thumb|140px|map of the path of the c&o canal.  thumb|right|a 1917 video, "down the old potomac (part 1 of 3)", shows the canal during its operating days. some of the information is inaccurate. for example, it says "barges" (more correctly, "boats") passed through 86 locks descending 800 feet to tidewater; in fact, there were 77 locks descending 610 feet. the chesapeake and ohio canal, abbreviated as the c&o canal and occasionally called the "grand old ditch,""the grand old ditch: the c&o in american transportation history " operated from 1831 until 1924 along the potomac river from washington, d.c., to cumberland, maryland. the canal's principal cargo over time was coal from the allegheny mountains. the  canal required the construction of 74 canal locks to handle an elevation change of , 11 aqueducts to cross major streams, more than 240 culverts to cross smaller streams, and the  paw paw tunnel. the last part to be built, a 50-mile stretch to cumberland, opened in 1850. the remaining sections to ohio river at pittsburgh were 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. ==history== ===early river projects=== 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.hahn, pathway, 1. 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.kytle p. 10 these canals allowed an easy downstream float; upstream journeys, propelled by pole, were harder. several kinds of watercraft were used on the patowmack canal and in the potomac river. gondolas were 60-by-10-foot 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 feet, usable only on high-water days, about 45 days per year.kytle, p. 12 ===construction=== ====pl
Buildings_and_structures_in_Cumberland,_Maryland Canal_museums_in_the_United_States Canals_in_Maryland Canals_in_Washington,_D.C. Canals_on_the_National_Register_of_Historic_Places Canals_opened_in_1830 Chesapeake_Bay_watershed Cumberland,_Maryland Georgetown,_Washington,_D.C. Hagerstown,_Maryland Historic_American_Engineering_Record_in_Maryland History_of_Cumberland,_MD-WV_MSA Journey_Through_Hallowed_Ground_National_Heritage_Area Long-distance_trails_in_the_United_States National_Historical_Parks_of_the_United_States National_Register_of_Historic_Places_in_Maryland National_Register_of_Historic_Places_in_Washington,_D.C. Parks_in_Allegany_County,_Maryland Parks_in_Cumberland,_MD-WV-PA Parks_in_Frederick_County,_Maryland Parks_in_Montgomery_County,_Maryland Parks_in_Washington,_D.C. Parks_in_Washington_County,_Maryland Parks_on_the_National_Register_of_Historic_Places_in_West_Virginia Potomac_River_watershed Protected_areas_established_in_1938 Transportation_in_Cumberland,_MD-WV-PA United_States_National_Park_Service_areas_in_Washington,_D.C.