"We are again in the midst of trouble": Flooding on the Potomac River and the struggle for the sustainability of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 1828-1996

Shaffer, Donald

This report is a historical analysis of responses to flooding on the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal from the time construction began on the waterway in 1828 up until (but not including) the flood of January 1996. Recurrent flooding has plagued the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal throughout its history. During its operational era, major floods repeatedly put the waterway out of business, sometimes for months, and were a key factor behind the failure of the C&O Canal Company in 1890 and the final closure of the canal in 1924. Since the purchase of the canal by the federal government in 1938 and its transformation into a park, flooding has continued to be a major problem. Flood damage has made the towpath inaccessible to the public for long periods and required the expenditure of tens of millions of dollars for repairs and the stabilization of canal structures. The response to flood damage on the C&O Canal changed over time. The shifts reflected the differing priorities of the organizations controlling the canal. For instance, the C&O Canal Company, which built the waterway, wanted to operate it as a profitable business. Consequently, the company promptly repaired flood damage. Every day the canal was closed meant a loss of revenue. As the threat posed by the river to reliable navigation became apparent in the 1840s, the company started trying to protect the canal and make it sustainable. However, it experienced only limited success in this endeavor and the considerable expense of flood repairs and damage prevention activities contributed to the failure of the canal company in 1890. The canal fell into the hands of trustees representing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Their main concern was not the canal’s sustainability, but preventing its right-of-way from falling into the hands of competitors. To control the C&O Canal’s right-of-way, the B&O found it necessary to keep the canal in operation to prevent its sales by the courts. Consequently, they spent only the bare minimum required to maintain the canal and undertook few projects aimed at preventing flood damage. Under the B&O trustees, the condition of the canal declined. The waterway managed to stay in operation for thirty-five more years, however, because the period from 1889 to 1924 was unusually free of major floods on the Potomac River. After the flood of May 1924 finally gave the railroad the justification to close the canal, maintenance on the waterway largely ceased and its rate of deterioration increased markedly. With the acquisition of the C&O Canal by the federal government in 1938, the National Park Service adapted it to serve the recreational needs of the national capital region and the goal of historic preservation. Both aims gave the federal government an incentive to repair and maintain the C&O Canal, especially after major floods. However, since the canal had to compete with the rest of the government for federal dollars, maintenance funds were often scarce and money for flood restoration was slow in coming. Repairs that would have taken weeks or months under the C&O Canal Company, stretched into years under federal control. Given these circumstances, the canal continued to deteriorate until the 1972 flood finally prompted the federal government to spend millions restoring and stabilizing the waterway. This expenditure improved the flood worthiness of the canal, but failed to make it invulnerable to damage from high water as the floods of 1985 and 1990 have shown.

"We are again in the midst of trouble": Flooding on the Potomac River and the struggle for the sustainability of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 1828-1996

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