on a rise of
ground in the open field a pavilion was
raised for the reception of the honored
guests of the occasion. The distance of
"Id., vol. xxxiv, pp. 325-328.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 107
the scene of laying the corner-stone of the
Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road from Balti-
more made the processional display more im-
posing, led by the First Baltimore Hussars.
The venerable guest of the day was
Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the only sur-
viving signer of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. After the invocation and the
reading of the Declaration of Independ-
ence, John B. Morris, a director of the
Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, addressed
the assembled throng. His words were
singularly prophetic. "We are about
opening the channel," he said, through
which the commerce of the mighty country
beyond the Alleghany [Mountains] must
seek the ocean - we are about affording
facilities of intercourse between the east
and west, which will bind the one more
closely to the other, beyond the power of
an increased population or sectional differ-
ences to disunite. We are in fact com-
mencing a new era in our history;
It is but a few years since the introduction
of steam boats effected powerful changes,
and made those neighbors, who were before
far distant from each other. Of a similar
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
and equally important effect will be the
Baltimore and Ohio rail road. While the
one will have stemmed the torrent of the
Mississippi, the other will have surmounted
and reduced the heights of the Alle-
ghany.
It is not in mortals to
command success, but if a determination to
yield to no obstacle which human exertion
can overcome
can ensure suc-
cess - success shall be ours."
Then, descending from his seat in the
pavilion, Charles Carroll lifted a spadeful
of earth from the designated resting place
of the foundation stone, which was then set
in position. Within the stone was placed
a copy of the charter of the company, the
newspapers of the day, and a scroll contain-
ing these words:
"This stone is deposited in commemora-
tion of the commencement of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad, a work of deep and
vital interest to the American people. Its
accomplishment will confer the most im-
portant benefits upon this nation, by facili-
tating its commerce, diffusing and extend-
ing its social intercourse, and perpetuating
the happy union of these confederated
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 109
states. The first general meeting of the
citizens of Baltimore to confer upon the
adoption of proper measures for undertak-
ing this magnificent work, was on the 2d
day of February, 1827. An act of incor-
poration, by the state of Maryland, was
granted February 28th, 1827, and was con-
firmed by the state of Virginia March 8th,
1827. Stock was subscribed, to provide
funds for its execution, April 1st, 1827.
The first board of directors was elected
April 23, 1827. The company was organ-
ized, 24th April, 1827. An examination
of the country was commenced under the
direction of lieutenant colonel Stephen H.
Long and captain William G. McNeill,
United States' topographical engineers,
and William Howard, United States' civil
engineer, assisted by lieutenants Barney,
Trimble and Dillahunty of the U. S. artil-
lery, and Mr. Harrison, July 2d. 1827. The
actual surveys to determine the route, were
begun by the same officers, with the addi-
tional assistance of lieutenants Cook,
Gwynn, Hazzard, Fessenden, and Thomp-
son and Mr. Guion, November 20th, 1827.
The charter of the company was con-
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
firmed by the state of Pennsylvania, Febru-
ary 22d, 1828. The state of Maryland
became a stockholder in the company, by
subscribing for half a million of dollars of
its stock March 6th, 1828. And the con-
struction of the road was commenced July
4th, 1828, under the management of the
following named board of directors: Philip
Evan Thomas, president, Charles Carroll
of Carrollton, William Patterson, Robert
Oliver, Alexander Brown, Isaac M'Kim,
William Lorman, George Hoffman, John
B. Morris, Talbot Jones, William Steuwart,
Solomon Etting, Patrick Macauley, George
Brown, treasurer. The engineers and
assistant engineers in the service of the
company are, Philip Evan Thomas, presi-
dent, Lieutenant-colonel Stephen Harry-
man Long, Jonathan Knight, Board of Engi-
neers. Captain William Gibbs McNeill,
U. S. topographical engineer. Lieutenants
William Cook, Joshua Barney, Walter
Gwynn, Isaac Trimble, Richard Edward
Hazzard, John N. Dillahunty of the U. S.
artillery. Casper Willis Weaver, superin-
tendent of construction.' 48
"Id., pp. 317-318.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 111
Both companies now went quickly to
work on their undertakings; in the same
issue of the Register (July 19, 1828), and
side by side on the same page are these
notices:
"The engineers of the Baltimore and
Ohio Rail Road Company have, by public
notice, invited proposals for the construc-
tion of twelve miles of the road, commenc-
ing at the city [Baltimore] line, and ex-
tending westwardly." 49
"The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Com-
pany have issued proposals for the excava-
tion, embankment and walling, of the 11½
miles of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, in
half mile sections, extending from the head
of the Little Falls to the head of the Great
Falls of the Potomac river."
In August, thirty-four sections of the
canal from Little Falls to Seneca (seven-
teen miles) were placed under contract and
on September I, work was actually begun.50
" At this time the capital stock subscribed
and payable in current funds, exclusive of
"Id., p. 331.
"Report of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Com-
pany (for 1851), pp. I-44.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
subscriptions in the stocks and debts of the
Potomac [Canal] Company, amounted to
36,094 shares, or $3,609,400 as follows:
Shares
Equivalent to
United States
10,000
$1,000,000
Washington City
10,000
1,000,000
Maryland
5,000
500,000
Alexandria
2,500
250,000
Georgetown
2,500
250,000
Shephardstown
20
2,000
Individuals
6,074
607,400
36,094 $3,609,400 51
Though the rail road was far more of an
experiment than the canal, its stock had
been taken up quickly. "The subscription
books of the company," reads a note in the
Register of April 7, 1827, were closed on
Saturday the 31st ult. on which day alone
were taken thirteen thousand three hundred
and eighty-seven shares, making, with
those previously taken, forty-one thousand
seven hundred and eighty-eight shares, inclus-
ive of the five thousand allotted to and
taken by the corporation of Baltimore.
The amount of money, therefore, sub-
"Scharf's History of Maryland, vol. iii, p. 170.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 113
scribed by this city [Baltimore] alone, is
four millions one hundred and seventy-eight
thousand dollars, divided amongst twenty-
two thousand names.
Each name
will be entitled but to 7-10ths of a
share
which will be further re-
duced by the subscriptions in Frederick
and Hagerstown, which are not yet ascer-
tained, but are supposed to amount to two
thousand shares. It is believed that of this
subscription, which outruns so largely the
fund contemplated to be raised, but a com-
paratively small part has been made with a
view to speculation. There is, therefore,
every reason to think, that the stock is
principally in the hands of persons who
intend and are able to hold it. 52
The question of stock subscription brings
up one of the points of conflict between
the canal and the road - a government
subscription to the Baltimore and Ohio Rail
Road. We have seen that the government
had subscribed for ten thousand shares, or
one million dollars, in the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal Company stocks. Accordingly,
the Board of Directors, headed by Charles
"Id., vol. xxxii p. I00 (from the Baltimore American).
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
Carroll, signed a memorial, January, 1828,
to the United States Congress asking for a
national subscription. "The Senate com-
mittee to which the memorial was referred
reported a bill authorizing a subscription
of $1,000,000. The committee of the House
of Representatives also made a favorable
report, but it being late in the session
when the committee reported, it would
submit no bill. The company therefore
renewed its petition at the next session of
Congress in 1829, but, although the com-
mittees of both houses of Congress recom- -
mended a qualified subscription to the com-
pany, the measure failed. It was said at
the time 58 that the reason the company
was unsuccessful in this application was
because of the opposition of the president
of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Com-
pany, who was at this time chairman of the
committee on roads and canals in the
House of Representatives.
Smith's History and Description of the Baltimore
and Ohio Rail Road, p. 22.
"Reizenstein's, " The Economic History of the Balti-
more and Ohio, Railroad," Johns Hopkins University
Studies, fifteenth series, vii-viii, p. 23; Congressional
Debates, vol. vi (1829-30), pp. 453-455, 1136-1137.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 115
The rail road company was not in great
need of a national subscription, though dark
days were at hand. A perusal of the
reports of President Thomas, the first of
which was made October I, 1827,55 will
cause the reader to marvel "that the
formidable obstacles almost daily encount-
ered
did not crush the energies of
the Company, and induce them to abandon
the work.
" An unforeseen diffi-
culty in the shape of an immense cut near
Baltimore called for an expenditure of
nearly a quarter of a million. And it soon
developed that the Canal Company, which
had deprived the rail road of the govern-
ment's aid was yet to strike a harder blow.
By its charter the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal Company had secured a right of way
for a canal on the Maryland bank of the
Potomac from Washington to Cumberland.
By its surveys the rail road was compelled
to gain the Potomąc at the "Point of
Rocks," twelve miles below Harper's
Ferry, and follow the river to that point.
Otherwise a tunnel would have to be built
under the mountain spurs - a financially
55Niles Register, vol. xxxiii, pp. 137-138.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
impossible alternative. The point at issue
in the great quarrel, which became exceed-
ingly bitter and was at last settled only by
Federal interference, was, therefore, very
plain. This famous dispute for right of
way through these strategic twelve miles
was not settled until 1832, both companies
suffering in consequence of the delay, and
the railway losing its argument but effect-
ing a compromise. In this year the Court
of Appeals reversed the decision of the
Chancery Court of Maryland and sustained
the Canal Company's contention for the
right of way between the Point of Rocks
and Harper's Ferry. After a series of
compromise proposals by the rail road to
the canal had been refused, the Maryland
legislature took up the matter, both works
being important to that commonwealth.
On May 9, 1833 a compromise was effected
by the passage of a law calling for the joint
construction of canal and rail road through
the disputed territory; to Messrs. Charles
F. Mayer and Bene S. Pigman great credit
was due in handling successfully this prob-
lem, which had at its root the bitter
rivalry of many years standing. The com-
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 119
promise cost the rail road heavily. It was
to subscribe for 2,500 shares of Canal Com-
pany stock ($266,000) and the canal com-
pany built the road through the territory
in dispute (the Point of Rocks). The Rail
Road Company completed the road to the
Maryland shore of the Potomac opposite
Harper's Ferry in 1834, it being opened
December I. Here, however, it was to
pause, for the compromise signed by the
two companies demanded that the rail road
should not be built up the Potomac until
the canal should have been completed to
Cumberland- - if that was done within the
time named in the charter (1840).
Though at all times master of the situa-
tion, the Canal Company found its task
tremendously heavy; the weather, varying
prices of labor and necessaries, combined
with great physical obstacles, rendered the
undertaking one in which patience was as
necessary as capital. Both were many
times exhausted. We have seen that con-
tracts were first let in 1828. By the presi-
dent's report to the legislature in January,
1831, we find that forty-eight miles were
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120 THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
under contract and that twenty-one miles
were in use during the fall of 1830 and
winter of 1830-31.06 In February, 1833
the state of Virginia authorized a subscrip-
tion of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal stock to
the amount of $250,000, subject only to
reasonable conditions.57 In March, 1834,
Maryland authorized an additional sub-
scription of $125,000, and promised a larger
subscription in case the National Govern-
ment voted the investment of an additional
million in the canal. Neither the govern-
ment or any state, save only Maryland,
befriended the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal,
however, from this date forward.58 At this
time (June, 1834) the canal had cost
$4,062,991.25. Seventy-eight miles re-
mained to be built and the Company's
funds were unequal to the task. The
friends of the great work met in conven-
"Report from the President of the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal Company to the Legislature of Maryland,
January 31, 1831.
"Report to the Stockholders
.
.
made February
27th, 1851, p. 47. Many of the following facts are
taken from this Report, which is the only history of
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company extant. It
will be referred to as Report of 1851.
"Id., p. 48.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 121
tion at Baltimore in the December follow-
ing, and a committee was appointed to
report on probable expense of completion
of the canal, and committees to memorialize
Congress and the legislatures of states
interested in the work. The former com-
mittee brought in a report, which consisted
of nothing more reliable than an expres-
sion of opinion based on former experi-
ences, which gave the public to understand
that the canal could be completed in two
years with two million dollars.50 The other
states turning a deaf ear to the plea, Mary-
land came to the rescue, March 7, 1835,
and appropriated the entire two millions
needed.⁶⁰ It was granted in the form of a
loan, the state reserving the power to con-
vert it into capital stock at any future time
if it was deemed expedient.
The company now took the steps which
should have preceded the circulation of any
opinion by friends of the canal as to the
expense of completing it-a survey and
estimate was made. This being done, it
was found that the cost of completing the
59Id., p. 50.
"Id., p. 52.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
canal exceeded three and one-half mil-
lions. The consternation aroused by this
report can be imagined. Many felt that
Maryland had been deceived and imposed
upon. But the friends of internal improve-
ments arose to the occasion. Meetings
were held up and down the state. The
canal and rail road people united hands
which formerly had been clinched in threat-
ening attitude, and on June 3, 1836, the
Maryland Legislature passed the famous
"Eight Million Dollar Bill.' 61 Its items
were as follows:
To the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal Company
$3,000,000
To the Baltimore and Ohio Rail
Road Company
3,000,000
To the Eastern Shore Rail Road
Company
1,000,000
To the Maryland Canal Company
500,000
To the Annapolis Canal Company
500,000
$8,000,000
As it stood the bill was a great victory
for the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road
interests, as one of its most important pro-
"Id., p. 6I (Laws of 1835, ch. 395).
