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"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.
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