The Aqueduct Bridge , also called the Alexandria Aqueduct , was a bridge that carried traffic between Georgetown, Washington, D.C. , and Rosslyn, Virginia , from 1843 to 1923.
80-657: It was built to transport cargo-carrying boats on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Georgetown across the Potomac River to the Alexandria Canal . The same eight piers supported two bridges: a wooden canal bridge and an iron truss bridge carrying a roadway and an electric trolley line. The canal was later topped with a wooden roadway bridge. The bridge was closed in 1923 after the construction of
160-548: A charter to the Alexandria Canal Company in 1830, and construction soon began on the Aqueduct Bridge that would carry canal boats across the Potomac River and downriver on the south side without unloading in Georgetown. The bridge was designed by Major William Turnbull. Construction of the bridge and Alexandria Canal began in 1833, and both were completed in 1843. To withstand Potomac ice floes ,
240-442: A day, vegetables, and a "reasonable allowance of whiskey", $ 8 to $ 12 per month, $ 20 for masons. Still, many were dissatisfied with the slave-like conditions. Friction between the largest groups, from Ireland and Germany, meant they had to be kept in different crews. The width of the canal prism above Harpers Ferry was reduced to 50 feet (15 m), which saved money and was also appropriate from an engineering standpoint. In 1832,
320-534: A falling down of the bottom of the Canal into limestone caverns that are lower than, and extend out under the bed of the river: — in consequence of which the water from the Canal is at first conducted down below the canal bottom perhaps twenty or thirty feet and thence out along under the bed of the river ... It has been a matter of surprise to me that our Canal thus far has suffered so little from limesinks. We may yet however have much trouble from this source near and above
400-411: A light boat was 62 hours, set by Raleigh Bender from Sharpsburg. Dent Shupp made it from Cumberland to Williamsport in 35 hours with 128 tons of coal. Following the disastrous flood of 1889, the canal company entered receivership with court-appointed trustees. The trustees were given the right to repair and operate the canal under continued court oversight. The trustees represented the majority owners of
480-651: A member of the U.S. president 's Cabinet , beginning with George Washington 's administration . A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation between 1781 and 1789. Benjamin Lincoln and later Henry Knox held the position. When Washington was inaugurated as the first President under
560-472: A roadway for military troops. In 1866, the Alexandria Canal Company leased the bridge for 99 years to three local businessmen. The existing wooden superstructure, which had decayed, was replaced with Howe trusses . Wooden arches were later added to strengthen the Howe trusses. In 1868, Congress passed legislation requiring the lessees of the bridge to maintain a highway on the bridge. To support this construction,
640-554: A time due to its dangerous nature. The House passed legislation appropriating $ 1.175 million for construction of a new bridge on March 6. D.C. commissioners held hearings on the bridge site in late March, and approved the site in early April. The Senate passed some minor amendments to the House bill, and after some legislative discussions and a conference committee, the Carlin bill passed Congress on May 2, 1916. President Woodrow Wilson signed
720-520: Is open to travel for 20 years. This condition had not been met, and the government sought $ 84,500 in reimbursements to cover construction of a new deck. Meanwhile, the Corps of Engineers reported in January 1887 that a new bridge could be constructed for $ 105,000 (the sum of money left over from the 1884 appropriation). With this money already in hand, no new legislation was needed. Bids for construction of
800-687: The C&;O Canal and occasionally called the Grand Old Ditch , operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River between Washington, D.C. , and Cumberland, Maryland . It replaced the Potomac Canal , which shut down completely in 1828, and could operate during months in which the water level was too low for the former canal. The canal's principal cargo was coal from the Allegheny Mountains . Construction began in 1828 on
880-646: The Constitution , he appointed Knox to continue serving as Secretary of War. The secretary of war was the head of the War Department . At first, he was responsible for all military affairs, including naval affairs . In 1798, the secretary of the Navy was created by statute, and the scope of responsibility for this office was reduced to the affairs of the United States Army . From 1886 onward,
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#1732790324298960-891: The Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans . 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 Shenandoah, and House's Falls near Harpers Ferry . These canals allowed an easy downstream float; upstream journeys, propelled by pole, were harder. Several kinds of watercraft were used on
