Although both had ground breaking ceremonies on the same day - July 4, 1828 - (B&O in Baltimore, C&O in Washington DC), the canal only reached Cumberland, MD and stopped because the train line progressed further and was more profitable.
The image, from the 1850s, at Point of Rocks, shows the rails on left, the canal, and the towpath on right.
"The mercantile classes of Baltimore are considered enterprising and
intelligent. Great public works are at present in progress. The Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal, a stupendous work, will connect Baltimore with a population of
nearly 200,000 persons, the cultivators of above one hundred millions of acres
of land, much of which is of the most productive soil in the world. The railway
from Baltimore to the Ohio, part of which I saw, and to which the state
liberally contributes, is another magnificent undertaking; it is three hundred
miles long, and the estimated expense five millions of dollars. The Baltimore
clippers, a very fast sailing description of vessels, are well known. At
Baltimore, the privateers, which so much annoyed our shipping during the war,
were built; and here, it is said, the South Americans and West Indians procure
their piratical schooners, which sail like the wind.
The passage-money from Philadelphia to Baltimore is four dollars and a
half. The first part of the voyage, forty miles, is performed by the steam-boat
from Philadelphia in three hours,—from six to nine o'clock. The road crossing
the state of Delaware, though only sixteen, miles, occupied us three
hours,—till twelve; and the remainder of the way, seventy five miles, was
performed by the Independence steam-boat in five hours and eighteen minutes. …
The last part of our voyage was performed in the Independence, one of the
finest steam-boats in the United States, of 360 tons, and 100 horse power. She
performed her distance of seventy-five miles, in five hours and eighteen
minutes. I have never seen machinery better kept, or better arranged. The crew
consisted of twenty five persons; and were all men of colour, excepting the
captain, engineer, and fireman. The cost of the vessel was 75,000 dollars. She
belongs to a company at Baltimore, who have already made above a million of
dollars by steam navigation.
The bay and harbour of Baltimore, and the town itself, are all
handsome. In point of population the town now exceeds every other city in the
United States, excepting New.York and Philadelphia, being rated at nearly
80,000 persons. It was only a village of 8000 inhabitants at the end of the
rcvolutionary war.
The position of Baltimore on the Patapsco river, with the Potomac river
on the one side, and the Susquehannah on the other, is nearer the centre of the
United States than any of the other great cities, and is in many respects
admirably chosen. There are very handsome rising grounds behind the town.
The
great hotel, called the City Hotel, [Barnum's City Hotel was on Monument Square] has been lately erected, and contains
accommodation for about 250 people. It was well filled when I was at Baltimore.
The party at dinner was very large; Mr. Barnum, the landlord, a very portly
figure, sitting at the top of his table, and doing the honours in the same
manner that a private gentleman would do in his own house in Britain. It would
be considered quite as rude to make any appeal to him as to any private
individual, if the dinner was not reckoned good by any of the party. The
barkeeper, or the waiters, are the only persons to whom any fault could be
mentioned. The bed chambers in this hotel are always locked, unless when those
who inhabit them are within, and the keys numbered, are hung up in the bar-room
under the charge of the bar-keeper. The waiters are very numerous, and are
almost all persons of colour or Irish. The arrangements of the house,
considering its great size, appear to me very good; but the frequent use of
tobacco renders it impossible to keep a house of public entertainment so clean
as it should be."
Stuart, James. Three Years in North America, v.1
NY: 1833
©2018 Patricia Bixler Reber
Forgotten history of Ellicott City & Howard County MD
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