The Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal began in 1828 as a transportation route between commercial centers in the East and frontier resources of the West. The C&O Canal stretches along the Potomac River for 184.5 miles from Georgetown in the nation’s capital to Cumberland, MD. Maintained by the National Park Service, the canal’s towpath provides a nearly level trail for hikers and bicyclists, and watered sections welcome canoers and anglers. In addition, remnants of locks, lockhouses, and other historical features along the way invite discovery of a bygone era.

Portions of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal had been operating nearly 20 years before completion of Paw Paw Tunnel, opening the final link between Georgetown and Cumberland, MD. Engineers said a tunnel directly through the mountain was the best alternative to a winding, six-mile stretch of the Potomac River known as Paw Paw Bends.

The initial plan called for completion of the tunnel in two years. Instead, it took 14, from 1836 to 1850. Original estimates set the costs of construction at $33,500. It actually cost over $600,000. At times work slowed, or stopped entirely, because of labor problems and lack of funds. But when finally finished, the 3,118 foot brick-lined tunnel was the largest and most impressive structure on the canal.

If you make the 20-minute walk through the tunnel, you will hear the muffled footfalls on the towpath and the drip, drip of water echoing off the walls of the great arch. As daylight dwindles to a pinpoint at either end of the tunnel, the sense of being under a mountain heightens. When canal boats traveled through, the steady beat of mule hoofs and the slap of displaced water marked their progress. Sometimes music filled the chamber as boat crews sang to hear the echo of their voices or to calm children afraid of the dark.

For a time, the canal company assigned a watchman to regulate traffic in the tunnel. Still, stories abound of boats meeting in the narrow one-way channel. The towpath provided no room for passing or turning. A downstream boat supposedly had the right-of-way, so the upstream boat would have to back out of the tunnel. But sometimes stubborn captains refused to budge. One standoff lasted several days, until a company official threw green cornstalks onto a roaring fire at the upwind end of the tunnel and forced the offenders out with smoke. In the canal’s heyday, the Paw Paw tunnel was a bottleneck even under the best of conditions, with boats lined up at either end waiting for clearance to enter.

The Paw Paw Tunnel epitomizes the troubled that hampered canal construction almost from the start. Lee Montgomery, a Methodist pastor turned contractor, picked his crew and began work on the tunnel with great zeal in June 1836. They drove the tunnel from both ends simultaneously - cutting 890 feet into the mountain at the north, or downstream portal; 200 feet at the south, upstream portal. Vertical shafts from the hilltop down to tunnel level provided extra working faces in each direction.

But boring through the hard, loose shale proved more difficult than expected. An optimistic Montgomery had estimated progress at seven to eight feet per day; but his full crew working three shifts a day advanced only ten to twelve feet per week!

Irish laborers on the canal lacked the skills in tunneling and stonework required at Paw Paw, so Montgomery imported miners from England and Wales and German masons from Pennsylvania. Rising labor costs and the slow, difficult pace of construction left Montgomery in dire straits. The company had fallen behind two month’s in wages when angry workmen surrounded the office in 1838. The mob “insisted upon destroying the work they had done, since they were to receive no pay for it,” Resident Engineer Charles Fisk reported to the canal company’s board of directors.

This was not the first incident of labor unrest. Riots and violence occurred up and down the canal during the construction years, often the result of old-world prejudices the immigrant laborers brought with them. Rival Irish factions bitterly clashed with one another or with newcomers who competed for their jobs.

These episodes of violence frequently centered on the tunnel. Company officials posted armed guards to protect canal property and, in 1838, they black-listed 130 troublemakers. In August of 1839, violence again erupted when an Irish mob vandalized the English and Dutch camp; the Cumberland militia had to restore order.

Poor living conditions contributed to the laborers’ unrest. The militia described the workers and their families as being “in suffering and deplorable condition.” Outbreaks of cholera and other illness slowed the pace of construction and isolated the workers from local townspeople who feared the spread of epidemics.

Besides there periodic interruptions to the tunnel’s progress, a lack of finance caused a suspension of work at Paw Paw between 1842 and 1847. Work resumed when new contractors, with fresh funds, sublet the project to the firm McCulloch and Day.

For two and a half more years, workers pressed on, setting off charges of black powder to blast out sections of rock, slogging with pick and shovel, hauling out rubble by horse carts to the huge spoil banks. At last, on October 10, 1850, the canal’s “final fifty miles,” including Paw Paw Tunnel, officially opened to navigation.

Paw Paw Tunnel continued in use until 1924. By then, recurring financial problems, devastating floods, and competition of the railroads had taken their toll. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, intended to make the Potomac River Valley a major artery to the West, had become obsolete, as more versatile and cost-effective forms of transportation pushed past it.

But for nearly 75 years, hundreds of boats carried cargoes of coal, farm products, and manufactured goods through Paw Paw Tunnel. A remarkable achievement of strength and engineering skill, the tunnel stands as a reminder of the growing pains of a developing nation.

Directions:
From Interstate 70 at Hancock, MD., take Route 522 south to Berkeley Springs, WV. Turn right on Route 9 and drive 28 miles to the town of Paw Paw. Cross the Potomac River bridge into Maryland (Route 9 becomes Route 51) to tunnel sign on right.

From Interstate 68 at Cumberland, MD., take exit 43B to Route 51 south for 28 miles to the park sign. The tunnel is a short walk on the towpath, downstream from the parking lot. The towpath surface is uneven, please use caution. Sturdy shoes and a flashlight are recommended.

For more information:
C&O Canal National Historical Park
Box 4
Sharpsburg, MD 21782
Telephone: (301) 739-4200

Related Links:
CandOCanal.com - New discussion board for visitors to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.