Editing Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (section)

==Tolls and revenue==
[[Image:Waybill register for C and O Canal 1858.jpg|thumb|Register of waybills in the Cumberland Office, in 1858. Each canal boat had to have a waybill, even if empty, for passage through the canal. Fines were levied for lack of a waybill.]]
Tolls were charged for cargo on the canal. In 1851, for instance, the toll rates on the Canal were set as follows:<ref>[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 457.</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Item||Per ton per mile, <br>For first 20 miles||Per ton per mile <br>thereafter
|-
|Coal
|{{frac|1|4}} cent
|{{frac|1|4}} cent
|-
|Slaughtered hogs, bacon & meat
|2 cents
|1 cent
|-
|Whiskey and spirits, fish fresh & salted
|2 cents
|1 cent
|-
|Salt
|1 cent 
|{{frac|3|4}} cent 
|-
|Fire brick
|1 cent
|{{frac|1|2}} cent
|-
|Bricks, ice
|1 cent
|{{frac|1|4}} cent
|-
|Sand, gravel, clay, earth, paving stones
|{{frac|1|4}} cent
|{{frac|1|4}} cent
|}

Tolls varied greatly, and frequently the board adopted new toll rates.

Some boatmen would try to ship in the boats extra cargo not listed on the waybills to avoid tolls. In 1873, for instance, one boat got from Georgetown to [[Harpers Ferry]] with 225 hidden sacks of salt before the company found out.<ref>[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 814</ref>

[[Image:Notes from the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company.jpg|thumb|5 and 10 dollar notes, from C&O Canal company]]
The items transported on the canal varied. In 1845, for instance, before the canal's completion, the shipments were as follows:<ref>[[#Unrau|Unrau]], p.446-447</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Item sent downstream||Quantity||Items sent upstream||Quantity
|-
|Flour
|170,464 barrels
|Salted Fish
|4,569 barrels
|-
|Wheat
|299,607 bushels
|Salt
|1,265 tons
|-
|Corn
|126,799 bushels
|Plaster
|4,721 tons
|-
|Oats
|35,464 bushels
|Lumber
|820,000 feet, board measure
|-
|Mill Offal
|38,575 bushels
|Potatoes
|2,511 bushels
|-
|Corn Meal
|16,327 bushels
|Bricks
|118,225 units
|-
|Pork
|15,250 pounds
|Wheat
|1,708 bushels
|-
|Lumber
|508,083 feet, board measure
|Oysters
|1,351 bushels
|-
|Stone
|12,060 perches
|}

===Business after 1891===
[[file:Cumberland_MD_C%26O_Canal-coal_loading.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Loading coal on canal boats in Cumberland.]]
After 1891, the canal principally transported coal, and sometimes West Virginia limestone, wood, lumber, sand, and flour. (Statistics were only kept for coal.)<ref name="Unrau P. 498">[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 498</ref> Coal was loaded in the Cumberland basin, which consisted of dumping four carloads of coal into the boat. Some of the coal had to be shoveled by hand into the spaces beneath the cabins. During the loading process, nobody would be on the boat due to the dust, and mules were kept off, in case the boat sank from being loaded. Despite closing windows, dust usually entered the cabins. After loading, the ridge poles would be put, then the hatches over the ridge poles and openings. The crew would scrub down the boat (using water from the canal) to remove the dust, and the boat would be poled to the other side of the basin, where it would be hitched to the mules.<ref>[[#hahn-boatmen|Hahn, Boatmen]], p. 15-17</ref>

Boatmen came down to lock 5, called "Willard's lock" or "Waybill Lock", whereupon the lock tender would sign the waybill, and report it to the office. If they did not get orders at that lock, they waited near the aqueduct bridge in Georgetown, until orders came through. A tugboat on the river would pull the boats to other points, e.g. Navy Yard, [[Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center|Indian Head]] and Alexandria.<ref>[[#Kytle|Kytle]], p. 154-155</ref> Some coal loads were unloaded directly in the Georgetown coal yards, using buckets. Coal was also unloaded onto ocean sailing vessels bound for Massachusetts (which brought ice, and returned with coal), a 4 masted vessel holding about 20 boatloads of coal.<ref>[[#hahn-boatmen|Hahn, Boatmen]] p. 42</ref>

In the last few years, the tonnage and tolls for coal were as follows<ref name="Unrau P. 498"/>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year||Coal Tonnage (tons)||Tolls collected (US$)
|-
|1914
|align="right"|171,062
|align="right"|42,236.97
|-
|1915
|align="right"|173,997
|align="right"|41,271.46
|-
|1916
|align="right"|158,036
|align="right"|38,956.77
|-
|1917
|align="right"|151,667
|align="right"|40,545.74
|-
|1918
|align="right"|138,087
|align="right"|71,404.43
|-
|1919
|align="right"|133,529
|align="right"|47,346.95
|-
|1920
|align="right"|127,871
|align="right"|62,102.38
|-
|1921
|align="right"|66,477
|align="right"|42,017.33
|-
|1922
|align="right"|Unavailable
|align="right"|3,435.18
|-
|1923
|align="right"|56,404
|align="right"|31,899.32
|-
|1924
|align="right"|Unavailable
|align="right"|1,215.60
|}

One of the more unusual loads was a [[circus]] with about 9 people with their equipment, which included a [[American black bear|black bear]]. They were transported from [[Oldtown, Maryland]] to Harpers Ferry. The black bear got loose on the journey, and the boatman told them, "You tie that thing good or you're never going to get to Harpers Ferry, for I'm going to leave the boat."<ref name="boatmen49">[[#hahn-boatmen|Hahn, Boatmen]] p. 49</ref>

