C&O Canal

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Lock 20
Specifications
Length	184.5 miles (296.9 km)
Maximum boat length	90 ft 0 in (27.43 m)
Maximum boat beam	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Locks	74 (Boats must pass guard locks 4 & 5 for each trip.)
Status	National Park
History
Original owner	Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company
Principal engineer	Benjamin Wright
Other engineer(s)	Charles B. Fisk, William Rich Hutton
Date of act	1825
Construction began	1828
Date of first use	1830
Date completed	1850
Date closed	1924
Geography
Start point	Georgetown, Washington DC (originally Little Falls, MD) (Canal extended down to Georgetown in 1830)
End point	Cumberland, MD (originally Sections to Pittsburgh, PA never built)
Connects to	Alexandria Canal (Virginia), Goose Creek & Little River Navigation

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal and occasionally called the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Maryland. The canal's principal cargo was coal from the Allegheny Mountains.

Construction on the 184.5-mile (296.9 km) canal began in 1828 and ended in 1850 with the completion of a 50-mile stretch to Cumberland. Rising and falling over an elevation change of 605 feet (184 meters), it required the construction of 74 canal locks, 11 aqueducts to cross major streams, more than 240 culverts to cross smaller streams, and the 3,118 ft (950 m) Paw Paw Tunnel. A planned section to the Ohio River at Pittsburgh was never built.

The canal way is now maintained as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, with a trail that follows the old towpath.

After the American Revolutionary War, George Washington was the chief advocate of using waterways to connect the Eastern Seaboard to the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. In 1785, Washington founded the Potowmack Company to improve the navigability of the Potomac River. His company built five skirting canals around the major falls: Little Falls (later incorporated in the C&O Canal), Great Falls in Virginia, Seneca Falls (opposite Violette's lock), Payne's Falls of the Shenendoah, and House's Falls near Harpers Ferry. These canals allowed an easy downstream float; upstream journeys, propelled by pole, were harder.