"Georgetown - Lock #4 on the C & O Canal" by Paul McGehee. The view looking west from Thomas Jefferson Street N.W. on an "indian summer" day in the autumn of 1910. The scenic Chesapeake and Ohio Canal runs 185 miles from Georgetown at Washington, D.C to Cumberland, Maryland through Harper's Ferry...it was built between 1828 and 1850. A series of locks raised and lowered the barges through hilly terrain with troughs which could be filled or emptied of water as needed. The C & O Canal's towpath, used today by hikers and joggers, was once the path by which mules would tow barges laden with coal from West Virginia mines to heat the homes and power the industry of a young nation during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The families that lived on the barges were a hearty lot...they had to be, for the work was difficult and the hours long. It would take loaded barges a week to make the run to Georgetown, through fair weather and foul, stopping at night to give the mules and the crew a few hours of rest before the next day's journey. Finally arriving at Georgetown, they would tie up alongside the towpath just outside of town (near Georgetown University) and wait sometimes two or three days for their orders to unload. Handed down from one generation to the next, working the freight barges was a way of life from a simpler time when things moved at a slower pace. Eventually, competition from the railroads, and later the trucking industry, put an end to the canal days on the C & O, with the last barges calling at Georgetown in 1924. Today, the C & O Canal remains for us to enjoy, rescued from assured oblivion by Justice William 0. Douglas and the Department of the Interior. Its memories are kept alive by the C & O Canal Association, promoting the preservation of this, a beautiful and unique national treasure. "Georgetown - Lock #4 on the C & O Canal" is faithfully reproduced from Paul's original color pencil drawing as an archival quality print issued in a strictly limited edition of only 2,000 pieces each hand-signed by the artist. Image size 11" x 14".