THERE must have been something about the appearance of our outfit or
ourselves, or both, on the arrival of the bedraggled "Sometub" at
Brunswick calculated to awaken the deepest sympathy of the kind-hearted
folk who watched us approach through the chilly rain. When I asked the
lockmaster for a suitable place to tie up for the night he pointed to
a dilapidated dock on the berm bank adjacent to an ancient and densely
populated pig pen.
"It would be very fine, except for the neighbors," I told him. "Pigs
have a habit of getting up too early in the morning to suit us." This
was not quite the reason for our objection to mooring beside a pig
pen, but I aimed to be diplomatic. Perhaps they might be his pigs.
"Crackey!" exclaimed the lockmaster, "You-all don't intend to spend the
night in that boat, do you?"
"Yes," I answered. "We have the most comfortable cabin you ever saw."
Before the lockmaster could answer another man, who hastened over from
the railroad yards, at once assumed the role of superintendent of the
harbor, collector of the port, quarantine officer or whatever you would
choose to call him. He spoke with the air of a person clothed with
absolute authority.
"Yes, yes; tie up over there and I'll----" he began.
"I have just told the lockmaster that I'll not tie up over there," I
interposed. But our new friend disregarded me entirely and continued:
"----I'll have an automobile here in five minutes to take you and the
missus up to the hotel. Your boat will be safe till morning. Come from
Pittsburgh, eh? How in Sam Hill did you get into the canal? I used to
work in Pittsburgh, but that was a good while ago. Pretty big place
now, I suppose--"
He was true to his word. An automobile oozed through the mud and the
chauffeur announced that he was ready to take "the lady and gentleman
to the hotel." In the presence of such an example of prompt service
we reconsidered our resolution to spend the night in the boat and
taking our baggage, we went to the hotel in our khakis. The people in
the lobby must have thought that unkempt members of a band of gypsies
had invaded the place when we rushed through to our room. However,
the opinions of bystanders as to the appearance of our traveling duds
gave us little concern. We put on dry clothes and in a few minutes it
was announced that the dining room had been opened for our especial
benefit. The young wife of the proprietor cooked and served a bountiful
repast. She must have felt repaid for the effort by the manner in which
we dispatched all the good things she had prepared.
The rain lasted through the night but Wednesday, July 26th, dawned with
clear skies. We prepared to depart early, but first stocked "Sometub"
with provisions and fuel, Brunswick being the last large town on the
canal on the way to Washington. Before us for a distance of nearly 50
miles lay a stretch of sparsely settled country. From Brunswick to
Point of Rocks the Baltimore and Ohio railroad runs close beside the
towpath and in the early morning, "Sometub" was greeted several times
by passengers on the observation cars of the Royal Blue express trains
which dashed by at a mile-a-minute speed. We wondered if the people who
were fluttering handkerchiefs and waving hats envied us. It was while
riding on the observation car several years ago on this same route
that we had planned our voyage. In its realization we regretted that
more vacation tourists could not share the pleasure of our trip over
the mountains--by water. We did not stop to consider that the majority
of summer travelers desire speed, luxury and the least discomfort and
would balk at the petty annoyances we endured through an obstinate
motor and the omniesence of Jupiter Pluvius.
Under the shadow of old Catoctin mountain we passed the Point of Rocks,
famous in the Civil War as the place where Lee's army crossed for the
invasion of Maryland in the Antietam campaign. A few miles beyond the
course of the river turns from southeast to southwest and we sheered
off sharply from the railroad. We crossed on the famous stone aqueduct
over the Monocacy river. The character of the scenery changed quite
as preceptibly as the direction of the stream. Through the drooping
branches of the trees we saw on the north the rugged outlines of old
Sugar Loaf peak and across the Potomac the undulating ridge of the
southern spur of Catoctin, and when heights faded in the blue haze of
a midsummer day, we bade farewell to the mountains. Henceforth our way
ran through the lowlands down to the sea, the hills and river bluffs
reaching an altitude of only a few hundred feet.
At Edwards Ferry we saw the wooded face of Ball's Bluff which gave name
to a Civil War conflict which was second only to Bull Run in causing
discomfiture to the people of the North. In this little fight the
country lost a notable figure in the person of General Edward D. Baker,
first United States senator from Oregon.
