Editing Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (section)

===Slackwater navigation===
[[Image:Boat at Big slackwater in C and O Canal.jpg|150px|thumb|Boat at Big Slackwater]]
Despite Charles F. Mercer, two slackwaters were used for navigation: Big Slackwater at Dam No. 4, and Little Slackwater at Dam No. 5. Big Slackwater is about {{convert|3|mi|0}} long, Little Slackwater is about {{convert|1/2|mi|m}} long. The boats had to navigate despite winds, currents, and debris in the channel. In February 1837, the board of directors discussed using steam power in the slackwater for the boats, but instead decided on a permanent towpath.<ref>[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 343</ref> The towpath for Big Slackwater was completed in 1838 for $31,416.36, and the towpath for Little Slackwater was completed in 1839 for $8,204.40.<ref>[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 251-252</ref>

Little Slackwater was a tricky place to navigate. Not only did it have a lot of hairpin turns, but also just before Guard Lock No. 5, there was a strip of land in the water called "the pier" (that exists even today): loaded boats going downstream would have to go outside the pier, and unloaded boats on the inside, thus making steering difficult for the loaded boats to get into the lock. If the current was fast in the river it could go as fast as the boat, rendering the tiller useless, and thus, a boat could be almost impossible to steer.<ref>[[#Kytle|Kytle]] p. 145-146</ref> One man reported that at the slackwater, they had him sit at the front of the boat with a [[hatchet]] in case they had to cut the towline [since it would pull the mules into the river], and had a couple of [wooden] hatches turned upside down, so that they could escape to shore on the hatches.<ref>[[#hahn-boatmen|Hahn, Boatmen]] p. 70</ref> On 1 May 1903, the towline to Boat No. 6 broke, with Captain Keim, Mrs. Keim, their two daughters, and Harry Newkirk aboard. One daughter drowned, another suffered a broken leg, and the captain died later of injuries. The rest (including the mules aboard) survived.<ref>[[#hahn-boatmen|Hahn, Boatmen]] p. 69</ref>

Boatmen reported that it was easier to navigate in the slackwaters than the aqueducts, since there was room for the water to move around the boat. Places like aqueducts, where there was little room for the water to move, were difficult for the mules to pull the boat through.<ref>[[#Kytle|Kytle]], p.66</ref>