Fishin' The C And O Ditch

Title

Fishin' The C And O Ditch

Artist

Lin Grosvenor

Medium

Photograph

Description

A pleasant presentation of a pleasant pastime; here from the Georgetown section of our Nation's capitol.

George Washington proposed canals for joining the new nation's east with the Great Lakes and other western regions.

In March 1825, President James Monroe authorized the construction of the Grand Old Ditch (the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal).

The plan was to build it in two sections, the eastern section from the tidal basin in SW Washington, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland; and the western section over the Mountains to the Ohio River.

In addition to digging the canal, numerous locks, aqueducts and other engineering marvels had to be built, the most impressive of which was the Paw Paw Tunnel, over 3,000 feet long.

The second section never materialized, but the initial section operated under various more or less (mostly less) prosperous management from 1831 until 1924.

Canal boats and barges were towed or drifted downstream (almost a 700' drop over its 185 mile length ) with cargo that was predominantly coal, with some wood, sand/gravel and agricultural products. Upstream travel was enabled with mules walking the tow paths; cargoes varied, apparently mostly light weight manufactured goods, though since only the coal shipments were recorded, manifest history is not manifest (yuk).

In decline and disrepair for decades, many sections of the canal and its tow paths have now been reclaimed and opened for recreational uses including hiking, velocipedia, hawk gawking and, of course serving the ubiquitous fisherpeople, as presented here.

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April 25th, 2016

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