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 123
visions demanded that the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal Company permit its rival to
ascend the Potomac Valley.⁶ Baltimore
went wild over the passage of the act. A
public dinner, fireworks, the ringing of
bells, and a salute of a hundred guns gave
evidence of the feeling at the Maryland
metropolis. "The citizens of Baltimore
had, indeed, ' evident cause' to rejoice at
the triumph which had been achieved.
All the important provisions of the bill,
looked to the interests and had been framed
with a view to the aggrandizement of the
city. Its great leading object was, to
secure the completion of the rail road to the
Ohio river, and the completion of the canal
to Cumberland, and its connexion with
Baltimore by the route that might be
found most conducive to the prosperity of
that city. The enthusiasm of the occasion
was, therefore, all embracing, on the part
of the citizens of Baltimore. In the public
demonstrations that were ordered, no dis-
"The canal had been built at this time only to
Holman's Dam, twenty-six miles above Harper's Ferry,
eighty-six miles from Washington; twenty-six miles
more were under way.-Report of the President and
Directors.
April 22, 1835.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
crimination was indicated, in regard to any
particular work. No thought of jealous
rivalry - no dream of future disappoint-
ment, or difficulty, was allowed to mingle
in their exaltation at the auspicious event.
But the act was not welcomed, by the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, with
the same satisfaction and pleasure. Indeed,
by many of the stockholders, it was looked
upon coldly, and, by some, positively ob-
jected to. Serious doubts were entertained,
for a time, whether it would be accepted by
the company." On July 28, 1836, however,
the stockholders assented and agreed to the
provisions of the Eight Billion Dollar Act. 68
The directors of the Baltimore and Ohio
Rail Road gave their assent to the law of
1835 on July 25, 1836. In addition to
granting them the right to build their road
up the Potomac Valley, the law allowed the
city of Baltimore to subscribe to the stock,
and, accordingly, Baltimore subscribed
immediately for three million dollars worth
of stock. Therefore within a year the
assets of the road were increased by six
million dollars.
Report of 1851, p. 66.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 125
Brighter days were now dawning for the
road. The past six years had been a time
of trials, drawbacks, and discouragements.
The contest for a right of way to Harper's
Ferry had been exasperating and had at
last been won only by agreeing to limit the
extension of the road to that point. There
were other difficulties to be overcome
before the new company could claim the
genuine confidence of the public. All fea-
tures of the road, excepting the road-bed
alone, were experiments - rails, sleepers
(ties), and cars. The road was opened May
22, 1830, and soon the public had passed a
favorable verdict on the enterprise. In
this day we would call the affair a horse-
car railway. The only difference between
this and other ordinary roads was the fact
that the coach wheels ran on rails, being
held in position by means of flanges. The
coaches used were almost precisely like
those on an ordinary pike, but were mounted
on four light cast-iron wheels. Among
roads - dirt, macadamized, plank, and cor-
duroy - this road with rails was " the
latest." As to its general practicability
there was much discussion. What grades
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126 THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
could it overcome? Would curves be per-
mitted as the scheme developed? As to its
popularity, no question could be raised.
Though the company had few cars and the
track was a single track and the road but
twelve miles long (running from Baltimore
to Ellicott's Mills), during the first four
months of operation the receipts were $20,-
012.36, and ten times the freight that could
be handled was offered. An advertise-
ment of the rail road of 1830 is interesting.65
"Brigades" (trains) of cars left Baltimore
at 6 and 10 A. M. and from 3 to 4 P. M. ;
brigades left the opposite terminus at 6
and 8½ o'clock, A. M." and "12½ and 6
o'clock P. M." Drivers were not allowed
to permit passengers to enter the cars with-
out tickets. A postscript reads: "P. S.
Parties desirous to engage a Car for the day
can be accommodated after the 5th July."
The question of motive power was the
great question of the hour. Horses and
mules only had been used on the other
two rail roads in Pennsylvania and Massa-
chusetts; in this year (1830) on the Liver-
"Smith's History and Description, p. 25.
65 Baltimore American, July 17, 1830.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 127
pool and Manchester Rail Road steam
locomotives were used more successfully
than had been the case on other English
roads, where their speed had never exceeded
the gait of an easy-going road horse - six
miles an hour. It was greatly doubted
whether such a machine was possible; and
if, under good conditions, steam locomo-
tives could haul a "brigade of cars" faster
than a horse or mule on straight track, the
thing would never get around a curve; and
it was never the plan of the builders of the
Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road to avoid
curves. Other locomotives than steam
were being prepared for trial on the new
rail road. Evan Thomas, brother of the
president of the road, invented a car which
was moved by sails! It was named
" Æolus." "I well recollect," recorded
Benjamin H. Latrobe, the little experi-
mental locomotive of Mr. Evan Thomas; it
was 'a basket body,' like that of a sleigh,
and had a mast, and, if I recollect, 6 a square
sail, and was mounted upon four wheels of
equal size.' It ran equally well in either
direction, but of course only in that in
which the wind happened to be blowing at
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
the time, although it would go with the
wind abaft the beam, but at a speed pro-
portioned to the angle with the plane of
the sails. It was but a clever toy, but had
its use at the time in showing how little
power of propulsion was necessary upon a
railway, compared with the best of the
roads that had preceded it." ⁶⁶ The
" Æolus" attracted much attention; Baron
Krudener, envoy from the emperor of
Russia, made an excursion in the sailing
car, managing the sail himself. On his
return he declared he had never before
travelled so agreeably, and remarked that
he 'would send his suite from Washington
to enjoy sailing on the Rail Road.' The
President of the Company, to whom he had
been introduced, caused a model sailing car
to be constructed, fitted with Winans' fric-
tion wheels, which he presented to him,
with the reports that had been published
by the Company, to be forwarded to the
Emperor. As a result Ross Winans of Bal-
timore was invited to Russia to take charge
of the emperor's plan of binding that empire
with railways. His success marked one of
Scharf's History of Maryland, vol. iii, p. 167.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 129
the earliest if not the most spectacular in-
stances of the success of American genius
abroad. 67
A horse-power locomotive was another
invention, prior in date to the sailing car.
"A horse was placed in a car and made to
walk on an endless apron or belt, and to
communicate motion to the wheels, as in
the horse-power machines of the present
day. The machine worked indifferently
well; but, on one occasion, when drawing
a car filled with editors and other represen-
tatives of the press, it ran into a cow, and
the passengers, having been tilted out and
rolled down an embankment, were naturally
enough unanimous in condemning the con-
trivance. And so the horse-power car,
after countless bad jokes had been perpe-
trated on the cowed editors, passed out of
existence, and probably out of mind." 68
The fate of the railway hung suspended
on the successful solving of the question of
motive power. Peter Cooper's locomotive
67 Smith's History and Description, pp. 25-27; Brown's
History of the First Locomotives in America, p. 124.
The name is here given as " Meteor."
"Id., pp. I24-125.
69 Peter Cooper to Wm. H. Brown, Id., p. 109.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
"Tom Thumb," constructed in 1829, at
Baltimore, and sent over the Baltimore and
Ohio Rail Road to Ellicott's Mills in one
hour and twelve minutes, August 28, 1830,
settled the momentous question.⁷⁰ In
spite of its laughable features the picture
representing the Exciting Trial of Speed
between Mr. Peter Cooper's Locomotive
'Tom Thumb,' and one of Stockton &
Stokes's Horse-Cars," in which the little
model locomotive has caught up with and
is passing the horse-car, represents nothing
less than the dawning of a new epoch in
human history. Though improvements
were not made with great rapidity, they
came as fast as the rail road was able to
profit by them. The Baltimore and Ohio
Rail Road merited the honorable title that
has been given it - the Railway University
of America. While its rival, the Canal
Company, had a struggle to secure funds
to do its work, the railway carried the same
burden and with it the heavier burden of
doubt as to the future and many physical
and mechanical perplexities forever holding
"Id., pp. II4-II6.
"Id., p. II9.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 131
back successful realization of its schemes.
For illustration, take the question of track:
"The granite and iron rail; the wood and
iron on stone blocks; the wood and iron on
wooden sleepers, supported by broken
stone; the same supported by longitudinal
ground-sills, worked to a surface on one
side to receive the iron, and supported by
wooden sleepers; and the wrought iron
rails of the English mode; had all been laid
down, and as early as the year 1832, formed
different portions of the work." 72 With
the advent of the locomotive the light coach
wheels were replaced by cast-iron wheels
to the perfection of which Ross Winans,
John Elgar, Jonathan Knight, and Phineas
Davis all contributed.' 78 In 1832, steel
springs were placed upon a new locomo-
tive "York" - built at York, Pennsylva-
nia - and soon springs were placed on all
engines and cars. The discovery of the
advantage of combined cylindrical and
"Smith's History and Description, p. 33.
78 Reizenstein's Economic History, p. 34. It is inter-
esting to find Jonathan Knight, formerly Superintend-
ent of the Cumberland Road in Ohio, now Chief Engi-
neer of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road.-Cf. His-
toric Highways of America, vol. X, p. 91.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
conical car wheels was a great forward
step helping to solve the question of turn-
ing curves sharply. As early as 1831 the
Rail Road Company offered a prize of
$4,000 for the best locomotive offered for
trial on the road. The "York" was the
only engine of three offered that was capa-
ble of any good service. Up to June 1834,
this engine, with the "Atlantic" and
"Franklin" were the only locomotives on
the road. Horse-cars were still in common
use. By the fall of 1834, five more locomo-
tives were added and eight more had been
ordered.
Having passed through its darkest days
of struggle with the Canal Company and
with the vexatious problems of internal
betterment of rolling stock and motive
power, the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road
was now in 1836, quite ready to take advant-
age of the provisions of the new law which
made it possible to throw its gleaming rails
up the Potomac from Harper's Ferry to
Cumberland and on to the coveted Ohio
Basin. With the momentous question rep-
resented by the locomotive once solved
"Smith's History and Description, p. 30.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 133
and solved forever, with an open route
from tide-water to Cumberland and the
West - little wonder that the controllers of
the canal had been only lukewarm in their
attitude to the Eight Billion Dollar Act!
Despite their efforts, the railway was win-
ning its way; with every new invention the
West was made nearer the East; the loco-
motive was solving Washington's old ques-
tion how the Potomac Valley could hold the
West in fee. As Fate would have it - or
Fortune - the hard labor and the thousand
perplexities of many men from Washington
down, who had attempted first to get in
commercial touch with the West by means
of rivers, then by means of a canal, were
being swept aside by one blast of that little
locomotive's whistle. How changed now
the situation. But a few years back the
canal was master of the Potomac Valley;
it had allowed the feeble rail road a pas-
sage-way through the Point of Rocks only
on condition that not one foot of track
should be laid above Harper's Ferry
until the canal had been completed to
Cumberland. Now the canal was to receive
sufficient state backing to complete its line
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
to Cumberland, on condition that the rail
road be allowed equal rights between
Harper's Ferry and Cumberland! The
gloomy year of 1837 in the financial world
held the rail road back, and it was not
until 1839 that the work was actively
pushed on. From now on there was no
delay; in June, 1842 the road was completed
to opposite Hancock, and by the end of the
year it was completed to Cumberland - one
hundred and seventy-eight miles from
Baltimore. Exciting as is the story of the
westward movement of this giant, it can-
not be treated here. The first division to
Piedmont was opened in June 1851, not far
from the "blind" trace Washington rode
through far back in 1784, in search of a
portage road from eastern to western
waters. By June, 1852, the road was
opened to Fairmont on the Monongahela,
and on the following January the first train
passed from Fairmont to Wheeling on the
Ohio.⁷ᵇ On the night of January 12, 1853
the banquet was spread in Wheeling to
end the day of celebration. And of the
five "regular" toasts none was so typical
"Smith's History and Description, pp. 78-81.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 135
or welcomed so loudly as that to " Thomas
Swann 76 Standing upon the banks of the
Ohio, and looking back upon the mighty
peaks of the Alleghanies, surmounted by
his efforts, he can proudly exclaim - 6 Veni,
vidi, vici.'
At the meeting of the Maryland legisla-
ture in December, 1838, the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal Company asked further
assistance from the state and submitted an
estimate of the work yet to be done to
finish the canal to Cumberland. This esti-
mate had been prepared by the chief engi-
neer of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Company and reported to the board of
president and directors January 22, 1839.
Since the estimate of January, 1836, this
was the first revised estimate, regarding
quantities and including the extent of the
whole line from Dam No. 5 to Cumberland,
that had been made. Including a dam at
the great Cacapon - now known as Dam
No. 6 - but excluding the dam designated
"Mr. Swann was elected president of the rail road in
1848 and had ably conducted its affairs during the past
five critical years, a worthy successor of Thomas and
McLane.-Id., p. 156.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
as Dam No. 7, which was then temporarily
dispensed with, the estimate submitted ran
as follows:
For the 50 miles above the
mouth of the Cacapon, now
better known as Dam No. 6 $4,440,657.00
For the 27½ miles between
Dam No. 5, and that point 1,640,000.00
$6,080,657.00
Of this work there had been done, on the
first of December, 1838: $947,394.27 on the
50 miles; and $1,589,453.44 on the 27½
miles. This left $3,543,809.29 as the work
remaining to be done on December I,
1838, to complete the canal to Cumberland.
