Chesapeake and Delaware Canal with special reference to the water wheel at Chesapeake City.

.

{JjJh '//7/Z7

s of the Chesapeake & Del Sanal

Companj to its Stockholders.

First

Second
Third
th
Thirteenth

1803-1 304

1804-1806

luU5-loQ6

1823-18J

1831-1832

renty-si: ; 1844-1846

3?hirtie1 Ib4u-lb49

fourth Ib5:i-1653

rhii tjr- seventh 1855-18.56

The Chesapeake & Del c Canal in the Civil
by Major R. _.. Raymond.

Documents relative to Chesapeake ana Delaware Canal
Company and the conditional transfer of the stock hela therein
by the j. J. .ieraorial of the Che and Delaware Canal
Company presented to the Senate and House of Representatives.
6.

U. S. Congress. House of Representatives. Committee
on rivers and harbors. Chesapeake ana Del ware Canal. Wash-
ington, 1914.

U. 3. Congress. House of Representatives. Committee
on rivei, rbors, Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Wash-
ington, 19ld.

. ORD

The object of this paper is to present the facts
which are prominent and important in the history and devel-
opment of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, emphasizing
especially the ,;ater .Jheel at Chesapeake City. All pass-
ages are original unless otherwise indicated. The greater

part of the information was gathered from the annual re-
's

ports of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company to its
stockholders. Other information was taken from the Con-
gressional Hecoras. Dimensions and specifications were
taken directly from bibliographies.

INTHODUOTIOS

For many hundreds of years canals have played a
very important part in the progress of nations. At a very
early period the Egyptians, realizing the great advantages
resulting from canals, constructed several along the Ifile
and one from the i.lediterranean to the Red Sea, thru the Isth-
mus of Suez, which opened the oommeroe of India and other
maritime parts of Asia to Rurope. This indeed was the rea-
son for their great improvement in arts and power. From
this time on down thru the .ages we find canals paving the
way for internal improvements during times of peace and of-
fering means for quick concentration of troops daring time
of war. Hence we can see that ihe concention of the Chesa-
peake and Delaware Canal was nothing new, although at that
time the methods of construction were necessarily crude.

During the Revolutionary _ Bfar General Washington
often deplored the fact that there was no canal connecting
the Chesapeake with the Delaware. Most of the supplies
for his army were drawn from the Chesapeake and upwards of
400 wagons were required to transport them across the Isth-
mus. Such a large number of wagons was never available so
that he experienced considerable delay. Then in his move-
ment to the South, the baggage, stores, and heavy artillery
were transported by boats from Philadelphia to Christiana
Bridge; and more than 100 water crafts were required to do

^

this; yet his progress across the Isthmus was so slow that
he had considerable difficulty joining the Southern Array.

Realizing the tremendous advantages of such a
canal, both in time of peace and in time of war, it is no
wonder that the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal was conceived,
planned, and executed at such an early date as 1829.

-1-

SSAPEAKE AID DELA E G^IUL

.JlTH SPECIAL REPEHENCE TO THE h - (/HEEL AT CHESAPEAKE CITY

During the years 1799, 1601, and 1802, several
Acts were passed by the various legislatures of the States
of Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania incorporating a com-
pany for the purpose of forming a navigable canal over the
Isthmus which separates the Chesapeake and Delaware Pays.
In pursuance of these Acts various citizens of the United
States made subscriptions, after which a Board of President
and. Directors was dulj elected to plan and execute the afore-
mentioned canal.

The Board immediately met and appointed Mr. Benja-
min H, Latrobe, Mr. ^Cornelius Howard of Maryland, and Mr.
John Thompson of Pennsylvania, all engineers of good repute,
to examine sources of supply, situations on each bay, passes

ioh were usable and the nature of the country itself.
Prom this examination several important principles were es-
tablished. The canal would have to be one of practical

;er level with lockage at each end, as a tide water canal
would cost more than the company could ever hope to assemble,
and would be an unknown quantity as far as the action of the
two tioes was concerned. Methods of canal construction used
before and with success would be used in preference to dubi-
ous methods whieh would jeopardize the money of the stock-
holders. A copious supply of water could be obtained from
(/hit eel ay Creek and the Elk P.iver, and either could furnish

enough, water for extensive navigation on the canal with the
advantage of using the other whenever it should be needed.
After a minute survey, the Board finally decided
t fix the "route of the canal from delch Point on Elk River
to Christiana Creek, near ilendenhall' s Landing, a distance
of twenty-t'.'.'Q miles. At low tide the depth of water in
Christiana Creek is nine feet, and in Elk .-.iver is twelve
feet within one hundred feet from the shore. The tide ri-
ses four feet in both rivers. The highest intervening
ground over which the canal will be executed extends for a
distance of thirteen miles and is seventy-four feet above
tide water. The descent is to be affected by nine looks on
each side. The supply of w.iter is to be drawn from Elk
River by a feeder six miles in length, three and one-half
feet deep, ana sufficiently wide to serve as a boat canal.
The feeder will be united to the main canal by a lock of a
ten foot lift, which will fill one hundred forty-four locks
daily. This will enable the passage of twenty-four vessels
daily. k reservoir of thirty acres, which may be increased

