Williamsport - Canal at Williamsport

At the Bollman's company bridge built in 1879, the Western Maryland Railroad spur from the Cushwa basin area went through the narrow passage between the hillside and the bridge’s stone abutment. The spur served the Steffey and Findlay and F. H. Darby and Sons warehouses and mill on the berm near Lock 44. Both companies were involved in the coal and grain trade and had built their warehouses on land leased from the canal company. At times the activity at this end of the Williamsport stretch of the canal may have been as busy as around the main basin half a mile upstream. In 1866 Frank Sharpless was given permission to build at store near the lock. On May 5, 1862, Charles Embrey & Son were granted the right to build a drydock above Lock No. 44. The drydock was located on private property at the mouth of a ravine which had been depositing sediment into the canal for years. Accordingly, they were permitted to run a trunk under the canal to carry off the water from the ravine as well as from the drydock. Down at the lock (where the canal turns, passing out of the picture) the canal company maintained a carpentry shop for many years including a tank for dipping beams into creosote to make them less easily damaged by water.