Other loads included furniture (often second hand), pianos, a parlor suites, watermelons, fish (such as shad and herring), as well as transporting items such as flour or molasses to sell to lockkeepers,<ref name="boatmen49" /> as some of the lockkeepers in remote areas needed the boats to bring their supplies.<ref>[[#hahn-boatmen|Hahn, Boatmen]] p. 48</ref> Cement from the Round Top Mill above Hancock was also shipped to Georgetown. Some would pole across the river at Dam No. 2 to get wood, cross-ties, bark (used in tanning), and sometimes grain. Other loads, often carried upstream, included 600 empty barrels in a boat, taken to Shepherdstown to load cement, lumber, fertilizer, and general merchandise for stores along the canal, as well as oysters in barrels, complete materials to build a house, ear corn, and even extra mules.<ref>[[#hahn-boatmen|Hahn, Boatmen]] p. 47</ref>

===Fines===
The company levied fines for infractions, such as traveling without a waybill or destruction of canal property such as lock gates or canal masonry. For instance:<ref>[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 848</ref>

* May 30, 1877, Capt. Thomas Fisher fined $10 (about US$423 in 2012) for passing through lock without waybill
* Oct 22, 1877, R. Cropley's scow, fined $25 for knocking out gate in Lock No. 5 [Brookmont Lock]
* Nov. 12, 1877, Capt. Joseph Little, fined $10 for running into crib at Lock No. 9 [Seven Locks]
* July 4, 1878, Boat John Sherman, fined $62.70 for unloading and raising (note: this was on Independence Day)
* Aug 30, 1878, Steamer Scrivenes, fined $50, Allowing the ''Bertha M. Young'' in tow to sink on Level 36 and abandoning her at night without giving notice, causing navigation to be suspended 36 hrs.
* May 5, 1879, Capt. Jacob Hooker fined $40, Running into and breaking gate at Lock No. 40
* Jan 14, 1880, Boat Harry & Ralph, fined $5, Running into gate at Darbey's Lock (Note: this was in winter, when the canal was usually drained for repairs.)
* Jun 12, 1880, G.L. Booth, fined $4.40, for pumping.

===Business after 1924===
The last known boat to carry coal was Pat Boyer's Boat #5, which returned to Cumberland on November 27, 1923. The only boats recorded to operate in 1924 were five boats that carried sand from Georgetown to Williamsport to construct a power plant.<ref name="Hahn p. 79"/>

====Flood of 1924====
The flood of 1924 caused major damage to the canal. Most of the railroad and canal bridges near Hancock were destroyed, a breach opened in Dam No. 1, and much damage to the banks and masonry of the canal occurred. Although the railroad did some maintenance, ostensibly so that the canal could quickly be restored to operation, mainly the Georgetown level (Dam No. 1 and below) was fixed to supply Georgetown's mills with water for operation.<ref>[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 318</ref> The rest of the canal remained in disrepair.

The boating season lasted only three months in 1924,<ref name="Hahn p. 79">[[#hahn-boatmen|Hahn, Boatmen]] p. 79</ref> and after the flood, navigation ceased. Unfortunately, some communities such as Glen Echo and Cumberland already used the canal to dump sewage, and G.L. Nicholson called the canal a "public nuisance" due to the sewage and being a breeding ground for mosquitoes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/choh/trouble.pdf|title=We are Again in the Midst of Trouble: Flooding on the Potomac River and the Struggle for the Sustainability of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 1828-1996|author=Donald R. Shaffer|publisher=[US Department of the Interior, National Park Service]|access-date=2013-05-23|archive-date=2012-11-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113144619/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/choh/trouble.pdf|url-status=live}} p. 64</ref>

In 1928–1929, there was some talk of restoring and reopening the canal from Cumberland to Williamsport, but with the onset of the Great Depression, the plans were never realized.<ref>[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 499</ref> In April 1929 after some [[freshet]] damage, the railroad repaired a break in the towpath, so that they could continue to flush out mosquitoes as demanded by the Maryland board of health.<ref>Shaffer, p. 62</ref>

The boatmen, now unemployed, went to work for railroads, quarries, farms, and some retired. At that date, the only other canal using mules, was the [[Lehigh Canal]], which was soon to close in 1940.<ref>[[#hahn-boatmen|Hahn, Boatmen]] p. 79.</ref>

Some of the lockkeepers stayed on, and there were a few canal superintendents were listed for the now disused canal.

====Flood of 1936====
[[image:Lock_6_Flood_of_1934_on_Chesapeake_and_Ohio_Canal.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Floodwaters around Lock 6 in 1936]]
This winter flood in March 1936 caused even more damage to the abandoned canal, still recovering from the damage caused by the extreme floods just over a decade prior. This flood, caused by the thawing of earlier ice, combined with the flow of heavy rains, led to the highest water mark the Potomac River had ever had thus far, destroying lockhouses, levels, and other structures. There were some efforts at restoration, mainly to the Georgetown level so that the factories could have their water supply.<ref>[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 321</ref> Due to the inattention of the B&O Railroad, the canal became a "magnificent wreck" and would need intense repairs and reconstruction throughout many areas destroyed by the floods.<ref>Shaffer p. 65</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Floods on Potomac|url=http://www.glenallenweather.com/upload/Floods/Floods%20on%20Potomac%20Flood%20Marker.pdf|access-date=28 March 2014|archive-date=31 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331112808/http://www.glenallenweather.com/upload/Floods/Floods%20on%20Potomac%20Flood%20Marker.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===National Historical Park===
{{Main|Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park}}
[[File:C&amp;O Canal in Georgetown in Spring 2019.jpg|thumb|The canal in Georgetown in spring 2019]]

In 1938, the abandoned canal was obtained from the bondholders by the United States in exchange for a loan from the federal [[Reconstruction Finance Corporation]], and is now the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.