Mountain Lock Area, 1920

A wide variety of boats would be seen along the canal. This was likely a work scow, used for transporting supplies for the canal company’s maintenance and repair crews. The woman may well have been the crew’s cook, one of the few positions that we know were open to women. In July 1864, a woman cook named Mrs. Null, successfully defended her maintenance crew’s houseboat against Confederate forces intent on burning it as they had several other boats.