1040-721: The Lehigh Canal for their full year of business in 1820. Yet in 1850, the B&;O Railroad had already been operating in Cumberland for eight years, and the Canal suffered financially. Debt-ridden, the company dropped its plan to continue construction of the next 180 miles (290 km) of the canal into the Ohio Valley. The company long realized (especially with the experience at the Paw Paw tunnel) that construction over
1120-598: The McMillan Plan was issued in 1902. Congress approved the construction of a wooden superstructure that extended outward from the upstream side of the bridge's deck to carry electric trolleys between Georgetown and Rosslyn in 1902. Construction began in May 1903, and involved reconstruction of one of the bridge's piers. Built by the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad , trolleys of the railroad and its successor,
1200-752: The Ohio River at Pittsburgh was never built. The canal 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 , which flows into the Mississippi River and ultimately to
1280-555: The Patowmack Canal and in the Potomac River . Gondolas were 60 by 10 ft (18 by 3 m) log rafts, usually sold at journey's end for their wood by their owners, who returned upstream on foot. Sharpers were flat-bottomed boats, 60 by 7 ft (18 by 2 m), usable only on high-water days, about 45 days per year. The Erie Canal , built between 1817 and 1825, threatened traders south of New York City, who began to seek their own transportation infrastructure to link
1360-632: The Washington City Canal , which extended through the future National Mall to the foot of the United States Capitol . A lock keeper's house at the eastern end of this Washington Branch of the C&O Canal remains at the southwest corner of Constitution Avenue and 17th Street, N.W., at the edge of the National Mall. In 1834, the section to Harper's Ferry opened and the canal reached Williamsport. In 1836,
1440-512: The Washington and Old Dominion Railway , traversed the bridge until its closure in 1923. Ice jams were a routine hazard on the Potomac River into the 1960s. Although the jams often stuck against the bridge, it weathered them well until 1908. Ice damaged some of the bridge's piers, requiring reconstruction of Pier No. 1 in the summer. Engineers discovered that many of the bridge's piers had been undermined by water, and rush repairs were made. But
1520-724: The Youghiogheny River ; and the western section from there to Pittsburgh. The total estimated price tag, more than $ 22 million, dampened the enthusiasm of many supporters, who were expecting an estimate in the $ 4 million to $ 5 million range. At a convention in December 1826, they attempted to discredit the engineers' report, and offered lower estimates: Georgetown to Cumberland, $ 5,273,283; Georgetown to Pittsburgh, $ 13,768,152. Geddes and Roberts were hired to make another report, which they gave in 1828: $ 4,479,346.93 for Georgetown to Cumberland. With those numbers to encourage them,
1600-514: The 184.5-mile (296.9 km) canal and ended in 1850 with the completion of a 50-mile (80 km) stretch to Cumberland, although the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had already reached Cumberland in 1842. The canal had an elevation change of 605 feet (184 meters) which required 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
1680-405: The 4-mile marker. Building the last 50-mile (80 km) segment proved difficult and expensive. Allen Bowie Davis took on the role of management. In Cumberland, Dam No. 8 and Guard Lock No. 8 had begun construction in 1837 and the final locks (70–75) to Cumberland were completed around 1840. That left an 18.5-mile (29.8 km) segment in the middle, which would eventually require building
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#17327903242981760-406: The Alexandria Canal Company sued the federal government within weeks, seeking to receive the full sale price all at once rather than in installments. Another Corps engineering report on the bridge was made in January 1887. With the bridge again found to be unsafe to open, the federal government sued the canal company. The deed of sale, the government said, required the company to maintain a bridge that
1840-577: The B&O from trying to sell it. In 1936, the B&O attempted to sell part of the canal from Point of Rocks to the District line. This was blocked by the courts which had continued to oversee the C&O trustees with the court saying "It is of course well known that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company is not the owner of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal." At that time, the court also stated that
