The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1948-12-30

Adams removed the first spadeful of
earth for the still water canal on
the Fourth of July, 1928, and the
construction and excavation con-
tinued for twenty-five years, finish
ing in 1850.
A few of the interesting feats of
construction bordering our County
are the tunnel, Big Pool, and others
/ have already mentioned the SPLEEN
did dams and aqueducts, and passes
under the canal Near Clear Spring
there is a section where the banks
of the mountainous pass were so
narrow that it was less work to
make long fill in the river bed to
form the river side of the canal and
the tow-path. At this place when
the filling was begun, the water was
twenty feet deep.
At Big Pool the canal was con-
structed through swampy area, and
when the canal was filled, water
filled great area outside the canal
too, and formed the beautiful lake,
Big Pool To avoid the added work
and time of draining the top of the
Pool and refilling it when it became
necessary to do anything on that
part of the canal, gates were con-
structed above and below this sec
ton. The Pool has become well
stocked with fish, and is a favorite
spot for sportsmen and wild water
fowl A little farther up is the
Little Pool, made when the tow
path was run by fills to an island
in the River.
Near this place there was found
an abundant supply of rock that
made excellent cement, and a ce-
ment mill was set up between the
towpath and the River. Cement
from this mill was used for the great
part of the construction from Dam
No. 6 to Cumberland Cement up
to this point had come mostly from
a mill at Shepherdstown, and fav-
orable comment was made about
this cement after fifty years, that
the work where it was used was
still solid And now today another
fifty years still leaves the masonry
about the same The mill put up
near Big Pool stayed in the business
after the canal did not need cement
and was known as the Round Top
Cement. II
With the advent of steam machin-
cry for use in boats, several attempts
were made to use steam power to
replace the Flooding tow path mule.
Several steam barges were made in
the Mitchell boat yards at Hancock,
made to haul cargo and pull an
other loaded boat, but it is not re-
corded that these boats ever made
a single trip. At least steam was
not successfully used on the canal.
There is one fact that seems to
be little known about the part the
canal played in the Civil War. Early
in the war the Confederates sue
ceeded in burning the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad bridge at Harper's
Ferry. Coal for the Union forces,
including the Navy Yard and all of
Washington, had been coming by
both the canal and the railroad. So
with the railroad cut off, the Union
forces depended entirely upon the
canal. Throughout the rest of the
war the canal was patrolled by Fed
eral Troops. The Confederates made
several prolonged attempts to des-
troy the canal, with Stonewall Jack
sons troops trying for several weeks
to break the masonry of Dam No. S.
But Mr.. Stonewall found the canals
stone wall almost indestructible, and
succeeded in only loosening a small
part of the cribbing. A little later
a freshet made a break in the dam,
but this was repaired and the canal
served the Union forces with the
vitality needed fuel throughout the
war;
Next week / will give you the
final chapter regarding the history
of this famous canal