For miles along this portion of our route we ran without seeing a human
habitation. A dense strip of woodland concealed the river from view and
bluffs or marshy thickets interposed between the canal and the country
to the north. Occasionally through the trees we caught a fleeting
glimpse of beautiful meadows and cornfields of the Maryland farmlands,
but these vistas were rare.
At White's Ferry, where on September 5th, 1862, Stonewall Jackson's
army forded the Potomac, and while singing "My Maryland," marched
gallantly on toward Frederick, we stopped under the highway bridge that
spans the canal to replenish our supply of gasoline. Leaning over the
rail of the bridge stood a native whose face was obscured by the shadow
of a straw hat of immense brim. Over his shoulder was a fishing-pole
of a length of thirty feet or more. He ignored our salutation when we
approached, but after we had drifted under the bridge he crossed to the
rail on the other side and inquired:
"Stranger, whar did you put that tub in this ditch?"
"Cumberland."
"By crackey!" And he sauntered down the road.
The history of this "ditch" is a commercial romance closely linked
with the political developments of the last one hundred and fifty
years. During the period immediately preceding the Revolutionary War
Washington devoted his chief attention toward the opening of the west
to colonization and for a cheap transportation route foresaw that
navigation on the waters of the upper Potomac would offer a direct
outlet for the products of the agricultural regions of the western
country to the Atlantic seaboard. The alarm from Lexington in 1775, of
course, put an end to all immediate plans for the internal improvement
among the colonies, but after Burgoyne had been cut off at Saratoga and
Cornwallis had been bagged at Yorktown, Gen Washington again turned his
attention to the transportation problem. Before peace was restored he
left the camp of the patriot army at Newburg and inspected the future
route of the Erie canal through the Mohawk valley.
Washington shrewdly divined that a canal between Lake Erie near
Niagara, connecting it with the Mohawk and the Hudson would open up a
route that would be a dangerous competitor to the southern colonies in
their trade with the west. Soon after he was relieved from his military
duties he made a tour of exploration with a view of locating a route
connecting the Potomac with the Ohio and the Great Lakes. His journal
sets forth clearly his wonderful farsightedness and broad comprehension
of the situation. Here is Washington's report of his transportation
line from Detroit to Alexandria, Va.: (The spelling is Washington's).
To Cuyahoga River 125 Miles
Up same to Portage 60 Miles
Portage to Bever Ck 8 Miles
Down Bever Ck to the Ohio 85 Miles
Up the Ohio to Fort Pitt 25 Miles
Mouth of Yohiogany 15 Miles
Falls to Ditto 50 Miles
Portage 1 Mile
Three Forks or Turkey foot 8 Miles
Ft. Cumberland or Wills Creek 30 Miles
Alexandria 200 Miles
----
Total 607 Miles
Bear in mind that the "mouth of the Yohiogany" is now McKeesport, that
the "falls to ditto" indicates Ohio Pyle and that "Three Forks" means
the present locality of Confluence, and compare the distances with
present day surveys. They will not vary a mile on the entire stretch.
Ask the eminent engineers of the Lake Erie & Ohio River Canal if they
can add much to Washington's ideas. Their answer will give you added
reasons for celebrating on the 22nd of next February.
In February, 1785, the laws were passed by the legislatures of Maryland
and Virginia authorizing the formation of a company for the improvement
of the Potomac river and books for the subscription of stock were
opened at once. The total shares were 403 and the capital of the new
Potomac Company was 40,300 pounds. Washington was elected its president
and James Rumsey, the inventor, whose monument we saw at Shepherdstown,
was general manager. In the summer of 1785 the work of blasting rock
and other obstructions was begun between Great Falls and Harper's Ferry.
The work was prosecuted with vigor, but during the winter of 1786-87
there came a hint of labor troubles. Common laborers were paid 32
shillings (about $8.00) a month "with the usual ration except spirits,
and with such reasonable allowance of spirits as the manager may from
time to time think proper." The question of spirits seems to have been
the chief cause of the trouble, for it is recorded that the company
contracted for the supply of rum at "two shillings per gallon." It must
have been the same kind of stuff that is peddled across the river to
"dry" Virginians today.