The work done in December was estimated
at about $90,000 which reduced the amount
remaining to be executed, on January I,
1839, to about $3,450,000. The twenty-
seven and a half miles between Dam No. 5
and Dam No. 6 were nearly completed at
the time the estimate was submitted. In
April, 1839, navigation opened to Dam No.
6, which remained the western terminus
for a decade.
The $3,560,619 estimate of the seventy-
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 137
eight miles between Dam No. 5 and Cum-
berland, made in January 1836, was
arrived at by adding together the surveys
of two distinct parties of engineers. By
comparing the estimate submitted in De-
cember 1838 with the foregoing, made in
January 1836, which included the same
distance, it will be observed that although
the work on more than one-third of the
distance had been completed, the latter
estimate was nearly seventy-one per cent
in excess of the former. About fifty-seven
per cent of the increase was attributed by
the chief engineer to the advance in the
cost of labor, which was very high. The
pecuniary difficulties of the company, the
high prices and great difficulty in procuring
provisions along the line of the canal, and
the want of proper control over the
laborers by the civil authorities of the
state, were some of the causes contributing
to this excess. The remaining fourteen
per cent of the increase was stated to be
chargeable, mainly, to an increase of quan-
tities found to be necessary in the progress
of construction for the security of the
canal. The "revised estimate" of Janu-
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
ary, 1839, was the last estimate upon which
an available appropriation has been made
to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company
by the state of Maryland.
A committee was appointed, after the
presentation of the memorials and the re-
vised estimate, to investigate the affairs
and transactions of the company. In their
report they expressed their belief in the
importance of an early completion of the
canal and suggested the expediency of an
appeal to the general government. Instead
of an appropriation by the state they
recommended that a proposition be made
to Congress, that the general government
should either aid the company, or transfer
to the state of Maryland the interest of the
United States in its capital stock both as
an original stockholder and as assignee of
the district cities, on the condition that the
state would provide the necessary means
to complete the canal to Cumberland. A
similar proposition had previously been
made under joint resolutions adopted at
December session, 1837, but nothing
definite had resulted. The legislature,
therefore, was not disposed to postpone the
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 139
advantages that were anticipated to result
from the completion of the work by a hope-
less recurrence of abortive expedients.
They were of the opinion that the state had
already gone too far in its investments in
the company to stop now - and it could
not recede. The unexpended and unen-
cumbered balance on hand was $681,853.59.
This was not sufficient to continue the
work during the present year. The credit
of the state was high and above suspicion.
Both applications were granted. An act
was passed on April 5, 1839, known as the
act of December session, 1838,77 releasing
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company
from the twenty per cent premium, stipu-
lated in the act of 1835, and authorizing
the commissioner of loans to issue to the
company five per cent sterling bonds to the
amount of $3,200,000 as an equivalent for,
and in lieu of, the $2,500,000 of six per
cent certificates which had been delivered
to the company, and the $500,000 of six per
cents which had been retained by the
treasurer of Maryland as security for the
payment of the premium. This act made
"Maryland Laws, 1838, ch. 386.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
a further appropriation 78 which authorized
an additional subscription to the capital
stock of the company to the amount of
$1,375,000 payable in five per cent sterling
bonds.
These acts were promptly accepted by
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company
and their provisions carried into effect and
complied with. An instrument of guar-
anty, and mortgages to secure the payment
of the three years interest, in compliance
with the condition of both acts, were duly
executed on May 15, 1839, and delivered to
the treasurer of Maryland. The subscrip-
tion of $1,375,000 authorized by the latter
act was the last subscription made to the
capital stock of the company. A report of
the treasurer, issued June I, 1839, stated
that the means of the company, over and
above its liabilities and applicable to the
construction of the canal and the payment
to the state of the interest on the bonds,
amounted to $2,087,139.94. In this state-
ment the whole amount of the sterling
bonds was computed at par value. The
cost of the remaining work to be done to
"Maryland Laws, 1838, ch. 396.
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 141
complete the canal, on the basis of the
January 1839 estimate, was, at that time,
$2,935,103.
At the following session of the general
assembly, December 1839, the company
made a formal application to the state for
further assistance. The accompanying
communication, dated February 10, 1840,
affirmed the correctness of the engineer's
estimate of January, 1839, and stated that
the fifty miles of canal between Dam No.
6 and Cumberland would cost $4,440,350.
Of this, $2,030,128 was expended on the
first of January 1840, leaving $2,410,222,
necessary to complete the work. The re-
sources of the company, on the same day,
estimating 318,175 Maryland five per cent
sterling bonds at par, were stated to be
$1,489,571; the liabilities of the company
$1,244,555, leaving, January 1, after paying
all debts, a balance of $245,016. Upon this
exhibit, presented to the legislature, the
additional appropriation was asked for.
At this time the public appeared fully
cognizant of the great importance of press-
ing forward an early completion of the
canal. The members of the legislature
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
were also generally inclined to the adop-
tion of adequate measures of relief; but
the question which arose now was concern-
ing the manner in which the relief should
be given. Two ways were open: the state
bonds could be placed in the hands of the
commissioner of loans and be sold at par,
and the proceeds paid over to the Chesa-
peake and Ohio Canal Company; or, the
bonds could be delivered to the president
and directors of the company and sold by
them at par, or be exchanged at their
nominal value for the evidences of debt of
the company. Apparently, there was no
substantial difference between these two
propositions, but, because of the views and
feelings that originated and entered into
the controversy, a broad line of distinction
was drawn between the two plans. Each
had its advocates and the supporters of
each were equally immovable- - conse-
quently the legislature adjourned without
making any appropriation at all. In this
emergency the company took into con-
sideration the course most proper to be
adopted in regard to continuing the
work on the canal. When called upon to
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 143
present his views in reference to a total
suspension of operations and the postpone-
ment of the completion of the canal, the
chief engineer estimated that the accumu-
lation of interest and other losses would
amount to not less than a million dollars.
Petitions from the contractors, merchants,
and others, residing in the neighborhood
of the operations, were received by the
company, begging the continuation of the
work and an issue of scrip, or promissory
notes, which would be a convenience to
each community. Accordingly the com-
pany decided to allow the work to proceed
and to gratify the petitioners by issuing
scrip. In 1839, and previous to that time,
the issues had generally been secured by a
pledge of state bonds or stocks. The pres-
ent issue, on the other hand, which, during
the year 1840, and from January to April
1841, amounted in the aggregate to
$555,400, had no pledge to sustain it. It
was the company's last issue of scrip.
At the December meeting of the Mary-
land legislature, 1840, an appropriation for
aid was again asked for. The expenditures
upon labor performed during the year had
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
amounted to $531,160, and the sum required
to finish the canal to Cumberland, accord-
ing to the estimate of January 1839, was
stated to be $1,825,892. In addition to
this, estimating the unsold state bonds at
eighty per cent, the company would need
$700,000, exclusive of the interest due the
state, to redeem the scrip and other debts.
A committee was appointed by the legisla-
ture which made a rigid examination into
the affairs and transactions of the company.
The disposal of the state bonds and the
issues of scrip were severely censured -
and the general assembly again adjourned
without adopting any measure of relief.
Because of the threatening aspect of affairs,
and the difficulty of procuring the necessary
means for the continuance of the work on
the canal, in the year 1839 the company
began to cut down operations. In the
month of May of that year the amount ex-
pended on the work was $96,320. In De-
cember, 1839, and January and February,
1840, the expenditure had been reduced to
an average of $40,817 per month. The
policy was also adopted of paying off the old
loans, which had been secured by a pledge
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 145
of the six per cent certificates without
restriction as to sales, by an immediate sale
of the five per cent sterling bonds. At a
meeting of the stockholders of the com-
pany, on April 3, 1841, an adjourned ses-
sion of a general meeting, the proceedings
state that the president announced if a
breach should take place in the canal, the
cost of repairing which might be $1500 or
$2000, the money, and credit of the com-
pany, would not be sufficient to secure the
repair of it, but that the company must,
thereupon, be declared to be utterly bank-
rupt."
At an extra session of the Maryland legis-
lature which was convened in March, 1841,
by the proclamation of the governor, to
provide means to pay the interest on the
state debt, an application for further aid
was again made by the company. On the
fifth of April, 1841, an act was passed for
an additional loan of two millions of dol-
lars, payable in six per cent stock, or bonds
of the state, which the legislature required
to be sold by the treasurer of the state in
behalf of the company. "The bonds were
made to rest, upon the faith of the State
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
and upon a specific pledge of the proceeds
of the State's investments in the capital
stock of the company, for the payment of
principal and interest. The act, however,
contained, as conditions precedent, clauses
requiring the several companies of Alle-
gany county, to enter into bond, satisfac-
tory to the treasurer of the State, for the
construction of a rail road, from the [coal]
mines, to connect with the canal, and to
complete the same simultaneously with its
completion to Cumberland; and also, to
guaranty the payment, to the company, of
at least $200,000, per annum, for the trans-
portation of their own coal on the canal."
The board of directors, as well as the coal
and iron companies of Allegheny County,
made strenuous efforts to comply with
these conditions, but the securities offered
were not satisfactory to the treasurer of the
state and the act failed. Later it was
repealed.
At the December session, 1841, the pro-
fessional beggar again asked aid of the
legislature, but failed to secure it. For
some time previous several contractors had
been prosecuting the work on the canal on
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Frederick
Octr 9 181,0
Ni/J'3
D
New
Intersood, Mold Spenesor Phines
Nine. Months
afterdate
THE CHESAPEAKE & oHTo
FIVE
CANAL COMPANY
Promise topay on Demand at their Office at Frederick
Maryland to Jawb wb M whill or bearer
FIVE
FIVE DOLLARS
with Interest from date.
m. hurner
Clerk Francis Homan Prest
5
SCRIP ISSUED BY THE CHESADEAKE AND OHIO CANAL COMDANY
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 149
their own credit and at their individual
expense, quite sure that the state would
make an appropriation at this session.
Failing to receive the desired assistance,
the work on the canal stopped abruptly
immediately after the adjournment of the
legislature, and before the end of the year
1841 not a man was in employ between Dam
No. 6 and Cumberland. At this time,
prostrate and overwhelmed with difficulties,
the company experienced great depression.
Not only were there great liabilities to the
state, secured by mortgage liens on the
canal and its revenues, but in addition to
this, the debts and obligations of the com-
pany due to individuals on scrip, accept-
ances, certificates of debt, common loans
and open amounts, as stated in the treas-
urer's abstract, on October 1, 1843,
amounted to $1,174,566.31. The urgent
appeals for payment coming from those
creditors, to whom large amounts were
due for work done, and who had been
quite reduced to poverty, excited general
sympathy. The canal had been completed
to Dam No. 6 in 1839, to which point it
was now only navigable. The chief engi-
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
neer estimated that it would cost $1,545,000
to complete the eighteen and three-tenths
miles to Cumberland. The United States,
the state of Virginia, the cities of the
District of Columbia and all the stock-
holders had long since discontinued their
patronage and refused all pecuniary aid;
even the state of Maryland, which had
heretofore sustained the company and loy-
ally upheld it in all its misfortunes, was
now unable to give further assistance.
The state was struggling under the evils of
disordered finances and prostrate credit and
a black shadow had been cast upon the
name of the state because of its great debt
contracted in behalf of the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal. Unable, because of the want
of timely legislation, after the default of
the internal improvement companies was
made known, to meet her own public lia-
bilities, she was certainly unable to give
assistance to others. So the canal had no
friend and no resources. The freshets of
April and September, 1843, made heavy
breaches in the canal which had to be re-
paired. This was done by the aid of
accommodations from the banks and as a
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 151
consequence the deficit was large and em-
barrassing at the close of that year. The
entire revenues of the year only amounted
to $47,635.51 and the current expenses to
$83,792.80, showing a deficit of $36,157.29.
At the December session, 1844, applica-
tion was renewed for a waiver of the state
liens on the revenues of the canal so as to
empower the company to issue its bonds,
with preferred liens on its revenues to an
amount not exceeding two millions of dol-
lars. In principle and amount it was simi-
lar to the measure which had been proposed
and rejected at the sessions of 1841 and
1842. Those who had been friends to the
company during previous periods of diffi-
culty were now conspicuous for their
absence only, and the officers alone stood
in vindication of the measure. Instead of
a state convention and primary meetings
to sustain and encourage the company, it
was surrounded by enemies who opposed.
