Delapidation and Ruin, 1846

The length of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, if ever completed to the Ohio River as contemplated in its first projection will be 340 miles. The work was commenced in 1828 and vigourously prosecuted until the year 1839, when it had reached Dam 6, a point 135 miles above Georgetown, but for he want of means, the work thereon so was entirely suspended, leaving locks, dams and aqueducts partially finished, banks partly formed, and the whole exposed to delapidation and ruin - and in this condition it has since remained.