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diff --git a/43909-0.txt b/43909-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3518c8b --- /dev/null +++ b/43909-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1533 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43909 *** + +[Transcriber's Note: As this is a narrative, all spelling errors were +retained as printed.] + + + +SOMETUB'S CRUISE ON THE C. & O. CANAL + +[Illustration] + + _The Narrative of a Motorboat + Vacation in the Heart + of Maryland_ + +[Illustration] + + BY + JOHN P. COWAN + 1916 + + _Copyright, 1916, by John P. Cowan_ + + + + +[Illustration] + + _This Edition is Limited to + 200 Copies of Which This + is No._ + +[Illustration] + + +[Illustration] + + +THIS is a story of the initial cruise of "Sometub"--a narrative of the +voyage of the newest type boat on America's oldest improved waterway. +We exalted 30 cent gasoline and eased our conscience by following in +the patriotic footsteps of George Washington. + +Amid nature's most magnificent scenery we linked the romance of +yesterday with the humdrum of the workaday present. We established a +new maxim, namely: To avoid the beaten path take the towpath! + +We enjoyed to the superlative degree the rare privilege of "Seeing +America First," because we saw it as the first American saw it. + + J. P. C. + + Pittsburgh, Pa., + December 7th, 1916. + +[Illustration: Sunlight Vista on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal] + + + + +I. + + +[Illustration] + +THE cruise of the "Sometub" began at Oakmont on the Allegheny river +in Pennsylvania and ended in Rock Creek in the shadow of the national +capitol in the District of Columbia. In a total distance of 347 +miles the little craft traversed six navigable waterways. Of course, +there was a portage of 150 miles, but this was accomplished without +inconvenience and provided a seasonable period to re-provision the +boat. Moreover, the 150-mile trip overland demonstrated the advantage +of a portable cruiser--of which "Sometub" has the distinction of being +the first in its class. + +"Sometub" narrowly escaped being christened "Kitchen Maid." It is +literally a kitchen-made craft, that is, it was put together in +the kitchen after its knockdown frame was received from a Michigan +boatbuilder. When culinary activities in the aforesaid kitchen were +partially suspended it afforded an ideal boatyard, but the fact that +a kitchen would be put to such extraordinary use there was attracted +thither a constant line of spectators, the majority of whom had as +little nautical knowledge as the builders. Propped up on a stepladder +the bony frame of the future boat looked like one of those uncanny +paleontological specimens in the Carnegie museum, and drew from the +visitors a flow of remarks entirely irrelevant to boatbuilding. Nearly +everyone doubted that the thing would be made to float, but a few who +were too polite to express their views went to the opposite extreme +and indulged in a line of flattery that was more irritating than the +skeptcism of the doubting Thomases. + +"Well, that's some tub!" The oft repeated phrase trickled away +somewhere into the damaged wall paper of the kitchen or into the big +paint spot that ruined the linoleum, and when the time came to name +the boat the words came back sufficiently anglicized and properly +compounded--"Sometub." And it stuck! + +"Sometub" has been laughed at by hundreds of persons who will never +know how it received its name. It looks less tub-like than the majority +of motorboats. The Brooks Manufacturing Company up in Saginaw, from +whom I bought the knockdown frame, doubtless would object to the +innuendo suggesting tubbiness because they boast of it as one of their +latest and most graceful models--a semi-V bottom shape which is +especially noted both for speed and seaworthiness. And it is all they +claim for it, and more, too! + +"Sometub" is 15 feet long by 43 inches on the beam. We took liberties +with the Brooks plan by constructing a bulkhead which enclosed five +feet of the bow. This left a 10-foot cockpit, over which was erected a +portable canopy top. Curtains that hung on the sides of the canopy made +a snug cabin 10 × 3½ feet. For motive power we use an Evinrude motor. +By the way, it is one of those coffee mill affairs that you screw on +the stern of a skiff or rowboat. "Sometub" was designed for this very +sort of equipment and the theory worked out beautifully--until the +motor went wrong. And there lies the key to all the villainy that will +be divulged in this plain tale of the cruise of "Sometub" from Oakmont +to Washington. + +On account of the 150-mile portage from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Md., +it is advisable to allow seven days from the time of your departure +on the Allegheny until your expected sailing from the other terminal +of the portage. In these seven days you will make the run down to the +Pittsburgh Baltimore & Ohio freight station at Water street, pack your +engine and duffle, bail out the boat, cart it to the Cumberland local +freight car, see it stowed away and spend four days hoping that it +will arrive in Cumberland before you and your cargo. Of course, your +hopes will be blasted, but to hope is human. Anyhow, you might as well +realize at the outset that cross-country cruising is to be an intensely +human experience. + +There was no ceremony when we backed out of a stall at the Oakmont Boat +Club in the late afternoon of the 9th of last July and picked our way +between the bathers, canoes and rowboats that clustered there. Even +if there had been occasion for ceremony, the thought that we had to +reach the Aspinwall lock before 6 o'clock or wait another hour, "on the +hour," caused us to lay a course straight for Nine-mile Island. With +its balky Evinrude five miles an hour is "Sometub's" best speed. Past +colonies of summer camps on the O'Hara township bank of the Allegheny +we continued our way hearing a giggle now and then as a maid in a canoe +or on shore caught sight of the aluminum letters on our bow and spelled +out "S-o-m-e-t-u-b." The tables were turned when we passed the "Ye +Gauds" camp. Phonetic spelling is epidemic among river campers. Their's +is not simplified, but rather perplexified spelling. + +For a mile above Aspinwall dam the Allegheny in breezy weather has +all the choppiness of a landlocked lake and affords the exhileration +of boating that is enjoyed on a much larger body of water. Here we +witnessed a scene that was in strange contrast with the gayety farther +up the river. Below the mouth of Squaw Run a group of terrifed children +stood on the bank intently watching a skiff which was being rowed +slowly down stream. At the oars was a youth vainly trying to look brave +while at the stern a grizzled riverman dragged a grappling iron. It was +the sequel to an old story. They were searching for the body of a boy +who had been drowned an hour before while trying to exchange seats in a +canoe. + +To make the Aspinwall lock on schedule time is always cause for joy +by the humble owner of a motorboat. If he is not there "on the hour" +he must wait until another 60 minutes have elapsed before the opening +of the gates, unless a towboat should happen along. The same rule is +in force at Lock No. 1 at Herr's Island. Here we arrived "in between +times," but the gates were open and we started in. A lock tender caught +sight of "Sometub" and waved frantically for us to get out and tie up +alongside a barge which lay near the shore. Astern was the towboat +Crucible making her way into the lock with a steel boat in tow. We +followed the locktender's directions, but when the big craft approached +and the pilot had sized us up, he stepped out on the hurricane deck +and pointed a place for us to tie in the lock. When our motor began to +sputter and he saw the name of the boat he laughed heartily and seemed +to share our delight in getting into the lock chamber ahead of the +Crucible. We soon chugged out and 15 minutes later rounded the Point, +anointing "Sometub" for the first time with the waters of the Ohio. +Running up the Monongahela in the twilight we moored at the motorboat +landing at the foot of Smithfield street. Here the boat was taken from +the water and shipped to Cumberland. + +I have said that we eased our conscience by following the patriotic +footsteps of George Washington. We struck the sacred trail in the first +hour of our cruise when, running down the Allegheny we scudded under +the decrepit Forty-third street bridge and past the historic point that +once was separated from the mainland and was known as Wainwright's +Island. From this point until the end of the journey we were constantly +on ground intimately associated with the life of Washington. + +Indeed if it had not been for the enterprise of Washington the cruise +never would have been possible; if it had not been for Washington the +Chesapeake and Ohio canal would not have been projected, and without +this pioneer waterway the valley of the upper Potomac would be a +solitary wilderness. The Baltimore and Ohio railroad only followed its +aquatic pacemaker and was pushed westward over the identical route +Washington had laid out for his canal to connect the waters of the +Potomac with those of the tributaries of the Ohio, the eastern link of +the intercontinental route which he dreamed would some day connect the +Atlantic seaboard with the great lakes, and the Mississippi valley. The +Lake Erie and Ohio river ship canal is but a revival of Washington's +gigantic project. "The Father of His Country" was a century and a half +ahead of the times in his comprehension of the transportation problem. + +The history of the construction of this canal is a commercial romance +replete with many a fascinating chapter involving personal peril, +adventures, triumphs, failures and political intrigue; for four bloody +years during the Civil war its right of way was held alternately by the +Union and the Confederate armies, and many a grim tragedy was enacted +there; today it is one of the few places in the country where the +oldtime canal boat is to be seen in practical operation. + +But the story of the canal will come further along. It is essential +in the narrative of the initial cruise of "Sometub" because its +towpath, worn by 20 successive progenies of mules, is the path that +paradoxically leads far, far away from the beaten path of modern travel. + +On