jne hundred and fifty acres, ill supply occasional defi-
ciencies. A supplj of water may be also taken from Christi-
ana and Whiteclay Creeks in case the increased navigation
demands such. The canul will be eight feet deep, twenty-
six feet wide at "ho bottom, and fifty feet wide at the top,
on the water line. It will accommodate vessels of forty to
seve-it;, tons d: : seven and one-half feet of water. Ihe
siae of the banks, which on the one side are three feet

-o-

above the water level and extend twenty, feet to the side
for conversion into a turnpike, and on the other e are
. 1 r ;e enough to accommodate a towpath, will permit a depth
of v/ater of nine feet in the canal provided the gates are
increased in height -by one foot. The looks, eighty feet
long, eighteen feet wide; and eight or nine feet deep over
the gate sills, containing each eleven thousand five hun-
dred or thirteen thousand cubic feet of water, and with a
lift of -eight or nine feet each, will be constructed of
hewn atone laid in tarras.

As the waters of Whiteolay Creek and Elk River
had to be resorted to for the supply of v/ater, it was de-
cided that the most economical way to begin the construc-
tion would be b,y C'„. demoting the feeders from their source
to the reservoir so that water could be let into -11 parts
of the canal as suon as it was completed, and so that
stone, lime, and other materials needed in the work could
be transported over the feeders at a minimum cost. To
this end the Board purchased water- rights on the Elk River
and necessary land for the feeders. On the second of Hay
the first sod of the feeder of the canal was broken at Elk
Forge and work began on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal,

?or the first ye^r the work progressed as rapidly
as Qould te expected. It was necessary of coarse to hire
men, get together tools and equipment, build construction
cabins, and in other v:ays prepare for such a big undertak-
ing . This was all -aid a reasonably good working sys-

-4-

tem established, and approximately three lailes of the pros-
pective five-mile feeder were completed and ready for navi-
ion. This was quite 3 creditable showing aa much of the
excavating had to be done where there were many large sized
roc, .

The following year marked the beginning of real
difficulties for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company.
The subscribers who had at first taken such a lively inter-
est in the undertaking began to wonder if, after all, their
investment had been a wise one. Other investments were en-
ticing and offered quicker remuneration. It 7/0 uld be sev-
eral years at least before the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
Company could pay dividends, and so it became harder and
harder to collect the subscriptions, until, the company was
finally compelled to go to lav;. After several suits were
brought, practically all delinquent subscribers in Pennsyl-
vania and Maryland settled up, Lut in Delaware; the state
that was most vitally affected, the majority did not pay
up. Owing to the lack of funds, the work was discontinued
until such a time as the subscribers should have paid
enough to resume the work.

During the winter of 1805-1806 applications were
made to Congress and to the respective legislatures of Penn-
sylvania and Maryland, impressing them with the national im-
portance of such . canal, but although they acknowledged
its worth, no definite steps were taken to aid the company
financially. On June 3, 1806, the time at which the Chesa-

_ ■". _

peake and Delaware Gan il Company made its annual report to
its stockholders, there still remained about a mile of the
feeder to be finished.

For several years it appeared that the Chesapeake
and Delaware Canal was a dead proposition, but on January
19, 1817 the directors of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
Company made application to Congress for a loan. If Con-
gress acted uj>on this, petition to the extent of subscribing
$150,000, then the State of Maryland would subscribe ^50,000,
the State of . Pennsylvania $75,000, and the State of Delaware
&20 , 000 .

Early in 18S2 the Ches ipeake and Delaware Canal
Company was reorganized. The Board immediately set out to
resurvey and check all the old surveys. To this end they
hired several competent engineers and began work. Outside
engineers were called in and consulted as to a proposed
new cut which was much shorter, and reduced the summit
level by several feet. The Examining Engineers assembled
and submitted the following report; "After a careful in-
vestigation of all the circumstances connected with the
important question of the most eligible route for a canal
across the Delaware Peninsula we unanimously recommend the
following— viz. Beginning on the Delaware River near rev-
bold' s Landing, where an artificial harbor and tide-look
must be provided, the oanal should be cut thru St. George's
Meadows to St. George's Dam, then to be lifted by a lock of

-6-

eight feet-- thence thru St. George* s 1,1111 Pond, thru the
dividing ridge of the Peninsula, and thru Turner' a Kill
Pond to a lock of a six foot fall at Turner's Mill Dam, and
thence along Broad and Back Creeks to a tide lock near the
mouth of Long Creek." This report was unanimously adopted
bj the directors. The Examining Engineers placed the cost
of construction at $1,364,364.64.

