Editing Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (section)

===Intervening years===
The canal deteriorated during the Civil War. In 1869, the company's annual report said, "During the last ten years little or nothing had been done toward repairing and improving lock-houses, culverts, aqueducts, locks, lock-gates and [[waste weir]]s of the Company; many of them had become entirely unfit for use and were becoming worthless, rendering it absolutely essential to the requirements of the Company to have them repaired."<ref>41st annual report of the C&O Canal Company (1869), p. 4-5</ref> Still, some improvements were made in the late 1860s, such as replacing Dams No. 4 and 5.<ref>[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 476</ref>

The early 1870s, which Unrau calls the "Golden Years", were particularly profitable. The company repaid some of its bonds. It made many improvements to the canal, including the installation of a telephone system. Yet there were still floods and other problems. By 1872, so many vessels were unfit for navigation that the company required boats to undergo annual inspections and registration. In July 1876, the crew of the ''Lezan Ragan'' stayed afloat while loading in Cumberland only by her crew's pumping. She hit some abutments of the locks near Great Falls, and finally sank at the opening Lock 15 (at the head of Widewater).<ref name="Unrau p. 813">[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 813</ref>

For a brief period in the 1860s and 1870s, the company attempted to prevent boating on Sundays. But boatmen broke padlocks on the lock gates and turned to violence when confronted. The company gave up trying to enforce the rule.<ref name="Unrau p. 813"/>

The trip from Cumberland to Georgetown generally took about seven days.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/choh/faqs.htm |title=Frequently Asked Questions - Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |publisher=Nps.gov |date=2016-03-16 |access-date=2016-08-11 |archive-date=2021-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210324224459/https://www.nps.gov/choh/faqs.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The fastest known time from Georgetown to Cumberland for a light boat was 62 hours, set by Raleigh Bender from Sharpsburg. Dent Shupp made it from Cumberland to Williamsport in 35 hours with 128 tons of coal.<ref name="Unrau p. 811">[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 811</ref>