Saturday evening, July 15th, we reached Cumberland. Rain was falling +but this did not deter us from launching "Sometub" in the waters of +the canal. We had made up our minds that rain must be disregarded--and +subsequent experience proved that this step toward resignation to +the elements was well taken. Before the voyage was three days old we +realized that Jupiter Pluvius was a stowaway with us. For 100 miles +we were the harbingers of showers, the advance agents of thunder, +lightning, rain and cloudbursts. + +We had hoped to leave Cumberland before sunset and tie up for the +night far from the noise of the city, but the best we could do between +showers was to put everything in shipshape and wait for the dawn. Rain +pattered down all night long and came in repeated gusts during the +day. In the meantime we sat on the hospitable porch of a retired canal +boat skipper and listened to his reminiscences of the "good old days." +Our delay just now was due to our failure to procure our waybill, +a document which gave us the right of way through the locks from +Cumberland to Georgetown. In this document "Sometub" was put down as a +motor-propelled craft of one ton net register and stipulated that it +should proceed at a speed not exceeding four miles an hour. The waybill +cost $5.10. + +Late in the afternoon we were informed that a deputy collector of the +port, who lived "down the canal beyond the bridge," would hand us our +waybill as we passed. Simultaneously with this good news the rain +ceased and the sun came out in radiant glory. In two minutes we were +away and broke the speed limit with the impunity of a motor driver +who knows that if he does not exceed the legal speed his machine will +stop altogether. We made a dash for the waybill. "Pshaw!" exclaimed the +collector. "It's too bad I didn't know the name of your boat. I just +wrote 'launch.' If I had known it had a name like that I would have put +it down, sure." + +"What are the rules?" we asked him. + +"Keep to the left--always--that's all. Tie up on the berm side (to the +left) and don't let yourself get dragged into the flume by the current +at the locks." We thanked him and started again. We rounded the big +bend of the Potomac, turning to the eastward where the blue horizon +of the mountains melted into the blue-gray mists and clouds of the +weeping sky. In what seemed an increditably short time we had left the +city behind and glided along the vine-fringed, ribbon-like pool that +wound its way into sequestered solitudes among the towering hills. Here +and there a farmhouse was visible in the distance on the uplands and +occasionally a lonely cabin squatted among the willows and dank weeds +that grew in the marshy places, but for the greater part of our run on +this level we hugged close to the hillside or proceeded through courses +of broad meadows. + +It was the first time an outboard motor cruiser had been seen on +the canal, and for that matter in the Potomac valley, and "Sometub" +attracted much attention among the country folk and the crews of the +boats. We passed our first canal boat beyond South Cumberland at a +point where the channel was scarcely 30 feet wide and narrowly escaped +rasping off our propeller on a ledge of rocks that formed the berm +bank, our danger being due to the provokingly deliberate action of +the steersman on the big mule-drawn hulk. After that we waited for +sufficient leeway before attempting to pass canal boats in narrow +channels. + +At sunset a whitewashed log house came into view and as we approached +we recognized the huge arms of the lock gates. Beyond the locktender's +cabin we saw the roofs of the houses in the little village of North +Branch, Md. Here was our first lock, the first of the 75 in 184 miles +on the canal between Cumberland and Georgetown. We were curious to +know how "Sometub" would behave in an old-fashioned lock with leaky +gates and were anxious to push on to the tunnel some 30 miles east +of Cumberland where the canal for nearly a mile of its course passes +underneath one of the lofty ridges of the Alleghanies. Ominous clouds +in the west hastened the approaching night. The proximity of a shelter +in case of a heavy rainstorm caused us to accept the locktender's +hospitality to tie up for the night alongside the flume at the head of +the lock. + +[Illustration: Left--"Sometub" Emerging from Mile-Long Tunnel Under +Alleghany Mountains. + +Above--Head of Navigation of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Cumberland, +Md. + +Below--"Sometub" Leaving Oakmont on Allegheny River.] + +Making the boat fast to the lockhouse we lighted our oil lantern, +dropped the side curtains and disregarded the returning rain while we +prepared dinner on two small stoves formed by a pair of tripod rings +containing cans of solid alcohol. Motor boating creates a genuine +appetite and we had all the facilities for preparing a good dinner +in the smallest possible space. The deck of "Sometub" provided a dry +place for the storing of bedding, dishes and supplies and there was +no crowding at mealtime. After dinner we wrote up the log, spread a +mattress in the bottom of the boat, fastened down the curtains and +retired early. + +The night was inky dark. The lights in the locktender's dwelling were +extinguished before 9 o'clock and the denizens of the village of North +Branch, several hundred yards away, seemed to seek repose at the same +hour. The solitude of the place grew oppressive. About midnight we were +aroused by a shriek that pierced the night air and echoed back from the +mountains across the river. Parting the curtains, we saw two sheeted +forms on the towpath, their ghostly outlines standing out against +the cloudy sky, while the waters of the canal reflected a pair of +shimmering specters which at first glance were calculated to make the +average stranger wish that he made this trip in a Pullman car. + +Again the shrieking broke forth and the sheeted forms began to move. We +were undergoing our initiation in night traveling on the canal, but we +didn't realize it at the time. + + + + +II. + + +OF THOSE ghosts that are simply ghosts I have no fear. Some persons +whistle when they pass country graveyards after dark in order, they +say, to keep up courage; for the same reason I sometimes whistle +on Broadway. Specters are harmless if they do not assume material +form. The apparitions on the Chesapeake and Ohio canal towpath soon +lost their ethereal quality in our vision and the unearthly noise +that accompanied their manifestation translated itself into "you +black-hearted, ornery, low-lifed beggar--geddap!" + +There was a familiar rattle of harness. The specters moved again, but +more quickly this time. Against the black infiniteness of the mountains +across the river were the shadowy forms of a pair of gray mules hitched +in tandem. Wearily they plodded off, and moving slowly, tediously, +silently behind them a canal boat followed along at the end of an +invisible towline. + +A canal boat at night is a great hulk of hush. Its silence is +positively uncanny. A few ripples momentarily disturb the placid +surface of the water but as they swirl around the craft they seem to +beckon a state of funereal quietude. You can hardly blame the midnight +driver of the canal boat for his profane vociferousness in addressing +his mules. His voice alone breaks the death-like stillness. After the +lock has been passed and the patient animals take up their gait, even +he is overcome by the environment and relapses into drowsy silence. + +At intervals through the night other specters appeared over there +on the towpath and their advent invariably was heralded by the same +hair-raising shouts. The noise of cussing the poor mules followed +as certainly as the agonizing "low music" during tense moments in a +melodrama. + +Tardy dawn ushered in a gloomy day. We placed our "canned heat" range +on a lumber pile beside the North Branch lockhouse and had our coffee +and bacon progressing satisfactorily toward the proper elements of an +al fresco breakfast when rain began to fall. We retreated to the boat. +The rain continued unabated and we breakfasted on board. Inasmuch as +we were obliged to keep the curtains down and tuck the baggage under a +poncho, it was impracticable--we thought--to proceed on our journey. + +The locktender's office at North Branch has seen service for more than +half a century. We can testify to this because after we had sought its +shelter and read all the magazines bought on the beginning of the trip +we turned to a perusal of the lockmaster's records. These books date +back to the 60's and it was fascinating to read on the faded pages +the entries for the boats and cargoes of a by-gone era. The boats now +operating are distinguished by numbers from 1 to 100, but in the old +days they bore names, suggestive, no doubt, of their architecture and +other characteristics, or of the ambition of their owners. + +Noon brought no cessation of the rain. We ate luncheon in the office. +"Star boarders" could not have reported more promptly at meal time. +Good appetites were the most encouraging features of this portion of +the trip. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon the skies cleared slightly +and in a few minutes we resumed our voyage. The three locks at North +Branch, Nos. 75, 74 and 73, respectively, were negotiated in less than +15 minutes and we found ourselves on "Oldtown level." + +In the language of the boatmen and the denizens of the canal country +all geographical distinctions are made strictly "on the level." A +"level," we learned, is that stretch of the canal between two given +locks. From Cumberland to Georgetown (Washington) there are 75 locks, +and consequently the same number of levels, plus one. + +There is an ancient and honorable superstition to the effect that the +person who sets out on a journey and turns back is certain to meet +with disappointment. Ten minutes after we departed from North Branch +we remembered that we had left our maps behind in the lockmaster's +office. The maps, United States Geological Survey quadrangles, +were indispensable and we turned back. Prompt and speedy came our +disappointment. + + * * * * * + +OLDTOWN LEVEL is about 10 miles long. We estimated that we could reach +Oldtown village in about two hours. While the idle hours had dragged +along in the sleepy hamlet of North Branch we looked forward longingly +to Oldtown. The name sounded enchanting and moreover we were told +that we could procure gasoline, groceries and our favorite brands of +confectionery there. After running merrily about seven miles our motor +stopped cold. No amount of coaxing would make it run. Gathering clouds +betokened a resumption of the rain. No human habitation was in sight. + +The motor's affliction was difficult of diagnosis, but its trouble +appeared to be serious. I had just made up my mind that the boat would +have to be paddled or towed to the end of the level when Canal Boat +No. 14 eased along. The skipper inquired we were "in trouble." It was +mere charity and politeness of him to ask, because the expression on +our faces must have told him that we regarded our condition as one of +dire distress. + +"His en-jine's done busted," shouted the little ragged muleteer as he +passed us on his plodding animals. + +"Ketch the line," advised the skipper, while we grasped the piece of +rope he tossed toward us. Making his rope fast to a cleat on the bow we +saw "Sometub" humiliated by being towed at the stern of a slow-moving +freight boat towed in turn by two decrepit mules. "Sometub" felt the +disgrace keenly and jerked about like an unbroken colt that feels a +rein for the first time. Only strenuous use of the paddle as a steering +oar kept the proud little boat in the channel. In this way we moved +stupidly into Oldtown. An hour and a half was required to go less than +three miles. + +On reaching the lock at Oldtown it was apparent that there would not +be room between the gates to accommodate both the canal boat and +"Sometub," and the skipper cast us off in a fashion so uncermonious +that we floated in his wake feeling like unbidden guests at a feast. +The big freight boat glided away, leaving us on the wrong side of the +gate. You know how sometimes you turn and drive away the homeless dog +that sheepishly follows you down the street? Well, we felt placed in +the situation of the homeless dog. + +It was the first time in my life that I experienced a sincere desire to +embrace the teachings of anarchy. After the canal boat had started on +its way Mr. Carter, the lockmaster, returned to inquire into our wants. + +"What are you going to do with us?" I asked him. + +"Lock you through," he answered. "Give me your line and I'll tow you +in. Then you can tie up over there and stop at my house all night. +My wife will have a nice hot supper for you. The gentleman who runs +the store up on the hill has an automobile and knows a lot about gas +engines. I know he'll be delighted to fix up your machine." + +It was hard to believe that he meant what he said. He had enunciated +that kind of hospitality which I had thought no longer existed except +in books that sell at $1.08. My wife, however, did not share my +skepticism. Here was good old-fashioned southern hospitality and she +emphasized the fact with some pride that we were now well over the +Mason & Dixon line and might expect cordiality to be something more +than a meaningless phrase. She rushed across the towpath to chat with +the lockmaster's wife and daughters while Mr. Carter towed "Sometub" +through the lock and found a suitable place to tie up on the berm bank +of the short level. + + * * * * * + +OLDTOWN, I believe, was called Oldtown even in its younger days. I +believe also that now in its boast of municipal veneration it looks +younger than it did in its youth. The wrinkled visage of great age is +in strange contrast with its modern affectations. Personify it and you +would have the picture of a centenarian doing a fox trot. Oldtown is +one of the oldest settlements in western Maryland and it dwelt on in +a kind of proud senility until West Virginia went "dry." Being on the +border Oldtown possessed a situation of peculiar strategic value. It +afforded the opportunity for the establishment of an exceedingly "wet" +outpost, and the opportunity did not go begging. In consequence the +chief enterprise of Oldtown is slaking the thirsts of West Virginians +from many miles up and down the Potomac. The structures that domicile +these establishments form a cluster of new buildings that gives Oldtown +something of the appearance of a boom town in the west. A sincere +opponent of the liquor traffic would be justified in saying that +Oldtown is in its second childhood. + +With many thanks we declined the hospitality of the whole-souled +lockmaster and his family and cooked our dinner in a drizzling rain +and "tinkered" on the motor until after midnight. The knowledge that +we were among friends enabled us to make ourselves comfortable for the +night regardless of the weather. + +In the morning we were awakened by a call from Mr. Carter. He came +to give me "a lift" with the motor. As a last forlorn hope I gave +the flywheel a twirl--and it went! We made all haste to depart and +before the sun had reached the mountain tops we were under way. With +good behavior on the part of the motor "Sometub" is the spryest young +boat you ever saw, and on this Tuesday, July 18th, we made our record +run. The sky was cloudless and out in the meadows we watched farmers +and harvest hands sweltering in the broiling sun, but in the shade of +the stately trees that form an arch over the canal in this region we +enjoyed a delightful atmosphere. Steep cliffs enclose the north bank +of the canal and over these in luxuriant profusion were seemingly +endless brambles of blackberry vines burdened with luscious ripe fruit. +For luncheon we skirted the cliffs and picked a dish of berries which +with crackers and tea enabled us to have a unique and delicious repast +without tying up the boat. + +Our logbook for this day contains nevertheless many entries of enforced +stops. Wild grass growing up in the bottom of the canal checked us +frequently and necessitated removing long coils that choked the +propeller. Shortly after noon we reached the tunnel which carries the +waters of the canal for seven-eighths of a mile under one of the lofty +ridges of the Alleghanies. The channel is barely wide enough to allow +the passage of a single craft and we knew that we must hold the right +of way or back out in case we should meet a canal boat. The tunnel has +no lights and when you get into its depths it is a veritable black hole +in the ground. + +Fixing our red and green running lights we started bravely in, but +after going a dozen yards we struck windrows of grass and weeds which +made it impossible for our propeller to turn. There was but one thing +to do, and I climbed out on the narrow shelf of a towpath and took the +end of the line while my better, and on this occasion, less nervous +half, caught up the paddle and steered. The towpath in the tunnel is +intended only for mules. In many places are mountain springs whose +icy waters trickle down through the old brick walls and transform the +towpath into soft mire that is knee deep. It was the longest seven +furlongs I ever trod and I came out of the tunnel with a feeling of +profound respect for the canal boat mule. + +Our cruise during the remainder of the afternoon was delightful. Here +is the wildest scenery in the upper Potomac valley and there are few +settlements. The locktenders were the only persons we saw for hours +at a time and the locks were few. Likewise on this part of our run +we passed no boats. We felt real neighborly toward the train crews +on the Baltimore and Ohio and Western Maryland railroads when they +condescended to look at us as they sped past. For miles, however, no +railroad was in sight. + + * * * * * + +A COUNTRY store keeper at Little Orleans, who dealt in everything from +women's "fashionable gowns" to fresh fish and from "near beer" to +gasoline, enabled us to continue our voyage without delay. From him we +purchased a supply of gasoline, oil and tobacco--three important items +for the "engine room." When the motor is out of order the consumption +of tobacco is particularly heavy. + +In the twilight we passed the village of Pearre and at dark drew up +alongside the dock of the Woodmont Hunting and Fishing Club. Dinner +was late this night but the weather was perfect and no fashionable +restaurant could have offered more inviting surroundings for the diner +with an appetite whetted by a day of toil in the great outdoors. We +sat in the boat and used the dock for a table. And we would not have +exchanged the privilege for the finest mahogany ever turned out! + +We were in Dixie now, sure enough. On the clubhouse porch up on the +hill a party of young people were holding a dance which was enlivened +by singing oldtime songs that recalled our presence in the beloved +Southland. As two tired voyagers dropped off to slumber they heard the +sweet strains of an inspiring melody that floated on the still night +air far across the Potomac hills-- + + _For life and death, for woe and weal, + Thy peerless chivalry reveal, + And gird thy beauteous limbs with steel, + Maryland, my Maryland!