The new canal was to be sixty feet wide at the
water line, thirty-six feet wide at the bottom, eight feet
deep, leas than fourteen miles long, and lined with stone.
It had many advantages over the one proposed in 1804. It
was shorter, led into deeper water at its mouth, didn't
have aqueducts or tunnels, had fewer locks, hence fewer
attendants, and possessed the practicability of being con-
verted into a ship navigation canal should occasion demand.
The cost of the new one was .,;110,000 more than the old one.

Benjamin ./right, Esq. was chosen Engineer in
Chief and on April 15, 18£4 construction was begun by the
removal of the first sod near liewbold's Landing. The
Board and a large assemblage of people were present.

After six years of hard toil the canal was com-
pleted, and opened on the seventeenth day of October 1829.
It was thirteen and five-eights miles long, sixty-six feet
wide at the water line, thirty-six feet wide at the bottom,
and ten feet deep. The depth of the excavation at the sum-
mit was severity- six and one-half feet, the extreme width of

-7-

any section at the surface was three hundred sixty-six feet,
and the excavation from the deep cut was 3, 500,000 cubic
yards. The oanal was divided into seven sections. Section
number ne extended twenty-nine chains to section number
two v/riioh was thirty-two chains long. Section number three

s three and one-half miles long, extending from section
number tv:o to the village of St. George' a. At St. George's
a lock of an eight foot lift connected sections three and
four, the fourth section being the sumuit level. Section
number four e;-:t ended three and one-fourth miles from the
village of St. George's to section number five where the
deep cut began. The length of section five was three miles
^nd fifty- eight chains, and crossed the rid re which divides
the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. Sections six and seven
terminated the oanal. It the end of section seven was a
lock which communicated with Each Creek, a branch of Elk
Hiver. The locks were one hundred feet long and twenty-
two feet wide, there being two tide and two lift locks.
The length of Summit Bridge was two hundred forty-seven
feet, and its height above the bottom of the cmal, ninety
feet. The total cost of construction was $£, 250,000, of
which v 450,000 was paid by the United States, $100,000 by
the State of Pennsylvania, $50,000 by the State of Maryland,
Sl ^5,o00 by the State of Delaware, and the remainder by citi-
zens of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.

The canal continued to operate until the twenty-
ninth of January 1830, when it was closed because of an ice

-■:-

jam in the Delay/are River. On the twenty-third of February
the Delaware became navigable, and the canal was again
opened. Prom this time until the first of June, 1834, ves-
sels and boats passed, the tolls on these amounting to

J, 613. 20. This was indeed a very good beginning for the
Chesapeake and .Delaware Canal.

Each year the canal made money, but not enough
to pay dividends. On the seventeenth of June, 1846, "A
Bill Direoting the Conditional Transfer of the Stock Held
by the United States in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
Company to the Said Company" was reported in the House of
Representatives. The conditions were that no tolls should
be charged on United States boats,, and that locks one hun-
dred and fifty feet long, and twenty-eight geet wide, should
be constructed within five years. Heedless to say, the bill
did not pass.

The trade on the canal steadily increased until in
1853, it the end of the year, the company had a large enough
surplus on hand to pay dividends. In 1856 a Bond issue of
$2, 800, 000 provided for the construction of new locks and a
.. ping station.

The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal played a very
ortant part in the Civil War. When the Confederate

Troops '"ere

marching on the city of Washington and the Union

Troops were

over a hundred miles a- ith no apparent way

of reaching

there in time, it looked as though the Capital

was doomed.

All railroad bridges around Washington had been

-9-

burned so that it was practically impossible to get there
by land. But some one thought of the Chesapeake and Dela-
ware Canal. Using this canal, the Union troops arrived in

hington just as the Confederate troops reached the South
end of long Bridge.

As the steam railroads developed, the Chesapeake
and Delaware Canal began to decline. For several years
after 1900 the company made no profit at all.