1920-590: The C&O Canal Company bonds issued in 1844. While the B&O owned the majority of the 1878 bonds, the B&O did not own a majority of the 1844 bonds as of 1890. However, by 1903, the B&O had acquired sufficient bonds to become "a majority holder", the reported reason being "to secure for the Wabash [railroad] system a foothold on the Atlantic seaboard" which had only been incorporated in February 1903. Over
2000-487: The C&O Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) began fighting for sole use of the narrow strip of available land along the Potomac River from Point of Rocks to Harpers Ferry . After a Maryland state court battle that involved Daniel Webster and Roger B. Taney , the companies agreed to share the right-of-way . In August 1829, the canal company began importing indentured laborers to Alexandria and Georgetown. These workers were promised meat three times
2080-482: The Company; many of them had become entirely unfit for use and were becoming worthless, rendering it absolutely essential to the requirements of the Company to have them repaired." Still, some improvements were made in the late 1860s, such as replacing Dams No. 4 and 5. The early 1870s, which Unrau calls the "Golden Years", were particularly profitable. The company repaid some of its bonds. It made many improvements to
2160-401: The Corps warned that not only could the existing bridge not be enlarged but agreed with Garrison that it was structurally unsound. Swanson changed his mind, and agreed in January 1916 that the new bridge should be built on the existing site. Garrison endorsed the Carlin bill on January 27. On February 3, 1916, vehicular traffic over Aqueduct Bridge was limited by the city to a single automobile at
2240-700: The District of Columbia (the city's appointed government) approved of the new bridge in June. Controversy over the new bridge immediately broke out. Senator Claude A. Swanson , chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Works, wanted the new bridge built about 3,000 feet (910 m) downstream at the mouth of Rock Creek (at about 30th Street NW), where it would cross Analostan Island and the Potomac River to Rosslyn. Georgetown merchants strongly opposed this plan. There were some in Congress who wanted to repair
2320-790: The Georgetown Branch right-of-way is now occupied by the Capital Crescent Trail . A coalition of Georgetown business groups and residents have joined with Georgetown University to advocate the construction of a gondola that would cross the river along the former path of the Aqueduct Bridge. Conceptual images show that a pole supporting the gondola's cables would rise from the bridge's remaining pier. 38°54′15″N 77°04′14″W / 38.90417°N 77.07056°W / 38.90417; -77.07056 ( Potomac Aqueduct ) Chesapeake and Ohio Canal The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal , abbreviated as
2400-629: The Patowmack Little Falls Skirting Canal) was sufficient since that literally fulfilled the charter's condition of reaching the tidewater, but people in Washington wanted it to end in Washington, connecting to the Tiber Creek and Anacostia river. For that reason, the canal originally opened from Little Falls to Seneca, and the next year, was extended down to Georgetown. The Little Falls skirting canal, which
2480-407: The Paw Paw tunnel, digging the deep cut at Oldtown, and building 17 locks. Near Paw Paw, the engineers had no good solutions. If they followed the river, they would have to cross over to West Virginia to avoid the cliffs, and an agreement with the B&O Railroad specified that the canal would avoid the south side of the river, unless it was a place where the railroad would not need it. So they took
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2560-592: The Washington abutment shelters rowing shells belonging to members of the Potomac Boat Club . Between the abutments, the preserved pier remains in place near the river's Virginia shoreline. After the B&O's Georgetown Branch was abandoned in 1985, Water Street NW was extended west through the passageway to the Washington Canoe Club . The empty lot before the canoe club had previously been occupied by Dempsey's Canoe Livery. The rest of
2640-424: The aging structure continued to suffer damage, and by September 1912 the bridge was leaning dangerously to the west. Fears that the bridge would give way during the spring ice jams worsened. The bridge piers were extensively repaired again in 1913. In March 1914, Representative Charles Creighton Carlin of Virginia sponsored legislation to replace Aqueduct Bridge with a new, $ 1 million structure. The Commissioners of
2720-400: The board to change their plans, routing the canal through the center of town. The canal was opened for trade to Cumberland on Thursday, October 10, 1850. On the first day, five canal boats, Southampton, Elizabeth, Ohio, Delaware and Freeman Rawdon loaded with a total of 491 tons of coal, came down from Cumberland. In one day, the C&O carried more coal in the first day of business than