_ + + + + +III. + + +"THE HEART OF MARYLAND" is quite as elusive, geographically, as the +phrase is trite. After being lulled to sleep at Woodmont by the old +wartime song and awakened on a sunny morning by the carols of thrush +and mockingbird, we felt that the enchanted land of romance in the old +Cavalier commonwealth must indeed be near at hand. + +We made no haste to leave the hospitable dock at Woodmont. The day was +ideal and our camera was chaffing under long idleness. I had passed +this point a score of times on daylight trains of the Baltimore and +Ohio railroad and longed for an opportunity to tarry here. On our +voyage in "Sometub" we realized the oft-repeated wish and made the most +of it. + +A heartless motor, however, robbed the "heart of Maryland" of much of +its heartsomeness--for us. Leaving Woodmont about the middle of the +forenoon on Wednesday, July 19, we ran past the ancient settlement +of Sir John's Run, proceeded on under the shadow of Round Mountain, +in Maryland, and picturesque Lover's Leap, in West Virginia, and +glided into the prosperous looking town of Hancock shortly after 2 +o'clock. Hancock gained fame in the winter of 1861-62 when Stonewall +Jackson, from the hills south of the Potomac, deigned to throw a few +shells into this Maryland village. It was not a sanguinary battle, +but at that early period in the war it was considered a bold thing +for the Confederate leader to do, and for the time being disturbed +the "alls-quiet-along-the-Potomac" that had become stereotyped in the +reports of the military situation farther down the stream. At Hancock +a short spur of the Baltimore and Ohio runs up to Berkley Springs, a +watering place that boasts of patronage by Virginia aristocrats back in +George Washington's time. + +Resolved that we would forego the luxury of luncheon on board, we +tied up under the highway bridge, left "Sometub" in charge of the +toll-keeper and strolled into town. At the hotel we were too late +for dinner and were told that the dining room would not be open for +the service of supper until 6 o'clock. In desperation we sought a +restaurant--and in two minutes regretted that we had not prepared our +own luncheon on the boat. + +[Illustration: Picturesque Water Mill Beside the Potomac] + +Isn't it peculiar how the smallest trifles will alter the most +elaborate plans? A trifling ham sandwich in a two by four restaurant +caused us to evacuate Hancock forthwith. We had intended to remain here +a day or longer, run over to Berkley Springs and perhaps go fishing. +Instead we left town so precipitately that we forgot to stop at the +postoffice and ask if our mail had been forwarded. + + * * * * * + +A FEW miles east of Hancock is a wide-water a mile long in the canal +known as Little Pool, the channel being about the width of the +Monongahela river at the Smithfield street bridge. From Hancock to +this point we were obliged to stop frequently on account of grass that +clogged the propeller, and on entering Little Pool the obstruction +was so great that it was necessary to get out and tow several hundred +yards. When clear water was regained the motor began to show signs of +balking, and after a heart-rending effort to repair it on the towpath, +we threw the thing into the boat and paddled our way through the rural +hamlet of Millstone where housewives, milking their cows on the bank +of the canal, stared at us pityingly as we labored by. Cow stables and +pig stys on the berm bank offered no mooring place in the town, and we +plied the paddle until we reached a secluded stretch of woodland where +we could be alone in our chagrin over the obstinacy of the motor. + +When we lighted our lantern we were annoyed for the first time by a +swarm of mosquitoes. We had been warned before the trip that these +insects on the canal were related to the Jersey "man-eaters" and would +make life miserable on our cruise. We were prepared for their ravages, +but fortunately a little breeze sprang up after nightfall and they gave +us no more trouble. They were the only militant mosquitoes that we saw +between Cumberland and Georgetown. + +As if gloating over our discomfiture in having lost our motive power, a +double-bass bullfrog started in to make the night hideous. His favorite +singing dias was in the pool right under the bow of the boat. When a +stone was thrown in his direction he retreated into deep water, but +invariably returned. Late in the night I hit upon the expedient of +pouring a pint of 30-cent gasoline on the water. The croaker croaked no +more. + +In the morning a little tinkering was rewarded by the motor showing +signs of renewing operations and we started in high hopes, but after +a few hundred rods it was apparent that we were making little speed +and we limped into the tiny hamlet of Ernestville where we stopped for +supplies and fresh water. Ernestville is a poor shopping center and +fresh water and kerosene were about all we could obtain. + +Along this stretch of the canal it is paralleled for a considerable +distance by the old National Pike, which on this particular morning +was thronged by automobile tourists. As they sped by we knew that they +would be in Hagerstown in an hour. We wondered if we would reach there +in a day. It was apparent now that we must take our crippled motor to a +garage and Hagerstown was the nearest point where we could obtain the +services of a mechanic skilled in repairing marine engines. To reach +Hagerstown from the canal we decided to stop at Williamsport and this +was now our goal. + + * * * * * + +BIG POOL is a widewater where the canal broadens into a beautiful lake +nearly a mile wide and more than a mile long. Our balky motor pushed +us into this big sheet of water and then stopped with a derisive +screech. It was the ultimatum of a dry bearing and it was inexorable. +While we were floundering in the breeze and trying to paddle ashore, +a motorboat came alongside and its occupants inspected our equipment. +"Sometub" they liked immensely, but the engine perplexed them. We were +looking for neither advice nor sympathy and the stranger who acted very +superior and said, "I have a Koban," didn't improve his favor in our +eyes. + +Then into our lives came a heroic figure. Just at that moment he +appeared the greatest man in the world--philanthropist, navigator, +philosopher! He was the skipper of Canal Boat No. 18 which swept +majestically down the pool. His boat appeared as big and formidable as +the new superdreadnaught Pennsylvania. Dexterous work with the paddle +enabled us to get in its lee. Up there on his quarterdeck stood the +skipper. I since believe that he must have resembled Noah, but to we +two--we felt like castaways--he was indeed a mighty admiral. But he was +the admiral of a friendly power and amid all his dignity there was a +benign expression also of stern consideration for a brother mariner in +distress. We gazed at him and his noble craft in mute appeal. + +"Ketch the line!" + +Like spent swimmers grasping for a straw, we seized the line and made +it fast. For the second time "Sometub" was humiliated by being towed by +a prosaic freight boat. + +[Illustration: Above--Upper Level at Four Locks + +Below--Old-Time Mill] + +Two miles an hour is top speed for a laden canal boat and No. 18's +tired mules kept well inside this limit. At the end of the towline +we nosed along in perfect complacency. We chatted with the skipper, +admired the scenery, examined our maps of the route, chaffed the +villagers, ate our luncheon, jogged the motor, read a little, took +short naps and made ourselves absolutely comfortable. Our only effort +was to keep on the shady side of the boat, for the weather was the +hottest we had endured. As a remedy for tired nerves I can testify to +the curative qualities of canalboating. + +The skipper was a man of parts. He had run the canal for more than +20 years. He had walked every inch of the towpath from Cumberland to +Washington every hour of the day and night and he declared that he +could pace those 184 miles with his eyes blindfolded. He recognized +every hill and house and tree and could tell their history. He knew all +the neighborhood gossip, and all the neighbors knew him. + +Toward the end of the drowsy afternoon we floated into the little +village of Four Locks which takes its name from the fact that a chain +of four locks are here. No. 18 cast us off and we prepared to paddle +through. To our surprise the motor condescended to run. At the time I +was ready to believe that it heard the mule driver's sublime cussing +and was frightened into obedience. + +With the motor running again we soon passed No. 18 and snorted off +around a sharp bend, through Two Locks where we were lowered into the +waters of the Potomac. I say "snorted" advisedly. "Sometub" exhibited +colt-like behavior when unleashed from the slow-moving canal craft. +The towpath follows the northern bank of the river and the boats hug +the shore closely, but we careened far out into the stream. "Sometub" +had found a nautical playground more spacious than it had ever enjoyed +before. + +After a two-mile run on the river we entered another lock and once more +were confined to the comparatively narrow channel of the canal. We +found all conditions favorable and at sunset we crossed the great stone +aqueduct over the winding Conococheague and a few minutes later tied up +at the Williamsport lock. + +I was now on familiar ground. Eleven years before I had visited +historic Williamsport in quest of newspaper "feature stories," and a +decade had witnessed but little change in the place. In the early days +of the Federal government Williamsport was a pretentious bidder as +the seat for the national capital. In the Civil War it was a sort of +Pryzmyl, having been taken and retaken by the armies of both the north +and the south, but the town itself was of no importance except as the +key to strategic positions beyond. Here in June, 1863, the vanguard +of Lee's conquering legions crossed the Potomac when they swept down +the Shenandoah and crossed triumphantly into Pennsylvania, and here +less than a month later their ragged columns made a bold stand against +Meade's victorious forces while the retreating Confederates waited for +the flood to subside so that they could withdraw into Virginia. Along +the street that leads down to the river are many of the old houses +whose walls resounded with the tread of those valiant armies--Union and +Confederate. In those houses, too, many a soldier suffered the agony +of wounds received in the desperate charges at Gettysburg. Of those +southern heroes who raced with death from that immortal field, scores +gave up their lives here in sight of their native Virginia hills. + +Williamsport today is another of those outposts for supplying alcoholic +drinks to bleary-eyed pilgrims from West Virginia and in consequence +does not afford hotel accommodations for the ordinary traveler. After +trying in vain to get dinner, we boarded a trolley car and 40 minutes +later reached Hagerstown where we stopped for the night, enjoying the +solid luxury of a "room with bath connecting." + + * * * * * + +AMONG Hagerstown's well known business men is Mr. Walter E. Pattison, a +former Pittsburgher. We sent him a grape-vine telegram of our advent in +town and on coming down from breakfast in the morning he hailed us with +a motorcar and an invitation for a drive through Greater Hagerstown. We +accepted with alacrity, remembering the tedious hours of the previous +day, and made no objection when the chauffeur cut up didoes with the +Maryland speed limit. + +Mr. Pattison accompanied us to Williamsport in the afternoon to see +"Sometub" and to join a little reunion with Col. George W. McCardell, +the veteran editor of the Williamsport _Leader_. Editor McCardell had +been looking for me for eleven years and we were somewhat in doubt as +to the outcome of the interview. The reason for his desire to lay hands +on me was, as nearly as I can remember, the following