Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-09
BIG BENEFIT TO- MARYLAND
Old @. and o. Canal Has Kept Down Railroad
Rates.
Prospect Of Sale of the states In
terest In the Famous
Property.
Special Correspondence OF The Evening Star.

! -,
Special Correspondence OF The Evening Star.
CUMBERLAND, Nd. October 8. 1899.
| The Chesapeake and Ohio canal. which
| runs from Cumberland. Md, to George
| town. D. c., distance of 1874 miles. will
be forty-nine years old on Tuesday 1t will
be a sad event to the people of Cumber'
land if it is sold and abandoned as a wa
terway before it's golden jubilee. The
completion of the canal to Cumberland was
! worthy of celebration great national
event. Its history since 1928 is interesting
! and would fill volumes. The people OF
| Cumberland look upon the canal as part
of their birthright, and its maintenance as
| waterway as the one thing necessary to
| their freedom from the grasp of railway
| monopoly. Hence they have always been
ready to fight against any sale Of the
| states interest to corporation which
would build railroad along the towpath
| from Cumberland to Washington. The men,
bers of the legislature from the counties
| of Garrett Allegany. Washington, Freder-
lex and Montgomery. have always,
| without regard to politics, been ready to
! sacrifice everything in their efforts to re-
| tain the canal as waterway for the trans
portation of coal and other products from
| the mines to the eastern markets
| To build railroad along the canal for
purely local business affords no present
| prospect of financial success. The chief
| value Of the canal. therefore. is the oppor-
| tunity 1t offers to some railroad system
| DESTROYS of reaching Baltimore. That the
| property is valuable no one can doubt. 1t
| furnishes a splendid roadbed from Cumber-
| land to tidewater, with a tunnel under the
| mountain, which cost over s1.000,OO0 The
| Potomac company, inaugurated by Gen.
| Washington and his illustrious compeers
| about the year 1S20-23, was, with all its
rights. conveyed to the Chesapeake and
| Ohio Canal Company, which was chartered
| about the year 1924 by the United States
| and the states of Virginia, Pennsylvania
and Maryland. The United States govern
| ment subscribed 100000, the state of Vir-
| ginia $25O,O0O Maryland S. 300 900. and in
| dividual subscribers s6O7 400, making a to-
| tai of $10,907, 400 Shepherdstown Va, sub
| scribed, in addition to the above. about
| $1,000. making the subscriptions little
| more than $11,O0o,0O0.
Begun July 4, 1928.
| On the memorable 4th of July, 1923, the
| the first spade was struck in the ground
! at Georgetown, D. c., by his eXcellency,
John Quincy Adams, President of the Unit
| ed States and the work begun. In 1913,
| one year after the Baltimore and Ohio
| railroad was completed to Cumberland, the
canal was finished as far as Dam No. o.,
| where coal was dumped into boats from
cars by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad
until the fifty miles to Cumberland We're
completed. Then it was that the 1914 bonds,
as they were termed, were issued for ST.
100000, being a lien on the revenues of
the canal 1t is thought that these bonds
could just as easily have been made a
| lien on the corpus Of the canal, but the
subscribers for these bonds We're so SAN
guine of it's success as a carrier that they
were satisfied with the lien the reve-
nues. 1t is yet undecided judicially, yet
some of the best legal mtpds say they are
In equity lien on the canal. These bond
holders have gotten very little from the
revenues in interests save Col. James
C. Clark's term in 1871 and 1872, and dur
ing the first few years from his successor
in the presidency of. the canal. ex-senator
Arthur +. German, thus leaving in prin-
cipal and interest several millions of dol
lars.
The canal is 1874 Ia miles long. from
Georgetown. d. G., to Cumberland, Md.
and it's whole length is divided as follows:
Five miles in the District, 3612 miles in
Montgomery, 10 in Frederick q in Wash
ington and 30 miles in Allegany county
Much of the country through which the
canal passes is not accessible by railroad,
and thus affords the very best markets for
all the farmer raises. Hay, corn, oats, po-
tatoes, cabbage, butter and eggs bring
about city prices at the various locks and
points along it's line. The lands greatly
enhanced by these advantages. The canal,
Notwithstanding the enormous cost of oper-
ating charged in the past under political
management, has certainly paid the state
over and over again the amount of cost in
the great enhancement of property and
products along its line. in increased taxa
ton. 1t has given employment to thous-
ands of old and young men, women and
children. While it has not done in its reVe-
nues as its most sanguine projectors antlc.-
pated, 1t has done well. Notwithstanding Its
great cost of construction and manage
ment.
If the canal, as was originally intended
and chartered. had reached the Ohio river,
and a lateral canal had been built to Balti-
more city. it would have been great work
today, and paying a handsome revenue to
the state of Maryland.
Opened October 10, 1880.
On Thursday, October 10, 1850, the canal
was opened with great ceremony, and trade
by boats was begun at Cumberland 1t was
glad day TO the people of western Mary
land and Washington, d. {. There was q
great celebration over the happy event, the
queen city of western Maryland being
crowded with prominent visitors from
Washington, Georgetown and Alexandra.
and from the neighboring counties OF
Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Old
citizens love to talk about that memorable
day in Cumberland. The canal had never
pierced the mountains to connect with the
seaboard, the great design that Gen. Wash
ington contemplated but the people of
Maryland realized the benefits expected
from it, when 1t became an ally OF the rail-
road in developing the great mineral Wealth
land has been remunerated long ago in the
way of improved property and increasing
taxation as a result of the construction OF
the canal, and will lose nothing II 1t gets
not a cent.
Cumberland's Pnlmy Days.
The people of Cumberland knew that the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad would in less
than three years be completed to Wheeling,
and that the old National road would soon
be abandoned as far as stage traffic was
concerned. AS long Cumberland was the
terminus Of the railroad the city was full
| of business. Between 1912 and 1852 Cum
berland went through her golden days.
From twenty to thirty stages, heavily laden
with passengers, left the city of Cumber-
land for Wheeling every afternoon. The
hotels and old road houses were busy night
and day, the proprietors hoping that the
railroad extension from Cumberland to
Wheeling would be delayed and the canal
| hurried up.
In the year 1912 theI state authorized
sale of its interests i'll the canal for $5OOO.-
COO but failed to get avpurchaser. In 1869
| the canal had surplus over expenditures
| OF 100000 for the first time in its history.
Today the states interest Will not bring
five millions in the markets. sale now
of the states interest would remove the
state as factor in the case and there
| would probably be no one to insist upon
| the sale of the property, unless, indeed,
| the United States which owns a million
| of dollars of stock or one of the cities of