The city of Baltimore took decided grounds
in opposition to it, and the newspapers of
the city were full of communications
adverse to the proposed measure. The
rail road company with diplomatic skill
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
sought to crush the effort by statements to
the effect that a connection between the
rail road and canal at Dam No. 6 would
render further prosecution of the canal
unnecessary. It also with probably a simi-
lar object in view stated that "many years
would elapse, before the demand for coal
would require more than 100,000 tons, in
any one year, whatever facilities or trans-
portation may be afforded." Had the same
opposition been brought forward in Decem-
ber of 1834 or 1835 the work on the canal
at that time would probably have been
stopped; for, even with the powerful sup-
port of the immediate friends of the inter-
nal improvement companies, and the influ-
ential backing of the city of Baltimore, the
appropriations of 1834 and 1835 were
obtained only after a prolonged struggle,
especially on the part of the canal com-
pany. The question of 1844 was one of an
entirely different nature. It was not a
question of internal improvement- - not
whether the wealth in the mountains
should be added to the general aggregate
of the state's resources, but a question of
finance - a question of whether the mil-
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 153
lions which the state had invested in the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company,
should be given up as irretrievably lost or
an effort be made to make the investment
productive. Maryland had already ex-
pended seven millions on the work and
had never expected any return from it
until after completion. Neither money
nor the state's credit was now asked, only
that, since she herself was in pecuniary
difficulties arising mainly from her support
of the company (and these investments
would remain unproductive until the com-
pletion of the canal) the state would waive
her unprofitable liens on the revenues to
such an extent as would enable the com-
pany to finish the work upon a preferred
pledge of its future income. Although the
opposition was great and influential there
were Marylanders in the house of delegates
at the December session, 1844, who be-
lieved in the importance of the completion
of the canal and whose judgment was
earnestly enlisted in favor of the plan.
After a prolonged struggle the act waiving
the liens of the state,⁷⁹ under which the
"Maryland State Laws, 1844, ch. 281.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
canal was completed, was passed - passed
on the last day of the session, March 10, by
the limitation of the constitution, and
received a majority of one vote in each
house of the assembly! And, even then,
it had been so modified that its most
prominent advocates pronounced it value-
less and felt disposed to abandon its sup-
port!
In the charter of the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal Company, prior to the year
1844, there was no express power to borrow
money for the completion of the canal, and
its right to do so had been much ques-
tioned. Even the force and validity of the
mortgages which it had given the state to
secure the payment of the two million loan
were called in question. Also, the time
limited by the charter for the completion of
the canal to Cumberland expired in 1840,
and since that time the corporation had
existed merely by the suffrance of the
power which had created it. No steps had
been taken to procure amendments in
either of these points. In the belief that
the measure suggested by the company for
the completion of the canal must prevail,
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 155
and that it would prove ineffectual unless
these defects in the charter were remedied,
the board of president and directors, at the
session of 1843, transmitted a memorial to
the legislature of Virginia asking for the
passage of an act providing for these
amendments. It also asked that the powers
of the company be enlarged, in regard to
extending the canal by a slackwater im-
provement to the mouth of Savage River
whenever it seemed expedient. This
memorial was accompanied by a draft of a
bill which embraced the desired provisions
and contained a reservation as to the liens
of Maryland. The legislature of Virginia
promptly acted and, with unimportant
changes, passed the bill on January 20,
1844. The act provided for an extension
of the time for the completion of the canal
to Cumberland to the first of January, 1855;
and authority was conferred upon the
president and directors, or a majority of
them assembled, to borrow money,
to carry into effect the objects authorized
by the charter of the company, to issue
bonds or other evidences of such loans, and
to pledge the property and revenues of the
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
company, for the payment of the same,
and the interest to accrue thereon, in such
form, and to such extent, as they may deem
expedient; with a proviso saving the prior
rights or liens of the state of Maryland,
under the mortgages which had been
executed by the company, to this state,
except in so far as they should be waived,
deferred, or postponed, by the Maryland
legislature." When the company's accep-
tance was sent to the state treasurer, the
act went into effect. The mortgage, bear-
ing date of January 8, 1846, and executed
in favor of the state of Maryland, was
placed in the hands of the treasurer by the
canal company. The amendments to the
charter were ratified by Congress about one
month before the passage of the act waiv-
ing the liens for the completion of the
canal.
Considering the general depreciation of
American securities and Maryland's dis-
credit at this period, and the small means
allowed for the accomplishment of the ends
proposed, a sale of bonds at par was entirely
out of the question. The only practicable
course for the company to follow was a
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 157
resort to a contract payable in bonds cover-
ing all the subjects necessary to be pro-
vided for; this course was adopted. The
board, with the approval of the Maryland
state agents, after advertising for proposals,
concluded a contract which was carefully
guarded in all its provisions, on the twenty-
fifth of September, 1845. For the con-
sideration of $1,625,000 of the bonds to be
issued under and pursuant to the act of
1844,80 the four contractors pledged them-
selves to commence the work within thirty
days and finish the canal to Cumberland
within two years, according to the estimate
of 1842; they were, also, "to pay to a
trustee, for the use of the company, in
twenty-one monthly instalments, an aggre-
gate sum of $100,000 in money, to enable
the Board of President and Directors to
liquidate land claims, engineering, and
other incidental expenses - and to pay the
interest on the bonds to be issued under
the act, until, and including the half year's
interest that would fall due, after the work
had been finished."
Very soon after the contract was made,
"Maryland State Laws, I844, ch. 281.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
the contractors commenced work on the
canal between Dam No. 6 and Cumberland.
All went well until the legislature again
met and adjourned without restoring the
credit of the state, when, their private
means being exhausted, once more the
contractors were compelled to suspend
operations about June I, 1846. The chief
engineer's last report, made before the
suspension, shows that the work done
under the contract, according to the revised
estimate of August 1845, amounted to
$55,384. In addition to all other misfort-
unes, during the years 1846 and 1847 a
series of freshets occurred in this region,
one following the other in rapid succession.
The lower division of the canal was re-
peatedly damaged until this increase of
expense became very embarrassing. Nor
were they able to make these repairs with-
out the aid of temporary loans obtained
from the banks.
After the execution of the contract for
the completion of the canal, two of the
original contractors of the co-partnership
withdrew and Thomas G. Harris, of Wash-
ington County, Maryland, went in with the
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 159
remaining two - James Hunter, of Vir-
ginia, and William B. Thompson, of the
District of Columbia. The new firm was
called "Hunter, Harris and Co." In Novem-
ber, 1847, the contract was greatly modified;
the time for the completion was extended,
specific changes in the plan of construction
were made, and certain portions of the
work were entirely dispensed with - all
this with a view to a saving of cost, which
was absolutely necessary. Under the new
contractors' management operations were
quickly resumed, but, prosecuted under
such constant embarrassment, again ceased
March II, 1850. The contractors made
great sacrifices in their sales of the bonds,
and, although stimulated to perseverance
in the honest expectation of completing the
canal, they had previously abandoned all
hope of profit, and found the pressure too
great to continue. This suspension, how-
ever, lasted but a few days. Hunter,
Harris, and Company made an assignment
of their interest in the contract to two of
their agents and attorneys, for the benefit
of their creditors, and the work was recom-
menced and continued until July, 1850,
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when it was again abandoned because of
the usual lack of means. Upon the seven-
teenth of July the board of president and
directors formally declared the canal
abandoned and on the following day en-
tered into a new contract with Michael
Byrne, of Frederick county, for the com-
pletion of the canal to Cumberland. The
work remaining to be done was inconsid-
erable, yet tedious, consisting of numerous
unfinished portions between Dam No. 6
and Cumberland. This work was promptly
commenced and diligently prosecuted, and
the canal was opened for navigation pur-
poses, and through trade commenced, on
October 10, 1850. Mr. Byrne continued to
press forward the work, which did not
interfere with the passage of the boats, and
on February 17, 1851, the final payment
was made to him under the provisions of
the contract. From this time the comple-
tion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal may
be dated.
From the clerk's statement made from
the books of the company, with an addi-
tional allowance for a few small unsettled
claims, it appears that "the cost of the
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 161
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, from the
mouth of the Tyber in the city of Washing-
ton, to the town of Cumberland, a dis-
tance of one hundred and eighty-five and
seven tenths miles, for construction, engin-
eer expenses, lands, and other contingen-
cies properly applicable to construction,
amounts, in the aggregate, to the sum of
$11,071,176.21, or $59,618.61 per mile."
It is interesting to note that the original
estimate for a canal of less dimensions,
made by the experienced General Bernard
in 1826, was $8,177,081.05, or $43,963 per
mile. This estimate did not embrace land
purchases or condemnations nor make any
provision for contingencies with the excep-
tion of an allowance of $157,161 for fencing,
which, in the statement of cost, is included
under the head of lands. Therefore, in
order to make a just comparison between the
original estimate and the actual cost of the
canal there should be added to General
Bernard's estimate the cost of those items
which are excluded from it, and included
in the clerk's statement, after deducting
the amount for fencing already embraced
in the estimate.
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Bernard's estimate, exclusive of land purchases, condem-
nations and contingencies
$8,177,081.05
Add the items excluded, viz., actual cost of lands, de-
ducting therefrom $157,161, for fencing, already em-
braced in the estimate
267,562.91
Engineer expenses
429,845.94
Incidental damages
28,870.09
Pay of officers, say
80,000.00
Total
$8,983,359.99
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Aggregate actual cost, as per clerk's statement
11,071,176.21
Excess of actual cost over original estimate, with the
above additions-twenty-three and one-fifth per
cent, or
$2,087,816.22
THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 163
It is rather a difficult undertaking to
give a brief yet succinct and accurate his-
tory of the old waterway since 1850. In a
nutshell, the history of the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal from its completion to 1889
may truthfully be said to be a history of
the Democratic party in the state of Mary-
land during that period. It was used as a
political machine and lever by that party
at the expense of its physical and financial
good. The officers of the company were
appointed by the Board of Public Works
of the state, some of whom were ex officio
members of the board of directors. The
members of the Board of Public Works were
appointed by the governor of the state,
and in that way the management of the
canal was controlled by the party in power,
which, during that period, was the Demo-
cratic party. There was much litigation
in an effort by some of the holders of bonds
to protect themselves, but it was always
unsuccessful. Mr. Gorman, now Senator
A. P. Gorman, was president for a number
of years. It is an open secret throughout
the state that it was on the placid waters of
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal that the
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
senator rode into the high dignity of a
Senatorial seat. The canal was in every
way a financial failure and paid nothing to
the holders of its debentures. There are
today thousands of dollars of unpaid wages,
due for labor and material supplied. It has
cost the state of Maryland millions of dol-
lars, none of which are likely to ever find
their way back to the state coffers. Con-
ducted upon an economical and business-
like basis, it should have been a source of
revenue.
The disastrous floods of 1889 caused
such damage to the waterway that a large
sum was required to restore it. The state
refused further financial aid and, in con-
sequence, the canal lay abandoned. The
Democratic politicians of the state, many
of whom were interested in the West
Virginia Central Railway, made an effort,
through an act passed in Maryland legisla-
ture, to sell the valuable property and its
franchises to that rail road for a nominal
price; in fact were on the point of dispos-
ing, for about two hundred thousand dol-
lars, of a property worth millions. After the
passage of the act and its signature by the
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A VIEW OF THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL
[This part of the canal, at the entrance of the tunnil thirty mi'es east of Cumberland, shows the expensive nature of portions
of the work]
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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 167
governor, the holders of the bonds which
were authorized to be issued in 1844, and
which were issued in 1848, stepped in.
When these bonds were authorized there
were already so many liens upon the canal
that it was a well-known fact that no mar-
ket would be found for them. Realizing
this fact, the state, to give them a value,
waived its rights, under previous issues
and loans, as we have seen, in favor of
these bonds about to be put upon the market,
and also securing them by a mortgage on
the tolls and revenues of the canal. The
holders of these bonds arose and petitioned
the courts to protect them, claiming that a
sale of the canal to the rail road would
destroy the corpus, and that with the
corpus destroyed, the toll and revenue
earning capacity would cease. In other
words they claimed that a mortgage on the
tolls and revenues constituted a mortgage
on the corpus. They further petitioned
that the court appoint trustees to operate
the canal for the bondholders of 1848,
thereby enabling them to have an oppor-
tunity to protect themselves. The case
was bitterly fought in the courts and
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
ended finally by the granting of the peti-
tion. Trustees were appointed for a term
of four years to show what they could do.
Then the canal was repaired, at a cost of
over half a million dollars. In 1891
traffic was resumed and has been going
steadily on since that time. That the
court is evidently satisfied with the show-
ing made by the trustees is attested by the
fact that, at the expiration of the four years
originally granted (in which to show that
they could run the canal successfully) the
court granted an extension of that time for
four years more, and at the expiration of
the latter grant, further increased it four
years, and so on.
The Canal is now, as it has been since
1891, operated by the trustees, under mort-
gage of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Com-
pany, dated June 5, 1848.
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CHAPTER IV
THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL AND ITS
SUCCESSOR
THE Pensylvania trade route through
in the days of the
pack-horse and Conestoga" wagon
has been outlined in previous volumes of
this series.⁸¹ By means of Forbes's Road
the metropolis of the United States at the
beginning of the nineteenth century,
Philadelphia, was in close connection with
the metropolis of the Ohio Basin, Pitts-
burg. The rivalry with Baltimore had
been keen, and the Philadelphia merchants
were eager to overcome their handicap of
nearly one hundred miles, by internal im-
provements of a most advanced pattern.