2800-399: The boats extra cargo not listed on the waybills to avoid tolls. In 1873, for instance, one boat got from Georgetown to Harpers Ferry with 225 hidden sacks of salt before the company found out. The items transported on the canal varied. In 1845, for instance, before the canal's completion, the shipments were as follows: United States Secretary of War The secretary of war was
2880-483: The breach at Lock No. 37. For about a mile, there is scarcely a hundred feet in length of the canal in which there are not several small lime sink holes...". He recommended costly but necessary repairs, which were done by 1840. Since it was difficult to obtain stone for the locks, engineers built composite locks , sometimes of kyanized wood. In 1843, the Potomac Aqueduct Bridge was built near
2960-500: The bridge. Congress initially proposed that the District of Columbia shoulder the entire cost, but the city did not have the funds. Citizens in Virginia demanded that Congress pick up the cost, arguing this was an interstate bridge and therefore a national concern. Congress passed the legislation, and appropriated $ 240,000 to purchase the bridge. The Alexandria Canal Company sold the bridge's piers for $ 85,000 and its deck for $ 50,000, and
3040-540: The burgeoning areas west of the Appalachian Mountains to mid-Atlantic markets and ports. As early as 1820, plans were being laid for a canal to link the Ohio River and Chesapeake Bay. In early March 1825, President James Monroe signed the bill chartering the construction of the C&O Canal as one of the last acts of his presidency. The plan was to build it in two sections, the eastern section from
3120-412: The canal company prohibited liquor in a bid to improve the speed of construction, but soon repealed its ban. In August or September 1832, an epidemic of cholera swept through the construction camps, killing many workers and leading others to throw down their tools and flee. By 1833, the canal's Georgetown end was extended 1.5 miles (2.4 km) eastward to Tiber Creek , near the western terminus of
3200-466: The canal company shareholders finally decided how to divide up the proceeds from their sale of the bridge. The District government then asked the Secretary of War (who supervised the Corps of Engineers) whether the federal government intended to repair the bridge or build a new one. But issues concerning the sale still plagued the bridge. Although a new deed of transfer was prepared in mid-November 1886,
3280-400: The canal could not be sold in pieces but only in its entirety. In 1938, new trustees were appointed by the court to handle the sale under the court's continued oversight. Tolls were charged for cargo on the canal. In 1851, for instance, the toll rates on the Canal were set as follows: Tolls varied greatly, and frequently the board adopted new toll rates. Some boatmen would try to ship in
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3360-472: The canal was used by canal packets as a Star Route to carry mail from Georgetown to Shepherdstown . The contract was held by Albert Humrickhouse at $ 1,000 per annum for a daily service of 72 book miles. The canal approached Hancock, Maryland , by 1839. In March 1837, three surveys were made for a possible link to the northeast to Baltimore: via Westminster, via Monocacy -Linganore, and via Seneca, but they were all deemed impractical due to lack of water at
3440-486: The canal, including the installation of a telephone system. Yet there were still floods and other problems. By 1872, so many vessels were unfit for navigation that the company required boats to undergo annual inspections and registration. In July 1876, the crew of the Lezan Ragan stayed afloat while loading in Cumberland only by her crew's pumping. She hit some abutments of the locks near Great Falls, and finally sank at
3520-512: The contractor proved inefficient, delaying the opening until at least January 1889. A month later, about 600 feet (183 m) of substructure had been laid, and 75 feet (23 m) of superstructure. Construction problems delayed the opening of the bridge until June 1, 1889. In 1889, the northern arch in the Washington abutment was enlarged so that the Georgetown Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad could pass underneath. One of
3600-458: The cross section of the canal prism in difficult terrain. This reduced maintenance expenditures but increased construction costs. In the end, two slackwaters (Big Slackwater above Dam No. 4, and Little Slackwater above Dam No. 5) and multiple composite locks (Locks 58–71) were built. At first, the canal company planned to use steamboats in the slackwaters, since without mules, the canal boats had to use oars to move upstream. After much discussion of
3680-475: The dangers of early steamboats, the company provided a towpath so that the mules could pull the boats through the slackwaters. From Lock 5 at Little Falls to Cumberland (as mentioned above, the canal started at Little Falls, and was later extended down to Georgetown), the canal was divided into three divisions (of about 60 miles (100 km) apiece), each of which was further divided into 120 sections of about 0.5 miles (800 m). A separate construction contract
