Harpers Ferry Lock and Feeder canal

A C&O Canal freight boat is tied up in the Inlet Lock 3 that lets water into the inlet channel from behind Dam 3 located one and a half miles above Harpers Ferry. The inlet channel flows into the main stem of the canal and a bridge that carries the towpath over the inlet channel can be seen in the picture. Locks 35 and 36 are upstream from where the inlet channel meets the canal. As canal freighters required mules to pull them, they could not themselves operate in the river except where there were tug boats to tow them as at Georgetown. Consequently it is likely that this freighter carried some cargo for Harpers Ferry. Such cargo could be transshipped at this lock onto smaller boats capable of crossing the river behind the dam and using the federal Armory Canal on the south side of the river to get down to Harpers Ferry.