In the matter of roads, liberal as had been
Pennsylvania's policy, Maryland was far
ahead, so far as the West was concerned.
And in 1806, when a national road across
81Historic Highways of America, vols. V, xi, xii.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
the Alleghenies was proposed, and a Mary-
land (Cumberland) route was chosen by the
commissioners appointed by President Jef-
ferson, it seemed probable that Maryland's
lead in the matter of trade was about to. be
materially increased.
But Pennsylvania, as we have seen, had
been an early promoter of inland naviga-
tion; its "Society for promoting the im-
provement of roads and inland navigation"
in 1791, had called specific attention to the
rivers which should be made important
routes of an expanding commerce. Among
the most important recommendations of
this society was that looking to the im-
provement of Pennsylvania's great western
waterway, the Susquehanna River and its
tributary, the Juniata. This latter stream
interlocked, beyond the Allegheny crest,
with the roaring Conemaugh, a tributary
of the Kiskiminitas and Ohio, And in
response to this appeal we have seen that
£5,250 was appropriated to the improve-
ment of Susquehanna navigation from
Wright's Ferry to the mouth of Swatara
Creek. As Philadelphia was the com-
mercial center, the route thence by water
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THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
171
was first up the Schuylkill, then across by
canal to the Susquehanna. It was out-
lined as follows in the society's memorial,
signed by Robert Morris, February 7, 1791
Miles Chains
Up Schuylkill to the mouth of Tulpehocken
6I
00
Thence up Tulpehocken to the end of the
proposed canal
37
09
Length of the canal
4
I5
Down Quitipahilla to Swatara
I5
20
Down Swatara to Susquehanna
23
00
Up Susquehanna to Juniata
23
28
Up Juniata to Huntingdon
86
I2
From Huntingdon, on Juniata, to the mouth
of Popular run.
42
00
Portage to the Canoe Place on the Cone-
maugh
I8
00
Down Conemaugh to Old Town at the
mouth of Stoney Creek
18
00
Down Conemaugh and Kiskeminetas to Al-
legheny
69
00
Down Allegheny river to Pittsburgh on the
Ohio
29
00
-
Total
426
04⁸
The progress of Virginia and Maryland
in connection with the Potomac Company
and the opening of the Potomac River was
felt in Pennsylvania at this time. " For,
83 "An Historical Account
of Canal Navigation
in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1795), p. 3.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
in the firft place," read this memorial,
if we turn our view to the immenfe terri-
tories connected with the Ohio and Mif-
fiffippi waters, and bordering on the great
lakes, it will appear from the tables of
diftances, that our communication with
thofe vaft countries (confidering Fort Pitt
as the port of entrance upon them) is as
eafy and may be rendered as cheap, as to
any other port on the Atlantic tide waters.
The diftance from Philadelphia to the
Allegheny, at the mouth of Kifkeminetas,
is nearly the fame as from the mouth of
Monongahela to George Town on Potomac;
and fuppofing the computed diftances from
Pittfburgh to the Dunkard Bottom to be
juft, and the navigation of Cheat river, on
the one hand, and the Potomack, at the
mouth of Bavage river, on the other, to be,
at all feafons of the year, equal to the navi-
gation of the Kifkeminetas, Conemaugh
and Juniata; yet as the portage from
Dunkard Bottom to the Potomack, at the
mouth of Savage river, is thirty-feven
miles and a quarter, and the portage from
Conemaugh to Juniata only eighteen miles
(which may be confiderably fhortened by
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THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
173,
locks) there can be no doubt but that the
tranfportation of all kinds of goods and
merchandize from Philadelphia to Pittf-
burgh may be at a much cheaper rate than
from any other fea port on the Atlantic
waters."
It mattered not where it was, every one
of the Atlantic seaboard cities had an ex-
pert who could show in black and white
that that particular port was in closest
touch with Pittsburg and the West. Wash-
ington had done so, conclusively to all
Southerners; Morris does it here to the
satisfaction of Pennsylvanians, and New
York had a score of mathematicians who
could prove the same thing concerning
New York, and the Hudson and Mohawk
route.
"This is not mentioned," continues the
memorial, hopefully, "with a view to
difparage the internal navigation of our
fifter ftates, more efpecially Maryland and
Virginia. We admire their noble exer-
tions.
But, although a confidera-
ble part of the Settlers on the Ohio waters
may be accommodated by the Potomack
navigation, and the ftate of Pennfylvania
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
may only have a fhare in the trade of thofe
waters; yet there remains to us the im-
menfe trade of the lakes, taking Prefqu'Ifle,
which is within our own ftate, as the great
mart or place of embarkation. 88
It is exceedingly interesting to note that
while Pennsylvania at this time only
expected to share with her southern neigh-
bors the trade of the Ohio Basin, she
expected a monopoly of the trade on the
Great Lakes. Of the latter trade she
secured only a fraction, while of the former
she secured practically a monopoly for half
a century.
The route is more carefully outlined in
the memorial: " It connects Philadelphia
with Pittfburgh and all the Ohio waters, by
the Schuylkill, the Swatara and Juniata
branches of Sufquehanna, and the Kifke-
minetas branch of Allegheny, with the
diftance of five hundred and fixty-one miles
and an half
and alfo Philadelphia
and Prefqu'Ifle, ufing the fame waters
to the mouth of Kifkeminetas, and then by
the eafy waters of Allegheny and French
Creek. In this whole communication to
"Id., pp. 7-8.
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175
Pittsfburgh, there are only eighteen miles
portage between the Juniata and Cone-
maugh
and only the addition of
fifteen miles and an half more at the port-
age from Le Bœuf to Prefqu'Ifle, which
portage is, likewife, included in both the
other communications. In this ftatement
of portages, it is fuppofed that the canal
or lock navigation between the heads of
Tulpehocken and Quitipahilla, is to be com-
pleated; but if that work fhould be
thought too great to begin with, it will be
only the addition of four miles portage, by
an excellent and level road."
For many years the problem of the navi-
gation of this westward waterway was the
subject of discussion and legislation. In
no case does any state seem to have
profited by the experience of any other.
New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and
Maryland each boldly attacked the problem
of the improvement of their rivers, the
Mohawk, Juniata, and Potomac, without in
the least profiting by the experience of the
others. It was New York which first
broke away from the old ideas, upon which
millions of dollars had been squandered,
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
and built her Erie Canal, which soon
turned doubt and derision into a vast
tumult of applause. Yet it must be re-
membered that the New York canal had
an easy path to follow. The Mohawk was
not the wild Potomac as known in bleak
Hampshire County, nor Wood Creek the
racing Conemaugh or upper Youghio-
gheny. The wet flats of the "Genesee
Country" offered a different prospect for
canal engineers from that to be viewed in
Kittanning Gorge where only the eagles
lived. The Erie Canal conquered, by
means of locks, 500 feet in 360 miles; the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal faced the
problem of overcoming 2754 feet in 340
miles, and the Pennsylvania Canal, 2291
feet in 320 miles. It is not to be won-
dered at, then, that New York found a
water connection with the West first. And
yet the fact remains that much was spent
on the Mohawk before the Erie Canal was
begun.
So the struggle went on in Pennsylvania
for nearly a generation until at last the suc-
cess of the Erie Canal and the failure of'
the improved unnavigable rivers gave birth
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THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
177
to the Pennsylvania Canal.84 On March 27,
1824, an act of the Pennsylvania legislature
authorized the appointment of a board of
canal commissioners to view and explore
routes for a canal from Harrisburg to Pitts-
burg. The commissioners, Colonel Jacob
Holgate, James Clark, and Charles Trezi-
yulney, were appointed March 31. From
May until December they were in the field.
Their exploration resulted in the following
estimate of the height to be overcome
between the Susquehanna 86 and Ohio:
Rise
(feet)
Harrisburg (mouth of Juniata) to head
of Juniata
589
Head of Juniata to proposed tunnel
945
Tunnel level to summit of mountain
754
Susquehanna to mountain summit 2288
84 One of the most enlightening broadsides of the time
treating of the delay of the internal improvement plan
is Turner Camac's Facts and Arguments respecting
the great Utility of an extensive plan of Inland Navi-
gation in America (Philadelphia, 1805).
85 The canal was proposed to begin on the Schuylkill
and lead to the Susquehanna, but it actually began on
the Susquehanna, the country between that point and
Philadelphia being covered by the old Union Canal and
the Columbia Railway which was soon built.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
The tunnel at summit level was as long
as that one proposed on the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal, and gave rise to great dis-
cussion. One commissioner, Treziyulney,
whose name gave weight to his opinion,
disagreed with his associates on the matter
of the tunnel, and, in fact, on the entire
canal proposition. The majority report
having been made to the governor of
Pennsylvania February 2, 1825, this
minority report was dated February 21.
In short," it read, the whole country,
from the upper forks of the Juniata to the
forks of the South branch of the Cone-
maugh, is mountainous; mountain rising
after mountain in quick succession. The
main one where the proposed tunnel is to
pass, is hemmed in and surrounded by
other high mountains, with steep slopes
separated from one another by narrow
ravines and presenting no favorable situa-
tion for canaling, either by lockage or tun-
neling. Here nature has refused to make
her usual kind advances to aid the exer-
tions of man; mountains are thrown
together, as if to defy human ingenuity,
and baffle the skill of the engineer." The
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179
difference of opinion caused much debate
and conjecture as to the practicability of
the great plan.
Another cause of delay was the agitation
which was now sweeping all thinking
minds on the question of the new roads of
(literally) iron and steam as a motive power.
Such had been the progress of railways in
England that it was believed by many that
this method of locomotion would supersede
all others. On February 5, 1825, the Penn-
sylvania senate granted the wish of the
advocates of railways by appointing a
commission to inquire into the possibility
of building a railway from Philadelphia to
Pittsburg. Three editions of a pamphlet,
Facts and Arguments in favor of adopting
railways in preference to Canals in the State
of Pennsylvania, were published in Philadel-
phia this year. 'It maintained that a rail-
way could be built from Philadelphia to
Pittsburg in one-third the time it would
take to build a canal and at one-third the
cost; it would, moreover, be available
almost the entire year, whereas the Erie
Canal was navigable only two hundred and
twenty days in the year. It urged that
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
more persons would be required in the
operation of a canal than a railway, and
that the tolls would be higher on the
former than on the latter. "If a railway,
or even a canal, existed between Pittsburg
and Philadelphia, New Orleans would not
requite the consideration of a moment.
The great distance of this port from Ken-
tucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; in
winter the ice in the Ohio river
the numerous sawyers, snags &c.
the length of the voyage
are pow-
erful objections to this port.
Baltimore presents itself as the second
rival.
But when the Pennsyl-
vania railway shall be constructed, Balti-
more cannot for a moment withstand the
competition of the enormous capital of
Philadelphia. She may, indeed, construct
a canal or a railway
but little is
to be apprehended, as the length and
expense of constructing these works will
be far greater than those contemplated in
Pennsylvania. New York is the third
rival
but the communication be-
tween New York and Pittsburg must be
effected by a long, tedious, and expensive
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181
voyage, requiring four changes of ves-
sels.
The route of nearly 800 miles
[via Buffalo, Lake Erie, and the Allegheny
River] will be very circuitous; and will be
impracticable five months every year.
It does not require the voice of prophecy
to predict that the period is not far distant
when the New York canal will be superseded by
a railway."
Thus was the question of rivalry between
the Atlantic ports stated by a railway
exponent of 1825; and the statements must
be considered extremely prophetic. The
railway commission was appointed too far
ahead of the times, but it had a forward
influence, and by the act of April II, the
canal commissioners were authorized to
have all routes across the Alleghenies sur-
veyed, and in June of the year following
the Juniata route was announced to be the
preferable route in the commission's report
to the governor of Pennsylvania; the tun-
nel, however, was considered impossible
for the same reason as with the tunnel
between the heads of Savage and Yough-
iogheny Rivers in western Virginia - the
Facts and Arguments, pp. 57-58.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
difficulty of supplying water at the summit
level. In the place of a tunnel, inclined
planes were proposed by the commission.
Evidently anticipating this report, the
Pennsylvania legislature passed an act for
the construction of the Pennsylvania Canal
at the expense of the state; and it was ap-
proved by Governor Shulze, February 25,
1826. It read:
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE COMMENCE-
MENT OF A CANAL, TO BE CONSTRUCTED
AT THE EXPENSE OF THE STATE, AND TO
BE STYLED THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL.
Whereas, The construction of a canal
within our own limits, for the purpose of
connecting the eastern and western waters,
is believed to be practicable, and within
the means of the state, and its speedy com-
pletion will advance the prosperity, and
elevate the character of Pennsylvania, and
by facilitating intercourse, and promoting
social interests, will strengthen the bands
of the Union; And whereas, There `are
important sections of the work which may
be immediately begun without the danger
of error:
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183
Therefore,
Section I. Be it enacted by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met,
That the commissioners appointed by the
of act, canal entitled, commissioners," An act to appoint passed the a board 11th
April, 1825, are hereby authorized and
empowered, in behalf of this state, im-
mediately to locate and contract for making
a canal, and locks, and other works neces-
sary thereto, from the river Swatara to the
mouth of the river Juniata, and also from
Pittsburg to the mouth of the Kiskiminetas.
