Dams

Dam 6 was the head of navigation for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal from 1842 until 1850. By 1850 the company had been able to raise funds and finish the last “50 miles” to what would be the terminus of the canal in Cumberland. The construction of the dam served multiple purposes which included: supplying the canal at regular intervals with river water, protection of the canal to high water and the creation of easily navigable river waters for a few miles upriver. Along with the construction of the Dam, a guard lock, flume and abutments were also built.

Chesapeake & Ohio Canal.

During the recent spell of dry weather, navigation upon the Canal, owing to the low state of water, was partially suspended. The Cumberland Civilian says the difficulty arises from the badly constructed dam, called Dam No 5, located near Hancock, which leaks to such an extent that it is impossible to get a sufficient quantity of water into the Canal at that point.

This photograph shows the mouth of the Long Hollow Valley. The body of water is called “Polly Pond” and was created by the berm wall of the Canal. During operations canal boats would use Polly Pond as a turning basin and also a place to moor their boats. The canal boats would have to pass underneath the railroad bridge to enter Polly Pond.

A view of Dam 5 from the West Virginia side showing the Honeywood Mill settlement. This was originally built as a flour mill in the 1830s, and converted to a pulp grinding mill in the 1880s. The hydroelectric generating equipment was installed by Martinsburg Power Company in 1904.

Across the river the lockhouse for the keeper of the lock at Dam 5 is visible.

The contract to build Dam 5 was awarded August 25, 1832 to Byrnes and Co. By March work had started on the Dam and it would be finished in December of 1834 at the cost of $47,088.67. That original dam consisted of wooden cribs filled with rubble stone and covered with heavy boards. Dam 5 was rebuilt in the 1860s as a stone masonry dam. Besides being used by the Canal from 1835 until 1936 it was also used as a means to generate electricity by the early 1900’s.

During the 1936 flood a portion of Dam 4 was damaged. This photograph shows the extensive work that went into the repair of the flood damage.

The photograph shows a section of Canal near Dam 4 across the Potomac, the guard wall and the stop gate and bridge across the Canal. In the foreground of the photograph is a small wharf for unloading coal and loading local produce.

A view of the stop gate located at Dam 4. The stop gate was housed in the structure built on top of the canal abutments and would be lowered in order to block the movement of water from the canal. It was also another barrier between the canal and river.

This stop gate provides an opening for the canal to pass through a guard wall that extends from the abutment of Dam 4 to the adjacent hillside. Large beams stored in the winch house above the gate can be lowered into place to close the gate, if necessary, and hold water back behind it. This would be done if flood waters were getting into the canal behind the guard wall and stop gate so they could not flow through and damage to the canal below the gate and its guard wall.

This dam, like all six of the dams built by the C&O Canal Company, was originally built of wooden cribs filled with stones and covered with heavy planks. Because such bridges were very vulnerable to damage by floods and winter ice, in the 1850s the company replaced the original crib dam with a solid masonry dam that was considered one of the strongest in the county when completed. The inlet or guard lock associated with this dam is a mile upstream.