Will's Creek Settlement, later known as Cumberland, became a major gateway for trade, military campaigns against the French, and settlement beyond the mountains. The Ohio Company's "New Storehouses" stood across the river beyond the present highway bridge, and the nearby Caiuctucuc, or Wills Creek, and Cohongaronta, or Potomac River, provided food and transportation. Near this spot in January 1755, Governor Sharpe of Maryland began a five day canoe trip to Alexandria, Virginia, to test the river as a heavy transportation route. Before the canal reached Cumberland, goods moved downstream by raft, flatboat, and barge during spring freshets, while trade goods came westward by road. The earliest bridge here crossed Will's Creek near the present site of Washington's Cabin on the road from Fort Cumberland to Cresap's Fort at Old Town. Cumberland grew slowly until it became a transportation center. The National Pike began near this spot and ran west, with stages operating night and day and about thirty passing through daily. Mail from Hagerstown to Cumberland was carried by Pony Express and stagecoach before the railroad arrived. Use of the National Pike declined after the railroad moved westward. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad reached Cumberland in 1842, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal began service here in 1850. Together with the National Pike, they made Cumberland a crossroads of trade where goods were transferred from one means to another. Cumberland prospered as new businesses, companies, hotels, and large warehouses were built. The city was the western terminus of the railroad until 1849 and of the canal until its decline. In the canal's heyday, 500 boats traveled it, and boatmen lived aboard with their families while carrying varied freight, especially coal from Cumberland. Beyond the railroad bridge stood Feeder Dam #8 of the canal, which impounded water from both streams to supply the canal for many miles eastward. Stone remains of double Guard Lock #8 survive along the flood control wall, and remains of the dam lie under the railroad bridge. The canal company boatyard, basins, and loading facilities extended downstream for half a mile and were bordered by saloons and other entertainments for boatmen. Use of the canal declined because of railroad competition, and operations ceased in 1924 after heavy flood damage.
