(
Satellite, the lock that remains from the original canal.)
It appears the
C & D Canal Museum has preserved some of the machinery that was used to run the locks. The canal was opened in 1829 with an expense of $2.5m. It was one of the most expensive projects of its time. It opened with a 10' draft and was 66' wide at the waterline and 36' wide at the channel bottom. The USACE bought it in 1919 for $2.5m and by 1927 had converted it to a sea-level operation with a 12' depth and a 90' width at a cost of $10m. During 1933-38, $13m was spent to expand it to 27' x 250'. During the 1960s and 70s, the canal was expanded to today's 35' x 450'. The cost of the final expansion is notably missing from the history. [
USACE]
The channel width is 450' and, starting in the 1970s, a dredging program maintains a 35' depth. But I don't know how that 35' is measured with respect to the tide range of 3' at Chesapeake City and 5.5' at Ready Point. When the
railroad bridge is down, it has a clearance of 45'. The clearance of the span in the raised position is 138'. I think the implication is that these clearances are measured with respect to Mean High Water (MHW). The clearances of the other bridges over the canal vary between 134' and 138'. Even though there are no locks, the 450' width of the channel and bends in the canal impose limits on the length of the ships. Ships with a beam of 190' and a length of 960' have used the canal as long as they have bow thrusters. Tug and tow vessels are still limited to a length of 760' and a combined restriction of 190'. (I assume the "combined restriction" is the width of the tow when the barges are lashed together.) "The Canal shortens the trip between Baltimore and New York by approximately 155 miles which saves a vessel both time, an estimated 6.5 hours, and expense" [
Google: Chesapeake and Delaware Canal - Baltimore Harbor Connecting Channels ...] The canal is 15 miles long and handles 40% of the shipping in and out of the Port of Baltimore. [
John Weeks Canal]
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Chuck Sanders, Mar 2017
[This must be a model of one of the dredgers used to maintain the 35' draft of the canal.] |
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N Su, Aug 2019
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CLAIM TO FAME
The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal is the only canal built in 19th-century America that still operates today as a major shipping route. It was one of the first civil engineering projects proposed in the New World and one of the most difficult to carry out.
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photos posted by First State Update with the comment: "Atlantic Enterprise tug pulling the Chesapeake 1000 barge crane to Baltimore - C&D Canal entrance at Reedy Point at approximately 2:45 [Mar 28, 2024] - photos submitted."
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8 drone photos of the bridges over the canal
First State Update
posted three images with the comment: "The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal was originally constructed with a system of lift locks to manage the changes in water level between the Delaware River and the Elk River on Chesapeake Bay. Early canal plans and construction in the 1820s included multiple locks along the route, with lock chambers at Delaware City, St. Georges, and two at Chesapeake City, each initially about 100 feet long and 22 feet wide and later enlarged as traffic grew. These locks and associated pumping equipment lifted vessels over the Delmarva Peninsula when the canal opened for business in 1829 and remained in operation throughout the 19th century until the federal government converted the waterway to a sea-level canal in the 1920s. During the modernization, all of the original locks except the eastern lock at Delaware City were removed, and the canal was deepened and widened for unrestricted maritime traffic. The surviving lock at Delaware City has since been preserved as a historic structure."
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The original route of the canal.
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| 1904/61 Wilmington Quad @ 62,500 |
The easternmost lock was not removed because they built the sea-level canal straight through the swamp.
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| 1948/65 Delaware City Quad @ 24,000 |
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