3760-493: The deed was conveyed to the federal government on August 15, 1884. Almost immediately, a dispute broke out among the canal company's shareholders as to the distribution of the funds, which suspended the transfer of deed. The safety of the bridge was quickly called into question. In December 1885, just a year after the bridge was purchased, the United States Army Corps of Engineers conducted a study that found
3840-552: The existing bridge, but a study by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in August 1914 showed that the existing structure was inadequate for the amount of traffic and too unstable to be saved. Secretary of War Lindley Miller Garrison , who oversaw the Corps, agreed that a new bridge was necessary in December. Rep. William C. Adamson , chairman of the House Committee on Public Works, challenged Swanson and declared that
3920-534: The legislation on May 19. On June 1, 1916, the Army Corps of Engineers named the new bridge "Francis Scott Key Bridge," in honor of the man who had written the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner , whose home sat in between the new "Key" bridge and the aqueduct bridge. Originally a water bridge connecting directly into the C&O canal, its final raised roadbed extending to "M" street had brought
4000-413: The lessees were authorized to charge a toll. A wooden floor was placed atop the Howe trusses, and wooden trestles built on both ends to provide approaches to the bridge. In the 1882, legislation was introduced in Congress to purchase the Aqueduct Bridge and open it to the public. That bill did not pass, but a new one introduced in January 1884 did. At issue, however, was who would bear the cost of buying
4080-598: The mid-1870s that improved technology, specifically with larger locomotives and air brakes , allowed the railroad to set rates lower than the canal, and thus seal its fate. Sometime after the canal opened in 1850, a commemorative obelisk was erected near its Georgetown terminus. The canal deteriorated during the Civil War. In 1869, the company's annual report said, "During the last ten years little or nothing had been done toward repairing and improving lock-houses, culverts, aqueducts, locks, lock-gates and waste weirs of
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#17327903242984160-406: The more expensive decision to build a tunnel through the mountain. The initial cost estimate of $ 33,500 proved far too low. The tunnel was completed for $ 616,478.65 Among the components of the project, a kiln was built to provide bricks to line the tunnel. Originally, the company intended to go around Cumberland, behind the town of Wills Creek, but complaints from the citizens and the city caused
4240-541: The mountains going to Pittsburgh was "wildly unrealistic". Occasionally there was talk of continuing the canal, e.g. in 1874, an 8.4-mile (13.5 km) long tunnel was proposed to go through the Allegheny Mountains. Nevertheless, there was a tunnel built to connect with the Pennsylvania canal. Even though the railroad beat the canal to Cumberland, the canal was not entirely obsolete. It wasn't until
4320-479: The nearby Key Bridge , and demolished in 1933. One arched stone abutment on the Georgetown (north) end survives; it is overseen by the National Park Service as an historic site. In 1830, merchants from Alexandria, Virginia , which was still part of the District of Columbia at the time, proposed linking their city to Georgetown to capitalize on the new Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Congress granted
4400-408: The new bridge should be placed where the old one was. The Carlin bill began moving through the House in January 1915. But House members balked at the cost. Garrison tried to break the deadlock on January 9 by issuing a report that declared the existing bridge unsafe, and requesting that the new one be built in the same location. The D.C. Commissioners said the location of the bridge was up to them, and
4480-556: The new bridge were received in March 1887, and a contract awarded to the Mt. Vernon Bridge Company. Work began in August. But extensive delays plagued the bridge. One reason for the delay was the need to obtain a new right-of-way from the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which the bridge would cross. Suit for the right-of-way was filed in December 1887, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal agreed to provide it (pending an appraisal) in January 1888. Meanwhile,
4560-407: The next decade, and particularly after 1902, boats on the canal shifted from independent operators to company-owned craft. Boats with colorful names ( Bertha M. Young or Lezen Ragan ) gave way to numbered craft ("Canal Towage Company" with a number) run by a schedule. Despite the B&O's status as a majority bondholder, the B&O can not be said to have ever owned the C&O. This did not stop
