[C & O Canal at Georgetown]

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The C&O Canal at Georgetown was the eastern terminus of a waterway that ran roughly 184 miles up the Potomac River valley toward Cumberland, Maryland. Construction began in 1828, and by the time this picture was made around 1900, the canal was carrying coal and other freight on mule-drawn barges, though the railroads were already eating into its business. The canal boats seen here were the working vessels of that trade, flat-bottomed and narrow enough to pass through the locks, which were operated by lock keepers living in small stone houses along the towpath. The photograph is a useful record of a transportation route that was losing ground to the rail lines just as the twentieth century began.

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