The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1948-12-30
HORSE AND
BUGGY DAYS
by
Ida 10 Martin

peake and ONO Canal.
Let's drive down to the Potomac
and see the old canal, and examine
some of the old locks The mason
airy in most places is still there, and
solid, a monument to the early lead
ers who were men of foresight, to
George Washington, to the efforts of
men of our own County, to the skill
of expert workers in stone, to the
work of almost countless workers,
both slave and indentured, and to
men who lost their lives in the con-
struction May this old Canal new
er be covered by water as proposed
by some, by a series of dams on
the Potomac.
If we could go back number of
years, let us watch the scene at a
lock as a boat goes by.
AS an upstream boat reaches he
'15O-yard post" the pilot gives a
blast on his boat horn, to signal the
lock tender to ready the lock, and
also to signal any other boats that
he has the right to enter the lock.
Oftimes arguments arose after there
had been a race between boats from
opposite directions to first reach the
"150-yard post" and on one occasion
the boat hands actually pulled a
loaded boat out of the lock and fore
ed its owner to wait for the next
turn for going through the lock.
The lock tender readies the lock
for the up-going boat by closing the
big gates at the upper end of the
lock. These gates swung on huge
hinges from both sides of the lock,
each gate reaching half way across
the lock, which is lined on both
sides by perpendicular walls of ma
sonary. The two halves of the gate
met little upstream of the center,
thus bracing against the water they
had to hold.
With these gates closed, the water
in the lock was lowered to the level
of the water outside the lock on the
downstream side, and the gates at
this end of the lock swung open
These gates had to be moved by
hand, by means of long beam that
formed the top rail of the gate and
extended back beyond the pivot or
hinge point of the gate, back over
the land by the side of the lock. It
will be seen that practically all of
these gates along Washington Coun-
ty have fallen into decay so that
none of them can be moved.
With the upper gate closed, and
the lower gates open, the lock was
ready for the boat. The boat had
been waiting, and now is pulled into
the lock. Here is a very interest
ing thing: the locks were only six
inches wider than the boats, and re-
member that the boats were ninety
two feet long. AS the boat approach
ed the gates at the other end of
the lock, the pilot on the top of the
boat threw snubbing rope to one
of his men on the bank of the lock,
who took the end of the rope around
the Stumbling post" and pulling on
the free end, used the friction of the
rope around the post to slow the
heavy boat to stop, and prevent
its striking the gates. Many of
these posts can still be seen at the
locks.
With the boat in the lock, the
lower gates were closed. Then the
small paddle gates, or valves, in
the bottoms of the big gates up
stream were opened, and through
these, water from the upper level
flowed into the lock. Since the low
er gates were closed, the level with
in the lock rose until it was even
with the level above the lock- Now
the upper gates are opened, and the
boat pulled out of the lock and is
on its way. The average lift of the
locks was about eight feet for each
lock. The process for taking boat
through lock in the opposite direc-
ton was just the reverse.
Il took on the average about ten
minutes for one boat to go through
lock, or fifteen minutes for two
in opposite directions. However there
were some records made, when
boat actually went through a lock
in little over three minutes. In
the years when the canal was at its
peak of operations, the locks were
in almost continuous use, as many as
one hundred boats passing a lock in
one day. From 1863 to 1880, the
canal had its busiest time, and in
some years transported nearly a
million tons of coal.
To tell the complete story of the
construction of the canal would re-
Ouire a book. There were countless