(Page 32) CHAPTER IV
History of The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
and Pumping
Station
As other towns boast of their highways, railways, and steam boat lines so Chesapeake City can truly boast of one of the very oldest waterways of America, and that is the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. It is almost as old as the famous Erie Canal and has played no less a part in Maryland's History than did the Erie Canal play for the State of New York.
Chesapeake City is located at the Maryland Lock, where the boats plying between Philadelphia and Baltimore are lowered into Maryland's great inland sea--the Chesapeake Bay. The history of Chesapeake City is interwoven with that of the canal. To omit the story of this waterway would but detract from the proper recording of the annals of the town.
In 1680 the construction of a canal to connect the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays was considered by the pioneers. The early settlers along these bays and inlets felt the want of a better method of transportation than they had had prior to this time. The canal was not started at the time mentioned, but the idea was never abandoned. (Page 33) Later the Revolutionary War began and so the plans were again laid aside before anything could be done.
In 1799 Maryland took a more definite stand on the subject of building the canal. In the charter of Maryland there was a provision that the project was to be of no force until a law was passed by the State of Delaware authorizing the cutting of the canal through that state and until a law was passed by the State of Pennsylvania declaring the Susquehanna River to be free to all traffic.
In 1801 Benjamin H. Latrobe, Cornelius Howard, and John Thompson surveyed different routes for the proposed canal. The directors of the company first decided to build it between Welsh Point and Elk River. It was the intention of the engineers that located the canal in this place to supply the water necessary for the purpose of navigating it from Elk River. This was to flow into a vast reservoir. Later it was decided to build the canal from the head of Back Creek to the Delaware River a distance of thirteen and five-eights miles. The first locks were to be located where Chesapeake City, Maryland is now situated; the second to be at St. Georges, Delaware, and the third at Delaware City, Delaware. The Delaware River would thus furnish water for the Delaware City Locks, (Page 34) and Back Creek for the Chesapeake City and St. Georges' Locks.
When the work on the canal was commenced at Summit Bridge the people were very much animated over this great undertaking. Tradition is that most of the work was done with pick and shovel and the dirt carried away by horses and carts and wheel-barrows. The work was very hard and slow and uninteresting to the laborers. The starting of the canal was the beginning of Chesapeake City. Almost all of the people of this small town were employed in doing some kind of work on or for the new waterway.
The laborers employed were mostly Irishmen and Negroes. These became involved in a riot while the work was going on. This riot was at Gilpin Bridge where there was a race track. It was supposed that all that were in the riot were intoxicated. The gambling consisted of a stake driven in the ground in the center of a circular hollow place. A cent was placed on top of the stake and those who played were given a club. They were required to stand a certain distance from the stake, and if they could throw the club and knock the cent off so it would fall outside of the ring the player won, if it did not, he lost and had to pay a cent to the owner of the pit. A quarrel arose between a Negro and an Irishman and ended in a fight. Many other Negroes were in the fight before it was over. This riot like all others was easier started than stopped.
(Page 35)Mr. Randel recommended the cutting of the canal so deep that the water of the Delaware River could be used as a tide lock. He intended the Atlantic Ocean as a reservoir but his plan was not used. If this plan had been used the great expense of the Pumping Station, which now has to supply the canal with water from Back Creek, would have been saved, the better plan that of lock and dam was used.
The contract that was made by Mr. Randel gave him until May 1828 to finish it. The reason being unknown the company took the contract from him in 1825 and gave it to some other person. Randel then sued the company for two hundred and twenty-six thousand dollars and won the case. This suit was the most noted case that ever was tried in the State of Delaware. Randel became the owner of the"Randalia" which is a large tract of land on Bohemia Manor near the mouth of Back Creek.
When the canal was nearly finished large sections of the embankment along the sides are said to have sunk as much as a hundred feet below the adjoining surface, which subsidence caused the bottom of the canal to rise as much as forty feet above its natural position. The earth taken out of the Deep Cut, which at the summit is seventy-six and one half feet deep, was deposited too (Page 36) near the channel of the canal and it is estimated that three hundred and seventy five thousand cubic yards slid back into the canal and had to be removed. This of course caused some delay in the completion of the waterway.
For many years mules were used for towing vessels that had not steam or motive power of their own. To do this a tow path was built which is a strip of land wide enough for a team to pass. This reaches from one end of the canal to the other. The mules were put in teams called double and single teams. A double team consisted of five mules used for towing heavy vessels and the single of four mules were used for lighter towing to make this tiresome journey.
It took much longer then than now. A double team would start in the morning with a heavy barge and would arrive late in the afternoon at Delaware City. The mules would follow one another. The traces would be stretched tightly and a tow line fastened to a single-tree this by a cable to the vessel. A saddle would be placed on the last mule and here is where the driver would sit. There would not be any lines, and if the mules would get too far to the right the driver would shout "petty whah" and if to the left, "gee." The (Page 37) residents were accustomed to the sight and the continual "gee Haw" as the driver cracked his whip, but to this the mules responded very slowly. The canal at that time was alive with traffic.
