OB

BSERVING the languorous inactivity of the old canal which enters Georgetown from Cumberland, few of the present generation realize, when they stroll along the towpath, throw the tackle into its placid waters or skim over its surface in flat-bottomed pleasure craft, the part the Chesapeake & Ohio waterway was believed to be destined to play in American internal commerce. There are those living today who recall the halcyon days when the canal was a busy thread of water paralleling the Potomac for some 187 miles, bearing hundreds of pug-nosed barges stuffed with coal, destined for shipment from Georgetown, when that city was something of a port, to all parts of the civilized world.

But with all its greatness the canal probably never quite came up to the expectations of those who gathered on the banks of the river west of Georgetown on a sunny afternoon on the Fourth of July, 1828, to witness the breaking of ground for the

waterway.

event.

Thousands formed the con

course. It was a great local and national Internal improvement was one of the editorial demands of the day. Enterprising merchants and shippers wanted

open navigation from the Chesapeake to the lakes and the waters of the Mississippi. The country was not then covered with a network of railroads, and internal waterway traffic was the up-to-date method of transportation. On this very same day, however, while the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Inauguration ceremonies were held in Washington, the corner-stone of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was being laid with great pomp and ceremony in Baltimore, but forty miles away, and the first competition in traffic in the world of Rail vs. Water was established in the very beginning. Consequently a waterway which would tap the coal field of the upper Potomac and con

nect with lines of traffic from the Northwest, apparently meant much for the country, and driving the first spade in connection with the work of construction was an event fraught with more than ordinary importance in the minds of national officials and legislators.

President John Quincy Adams handled the spade and inaugurated the work on the canal in the presence of a distinguished gathering. All the representatives of foreign governments then in the National

company began to assemble at Tilley's Hotel, Georgetown, and cordial greetings were exchanged. At 7.30 o'clock the President of the United States arrived, escorted by Captain Turner's and Captain Tyler's troops of cavalry, under the command of Major Stewart.

"Among the gentlemen composing the company were, besides the President of the United States, the Secretaries of the Treasury, War and Navy Departments, Mr. Rush, General Porter and Mr. Southard; the Postmaster General, Mr. McLean; Senators of the United States, Mr. J. S. Johnson and Mr. Boligny; and Mr. Washington, Representative in Congress; Mr. Vaughn, the minister of Great Britain to the United States; Baron Krudener, the minister of Russia; and Baron Maltitz, secretary of legation from the same power; the Chevalier Hugens, minister from the Netherlands; Baron Stackleberg, charge d'affaires from the King of Sweden; Mr. Lisboa, secretary of the legation from the Emperor of Brazil; Mr. Hersant, vice-consul general of France; comprising all the representatives of foreign powers at this moment in the city and able to attend. Among the other invited guests was the commander of the army, General Macomb, and General Stuart and Colonel Brooke, surviving officer of the Revolutionary army.

"About 8 o'clock the procession was formed on Bridge Street and moved to the excellent music of the full band of the Marine Corps to High Street wharf, where they embarked in perfect order, as previously arranged, and the boats immediately set forward amid the cheers of the crowds which lined the wharves.

"The steamboat Surprise, followed by two other steamboats and a line of barges, led the procession up the Potomac, coursing the wild margin of what was once the Virginia shore. Along the road on the Maryland shore crowds of moving spectators attended the voyage of the boats and met the procession on landing above the lower termination of the present canal.

"On leaving the River of Swans, as it has lately been surnamed, a march of a few hundred yards conducted the company, in the same order in which they embarked, to the canalboats prepared to receive them at the Upper Bridge, across the canal. Seated in these boats, gently gliding along the tranquil stream, the senses of the company were regaled by a scene at once novel

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and really enchanting. From the banks of this canal of more than forty years' antiquity there shot up along its entire course a variety of the most beautiful native trees. Beneath these trees, as far as the eye could penetrate on either side, were seen in bright luxuriance growing every species of plant and wild flower recorded in the Potomac herbal. They looked as if they had never known the footsteps of man.

"Noiseless, but in crowds, the people moved forward on the bank of the canal, keeping even pace with the long line of boats, while airs, now animated, now plaintive, from the Marine Band, placed in the forward boat, lightened the toil of the walk. As the boats neared the ground destined for the commencement of the canal, the procession discovered posted on the bank two companies of riflemen, commanded by Captain Thomas and Captain Haller, scarcely to be distinguished, in their uniform of green, from the trees in which they stood embowered, who paid to the President of the United States, both going and returning, the military honors due his station. The multitude now visibly increased. Thousands hung upon the overlooking hill to the north and many climbed the trees bordering the river and canal.

"On landing from the boats and reaching the ground, one or two hundred yards east of the present canal, the procession moved around it, so as to leave a hollow space, in the midst of a mass of people, in the center of which was the spot marked out by Judge Wright, the engineer of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Company, for the commencement of the work. A moment's pause here occurred, while the spade destined to commence the work was selected by the committee of arrangements, and the spot for breaking ground was precisely denoted.

"At that moment the sun shone out from behind a cloud, and amidst silence so intense as to chasten the animation of hope and to hallow the enthusiasm of joy, the mayor of Georgetown handed to General Mercer, the president of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Company, the consecrated instrument, which having received, he stepped forward from the resting column and addressed as follows the listening multitude:

"Fellow citizens: There are moments, in the progress of time, which are the counters of whole ages. There are events the monuments of which, surviving every