Section 2. And be it further enacted by the
authority aforesaid, That the said commis-
sioners shall be authorized to appoint one
or two of the board, as occasion may
require, as acting commissioner or com-
missioners, who shall receive - dollars
per day, while actually engaged in the
superintendence of the works contemplated
by this act.
Section 3. And be it further enacted by
the authority aforesaid, That the said board
shall appoint a treasurer, and shall have
power to appoint engineers, clerks, and
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
other officers, toll-gatherers, and such
other agents as they shall judge requisite,
and to agree for, and settle their respective
wages, and to establish reasonable toll.
Provided, That the treasurer shall give
bond in such penalty, and with such
security, as the said board shall direct, for
the true and faithful discharge of the trust
reposed in him.
Section 4. And be it further enacted by the
authority aforesaid, That the location and
dimensions of the said canals and locks
shall be determined by a majority of the
board, with the approbation of a skilful
engineer, and with the consent of the
Governor.
Section 5. And be it further enacted by the
authority aforesaid, That it shall and may
be lawful for the said board, or a majority
of them, to agree with the owners of any
land, through which the said canal is
intended to pass, for the purchase, use and
occupation thereof, on behalf of the 'state,
and in case of disagreement, or in case the
owner thereof shall be a feme covert,
under age, non compos, or out of the state
or county, on application to a justice of the
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187
county in which such land shall be, the
said justice of the peace shall issue his
warrant, under his hand, to the sheriff of
the county, to summon a jury of eighteen
inhabitants of his county, not related to
the parties, or in any manner interested,
to meet on the land to be valued, at a day
to be expressed in the warrant, not less
than ten nor more than twenty days there-
after; and the sheriff, upon receiving the
said warrant, shall forthwith summon the
said jury, and when met, shall administer
an oath or affirmation to every juryman
who shall appear, being not less than
twelve in number, that he will faithfully,
justly and impartially value the land, and
all damages the owner shall sustain by
cutting the canal through such land, or the
partial or temporary appropriation, use or
occupation of such land, according to the
best of his skill and judgment, and that in
such valuation he will not spare any per-
son, for favor or affection, or any person
grieve for malice, hatred or ill will; and in
every such valuation and assessment of
damages, the jury shall be, and they are
hereby instructed to consider in determin-
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188 THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
ing and fixing the amount thereof, the
actual benefit which will accrue to the
owner, from conducting the said canal
through, or erecting any of the said works
upon his land, and to regulate their verdict
thereby, except that no assessment shall
require any such owner to pay or contribute
any thing where such benefit shall exceed,
in the estimate of the jury, the value and
damages ascertained as aforesaid; and the
inquisition thereupon taken, shall be
signed by the sheriff, and some twelve or
more of the jury, and returned by the
sheriff to the clerk or prothonotary of his
county, and unless good cause be shown
against the said inquisition, it shall be
affirmed by the court and recorded; but if
the said inquisition should be set aside, or
if from any cause, no inquisition shall be
returned to such court within a reasonable
time, the said court may at its discretion,
as often as may be necessary, direct another
inquisition to be taken in the manner
above described, and upon every such.
valuation, the jury is hereby directed to
describe and ascertain the bounds of the
land by them valued, and the quality and
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189
duration of the interest and estate in
the same, required by the said board for
the use of the state, and their valuation
shall be conclusive on all persons, and shall
be paid for by the said board, to the owner
of the land, or his legal representatives;
and on payment thereof, the state shall be
seized of such lands, as of an absolute
estate in perpetuity, or with such less
quantity and duration of interest or estate
in the same, or subject to such partial or
temporary appropriation, use or occupation
as shall be required and described as
aforesaid, as if conveyed by the owner, and
whenever, in the construction of the said
canal, or any of the works thereof, locks,
dams, ponds, feeders, tunnels, aqueducts,
culverts, bridges or works of any other
description whatsoever appurtenant thereto,
it shall be necessary to use earth, timber,
stone or gravel, or any other material to
be found on any of the lands adjacent or
near thereto, and the said board or their
agent cannot procure the same for the
works aforesaid, by private contract of the
proprietor or owner, or in case the owner
should be a feme covert, non compos, or
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190 THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
under age, or out of the state or county,
the same proceedings in all respects shall
be had as in the case before mentioned, of
the assessment and condemnation of the
lands required for the said canal, or the
works appurtenant thereto.
Section 6. And be it further enacted by the
authority aforesaid, That every person
actually engaged in labouring on any canal
authorized by law, shall be exempt from
doing militia duty in this state, except in
cases of insurrection or invasion, during
the time when he is so actually engaged;
and the certificates of the contractor who
shall employ such men, so liable to perform
militia duty, in the performance of their
contracts shall be prima facia evidence of
such engagement.
Section 7. And be it further enacted by
the authority aforesaid, That the sum
of three hundred thousand dollars be,
and. the same is hereby appropriated,
to be paid by the state treasurer, in
such sums as shall be required for
the execution of the work, which sums
shall from time to time be paid into
the hands of the treasurer of the board
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191
by direction of a majority of the board,
and by warrant of the Governor.
The method of joining the two divis-
ions of what now became known as the
Pennsylvania Canal was left undecided,
pending further investigation. But an act
of March 24, 1828 authorized the location
and construction of the Juniata division,
from Lewistown to the highest practicable
point on the river. [Eventually Hollidays-
burg on the eastern slope of the Alleghen-
ies, and Johnstown, on the western, were
decided upon as the termini of the eastern
and western divisions of the canal. The
thirty-six miles intervening were to be
crossed by a railway, through Blair's Gap,
of the inclined planes previously sug-
gested.
The interminable delays and postpone-
ments which have been described on the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal were unknown
in the present instance. What was known
as the central division (there being really
no eastern, though the Union Canal was
such nominally) was begun at Columbia on
the eastern shore of the Susquehanna, July
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
4, 1826, and was opened to Duncan's
Island, above Harrisburg, in 1830. This
central section also extended across the
Susquehanna and up the Juniata Valley; it.
was begun in 1827 and completed to Hunt-
ingdon in 1830 and Hollidaysburg in 1834.
The western division of the canal extended
from Pittsburg-to Johnstown; it was begun
in 1826 and opened in 1830.87
From Huntingdon on the east to Johns-
town on the west of the mountains was
planned the Allegheny Portage Railroad,
which from any point of view must be con-
sidered one of the most interesting and
remarkable of all attempts to abridge dis-
tance in our early history.
The history of the divisions of the Pennsyl-
vania Canal on either side of the mountains
is commonplace beside this interesting and
daring bit of engineering. Inclined planes
were not, at this time, a novelty, but their
use as proposed now in the Alleghenies was
87 For this and many additional items of information
concerning the greater problem of Pennsylvania's entire
system of canals, see Theodore B. Klein's monograph
" The Canals of Pennsylvania and the System of Inter-
nal Improvements," Report Pennsylvania Secretary
of Internal Improvements, 1900.
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193
such an advance on former instances that
it was considered a bold experiment. The
Morris Canal between the Hudson and
Delaware is peculiar," wrote the British
engineer Stevenson, in 1837, "as being
the only canal in America in which the
boats are moved from different levels by
means of inclined planes instead of locks.
The whole rise and fall on the Morris Canal
is I557 feet, of which 223 feet are over-
come by locks, and the remaining 1334 feet
by means of twenty-three inclined planes,
having an average lift of 58 feet each.
The car [on which canal boats ascend and
descend]
consists of a strongly
made wooden crib or cradle
on
which the boat rests, supported on two iron
waggons running on four wheels. When
the car is wholly supported on the inclined
plane, or is resting on the level, the four
axles of the waggons are all in the same
plane
; but when one of the
wagons rests on the inclined plane, and the
other on the level surface, their axles no
longer remain in the same plane, and their
change of position produces a tendency to
rock the cradle, and the boat which it sup-
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
ports; but this has been guarded against in
the construction of the boat-cars on the Mor-
ris Canal by introducing two axles
on which the whole weight of the crib and
boat are supported, and on which the
waggons turn as a centre. The cars run on
plate rails laid on the inclined planes, and
are raised and lowered by means of ma-
chinery driven by water wheels.
The railway, on which the car runs, ex-
tends along the bottom of the canal for a
short distance from the lower extremity of
the plane; when a boat is to be raised, the
car is lowered into the water, and the boat
being floated over it, is made fast to the
part of the framework which projects above
the gunwale.
The machinery is
then put in motion; and the car bearing
the boat, is drawn by a chain to the top of
the inclined plane, at which there is a lock
for its reception." 88
The building of such inclined planes on
the Allegheny Portage Railway from Hol-
lidaysburg to Johnstown marks the first
conquest of that thousand mile summit
"Sketch of the Civil Engineering of North America,
pp. 128-129.
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THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
195
line of the Alleghenies. For fifty years,
in the infancy of engineering, American
promoters had been struggling with this
problem; it is a far cry - measured by the
hosts of futile plans and dreams - from
Washington, pushing his horse through
the dripping laurels along McCullough's
Path," to Sylvester Welch who spanned
Blair's Gap by a railway; then, and not
until then, was a passage-way from the
Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi Basin
open for freight and passengers on which
neither freighter nor coach played any
part. The building of the Allegheny
Portage Railway, 1830-33, was as epoch-
haking an event as the opening of the
Cumberland Road in 1818 or the opening
of the great trans-Allegheny railways at
the middle of the century. In many ways
it was more significant than the opening of
the Erie Canal, which was merely a lengthy
application of a principle already perfectly
understood. Considering the coach and
wagon to have been natural means of com-
munication, we can then say that the Port-
age Railway was the first artificial means
of communication between the East and
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
the Mississippi Basin. Well did Mr.
Stevenson say that in boldness of design
and in difficulty of execution this railway
could be compared with no modern work
he had seen, unless exception be made for
the passes of the Simplon and Mount Cenis
in Sardinia; and these, as engineering
works, did not impress him as more won-
derful.
The project had been proposed early in
the history of the canal and in 1826 the
experienced Erie Canal engineer Canvass
White delivered an opinion that the plan
was feasible, but added that a portage
wagon road would perhaps answer tempor-
ary needs. As the canal building advanced
in the valleys on either side of the moun-
tains, the plan of a connecting link which
would satisfactorily mount the towering
crest which intervened was seriously
debated. Late in 1828 Moncure Robinson
became engineer in charge and went into
the field in 1829 with plans well developed;
in November he reported to the board of
canal commissioners that the crest could
best be overcome by a system of inclined
planes, with stationary engines; near the
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197
summit, a tunnel a mile in length was
planned to pierce the crest one hundred
and seventy-seven feet beneath its summit
and twelve hundred and sixty-four feet
above Hollidaysburg, the starting point of
the inclines. The total cost for a railway
thirty miles in length, of the pattern de-
scribed, was estimated at slightly less than
a million dollars ($936,004.87). On June
8, 1830 a board of engineers consisting of
Robinson, Lieutenant-colonel S. H. Long,
and Major John Wilson was appointed to
survey the route proposed and make final
recommendations. Late in that year a
report was made which conformed largely
with Mr. Robinson's plan matured in 1829,
and on March 21, 1831, Governor Wolf
approved " An act to continue the improve-
ment of the State by canals and railroads."
Section 3 of that act read:
"And be it further enacted by the authority
aforesaid, That the said canal commissioners
shall commence forthwith and prosecute
without delay, a rail road over and across
the Allegheny mountains, from the basin at
Hollidaysburg, in the county of Hunting-
don, to Johnstown, in the county of Cam-
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
bria, a distance of about thirty eight
miles, according to the extent, route and
plan thereof, stated in their report of the
twenty-first day of December, one thou-
sand eight hundred and thirty, excluding
the plan of a tunnel as recommended by
Moncure Robinson in his report of the
twenty-first November, one thousand eight
hundred and twenty-nine; and also, that
they shall commence and prosecute, with-
out delay, the extension of the Juniata
division of the Pennsylvania canal, from
the town of Huntingdon, in the county of
Huntingdon, to the basin at Hollidays-
burg, in the same county, either by canal
or slack water navigation; towards the
expenditures of which rail-road and canal
or slack water navigation, as specified in
this section, during the present year, the
sum of seven hundred thousand dollars is
hereby specifically appropriated, to be
paid out of the loan hereinafter men-
tioned." 89
The great work was now actually begun.
Sylvester Welch, formerly superintend-
ent of the western division of the canal,
Laws of Pennsylvania, 1830-31, no. 104 (p. 195).
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THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
199
was made principal engineer, and Mr.