In 1787 Washington withdrew from active work in the company to accept
the presidency of the Republic. His retirement sealed the fate of the
corporation. Its affairs languished for years and in 1823 was declared
defunct.
In the same year--1823 a date since famous for the promulgation of
the Monroe doctrine--the navigation project was again revived in the
Maryland legislature. It was estimated that the proposed work of
cutting a canal from tide-water (Washington, D. C.) up the Potomac,
across the mountains to a branch of the Ohio, and down the same, at
$1,500,000, of which Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia
were each to subscribe one-third. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company
was incorporated by the Maryland legislature in 1825 with a capital
stock of $6,000,000, Congress having previously made an appropriation
of $30,000 for preliminary surveys. The route selected for the canal
alarmed the citizens of Baltimore. They saw that it would divert trade
from their city. About this time Philip E. Thomas, a Baltimore banker,
and George Brown, an enterprising resident of that city, took earnest
counsel between themselves to save the traffic for their town. On the
19th of February, 1827, they held a meeting with their townsmen which
was destined to become memorable in the whole history of transportation.
[Illustration: Tom Thumb--B. & O. 1830]
Up in Quincy, Mass., and in Maunch Chaunk, Pa., for a year or two
wagons had been operated on rails, and Mr. Thomas inquired of his
confreres why a "rail road" would not be practicable from Baltimore
to the Ohio. The whole world knows the answer: On February 28, 1828,
a charter was granted to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, Mr.
Thomas resigned the presidency of the Machanics' Bank in Baltimore to
become the head of the first American railway system.
* * * * *
THEN began a memorable commercial race between canal and railroad.
Their prospective routes were parallel and both sought the same
destination--the Ohio river at Pittsburgh. Early in 1826 both
companies were in the field surveying for their respective highways.
On the fourth of July succeeding celebrations were planned by the
rival corporations. In Washington on that day President John Quincy
Adams, the members of his cabinet, foreign ambassadors, survivors of
the Revolutionary War and a great throng of citizens proceeded up
the Potomac to Great Falls where the first spadeful of earth in the
construction of the canal was turned by the President of the United
States.
Over in Baltimore at the same hour the venerable Charles Carroll
of Carrollton, the only surviving signer of the Declaration of
Independence lifted a spadeful of earth in placing the foundation
stone to commemorate the commencement of the building of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad. The railroad was completed to the Maryland shore
opposite Harper's Ferry in 1834 and was opened to operation December
1, the work on the canal at that time having proceeded more rapidly,
despite injunctions, financial embarrassments and a multitude of
obstacles that interfered with the work. The canal finally was
completed to Cumberland February 17, 1851.
In the meantime the railroad had struggled to success in spite of
similar obstacles. The Baltimore and Ohio was opened to the public May
22, 1830, and was received with approbation of the public. At this time
the line extended from Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills, a distance of 12
miles. It was advertised that "brigades of cars left Baltimore at 6 and
10 a. m. and 3 and 4 p. m." These "brigades" of cars first were hauled
by horses and mules and later a brother of President Thomas invented
a car which moved by sails. The superintendent of motive power,
nevertheless, was enterprising and steam was soon applied. As early
as 1831 the company offered a prize of $4,000 for the best locomotive
offered for trial on the road. It is a curious fact that a watchmaker
of York, Pa., built the first practicable models.
One of these, the "Atlantic," on August 25, 1835, drew the first train
into Washington amid the applause of President Andrew Jackson and a
distinguished assemblage. This "grasshopper" locomotive was in use
a generation later when it hauled the vanguard of Union soldiers to
save the national capital in 1861. It developed a speed of 30 miles an
hour which was regarded as suicidal in the early days of railroading.
Although superannuated, the "Atlantic" is still in a good state of
preservation and can be operated under its own power.
The canal and railroad are no longer competitors. The bonds of the
former company are held by the railroad. The canal is in operation
during the season of navigation and more than 100 boats are engaged in
providing low-priced transportation for coal from Cumberland to the
seaboard. On the railroad "brigades of cars" are seen at intervals of
a few minutes dashing along behind locomotives that weight more than
twenty times that of the little old "Atlantic."
[Illustration: "Atlantic" Engine--B. & O. 1832]