paragraph which +was printed over my name in the Pittsburgh _Gazette_ in the summer of +1905: + + The Williamsport Leader is more than a journalistic + enterprise--it is a well founded institution. It is the + oracle of rockribbed Democracy, the unflinching champion of + pure Jeffersonism and unfaltering Andyjacksonism.... The + editor will take two pairs of Maryland frying-size chickens + on subscription, but of his Virginia subscribers he requires + three pairs in advance because, he says, the Maryland + pullets are better and more tender. + +I resolved to meet the editor and finish the argument. Mr. Pattison +led the way to a new and prosperously attractive sanctum. It was +publication day--Friday--and Col. McCardell, after a strenuous week, +stood with folded arms beside an imposing stone with type still wet +from the day's "run." My wife, who embodies the traditions of five +generations of the editor's brand of politics but who stood ready to +defend the quality of Virginia chicken against the world, was the first +to enter the den of the journalistic lion. It was a clever ruse on +Mr. Pattison's part, for first of all Col. McCardell is a chivalrous +southern gentleman. Why, of course, Virginia fried chicken is the +finest in the land. And Virginia women compose the very flower of +American womanhood. Their presence here is welcomed like the May-time +sunshine. The Potomac ripples softly when they cross the river and in +the trees on the Maryland shore the summer zephyrs sing sweet benisons +to the fair daughters of the Old Dominion. + +And when I entered the feud of eleven years had vanished. I could only +blush and bow my acknowledgements. + +With fond good-byes to Col. McCardell and Mr. Pattison we departed in +the mid-afternoon bound for Mercerville by twilight in the hope that +we would have the following day to spend on Antietam battlefield. But +we had not reckoned with the elements. Four miles below Williamsport +a terrific storm burst upon us. So sudden was the tempest that we +were obliged to tie to the towpath bank to prevent the furious gales +of wind from capsizing the boat. For a few minutes it seemed that our +canopy would be torn to tatters. Our lines gave way and I climbed out +to steady the heaving craft. Then it rained in such torrents that +it momentarily took away my breath. Vivid flashes of lightning and +deafening thunder followed in instant succession. The wind wrenched big +sycamores from their roots and they crashed across the miry towpath +like jackstraws thrown by an angry giant. The storm lasted more than +an hour but a steady patter of rain followed. Our supplies stored +under the deck and protected by the poncho were dry, but our clothes +were dripping and the temperature had turned chill and raw. Darkness +was coming on and we prepared to tie up for the night. How bright and +warm looked the blue flame from the canned alcohol while we boiled our +coffee! + +It was a gloomy outlook, but southern hospitality which proved the +silver lining to every dark cloud on our cruise, once more intervened. +A farmer rode down the towpath and invited us to go to his house for +the night. Our good Samaritan was Mr. J. H. Wine, whose home nestles +snugly under the mountain beside the canal. We accepted with haste that +we hoped would indicate our extreme gratitude and soon had our dripping +duds spread out on the backs of chairs before the range in the spacious +kitchen. Mr. and Mrs. Wine tendered us the guest room and we sought +slumber early. Only the outdoor enthusiast would have been worthy of +the frugal breakfast in the morning. We thanked our good hosts and +prepared to depart. The question of remuneration for favors invariably +was spurned by the hospitable people on the canal. + +The sun came out gloriously and we hoped to reach Mercerville by +noon. We did, but there the motor balked again and we spent two hours +trying to fix it. We gave up the thought of visiting Antietam and +about the time the shadows began to lengthen, started solemnly toward +Shepherdstown, five honest miles down the canal. We paddled and towed +alternately, making even slower progress than in the wake of No. 18. +Darkness came on and we were still on the lonely path. About 9 o'clock +we reached a lock and were told that Shepherdstown was still a mile +beyond. A storm was gathering and the lockmaster invited us to tie up +and spend the night in his house notwithstanding that it would place +several members of his large family at an inconvenience. We agreed to +leave the boat, but insisted on going to Shepherdstown where we could +find a hotel and a garage mechanic. + + * * * * * + +AGAINST the protests of the lockmaster and his wife we lighted our +lantern and started down the lonely towpath. Black clouds obscured the +sky and we stumbled along at times having difficulty in keeping on the +path. Flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder betokened a storm that +would rival the one on the previous night. Our lantern's flickering +light only intensified the darkness but the lightning frequently +assisted us when its glare illuminated the entire landscape. + +In our race with the storm we were the first under the wire. Fleeing +across the bridge over the Potomac we breathlessly climbed the hill +and along a dark street to the center of the town whither we had +been directed to the hotel. Suddenly we rounded a corner into an +electric-lighted thoroughfare and stood before the entrance of the +Rumsey House. Our clothes were wrinkled and we were splashed with +mud from head to foot. We still carried our lighted lantern and the +crowd at the hotel gazed at us with expressions twixt curiosity and +amazement. The proprietor was moved to commiseration. + +"Come in here, you-all, right away," he said. + + + + +IV. + + +THE hallowed notes of church chimes awakened us on our first morning +in Shepherdstown and before the day was an hour older we felt grateful +to the motor for compelling our stop-over in this quaint community. +Geographically Shepherdstown is in West Virginia, but politically, +socially and traditionally it leans toward the Old Dominion. It lies +in Jefferson county at the foot of the beautiful Shenandoah valley +and is essentially southern. Its whole atmosphere and the sympathy +of its people belong distinctly to Piedmont Virginia. It is the +Alsace-Lorraine of America. + +Next to Alexandria, Shepherdstown is perhaps the oldest important +settlement in the Potomac valley. It is one of the few old towns in the +country that has not been defaced by too much present day progress. +Shepherdstown has always been a substantial prosperous place and does +not affect the gewgaws of the new rich municipality. In some respects +it resembles Concord, Massachusetts. Its streets have many features +in common with the thoroughfares of the old-time New England towns. +In many of the residences are preserved some of the most striking +characteristics of chaste colonial architecture. + +It was a restful place to spend Sunday and in the evening we joined +the villagers in a stroll through the shady streets and out on the +bluff overlooking the Potomac. Here on the edge of the cliffs on a +natural base of limestone rock is an imposing shaft lately erected +to the memory of James Rumsey, Shepherdstown pioneer and inventor of +the steamboat. Rumsey, you know, was the Langley of steam navigation. +While Prof. Langley originated the idea of the heavier than air system +of aeronautic transportation, his aeroplane, upon which experiments +were made on this same Potomac river, was not perfected to the point +of standing the practical test. Two bicycle mechanics in Dayton, Ohio, +were destined to make a crowning achievement where the scientist had +failed. Posterity will demand that the Wright brothers share their fame +with Langley. + +[Illustration: Antietam Battlefield at Dunker Church (right) and +Cornfield (left) Across Hagerstown Pike] + +Although Robert Fulton is popularly credited with the invention of +the steamboat, he only perfected the work which was started by Rumsey +in the waters of the Potomac at Shepherdstown in September, 1784. In +the presence of George Washington a boat which ascended the stream by +mechanical appliances was exhibited by Rumsey 23 years before Fulton's +Clermont made its memorable voyage on the Hudson. + +The house in which Rumsey lived is one of the historic landmarks of +Shepherdstown. The inventor went to Europe and built a new boat which +made a successful trip on the Thames in December, 1792. A few weeks +later sudden death in the very prime of life cut short Rumsey's career. + +In the Civil War Shepherdstown endured the agony but shared little of +the glory of battle. It is about eight miles north of Harper's Ferry +and less than four miles west of Antietam. Skirmishes took place here +early in the war and in September, 1862, it saw Stonewall Jackson's +famous foot cavalry sprint through this corner of Jefferson county in +his encircling movement for the capture of Harper's Ferry. A week later +echoes of the guns engaged in the bloody work at Antietam reverberated +against the hills around Shepherdstown and on the afternoon of that +17th day of September hundreds of mutilated men were carried into the +village and committed to the care of the townspeople. + +The wounded were Confederate soldiers and from the majority of homes in +Shepherdstown had gone fathers, sons, brothers to fight under Lee or +Jackson. Marie Blunt, one of the heroic women who assisted caring for +the wounded, in describing that melancholy day, said: + +"We went about our work with pale faces and trembling hands, yet trying +to appear composed for the sake of our patients, who were much excited. +We could hear the incessant explosions of artillery, the shrieking +whistling of the shells, and the sharper, deadlier, more thrilling roll +of musketry: while every now and then the echo of some charging cheer +would come, borne by the wind, and as the human voice pierced that +demoniacal clangor we would catch our breath and listen, and try not to +sob, and turn back to forlorn hospitals, to the suffering at our feet +and before our eyes, while imagination fainted at the thought of those +other scenes hidden from us beyond the Potomac. + +"On our side of the river there were noise, confusion, dust; throngs +of stragglers; horsemen galloping about; wagons blocking each other, +and teamsters wrangling; and a continued din of