When landing at the Maryland Lock for ports along the Chesapeake Bay teams were released of their burden and a small tug boat awaited the craft's passage through the lock to draw it to some inland port. When the barge was ready the tug boat would go off puffing and fussing. These were the days before gasoline or naphtha launches. All sizes of sailing vessels would go through these locks. The sails would be all weather beaten and the crew would act as if they were very glad to get ashore again.
By the side of Maryland Lock today is a store owned by Joseph Schaefer and Sons. This building has been there since the early days of the canal. It was formerly a saloon. Barge men and boatmen often visited this bar, and this of course was the source of much trouble. One instance is related where a bargeman and a citizen of Chesapeake City, while in this saloon, began an argument over a mere trifle, such as the date of a terrible storm. This lead to a severe argument and the citizen threw a glass at the bargeman (Page 38) and the bargeman then threw a bottle at him and threatened his life. The bailiff was called and peace restored. This is just one instance of the many, which happened in those times.
The Summit Bridge across the Deep Cut is ninety feet above the canal and is two hundred and forty-seven feet long. One of the large stone pillars of this bridge contains the following:
"This Tablet is erected by proprietors of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal to commemorate its completion on the 17th of Oct. 1829: And to stand as a testimonial of their gratitude to James C. Fisher, President and Thomas P. Coke, John K. Kane, Robert M. Lewis, Isaac C. Jones, Robert Wharton, Thomas Fassitt, John Hemphill, Ambrose White and William Platt, Directors of the Company. Secretary and Treasurer, Henry D. Gilkin, Engineer in Chief, Benjamin Wright, Engineer resident, Daniel Livemore, Superintendent Caleb Newbold, Jr.
The construction of this canal was begun on the 15th of April 1824 by Silas E. Wier the chairman of the first committee of work the loss of whose zealous and efficient services to the company terminated with his life on the 14th of May 1828. He was succeeded by Robert M. Lewis under whose active supervision the work was continued and (Page 39) finished. In its progress through the Eastern level large sections of the embankment sunk one hundred feet below the adjoining surface and the bottom of the excavation rose forty feet above its neutral position. On the Deep Cut more than 375,000 cubic yards of earth slipped from the regulated slopes of the sides and passed into the chambers of the canal. These and many other difficulties having been overcome the water was introduced on the 4th of July 1829 and the final accomplishment of this great national work was celebrated on the 17th of Oct. of the same year in which the navigation was opened.
Length of canal 13 5/8 miles.
Width at water line 66 feet.
Depth 10 feet.
Width at bottom 36 feet.
Depth of excavation at Summit Bridge 76 1/2 feet.
Extreme width of section at surface 366 feet.
Excavation from Deep Cut 3,500,000 cubic yards.
Length of locks 220 feet.
Width of locks 24 feet.
Length of Summit Bridge 247 feet.
Height above bottom of canal 90 feet.
Total cost $2,250,000 of which $450,000 was paid by the United States, $100,000 by the State of Pennsylvania, (Page 40) $50,000 by the state of Maryland, $25,000 by the State of Delaware and the residue by the citizens of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.
The Pumping Station
The Pumping Station was built in 1802, under the supervision of Benjamin H. Latrobe. One hundred thousand dollars was expended upon the Feeder and Pumping Station. Mr. Randel was appointed the first civil engineer.
The work upon the Station was done in a superior manner. It is said that when a man by the name of Lord was constructing a factory and needed stone he ordered his workmen to take down one of the old arches that had been built for the Station. After many fruitless efforts it was decided it would be easier and cheaper to quarry the stone they needed, this shows the excellent nature of the work that was done.
Penciled note on side of page #40 pertaiing to the above paragraphs: "These statements are incorrect in that they refer to the original idea of a feeder and reservoir and not to the pumping station."
One night in the year of 1882 the people of the town were awakened by the cry of fire. To their dismay they found it to be the Pumping Station that was burning. Everything was destroyed, but the building of a new Station was started at once. On being rebuilt a couple of beam engines operated by two steam boilers were placed in this station. The second largest wheel in the world (Page 41) at that time was placed there too in the same year. The diameter of this wheel is forty feet, and the wheel is seven feet wide. It has twelve buckets and can raise two million two hundred and fifty thousand gallons of water in an hour. It raises the water fourteen feet above the level of Back Creek.
On the seventeenth of December 1900 this station was burned again. Everything was destroyed except the wheel and wheel house.
At the present time this wheel is the largest in the world and still furnishes water for the canal. (Page 42)
s/Helen G. Loveless
CHAPTER V BEGINS ON PAGE 42
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