4640-473: The old bridge even closer (roughly 150 feet) to the mansion where Francis Scott Key had lived. Plans for the new bridge began to be drawn in early summer, 1916 and were nearly complete by September. When repairs on Aqueduct Bridge were made in October 1916 to prepare the structure for winter, the Corps discovered even more deterioration than before. In January 1917, the Corps of Engineers found that inflation in
4720-412: The opening Lock 15 (at the head of Widewater). For a brief period in the 1860s and 1870s, the company attempted to prevent boating on Sundays. But boatmen broke padlocks on the lock gates and turned to violence when confronted. The company gave up trying to enforce the rule. The trip from Cumberland to Georgetown generally took about seven days. The fastest known time from Georgetown to Cumberland for
4800-589: The piers was replaced in 1900. In 1906, the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad (GF&OD) began to operate a single-track electric trolley line on a cantilever structure that the railroad had constructed on the bridge's west (upstream) side. In 1912, the GF&;OD became the Great Falls Division of the new Washington and Old Dominion Railway . Proposals were made to replace Aqueduct Bridge as early as 1901. But these proposals were delayed when
4880-489: The piers was sunk in May 1918, and, in July 1921, the Aqueduct Bridge was ordered to be closed. The new $ 2.35 million Key Bridge opened on January 17, 1923, whereupon the Aqueduct Bridge was closed to traffic. Although Georgetown citizens pressed to keep the Aqueduct Bridge open for recreation, demolition began in December 1933. The superstructure and most of the above-water portions of its piers were removed in 1933. The bases of
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#17327903242984960-414: The piers were made of gneiss , with icebreakers made of granite . The water-filled bridge was a weatherproofed-timber, queen-post truss construction. The bridge was 110 feet (33.5 m) wide across the top. It had eight piers, each set on riverbottom bedrock and 7 feet (2.1 m) wide at the top. The third and sixth piers were 16 feet (4.9 m) wide at the top. Each pier was designed so that its top
5040-536: The piers were retained to protect the Key Bridge's piers from ice floe damage. By mid-century, the piers had come to be viewed by recreational boaters (particularly rowers from nearby Georgetown University ) as an obstacle to enjoyment of the river and a navigational hazard. Army engineers and Rep. Joel Broyhill refused to remove the piers, citing their value to protecting Key Bridge and the cost of their removal. But in August 1962, these groups agreed that seven of
5120-407: The piers would be removed, with one remaining as a historical marker. Dismantling of the piers began on September 11, 1962. The pilings were blasted out to a depth of 12 feet (3.7 m) below the waterline. The Aqueduct Bridge's Washington abutment and a remnant of the bridge's Virginia abutment still survive. Both are located a short distance west (upstream) of the Key Bridge. The southern arch of
5200-411: The present-day Francis Scott Key Bridge to connect the canal to the Alexandria Canal , which led to Alexandria, Virginia . In April 1843, floods damaged much of the finished portion of the canal between Georgetown and Harpers Ferry, including the Shenandoah river lock. One flood suspended navigation for 103 days. The company raised the embankments around Little Falls, and made a "tumbling waste" near
5280-404: The price of construction materials made it necessary to ask for $ 300,000 more in funding from Congress. Congress balked at paying. But citizen pressure and the danger of collapse due to ice flows in the spring convinced Congress to pay the money. Construction contracts were drawn up in late February, and excavation work on the D.C. abutments began in March. The first coffer dam for construction of
5360-548: The secretary of the Navy, have since 1949 been non-Cabinet subordinates under the secretary of defense . The secretary of the Army's office is generally considered the direct successor to the secretary of war's office although the secretary of defense took the secretary of war's position in the Cabinet, and the line of succession to the presidency. The office of Secretary at War was modeled upon Great Britain's secretary at war , who
5440-837: The secretary of war was in the line of succession to the presidency , after the vice president of the United States , the Speaker of the House of Representatives , the President pro tempore of the Senate and the secretary of state . In 1947, with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947 , the secretary of war was replaced by the secretary of the Army and the secretary of the Air Force , which, along with
5520-404: The stockholders formally organized the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company in June 1828. In the end, the final construction cost to Cumberland in 1850 was $ 11,071,075.21. Compared to the original cost given by the engineers in 1826 of about $ 8 million, removing things not in the estimate such as land purchases, engineering expenses, incidental damages, salaries, and fencing provision, the cost overrun