shouting, swearing +and rumbling, in the midst of which men were dying, fresh wounded +arriving, surgeons amputating limbs and dressing wounds, women going in +and out with bandages, lint, medicines, food. An everpresent sense of +anguish, dread, pity, and, I fear, hatred--these are my recollections +of Antietam." + + * * * * * + +LEAVING our invalid motor in care of a garage mechanic we boarded a +Norfolk & Western train Monday morning to visit Antietam battlefield. +It is a ride of less than 10 minutes from Shepherdstown to the station +of Antietam which is adjacent to the village of Sharpsburg. The half a +century that has passed since the war has witnessed but slight change +here. Nearly all the houses are of the antebellum type. The woods +have been cleared at various places over the field, but otherwise the +landscape has changed but little when compared with wartime photographs +and sketches of the battle. + +A walk through the town and the national cemetery brought us to the +Hagerstown pike which parallels the battle lines on the northern half +of the field. Threatening weather called for haste and I was obliged +to forego the pleasure of a ramble to familiar scenes around the +picturesque Burnside bridge which I had photographed 11 years before. +We were interested in two parts of the field--the line of Anderson's +Confederate division and the position occupied by Hooker on the Union +right. In locating the former we soon found ourselves in Piper's lane +and walked down to the gray stone barn which stands as solid today as +on that Wednesday afternoon when Hill and Sumner struggled for the +mastery of this blood-drenched farmstead. + +Less than a mile beyond is the little whitewashed Dunker church which +marks the key to Stonewall Jackson's position. It stands in the woods +at the west side of the Hagerstown pike at the intersection of the +Smoketown road. On the east side of the pike was the famous cornfield +where the Union soldiers under Hooker and Mansfield engaged in deadly +combat with Jackson's men. In an area covering a few acres the losses +on both sides in less than four hours' fighting on the morning of +September 17th probably exceeded 5,000 killed and wounded. + +All the important positions occupied by the troops on both sides +have been marked by tablets erected by the Federal government and +many memorials have been placed by the various states. One of the +most interesting monuments is that of the State of Maryland to her +sons--Union and Confederate--who perished at Antietam. It stands on a +knoll a short distance east of the pike opposite the Dunker church. + +At 11 o'clock on Tuesday morning, July 25, our motor having been +pronounced "cured," we slipped "Sometub's" moorings and after adieus to +hospitable friends in Shepherdstown, started on the second half of our +journey. A mile and a half below the town we passed the ford over which +Lee's army retreated from Antietam and saw the cliff where the Corn +Exchange regiment came to grief in its pursuit of the Confederates. +A little farther on we noted what we supposed was the site of Camp +McAuley where the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania regiment +from Pittsburgh spent many a chilly bivouac in the autumn of 1862. + +The scenery on the canal between Shepherdstown and Harper's Ferry is +not rivaled anywhere in the country for its variety, abounding in +pastoral beauty, historic interest and sublime grandeur. Our motor, +being on its good behavior, the trip was uneventful. Across the river +among the trees we descried the little hamlet of Falling Waters where +occurred one of the first conflicts of the Civil War. We glided over +Antietam creek through a picturesque aqueduct and continued for miles +on through the trees at the base of the lofty cliffs of Maryland +Heights. + +After several stops to catch the pictures that presented themselves at +every turn, we reached the lock opposite Harper's Ferry about 4 o'clock +in the afternoon. We threw "Sometub's" line to a picket fence beside +the canal and hastened across to the town to call at the postoffice to +receive an accumulation of 10 days' mail that had been forwarded from +point to point all the way from Hancock. + +This is a late day to describe Harper's Ferry. Thomas Jefferson more +than 100 years ago wrote a description of the place and stole the +thunder from his successors for all time to come. In October, 1859, old +John Brown in a different manner gave fresh fame to the locality, and +on a gallows over the hills at Charles Town paid the penalty with his +life. Harper's Ferry got into the headlines soon after Fort Sumter was +fired upon and kept in the limelight till the very close of the war. +Since that time the Baltimore and Ohio railroad has appropriated the +old town, mountains, rivers, scenery, historic associations and all and +has overlooked no opportunity to exploit its beauty and its traditions. + +We had expected to have a veritable field day here with our camera, +but when we came from the postoffice clouds rolled down from the +mountains like great avalanches of snowy feathers, the village grew +misty and rain began to fall. With no immediate prospect of clear +weather we decided to continue our voyage. It would be heresy, however, +not to present a picture of Harper's Ferry, and we are indebted to +Mr. J. Hampton Baumgartner, of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, for +the one presented here. The railroad has acted the pious antiquarian +in preserving this historic shrine and the fame of the sacred spot is +perpetuated largely through the services of this corporation. Railroads +more frequently are ruthless vandals in their treatment of historic +landmarks, but not so with the Baltimore and Ohio. This portion of the +railroad is itself a talisman of history worthy of every patriotic +American's interest and study. + +[Illustration: Harper's Ferry, from Maryland Heights] + +Rain was falling in torrents when we unleashed "Sometub" from the +picket fence and started through the lock. By the time the one-armed +locktender had opened the gates and we chugged out under the Baltimore +and Ohio bridge at the entrance of the Maryland Heights tunnel the +storm had grown to the proportions of a cloudburst. We found ourselves +in a canyon of concrete with a sharp curve ahead. It was a perilous +place to meet a canal boat and we continued on through the blinding +storm. At the end of the canyon we moored to the towpath bank for a +time, but with darkness approaching and the rain continuing unabated, +we resolved to resume the voyage. + +At dusk we reached Brunswick. Everything above board on the boat, +including ourselves was drenched. Scrambling out on the towpath I waded +through the mud to inquire of the locktender for a place to tie up. +Despite the rain, we had decided to spend the night on "Sometub." We +had become so attached to the little craft by this time that it seemed +like ingratitude to go to a comfortable hotel and leave it out there in +the storm and the night. + +But this was not to be. + + + + +V. + + +THERE must have been something about the appearance of our outfit or +ourselves, or both, on the arrival of the bedraggled "Sometub" at +Brunswick calculated to awaken the deepest sympathy of the kind-hearted +folk who watched us approach through the chilly rain. When I asked the +lockmaster for a suitable place to tie up for the night he pointed to +a dilapidated dock on the berm bank adjacent to an ancient and densely +populated pig pen. + +"It would be very fine, except for the neighbors," I told him. "Pigs +have a habit of getting up too early in the morning to suit us." This +was not quite the reason for our objection to mooring beside a pig +pen, but I aimed to be diplomatic. Perhaps they might be his pigs. +"Crackey!" exclaimed the lockmaster, "You-all don't intend to spend the +night in that boat, do you?" + +"Yes," I answered. "We have the most comfortable cabin you ever saw." + +Before the lockmaster could answer another man, who hastened over from +the railroad yards, at once assumed the role of superintendent of the +harbor, collector of the port, quarantine officer or whatever you would +choose to call him. He spoke with the air of a person clothed with +absolute authority. + +"Yes, yes; tie up over there and I'll----" he began. + +"I have just told the lockmaster that I'll not tie up over there," I +interposed. But our new friend disregarded me entirely and continued: + +"----I'll have an automobile here in five minutes to take you and the +missus up to the hotel. Your boat will be safe till morning. Come from +Pittsburgh, eh? How in Sam Hill did you get into the canal? I used to +work in Pittsburgh, but that was a good while ago. Pretty big place +now, I suppose--" + +He was true to his word. An automobile oozed through the mud and the +chauffeur announced that he was ready to take "the lady and gentleman +to the hotel." In the presence of such an example of prompt service +we reconsidered our resolution to spend the night in the boat and +taking our baggage, we went to the hotel in our khakis. The people in +the lobby must have thought that unkempt members of a band of gypsies +had invaded the place when we rushed through to our room. However, +the opinions of bystanders as to the appearance of our traveling duds +gave us little concern. We put on dry clothes and in a few minutes it +was announced that the dining room had been opened for our especial +benefit. The young wife of the proprietor cooked and served a bountiful +repast. She must have felt repaid for the effort by the manner in which +we dispatched all the good things she had prepared. + +The rain lasted through the night but Wednesday, July 26th, dawned with +clear skies. We prepared to depart early, but first stocked "Sometub" +with provisions and fuel, Brunswick being the last large town on the +canal on the way to Washington. Before us for a distance of nearly 50 +miles lay a stretch of sparsely settled country. From Brunswick to +Point of Rocks the Baltimore and Ohio railroad runs close beside the +towpath and in the early morning, "Sometub" was greeted several times +by passengers on the observation cars of the Royal Blue express trains +which dashed by at a mile-a-minute speed. We wondered if the people who +were fluttering handkerchiefs and waving hats envied us. It was while +riding on the observation car several years ago on this same route +that we had planned