Robinson consulting engineer; Samuel
Jones was superintendent. The final
surveys were conducted from Johnstown
to the mountain summit beginning in
April; they were completed by May 20,
1831, and the work let to the lowest bid-
ders at Ebensburg May 25. The surveys
on the eastern slope of the mountain were
conducted from Hollidaysburg and were
completed in the July following. The
contracts were let at Hollidaysburg on
July 29.90
The termini of the road were at the
canal basins at Hollidaysburg and at Johns-
town, the former 1,398 feet below the
mountain summit, and the latter 1,771 feet
below the summit. The road occupied a
clean swath through the forests, of one
hundred and twenty feet in width, lest fall-
"These, as well as many preceding and succeeding
data, are from William Bender Wilson's admirable
monograph, The Evolution, Decadence, and Abandon-
ment of the Allegheny Portage Railroad' in the Annuak
Report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1898-99, part iv, pp.
xli-xcvi. This monograph forms an important chapter
in Mr. Wilson's History of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company.
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200 THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
ing trees should damage the work. All
surveys, estimates and recommendations to
the contrary notwithstanding, Mr. Robin-
son's tunnel was not now built, another
plane being added to the total which
enabled the railway to vault the summit.
The planes were ten in number; beginning
at Johnstown they were as follows:
Length Elevation
(feet) (feet)
Plane No.
I
1,607.74 150.00
2
1,760.43
132.40
3
1,480.25
130.50
4
2,194.93
187.86
5
2,628.60
201.64
6
2,713.85
266.50
7
2,655.01
260.50
8
3,116.92
307.60
9
2,720.80 189.50
IO
2,295.61 180.52
There were six levels between the
planes on the western division and five on
the eastern. The level between Johns-
town and the foot of Plane No. I was four
miles in length, and that between Planes
I and 2 was thirteen miles in length, over-
coming an elevation of 189.58 feet. The
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THE FIRST AMERICAN TUNNEL
(By this tunnel the Allegheny Portage Railway crossed the
summit of the mountains]
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THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
203
remainder on that division were about a
mile in length, each rising about twenty
feet. The shortest level on the eastern
slope was .15 of a mile and the longest 3.72
miles, descending 146.71 feet. The steepest
incline rose only 101/4 feet in a hundred -
a grade not much steeper than that on
many pioneer roads. Mr. Welch affirmed
that cars could be drawn up these by
horses or by stationary steam or horse-
power engines. On the eastern planes he
suggested that advantage be taken of the
force of gravity; on three of the levels,
those at each terminus, and the thirteen
mile level between Planes I and 2, he
urged the use of locomotives; elsewhere he
advised the use of horse power. The road
(single track) was completed by the begin-
ning of 1834 and traffic began March 18,
1834. The ten planes were supplied with
ten stationary engines. Half a century
ago, Washington, in that classic appeal to
Harrison, of 1784, maintained that a great
plan of communication between the East
and West was practicable, in that "The
western inhabitants would do their part
towards its execution. Weak as they are,"
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204
THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
he said, 'they would meet us half way."
What a splendid comment it is on Wash-
ington's wisdom and foresight to record
that these engines on the Allegheny Port-
age Railway, which hauled the first load
of freight over the Alleghenies which ever
crossed them by artificial means were made
in the young West - in Pittsburg! Wash-
ington, at least, did not misjudge in the
least the spirit of those Virginians and
Pennsylvanians who in his day were push-
ing ahead over Indian trails into the lands
beyond the mountains.
The second track of the railway was put
under contract at Hollidaysburg May 31,
1834. In the same year three locomotives
for the levels were ordered, one from Bos-
ton, and two from Newcastle, Delaware.
One of these was sent on to Pittsburg by
canal to serve as model of others to be built
there. "The road as completed," writes
Mr. Wilson, "showed a width of track
between rails of 4 feet and 9 inches, and a
distance between tracks, including width
of inner rail of each track, of 5 feet. The
railway between the planes was laid to
correspond vertically with the grade
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THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
205
adopted for the road, and was in all cases
laid to form horizontal arcs of circles, or
their tangents. Flat iron bars on wooden
rails were placed on the inclined planes.
On the balance of the road, edge rails 18
feet in length, weighing 39½ pounds to
the yard were laid, resting in iron chairs
on wooden sills. The latter were fastened
to cross ties where the road passed over
high embankments, but, on solid ground
they were attached to stone blocks measur-
ing about 3½ cubic feet. To do this two
holes were drilled into each block. Into
these holes oak plugs were driven. The
cast-iron chair was placed directly upon
the top of the stone block, and spikes
driven through holes in the flanges of the
chair into the oak plugs. The rail was a
double headed rail, and held in place by a
wedge. The difficulty of the spreading of
the tracks was at first overcome by substi-
tuting for each alternate pair of blocks a
stone block some 7 feet long, extending
across the track, and having a chair at each
end. This was found to be too expensive,
and wooden cross ties were placed between
each pair of stone blocks."
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
The road as opened was, like the origi-
nal Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, merely
a new sort of road-way, on which horses
drew cars on rails (instead of on a flat
road-bed) between the inclines. A rush of
business at once overwhelmed the road.
Between the middle of March and the
middle of April, 1834, the number of cars
tripled in number and were then entirely
inadequate to the trade. Much "portag-
ing" was done in the old way on the old-
time portage path by wagon. The busi-
ness was done by transportation firms or
by individuals, the commonwealth furnish-
ing the road-bed, and a motive power only
on the inclined planes.
It was in October, 1834, that the keel-
boat Hit or Miss" from the Lackawanna,
Jesse Crisman owner and Major C. Wil-
liams commander, first of all craft to leap
the Alleghenies, was taken from Susque-
hanna waters at Hollidaysburg and laid
safely in Allegheny waters at Johnstown.
Crisman expected to sell his boat at Holli-
daysburg - as his ancestors had ever done;
but John Dougherty of the Reliance Trans-
portation Line, constructed a car calculated
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THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
207
to bear the novel burden." Starting at
noon, "they rested at night on the top of the
mountain, like Noah's Ark on Ararat, and
descended the next morning into the
Valley of the Mississippi, and sailed for St.
Louis." It was fifty years, to the month,
since the pioneer promoter of trans-Alle-
gheny communications, Washington, was
searching in Dunkard Bottom for a path-
way for keel-boats across this great divide.
History was again repeated; as in the old
days when, in 1758, Forbes's Road through
Pennsylvania eclipsed Virginia's highway
which Washington championed, Brad-
dock's Road, because it was a more direct
route from the heart of colonial life to the
Ohio Basin, so now Pennsylvania's water-
ways, joined by a portage railway of only
thirty-eight miles in length, eclipsed any
and all other possible water routes to the
Ohio Valley by being actually opened
to commerce. These repetitions of
history illustrate Pennsylvania's keystone
position in the United States, so far as
the seaboard and the commercial centers
"Sherman Day's Historical Collections of the State
of Pennsylvania, p. 184.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
of the Mississippi Basin are concerned.
Though exceptionally interesting and
suggestive, the Allegheny Portage Rail-
way was only a link in a chain. The two
great canals, in the valleys of the Juniata
and Conemaugh were the greater links; a
horse-car rail road was laid from Philadel-
phia to Columbia on the Susquehanna and
this, soon supplied with locomotives,
became the eastern link in the chain of
communication of which the Pennsylvania
Canal was the important part. By 1835 the
complete system was in operation between
Philadelphia and Pittsburg; a table of
distances will be interesting.
THE PENNSYLVANIA ROUTE IN 1835
Division No. I
Columbia Rail Road
Miles from
Philadelphia
Fair Mount Water Works
I
Viaduct over Schuylkill River
3
"H.S. Tanner's A Brief Description of the Canals
and Rail Roads of the United States (November, 1834),
pp. 25-26.
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THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
209
Paoli
201/2
Downingtown
32
Coatsville
40
Mine Ridge
52½
Lancaster
69½
Mt. Pleasant
761/2
Columbia
813/4
Division No. 2
Central Division of the Pennsylvania Canal
Miles`from
Philadelphia
Marietta
843/4
Bainbridge
911/4
Falmouth
943/4
Middletown
99
Harrisburg
108
Duncan's Island
124½
Newport
135
Mifflintown
I57
Lewistown
171
Waynesburg
185
Aughwick Falls
197
Jack's Mt.
203
Huntingdon
214
Petersburg
221
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210 THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
Alexandria
228
Frankstown
2501/2
Hollidaysburg
253½
Division No. 3
Allegheny Portage Rail Road
Miles from
Philadelphia
Walker's Point
255
Inclined Plane No. IO
2573/4
"
" No. 6
2633/4
Mountain Br.
2723/4
Ebensburg Br.
2753/4
Staple Bend
2853/4
Johnstown
2901/4
Division No. 4
Western Division of the Pennsylvania Canal
Miles from
Philadelphia
Laurel Hill
297
Lockport
307
Blairsville
320
Saltzburg
336
Warrenton
348
Leechburg
358
Aqueduct over Allegheny River
361
Freeport
363
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THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
211
Logan's Ferry
376
Pine Creek.
388
Pittsburg
394½
The lockage in the central division be-
tween Columbia and Hollidaysburg was
7473/4 feet; it was forty feet wide at the
top, twenty-eight feet at the bottom, and
was four feet deep. The dams numbered
eighteen; there were thirty-three aque-
ducts and one hundred and one locks, in-
cluding guards; those between Columbia
and Duncan's Island were 90 X 17 feet;
the remainder 90 X I5 feet. About six-
teen miles on the Juniata was slack-
water navigation in 1834. The western
division was the same in width and
depth as the central; the lockage from
Johnstown to Pittsburg was 471 feet. On
this division there were sixty-four locks,
90 X 15 feet, ten dams, two tunnels, sixteen
aqueducts, sixty-four culverts, thirty-nine
water weirs and one hundred and fifty-two
bridges; 21½ miles was slackwater navi-
gation. The cost of the central division
was $5,307,253.26; the Juniata Valley por-
tion costing $3,570,016.29. The western
division cost $3,096,522.30; making the
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212 THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
entire original cost of the canal proper
$8,403,775.56. The total original cost of
the Allegheny Portage Railway to January,
1837, including laying the second track
and building the Conemaugh viaduct was
$1,634,357.693,, making the total cost of the
"Pennsylvania Canal" $10,038,133.253/4 -
half a million dollars more than the Erie
Canal, which it also exceeded in length by
thirty-one miles. Yet the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal, of only one hundred and
eighty-five miles in length, cost a million
dollars more than the Pennsylvania Canal.
The later history of the Pennsylvania
Canal well illustrates the restlessness of
human hearts, and the mighty conquests
over nature which restless ambition has
made possible. One success, such as the
Portage Railway, only suggested a greater
one, a railway over the mountain. The
road was only in fairly good working order
when, in 1836, the Pennsylvania legislature
passed a resolution ordering the canal com-
missioners to have a survey made of the
Alleghenies to determine whether the
inclined planes could not be dispensed
with! Within the next decade a New
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THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
213
Portage Railway was planned which would
follow, in part, the route of the old line.
The hundreds who were connected with
the manipulation of the expensive and
cumbersome planes decried, of course, the
new road, as we have noted so often in this
series; the owners and operators of earlier
methods of transportation scoffed at and
opposed the new. But the new rail road
was not built at once. The opposition
carried weight. In April, 1846, however,
the Pennsylvania Railway was incorporated
to build a through thoroughfare from
Philadelphia to Pittsburg. Of all routes
the Juniata-Conemaugh passage-way offered
an unrivaled course and was quickly chosen.
The long contest over right of way in the
Potomac Valley could not be reproduced
here, as the canal was a state affair. In
1847, contracts had been let for sections
eastward from Pittsburg and westward
from Harrisburg. In two years the sixty
miles between Harrisburg and Lewistown
were opened; in the year following the
portion from Lewistown to Hollidaysburg
was completed. The western division was
pushed up the Conemaugh with equal
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
rapidity and on December 10, 1852, com-
munication between the termini was possi-
ble, passengers and freight being trans-
ferred across the mountain crest by stage
and wagon. In 1854 the railway was com-
pleted across the Alleghenies.
In 1850 the legislature took steps to im-
prove the communication between the two
ends of the canal by building the proposed
portage road and avoiding planes. The
work went on simultaneously with the
building of the Pennsylvania track; as a
temporary accommodation the railway com-
pany allowed the portage operators to avoid
Plane No. I, by using the railway track for
a distance of four miles east from Cone-
maugh station, east of Johnstown. Planes
No. 2 and No. 3 were avoided by means of
a new double track to the foot of Plane
No. 4. In 1854 the Pennsylvania Railway
was completed across the mountain, and
the trade of that company was of course
lost to the Portage Railway. On July I,
1855, the new portage route was in opera-
tion, though incomplete.
The great success of the Pennsylvania
Railway and its importance to the commer-
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THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
215
cial interests of the commonwealth tended
to sink the old canal and its portage rail-
way out of sight. In 1855 this main line
of the public works" was offered for sale,
but the offer was not liberal. Another act
was passed May 16, 1857, for its sale and
June 25, it was purchased by the Pennsyl-
vania Railway Company; possession was
taken in August.
After attempting to operate successfully
the Portage Railway, the new owners lost
$7,220.14 in three months and ordered the
line closed. The canal was operated by
the Pennsylvania Canal Company in the
interest of the railway and that was gradu-
ally abandoned. The division from Pitts-
burg to Johnstown was entirely abandoned
by 1864; the portion in the Juniata Valley
was abandoned in 1899, and that along the
Susquehanna in 1900.
