A Canal to the West

For years, people pursued the dream of a canal that would open a trade route from local commercial centers to the rich Ohio country across the Allegheny Mountains. Mule-drawn barges were expected to carry wheat, furs, whiskey, livestock, and coal to the busy ports of Georgetown, Washington City, and Alexandria as a cheap alternative to overloaded wagon roads. Begun July 4, 1828, the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal was dug around dangerous Potomac rapids and through forests, mountains, and remote valleys, using European canal engineering when possible and new methods when necessary. As the canal slowly moved westward, however, high construction costs, engineering problems, and fatal epidemics among workers plagued the project, and the dream faded. By 1850, after 22 years of effort, the canal had reached only Cumberland, Maryland, and the Allegheny Front, 185 miles from Georgetown but only halfway to the Ohio River. Construction ended there, the Canal Company struggled to survive, and repeated major floods damaged the waterway until spring floods in 1924 finally ended commercial operations.

Washington, District of Columbia · United States