our voyage. In its realization we regretted that +more vacation tourists could not share the pleasure of our trip over +the mountains--by water. We did not stop to consider that the majority +of summer travelers desire speed, luxury and the least discomfort and +would balk at the petty annoyances we endured through an obstinate +motor and the omniesence of Jupiter Pluvius. + +Under the shadow of old Catoctin mountain we passed the Point of Rocks, +famous in the Civil War as the place where Lee's army crossed for the +invasion of Maryland in the Antietam campaign. A few miles beyond the +course of the river turns from southeast to southwest and we sheered +off sharply from the railroad. We crossed on the famous stone aqueduct +over the Monocacy river. The character of the scenery changed quite +as preceptibly as the direction of the stream. Through the drooping +branches of the trees we saw on the north the rugged outlines of old +Sugar Loaf peak and across the Potomac the undulating ridge of the +southern spur of Catoctin, and when heights faded in the blue haze of +a midsummer day, we bade farewell to the mountains. Henceforth our way +ran through the lowlands down to the sea, the hills and river bluffs +reaching an altitude of only a few hundred feet. + +At Edwards Ferry we saw the wooded face of Ball's Bluff which gave name +to a Civil War conflict which was second only to Bull Run in causing +discomfiture to the people of the North. In this little fight the +country lost a notable figure in the person of General Edward D. Baker, +first United States senator from Oregon. + +For miles along this portion of our route we ran without seeing a human +habitation. A dense strip of woodland concealed the river from view and +bluffs or marshy thickets interposed between the canal and the country +to the north. Occasionally through the trees we caught a fleeting +glimpse of beautiful meadows and cornfields of the Maryland farmlands, +but these vistas were rare. + +At White's Ferry, where on September 5th, 1862, Stonewall Jackson's +army forded the Potomac, and while singing "My Maryland," marched +gallantly on toward Frederick, we stopped under the highway bridge that +spans the canal to replenish our supply of gasoline. Leaning over the +rail of the bridge stood a native whose face was obscured by the shadow +of a straw hat of immense brim. Over his shoulder was a fishing-pole +of a length of thirty feet or more. He ignored our salutation when we +approached, but after we had drifted under the bridge he crossed to the +rail on the other side and inquired: + +"Stranger, whar did you put that tub in this ditch?" + +"Cumberland." + +"By crackey!" And he sauntered down the road. + +The history of this "ditch" is a commercial romance closely linked +with the political developments of the last one hundred and fifty +years. During the period immediately preceding the Revolutionary War +Washington devoted his chief attention toward the opening of the west +to colonization and for a cheap transportation route foresaw that +navigation on the waters of the upper Potomac would offer a direct +outlet for the products of the agricultural regions of the western +country to the Atlantic seaboard. The alarm from Lexington in 1775, of +course, put an end to all immediate plans for the internal improvement +among the colonies, but after Burgoyne had been cut off at Saratoga and +Cornwallis had been bagged at Yorktown, Gen Washington again turned his +attention to the transportation problem. Before peace was restored he +left the camp of the patriot army at Newburg and inspected the future +route of the Erie canal through the Mohawk valley. + +Washington shrewdly divined that a canal between Lake Erie near +Niagara, connecting it with the Mohawk and the Hudson would open up a +route that would be a dangerous competitor to the southern colonies in +their trade with the west. Soon after he was relieved from his military +duties he made a tour of exploration with a view of locating a route +connecting the Potomac with the Ohio and the Great Lakes. His journal +sets forth clearly his wonderful farsightedness and broad comprehension +of the situation. Here is Washington's report of his transportation +line from Detroit to Alexandria, Va.: (The spelling is Washington's). + + To Cuyahoga River 125 Miles + Up same to Portage 60 Miles + Portage to Bever Ck 8 Miles + Down Bever Ck to the Ohio 85 Miles + Up the Ohio to Fort Pitt 25 Miles + Mouth of Yohiogany 15 Miles + Falls to Ditto 50 Miles + Portage 1 Mile + Three Forks or Turkey foot 8 Miles + Ft. Cumberland or Wills Creek 30 Miles + Alexandria 200 Miles + ---- + Total 607 Miles + +Bear in mind that the "mouth of the Yohiogany" is now McKeesport, that +the "falls to ditto" indicates Ohio Pyle and that "Three Forks" means +the present locality of Confluence, and compare the distances with +present day surveys. They will not vary a mile on the entire stretch. +Ask the eminent engineers of the Lake Erie & Ohio River Canal if they +can add much to Washington's ideas. Their answer will give you added +reasons for celebrating on the 22nd of next February. + +In February, 1785, the laws were passed by the legislatures of Maryland +and Virginia authorizing the formation of a company for the improvement +of the Potomac river and books for the subscription of stock were +opened at once. The total shares were 403 and the capital of the new +Potomac Company was 40,300 pounds. Washington was elected its president +and James Rumsey, the inventor, whose monument we saw at Shepherdstown, +was general manager. In the summer of 1785 the work of blasting rock +and other obstructions was begun between Great Falls and Harper's Ferry. + +The work was prosecuted with vigor, but during the winter of 1786-87 +there came a hint of labor troubles. Common laborers were paid 32 +shillings (about $8.00) a month "with the usual ration except spirits, +and with such reasonable allowance of spirits as the manager may from +time to time think proper." The question of spirits seems to have been +the chief cause of the trouble, for it is recorded that the company +contracted for the supply of rum at "two shillings per gallon." It must +have been the same kind of stuff that is peddled across the river to +"dry" Virginians today. + +In 1787 Washington withdrew from active work in the company to accept +the presidency of the Republic. His retirement sealed the fate of the +corporation. Its affairs languished for years and in 1823 was declared +defunct. + +In the same year--1823 a date since famous for the promulgation of +the Monroe doctrine--the navigation project was again revived in the +Maryland legislature. It was estimated that the proposed work of +cutting a canal from tide-water (Washington, D. C.) up the Potomac, +across the mountains to a branch of the Ohio, and down the same, at +$1,500,000, of which Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia +were each to subscribe one-third. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company +was incorporated by the Maryland legislature in 1825 with a capital +stock of $6,000,000, Congress having previously made an appropriation +of $30,000 for preliminary surveys. The route selected for the canal +alarmed the citizens of Baltimore. They saw that it would divert trade +from their city. About this time Philip E. Thomas, a Baltimore banker, +and George Brown, an enterprising resident of that city, took earnest +counsel between themselves to save the traffic for their town. On the +19th of February, 1827, they held a meeting with their townsmen which +was destined to become memorable in the whole history of transportation. + +[Illustration: Tom Thumb--B. & O. 1830] + +Up in Quincy, Mass., and in Maunch Chaunk, Pa., for a year or two +wagons had been operated on rails, and Mr. Thomas inquired of his +confreres why a "rail road" would not be practicable from Baltimore +to the Ohio. The whole world knows the answer: On February 28, 1828, +a charter was granted to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, Mr. +Thomas resigned the presidency of the Machanics' Bank in Baltimore to +become the head of the first American railway system. + + * * * * * + +THEN began a memorable commercial race between canal and railroad. +Their prospective routes were parallel and both sought the same +destination--the Ohio river at Pittsburgh. Early in 1826 both +companies were in the field surveying for their respective highways. +On the fourth of July succeeding celebrations were planned by the +rival corporations. In Washington on that day President John Quincy +Adams, the members of his cabinet, foreign ambassadors, survivors of +the Revolutionary War and a great throng of citizens proceeded up +the Potomac to Great Falls where the first spadeful of earth in the +construction of the canal was turned by the President of the United +States. + +Over in Baltimore at the same hour the venerable Charles Carroll +of Carrollton, the only surviving signer of the Declaration of +Independence lifted a spadeful of earth in placing the foundation +stone to commemorate the commencement of the building of the Baltimore +and Ohio Railroad. The railroad was completed to the Maryland shore +opposite Harper's Ferry in 1834 and was opened to operation December +1, the work on the canal at that time having proceeded more rapidly, +despite injunctions, financial embarrassments and a multitude of +obstacles that interfered with the work. The canal finally was +completed to Cumberland February 17, 1851. + +In the meantime the railroad had struggled to success in spite of +similar obstacles. The Baltimore and Ohio was opened to the public May +22, 1830, and was received with approbation of the public. At this time +the line extended from Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills, a distance of 12 +miles. It was advertised that "brigades of cars left Baltimore at 6 and +10 a. m. and 3 and 4 p. m." These "brigades" of cars first were hauled +by horses and mules and later a brother of President Thomas invented +a car which moved by sails. The superintendent of motive power, +nevertheless, was enterprising and steam was soon applied. As early +as 1831 the company offered a prize of $4,000 for the best locomotive +offered for trial on the road. It is a curious fact that a watchmaker +of York, Pa., built the first practicable models. + +One of these, the "Atlantic," on August 25, 1835, drew the first train +into