Existing comment:
Trace the shape of this reproduced mason's mark that can be seen at the partially restored walls of Lock 1. Why did stone masons leave their mark? Masters masons were granted marks from a stonemason's guild for their technical skills in the craft. Marks were also used to track production and payment, and incidentally left a permanent impression, or signature by the mason. The red Seneca sandstone came from Maryland nine miles upstream.
Re-enactors pole a riverboat through a remnant of the Patowmack Canal. The boats, usually tapered at both ends, were up to 70 feet long and seven feet wide. Crude log rafts also were used.
The Potomac Company introduced...a technology that was subsequently used by dozens of canal companies on thousands of miles of canals.
-- Robert J. Kapsch, Canal History and Technology Proceedings, Volume XXI, 2002 |