5600-475: The summit level. The Canal reached Dam No. 6 (west of Hancock) in 1839. As the canal approached Hancock, more construction problems surfaced. Limestone sinkholes and caverns caused the canal bottom to cave in near Shepherdstown, near Two Locks above Dam No. 4, around Four Locks, Big pool, and Roundtop Hill near Dam No. 6. On 6 December 1839, Chief Engineer Fisk wrote, "These breaks have all evidently been occasioned by limestone sinks which exhibit themselves by
5680-472: The tidewater of Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Maryland; and the western section over the Allegheny Mountains to the Ohio River or one of its tributaries. Free from taxation, the canal company was required to have 100 miles (160 km) in use in five years, and to complete the canal in 12 years. The canal was engineered to have a 2 miles per hour (3 km/h) water current, supplying the canal and assisting mules pulling boats downstream. The eastern section
5760-547: The wooden bridge so unsafe that it should be removed. Again, cost considerations came to the fore. Legislation was introduced in Congress in May 1886 to have a new bridge built, with the D.C. government picking up half the cost. A D.C. engineering study of the bridge was conducted in September 1886 to again determine the bridge's safety. This report for the bridge so unsafe that it recommended immediate closure. The District government did so on October 5, 1886. On October 20, 1886,
5840-526: Was William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington , at the time of the American Revolution. The office of Secretary at War was meant to replace both the commander-in-chief and the Board of War , and like the president of the board, the secretary wore no special insignia. The inspector general, quartermaster general , commissary general, and adjutant general served on the secretary's staff. However,
5920-469: Was 30 feet (9.1 m) above the mean high water level. A narrow carriageway ran alongside the bridge. Later, a separate level for pedestrian and carriage traffic was added to the bridge. The tolls from the addition inhibited trade between Georgetown and Virginia, thus benefiting Alexandrian businessmen who retained Virginian trade. During the American Civil War , the canal was drained to make
6000-544: Was about 19%, which can be justified by the inflation rate of the period. The cost overrun of the other proposal (Geddes and Roberts) was about 51% thus showing that the original engineer's estimate was good. In 1824, the holdings of the Patowmack Company were ceded to the Chesapeake and Ohio Company. (Rejected names for the canal included the "Potomac Canal" and "Union Canal". ) By 1825, the Canal Company
6080-642: Was authorized by an act of the General Assembly of Maryland in the amount of subscriptions of $ 500,000; this paved the way for future investments and loans. According to historians, those financial resources were expended until the State had prostrated itself on its own credit. The C&O's first chief engineer was Benjamin Wright , formerly chief engineer of the Erie Canal . A groundbreaking ceremony
6160-464: Was held on July 4, 1828, attended by U.S. president John Quincy Adams . The ceremony was held near Georgetown , at the canal's eventual 5.64 miles (9.08 km) mark near Lock 6, the upstream end of the Little Falls skirting canal, and Dam No. 1. At the groundbreaking, there was still argument over the eastern end of the canal. The directors thought that Little Falls (at the downstream end of
6240-422: Was issued for each section. Locks, culverts, dams, etc. were listed on the contracts by section number, not by mileage as is done today. For instance, Locks 5 and 6 are on Section No. 1, all the way to Guard Lock No. 8 on section 367. Sections A–H were in the Georgetown level below lock 5 In November 1830, the canal opened from Little Falls to Seneca. The Georgetown section opened the following year. In 1828,
6320-523: Was part of the Patowmack Canal, was dredged to increase its depth from 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 m), and became part of the C&O Canal. The first president of the canal, Charles F. Mercer , insisted on perfection since this was a work of national importance. This would cost the company more money to build the canal. During his term, he forbade the use of slackwaters for navigation, the use of composite locks (see section below), or reduction of
6400-620: Was the only part to be completed. On October 23, 1826, the engineers submitted the study, presenting the proposed canal route in three sections. The eastern section comprised Georgetown to Cumberland; the middle section, Cumberland (going up Wills Creek to Hyndman then across the Sand Patch Grade crossing the Eastern Continental Divide to Garrett ) to the confluence of the Casselman River and
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