Washington amid the applause of President Andrew Jackson and a +distinguished assemblage. This "grasshopper" locomotive was in use +a generation later when it hauled the vanguard of Union soldiers to +save the national capital in 1861. It developed a speed of 30 miles an +hour which was regarded as suicidal in the early days of railroading. +Although superannuated, the "Atlantic" is still in a good state of +preservation and can be operated under its own power. + +The canal and railroad are no longer competitors. The bonds of the +former company are held by the railroad. The canal is in operation +during the season of navigation and more than 100 boats are engaged in +providing low-priced transportation for coal from Cumberland to the +seaboard. On the railroad "brigades of cars" are seen at intervals of +a few minutes dashing along behind locomotives that weight more than +twenty times that of the little old "Atlantic." + +[Illustration: "Atlantic" Engine--B. & O. 1832] + + + + +VI. + + +THROUGH the sultry afternoon of Wednesday, July 25th, "Sometub" ran for +hours under the willows that fringe the Maryland meadows in Montgomery +county. Across the river the Virginia shore presented an endless +panorama of wooded hills that grew less rugged in their outlines as we +proceeded down the stream. At sunset we were running through a marshy +region and decided to keep on rather than invite malaria by spending +the night on the border of a swamp. We were happy when, in the receding +twilight, we espied the hills of Seneca creek and knew by consulting +our topographical maps that we would have a more healthy mooring place. +At Seneca a widewater covers about ten acres and under a big sycamore +tree beside the little lake we tied "Sometub," preparing dinner on our +"canned heat" range and serving it on our poncho which was spread on +the soft, green turf. + +The dying embers of a campfire were visible across an arm of the lake +and after dinner we went to pay a neighborly call. Beside the fire was +a tiny "pup" tent supported by two canoe paddles. On our approach three +young men greeted us. A week before, they told us, they had started out +from their homes in Washington on a fishing trip up the river. In the +Potomac the bass were not biting but the mosquitoes were and betwixt +hope and desperation they had turned into the canal. Now they were +having fairly good luck and were comfortable. + +Our new friends punctilously returned the call. One of the youths was +the son of a naval officer and expressed much interest in "Sometub," +and its unique cabin arrangement. We sat in the lantern light till +midnight swapping motorboat experiences for fish stories. In this we +had the better of the deal. + +Thursday dawned clear and hot. Our neighbors, the fishermen, were out +before sunrise and had breakfasted on their catch of perch, catfish +and "sunnies" before we were stirring. Old Sol drank up the dew within +a few minutes after his appearance over the Virginia hills and we +made an excursion into a blackberry thicket where we picked a dish +of luscious fruit for breakfast. It was our last berry feast of the +season. After reciprocating photographs of our respective "camps," we +headed for Seneca lock and were lowered through it by members of a +troop of Washington Boy Scouts who volunteered their assistance to the +lockmaster. + +At noon we reached Great Falls. Here are 13 locks in a series of two, +seven chambers in the first and six in the second. The actual time in +making the descent was considerably less than two hours. We stopped +at the first lock, and upon payment of a small fee to the lockmaster, +were admitted to the private park surrounding the Great Falls of the +Potomac. Crossing a swinging bridge to an island in the river we +obtained a magnificent view of the cataract. The stream was at flood +stage and the scene rivaled the rapids of the lower Niagara. + +In the late summer and autumn of 1861 the Union and Confederate pickets +frequently exchanged compliments at short range from behind the rocks +and boulders along this stretch of the Potomac. If you have any friends +among the survivors of the Pennsylvania Reserves, ask them to tell +you of their experiences during the open season for snipers in those +exciting days. + +In the middle of the afternoon we passed Cabin John bridge and moored +"Sometub" at the lock at the foot of Glen Echo park. In the shade of +the trees everything looked cool and refreshing and we decided to +spend the evening with friends in Washington, but a few minutes after +we stepped off the boat we realized that it was the hottest day of +the summer. The lockmaster's wife invited us to go into her house and +assigned us "spare rooms" to change our clothes. Going to Washington +by trolley, we found the heat in the city almost intolerable after +our fortnight in the open air of the mountains. After dinner in town +against the protests of friends we returned to the boat and were lulled +to slumber by the music in the dancing pavilion of the park. + + * * * * * + +JUPITER PLUVIUS had been on hand at the beginning of the voyage and now +at its close he was in evidence again. Rain interrupted us at breakfast +and continued through the forenoon. Disregarding the showers we started +on the last lap of our cruise and at 11 o'clock reached Lock No. 1, +or, according to our count, No. 75 from Cumberland. We surrendered +our waybill with the request that the canal company would return it +to us to keep as a souvenir. After a pleasant chat to the lockmaster +during which time we took refuge from a particularly annoying shower, +"Sometub" was lowered to the Georgetown level. A few minutes later +the lofty towers supporting the arials of the naval radio station at +Arlington were visible and rounding a majestic curve to the eastward, +we beheld the fantastic skyline of the National Capital. + +[Illustration: "BACK HOME"] + +Threading our way between a fleet of canal boats, tugs, skiffs and +nondescript craft we reached the coal wharf in Georgetown and ran +"Sometub" into the mud at the ancient lock which connects the canal +with Rock creek, its outlet into the waters of the Potomac. The +waterfront at Georgetown is no prepossessing place and the attitude +of the bystanders was not calculated to lead the boatman to leave his +property unguarded. Asking the obliging lockmaster to "keep an eye" +on "Sometub" I went up a side street to the office of the Chesapeake +and Ohio Canal Company to report our arrival and to meet in person Mr. +A. Sahli, the secretary, with whom I had had an interesting telephone +conversation last winter when in Washington arranging for the voyage. + +Mr. Sahli had been most obliging and we felt grateful for his advice. +He told me that a short distance below the lock at the railroad yards +I could take the boat from the water and ship it back to Pittsburgh. +It seemed that every possible convenience was provided for the skipper +directing a "portable cruise." + +I cannot describe my feelings when I returned to the wharf. We refused +to realize that our voyage was at an end. It seemed that to take down +the canopy, pack our stores and utensils and lift "Sometub" from the +water would leave us absolutely homeless. It was still raining. For +a long time we sat in the boat debating what to do. It was Friday +and we had three days remaining on our hands. The little boat never +looked more friendly, cozy and hospitable than just now. We had been +companions on a most interesting journey and to leave it to pursue our +own pleasure was like parting with a faithful partner in adversity. + +We compromised by exploring new waters. Giving the signal to the +lockmaster, we were lowered into Rock creek and started up that winding +stream toward Rock Creek park where we hoped to find a quiet place +to tie up. We ran under the arched bridge of Pennsylvania avenue and +under the trees to a point at the foot of the hill below DuPont circle +but here shoal water checked our progress. Reluctantly we turned back +and ran out to the dam where the creek empties into the Potomac. Here +our cruise came near terminating in a tragedy. We were within 30 yards +of the dam before we saw that water to a depth of a foot or more was +pouring over its crest into the swirling river 15 feet below. The motor +refused to reverse. We were caught in the current and drifted broadside +toward the dam. + +Then we learned that a spruce canoe paddle is the most reliable of all +motors for a small boat in moments of emergency. It was impossible to +stem the current, but we succeeded in edging off from the middle of the +stream and when almost at the edge of the dam caught some wisps of +willows and held "Sometub" until a line was thrown ashore. + +After extricating ourselves from this predicament we ran back to the +entrance of the canal and met a great, whole-souled man in the person +of Mr. Michael O'Leary, night watchman in a machine shop on the river +front and the owner of a houseboat in Rock Creek. True to all the +virtues of his nationality, Mr. O'Leary possesses a generous heart and +bountiful hospitality. Shure, it would be all right to tie up to his +boat and he would be plased to keep an eye on the wee tub. + +Honesty was written all over his face and we left "Sometub" in his +care, going downtown to spend another evening with friends but returned +at night to our cabin. Saturday morning we were confronted by the +inevitable necessity of "taking down" the superstructure of the boat +and packing our baggage. Mr. O'Leary was on hand with a group of +longshoremen who lifted "Sometub" from the water and carried it to a +freight car as if it were a toy. We felt homeless now indeed. Only the +refreshing good humor of Michael O'Leary mellowed our regret that our +voyage was at an end. + +"Sometub" in its freight car berth started that night on its return to +Pittsburgh for many subsequent weekend excursions on the Allegheny, but +we tarried a day longer. On Sunday morning we crossed over to Virginia +and went to old Christ Church in Alexandria. There in that historic +temple of worship, with its sacred memories of George Washington, we +rounded our fortnight's journey. From first to last we had followed in +the footsteps of the greatest American. + +[Illustration] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sometub's Cruise on the C. & O. Canal, by +John Pryor Cowan + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43909 *** |