Existing comment:
The Enduring Aqueduct:
From 1833 until 1924 this aqueduct carried the C&O Canal over the Monocacy River. Thousands of boats, boatmen and mules, and millions of tons of coal and other cargo passed over this aqueduct. If you look closely you can see signs of their passage in wear marks on the stones and the iron rail posts.
The aqueduct endured despite nature's fury and man's best efforts. Floods roaring down the Monocacy washed ons of debris against the side of the aqueduct. Confederate troops tried twice to blow up the structure, failing both times.
Floods and changing technology eventually put an end to the C & O Canal Company and with it the boatman's life. No longer part of an active transportation route, the Monocacy Aqueduct endures as a link to the past and a monument to the ambitions and hopes of those who built and worked on the C&O Canal.
The Monocacy Aqueduct, a work of very solid structure...withstood the extraordinary ice freshets of the last winter and spring...
-- Fourth Annual Report, C & O Canal Company, 1832. |