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Appendixes
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APPENDIX A
AN ACT FOR OPENING AND EXTENDING THE
NAVIGATION OF POTOWMACK RIVER 98
I. Whereas the extension of the naviga-
tion of Potowmack river, from tide water to
the highest place practicable on the North
branch, will be of great public utility, and
many persons are willing to subscribe
large sums of money to effect so laudable
and beneficial a work; and it is just and
proper that they, their heirs, and assigns,
should be empowered to receive- reasonable
tolls forever, in satisfaction for the money
advanced by them in carrying the work
into execution, and the risk they run: And
whereas it may be necessary to cut canals
and erect locks and other works on both
"We present here the first three sections of the act
as given in Hening's The Statutes at Large; being a
collection of all the Laws of Virginia from the first
session of the Legislature in the year 1619
.
(Richmond, 1823), vol. xi, 9th of Commonwealth, ch.
xliii, October, 1784.
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
sides of the river, and the legislatures of
Maryland and Virginia, impressed with
the importance of the object, are desirous
of encouraging so useful an undertaking:
Therefore,
II. Be it enacted by the General Assembly
of Virginia, That it shall and may be law-
ful to open books in the city of Richmond,
towns of Alexandria and Winchester in this
state, for receiving and entering subscrip-
tions for the said undertaking, under the
management of Jaquelin Ambler and John
Beckley at the city of Richmond, of John
Fitzgerald and William Hartshorne at the
town of Alexandria, and of Joseph Holmes
and Edward Smith at the town of Winches-
ter, and under the management of such
persons and at such places in Maryland as
have been appointed by the state of Mary-
land, which subscriptions shall be made
personally or by power of attorney, and
shall be paid in Spanish milled dollars,
but may be paid in foreign silver or gold
coin of the value; that the said books shall
be opened for receiving subscriptions on
the eighth day of February next, and con-
tinue open for this purpose until the tenth
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APPENDIX A
221
day of May next, inclusive; and on the
seventeenth day of the said month of May,
there shall be a general meeting of the
subscribers at the town of Alexandria, of
which meeting notice shall be given by the
said managers, or any four of them, in the
Virginia and Maryland Gazettes, at least
one month next before the said meeting;
and such meeting shall and may be con-
tinued from day to day until the business
is finished; and the acting managers at the
time and place hereinafter mentioned,
shall lay before such of the subscribers as
shall meet according to the said notice, the
books by them respectively kept, contain-
ing the state of the said subscriptions; and
if one half of the capital sum hereinafter
mentioned, should, upon examination, ap-
pear not to have been subscribed, then the
said managers at the said meeting, are em-
powered to take and receive subscriptions
to make up the deficiency; and a just and
true list of all the subscribers, with the
sums subscribed by each, shall be made
out and returned by the said managers, or
any four or more of them, under their
hands, into the general court of each state,
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
to be there recorded; and in case more
than two hundred and twenty-two thou-
sand two hundred and twenty-two dollars
and two ninths of a dollar, shall be sub-
scribed, then the same shall be reduced to
that sum by the said managers, or a
majority of them, by beginning at and
striking off a share from the largest sub-
scription or subscriptions, and continuing
to strike off a share from all subscriptions
under the largest, and above one share,
until the sum is reduced to the capital of
two hundred and twenty-two thousand two
hundred and twenty-two dollars and two-
ninths of a dollar, or until a share is taken
from all subscriptions above one share, and
lots shall be drawn between the subscribers
of equal sums, to determine the numbers
in which such subscribers shall stand, on
a list to be made for striking off as afore-
said; and if the sum subscribed still
exceeds the capital aforesaid, or all the
subscriptions are reduced to one share:
and if there still be an excess, then lots to
be drawn to determine the subscribers
who are to be excluded, to reduce the
subscriptions to the capital aforesaid,
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APPENDIX A
223
which striking off shall be certified in the
list aforesaid, and the said capital sum
shall be reckoned and divided into five
hundred shares of four hundred and forty-
four dollars and four-ninths of a dollar
each, of which every person subscribing
may take and subscribe for one or more
whole shares, and not otherwise. Provided,
That unless one half of the said capital
shall be subscribed as aforesaid, all sub-
scriptions made in consequence of this act,
shall be void, and in case one half and less
than the whole of the said capital shall be
subscribed as aforesaid, then the president
and directors are hereby empowered and
directed to take and receive the subscrip-
tions which shall first be offered in whole
shares as aforesaid, until the deficiency
shall be made up, a certificate of which
additional subscriptions shall be made
under the hands of the president and
directors, or a majority of them for the
time being, and returned to and recorded
in the general courts, aforesaid.
III. And be it enacted, That in case one
half of the said capital, or a greater sum,
shall be subscribed as aforesaid, the said
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
subscribers, and their heirs and assigns,
from the time of the said first meeting,
shall be, and are hereby declared to be
incorporated into a company, by the name
of the Potowmack Company," and may
sue and be sued as such; and such of the
said subscribers as shall be present at the
said meeting, or a majority of them, are
hereby empowered and required to elect a
president and four directors, for conducting
the said undertaking, and managing all the
said company's business and concerns, for
and during such time, not exceeding three
years, as the said subscribers, or a ma-
jority of them, shall think fit. And in
counting the votes of all general meetings
of the said company, each member shall be
allowed one vote for every share, as far as
ten shares, and one vote for every five
shares above ten, by him or her held at
the time in the said company; and any
proprietor, by writing under his or her
hand, executed before two witnesses, may
depute any other member or proprietor to
vote and act as proxy for him or her, at
any general meeting.
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APPENDIX B
AN ACT INCORPORATING THE CHESAPEAKE
AND OHIO CANAL COMPANY
94
Whereas a navigable canal from the tide
water of the river Potomac, in the District
of Columbia, to the mouth of Savage creek,
on the north branch of said river, and
extending thence across the Alleghany
mountain, to some convenient point on the
navigable waters of the river Ohio, or
some one of its tributary streams, to be
fed, through its course on the east side of
the mountain, by the river Potomac and
the streams which empty therein, and on
the western side of the mountain, and in
passing over the same, by all such streams
of water as may be beneficially drawn
thereto by feeders, dams, or any other
practicable mode, will be a work of great
This act, of which we present here the first two
sections, was passed by the Virginia legislature January
27, 1824. It was published in Laws Relative to the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (Washington, 1827).
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
profit and advantage to the people of this
State, and of the neighboring States, and
may ultimately tend to establish a con-
nected navigation between the eastern and
western waters, so as to extend and multi-
ply the means and facilities of internal
commerce, and personal intercourse be-
tween the two great sections of the United
States, and to interweave more closely all
the mutual interests and affections that are
calculated to consolidate and perpetuate
the vital principles of Union; and whereas
it is represented to this General Assembly
that the Potomac Company are willing and
desirous that a charter shall be granted to
a new company, upon the terms and con-
ditions hereinafter expressed; and that the
charter of the present company shall cease
and determine:
I. Be it therefore enacted by the General
Assembly of Virginia, That, as soon as the
Legislatures of Maryland and Pennsyl-
vania, and the Congress of the United
States, shall assent to the provisions of this
act, and the Potomac company shall have
signified their assent to the same, by their
corporate act, a copy whereof shall be
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APPENDIX B
227
delivered to the Executives of the several
States aforesaid, and to the Secretary of
the Treasury of the United States, there
shall be appointed by the said Executives
and the President of the United States,
three commissioners on the part of each
State, and the Government of the United
States, any one of whom shall be compe-
tent to act for his respective government.
The said commissioners shall cause books
to be opened at such times and places as
they shall think fit, in their respective
States, and the District of Columbia, under
the management of such persons as they
shall appoint, for receiving subscriptions
to the capital stock of the company herein-
after incorporated; which subscriptions
may be made, either in person or by power
of attorney; and notice shall be given in
such manner as may be deemed advisable,
by one or more of the said commissioners,
of the time and places of opening the
books.
2. And the said commissioners shall
cause the books to be kept open at least
forty days. And within twenty days after
the expiration thereof, shall call a general
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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
meeting of the subscribers at the city of
Washington, of which meeting notice
shall be given, by a majority of the com-
missioners aforesaid, in at least four of the
newspapers printed in Pennsylvania, Mary-
land, Virginia, and the District of Colum-
bia, at least twenty days next before the
said meeting; and such meeting shall, and
may be continued from day to day until
the business is finished; and the commis-
sioners at the time and place aforesaid,
shall lay before such of the subscribers as
shall meet according to the said notice, the
book containing the state of the said sub-
scriptions: and, if one fourth of the capital
sum of six millions of dollars should appear
not to have been subscribed, then the said
commissioners, or a majority of them, at
the said meeting, are empowered to take
and receive subscriptions to make up such
deficiency, and may continue to take and
receive such subscriptions for the term of
twelve months thereafter; and a just and
true list of all the subscribers, with the
sum subscribed by each, shall be made out,
and returned by the said commissioners, or
by a majority of them, under their hands,
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APPENDIX B
229
to the Board of Public Works of this State,
to the Governor and Council of the State of
Maryland, to the Secretary of State of the
State of Pennsylvania, and to the Secretary
of the Treasury of the United States, to be
carefully preserved; and in case more than
six millions of dollars shall be subscribed,
then the sum subscribed shall be reduced
to that amount, by the said commissioners,
or a majority of them, by beginning at and
striking off a share from the largest sub-
scription or subscriptions, and continuing
to strike off a share from all subscriptions
under the largest and above one share,
until the same is reduced to the capital
aforesaid, or until a share is taken from all
subscriptions above one share; and lots
shall be drawn between subscribers of
equal sums, to determine the number of
shares which each subscriber shall be
allowed to hold, on a list to be made for
striking off as aforesaid: and if the sum
subscribed still exceed the capital aforesaid,
then to strike off by the same rule, until
the sum subscribed is reduced to the capi-
tal aforesaid; or all the subscriptions re-
duced to one share respectively: and, if
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230
THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS
there still be an excess, then lots shall be
drawn to determine the subscribers who
are to be excluded, in order to reduce the
subscription to the capital aforesaid; which
striking off shall be certified on the lists
aforesaid; and the said capital stock of the
company, hereby incorporated, shall con-
sist of six million of dollars, divided into
sixty thousand shares, of one hundred dol-
lars each; of which every person subscrib-
ing may take, and subscribe for one or
more whole shares; and such subscriptions
may be paid and discharged either in the
legal currency of the United States, or in
the certificates of stock of the present
Potomac company, at the par or nominal
value thereof, or in the claims of the credi-
tors of the said company, certified by the
acting president and directors to have been
due, for principal and debt, on the day on
which assent of the said company shall
have been signified by their corporate act
as hereinbefore required: Provided, that the
said certificates of stock shall not exceed,
in the whole amount, the sum of three
hundred and eleven thousand one hundred
and eleven dollars and eleven cents; nor
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APPENDIX B
231
the said claims the sum of one hundred and
seventy-five thousand eight hundred dol-
lars: Provided, also, that the stock so paid
for in certificates of the stock of the present
company, shall be entitled to dividend,
only as hereinafter provided: and that no
payment shall be received, in such certifi-
cates of stock, until the Potomac company
shall have executed the conveyance pre-
scribed by the thirteenth section of this
act: And, provided, that, unless one-fourth
of the said capital shall be subscribed, as
aforesaid, all subscriptions made in conse-
quence of this act shall be void; and, in
case one fourth, and less than the whole
capital, shall be subscribed as aforesaid,
then the said commissioners, or a majority
of them, are hereby empowered and
directed to take and receive the subscrip-
tions, which shall first be offered in whole
shares, as aforesaid, until the deficiency
shall be made up; a certificate of which
additional subscription shall be made,
under the hands of said commissioners, or
a majority of them, for the time being,
and returned as aforesaid.
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The Philippine Islands
1493 - 1898
Being the history of the Philippines
from their discovery to the present time
E
XPLORATIONS by early Navigators, descrip-
tions of the Islands and their Peoples, their His-
tory, and records of the Catholic Missions, as related in
contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the
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tions of those Islands from their earliest relations with
European Nations to the end of the nineteenth century.
Translated, and edited and annotated by E. H. BLAIR, and
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With Analytical Index and Illustrations. Limited edi-
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1748-1846
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umes of travel, descriptive of the Aborigines and Social
and Economic Conditions in the Middle and Far West,
during the Period of Early American Settlement.
Edited, with Historical, Geographical, Ethnological, and Bibliographical
Notes, and Introductions and Index, by
Reuben Gold Thwaites
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"Hennepin's New Discovery," etc.
With facsimiles of the original title-pages, maps, portraits,
views, etc. 31 volumes, large 8vo, cloth, uncut, gilt tops.
Price $4.00 net per volume (except the Maximilien Atlas,
which is $15.00 net). Limited edition ; each set numbered
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An Elaborate Analytical Index to the Whole
Almost all of the rare originals are without indexes. In the
present reprint series, this immense mass of historical data will
be made accessible through one exhaustive analytical index, to
occupy the concluding volume.
Mr. Cowaited's Cminence as an authority on all matters connected with
the history of the West, and his well-known standing as an Editor and Libra-
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