Editing Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (section)

====Groundbreaking====
The C&O's first chief engineer was [[Benjamin Wright (civil engineer)|Benjamin Wright]], formerly chief engineer of the [[Erie Canal]]. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on July 4, 1828, attended by U.S. president [[John Quincy Adams]]. The ceremony was held near [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]], at the canal's eventual {{convert|5.64|mi}} mark near Lock 6, the upstream end of the Little Falls skirting canal, and Dam No. 1.<ref>[[#hahn-towpath|Hahn, ''Towpath Guide'']] p. 27</ref><ref>On the same day, the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]] set its "First Stone" with the aging, sole surviving Signer of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], [[Charles Carroll of Carrollton]].</ref>

[[File:Boats_on_Canal.jpg|thumb|Canal boats waiting to be unloaded in Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)]]
At the groundbreaking, there was still argument over the eastern end of the canal. The directors thought that Little Falls (at the downstream end of the Patowmack Little Falls Skirting Canal) was sufficient since that literally fulfilled the charter's condition of reaching the tidewater, but people in Washington wanted it to end in Washington, connecting to the Tiber Creek and Anacostia river.<ref>[[#Kytle|Kytle]] p. 27</ref> For that reason, the canal originally opened from Little Falls to Seneca, and the next year, was extended down to Georgetown.

The Little Falls skirting canal, which was part of the Patowmack Canal, was dredged to increase its depth from {{convert|4|to|6|ft}}, and became part of the C&O Canal.

The first president of the canal, [[Charles F. Mercer]], insisted on perfection since this was a work of national importance. This would cost the company more money to build the canal. During his term, he forbade the use of slackwaters for navigation, the use of composite locks (see section below), or reduction of the cross section of the canal prism in difficult terrain. This reduced maintenance expenditures but increased construction costs.<ref>[[#Unrau|Unrau]] p. 25</ref> In the end, two slackwaters (Big Slackwater above Dam No. 4, and Little Slackwater above Dam No. 5) and multiple composite locks (Locks 58–71) were built.

At first, the canal company planned to use steamboats in the slackwaters, since without mules, the canal boats had to use oars to move upstream. After much discussion of the dangers of early steamboats, the company provided a towpath so that the mules could pull the boats through the slackwaters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/choh/canal_prism_hsr.pdf|title=Historical Structure Report, The Canal Prism, Including Towpath with Canal Berm and River Revetments Historical Data|author=Unrau, Harland D.|publisher=[US Department of the Interior, National Park Service]|access-date=2013-08-02|archive-date=2017-02-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225130018/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/choh/canal_prism_hsr.pdf|url-status=live}} p. 45</ref>