Locks

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.

Photograph of lower town Harpers Ferry and the convergence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. The intersection of the bridges and railroads can be seen at The Point. The C&O Canal and Lock 33 and lock buildings are visible on the Maryland shore.

The photograph was taken prior to the B&O railroad tunnel's construction.

Lock 33 near Harpers Ferry in this image is dry. It is possible that it was breached by a flood and the boats were left high and dry. There is a somewhat similar image of the canal that has been dated as after the 1889 flood. The Bollman Bridge across the Potomac is in the background.

A berm is apparent at the upper end of this lock, resulting in the upstream gate part of the lock being raised higher than the top of the lock and the towpath going over the berm. Such a berm would have provided some protection to the lock and the canal below it when flood waters rose to the towpath level upstream from the lock. However, the berm is not high enough to provide much protection if the flood was a large one. The small white building between the towpath and the river is a lock shanty and it provided the locktender protection from the weather as well as a place to rest.

This image shows Lock 33. The lock house has not yet been built on the river side, so it is unclear where the locktender lived. It is possible that he lived in the stone building nearby.

A feed store was built over the large bypass flume at this lock. Stores were built over the flumes at other locks also, likely because the immediate proximity to the lock made it easier to transfer heavy bags of feed or other items to and from the store and boats in the lock.

This picture was taken looking downstream at Sandy Hook. The mountain ridge to the right is Short Hill Mountain in Virginia. The road on the left leads from Weverton to Harpers Ferry. To the left of the road is Maryland Heights. (The modern Route 340 bridge from Maryland to Virginia would cross through the center of the image. )

Lock 32 is in the area of Washington County where the railroad and canal and river are in close proximity.

This lockhouse located at Lock 31 was built of bricks in 1833 by Peter Mathias for $1,031.40.

Lock 31, near Weverton and Keep Tryst, with a train on the B&O line in the background.

Tom Moore was the locktender at Lock 37 - Mountain Lock.

Behind him is a lock shanty, a small buildings usually built on the island between the lock and the bypass flume at the upstream end. Such buildings would normally contain basic furnishing for the comfort of the lockkeeper, such as a chair, cot, and stove. They provided shelter from the weather and a place for the lockkeeper to rest when on duty. As the canal operated 24-hours a day, they often were virtually home to the lockkeeper during times when the canal was busy.