Nothing really new today just stuck in Brunswick for a rest/rain day. The motel does have an exercise room so when I get through with this installment I will try to exercise some muscles that are neglected on a bike.
I want to explain some of the photos in yesterdays blog. A couple photos try to show the canal in different stages of maintenance/decay. On the southern end near the population centers of the Washington area, the canal and locks are fairly well maintained and may even be functional in few cases. But, as you go north, there starts to be areas where trees and other natural debris has fallen into the canal. Eventually the canal increasingly has little or no water and has fairly large trees growing in it and sometimes resembles a bog or swamp.
Another, more fascinating feature are the locks and gates used raise and lower the barges. The locks appear to be about 12 to15 feet wide so the barges were not very big. Probably about the size of a semi truck trailer.
The gates are large double door like and the up stream water keeps them close. To open them there are large and long timber beams that either horses or very strong men pushed to open. The upstream gates opened to fill the lock; the barge was pulled in the gates were closed and lower gates were open to let the barge enter lower canal segment.
Fascinating. Wish I could see it in action. Unfortunately most of the gates have long sincedisappeared.
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