The Agnus report of 1907 showed the cost of re-
production to be as follows:

Dry exoavat ion— 15,000,000 cu. yds. g la< ,400,000.00
Dredging, 1,455,760 cu. yds. i 14c ' £00,996.00

80,000 linear feet bank revetment 70,000.00

44,000 perches masonry £ $3 132,000.00

Look at Delaware City 120,000.00

Lock at St. George's 118, £20. 00

^ock at Chesapeake City 147,970.00

Average of land holdings, 8000 acres @ §50 400,000.00
Pumping plant at Chesapeake City 50,000.00

Auxiliary arrangements for summit level

supply 5,000.00

Bridges 31,000.00

Houses, Offices 30,000.00

Tools, Machinery 1,000.00

Telephone Line , £,000.00

Total $3,708,186.00

Finally in 1918, after much discussion pro and

-10-

con, it was taken over by the Government. Since then it
has been operated by the Government with the intention of
some day making it a ship navigation canal. Within, the 1
few years, four vertical lift bridges have been constructed
across the canal. There is one at Chesapeake City, one at
Buck Tavern, one at St. George's, and one at Delaware City.
The largest of these is at Chesapeake City, Maryland. The
span alone weighs one thousand tons, and is counterbalanced
by two weights, weighing approximately five hundred tons
each. The span is lifted by a .vestinghouse , Type M, C.
Motor, Frame — #90, Series ,-ound , 550 volts, D. C. , 100 H.
P. at one hour rating. In case anything goes wrong wi-th
this motor there is a gasoline engine which can be belted
to lift the span. This is an Industrial Unit, The Buda
Company, Harvey, Illinois, 40 H. P., four cylinder, four
cycle engine, completely equipped with fan, radiator,
gasoline tank, and clutch. These bridges embody the very
latest in bridge design and construction.

The present locks of the oanal are 820 feet long
and 24 feet wide. At the low level the depth is ten feet.
The total depth of the lock Is twenty-five feet from top to
bottom.

The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal will never at-
tain the place in transportation that its originator hoped
it would. They did not foresee the rapid rise and develop-
ment of railroads, and the consequent effect it would have
on canals. But the railroads oannot take the olace of

-11-

water navigation altogether, and so the Chesapeake and Del-
aware Canal will still remain a very important asset to the
Government, both in time of peace and in time of war.

-1-

. S CITY, M ..r iAHD

In 1854 a Bona issue of $2,800,000 was floated by
the Chesapeake ana Delaware Company. Part of this was used
to eo struot new looks xor the canal, and the remainder to
construct & water wheel. This wheel was usee to raise the

ter from a level lowei than that of the oanal, and pour it
into the oanal. Several years later two centrifugal pumps
were installed. The largest of "hese pumps h capacity
of oo, . -.ions of water per minute, and is run by an in-

ternal combustion engine of the nks Morse type. This
engine is a semi-diesel, type Y, six oylinders, ana is rated
at ooo --. -. The otner . a capacity of £50 gallons
ner minute and is better to a Fairbanks ;^orse, two cylinder

16 rated at luO H. P. At the present time these centrif-
ugal pumps supply most of the water usea by the canal, the
water wheel is use< onl; in c _j.se it becomes necessary to shut
down one of the others, or in case an increased supply is
neeae- .

The water wheel at Chesapeake City is the largest
of its kind in the world. Constructed of wood, it is thirt -
nine feet in diameter and seven feet wide. The shaft which
supports the m mmoth eel is twelve inches in diameter, ..nd
runs in bearings which are enclosed so that the water cannot
get to them. The twelve buckets in the wheel serve to de-
liver 24,000 gallons of water per minute when the wheel
makes one md one- 1 revolutions per minute. Around the

-b-

outer circumference of the wheel are two gears, one on
each Bide. Two smalles ;ears meshing with these 1 ©3 ones
serve to turn the heel. Power is gotten from two steam
engines of the rocker beam type such as are con: 1 use<j on
ferry boats. These engines are vertical, each having a high

. lc -t.rfLire cylinder, and e iCih rate-, at 350 H.
Steam is supplied by boilers which were constructed by the
Pusey and Jones Company, and installed at Chesapeake City in
1894. .- layout of the lant is . hereafter.

The entire wheel ana its prime movers are enclosed
in i briok building, picture of which is shown.

The principle of operation is as follows: the
wheel dips into the lov. r er level of rr, scooping up
large quantity . As it revolves the water is lifted, and (
the same time rv.u^ to the center of the wheel, where it
flows out and around the be irings into troughs whioh earry
it into the oanal. The bearings of the wheel are
about two feet above the level of the canal itself. The
I the lower lever is conducted into the pit into
Loh the water wheel dips. By means of a valve it is pos-
sible to control the depth of the water in the pit, and
hence the amount scooped up bj the wheel each time.

At the present time most of the '."Liter is put into
the oanal by the cen ri al pump mentioned above. The

ler wheel, however, is in good running order, and ilthough
its efficiency has decreased through ears, it is always
reaa^ to us^ ..hen needed.

C ch + t' -fuq* 3 I Pump 5

3-heam tngi"©

Water ^,

Wa+er-

Wfieei

W« f e t
£nfe-rina

5+eom Engine

Boi lers

Logout of Pumpina 3-foTion « + Chesapeake C itu

r

L

^

PUMPING STATION, C. & D. CANAL. CHESAPEAKE CITY, MD.

A

Dec.|3J326
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