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Potomac Canal book published by WVU Press now available
“The Potomac Canal: George Washington and the Waterway West” by Robert J. Kapsch is now available from West Virginia University Press and at bookstores across the country.
Even as a young man, George Washington dreamed of making the Potomac River navigable as far as the Ohio River Valley and of bringing the produce and other riches of the land west of the Allegheny Mountains back to the flourishing eastern cities and ports.
“The Potomac Canal: George Washington and the Waterway West” is a history of the new nation’s first efforts to establish this link. The Potomac Canal Company was founded in 1785 – two years after the end of the American Revolutionary War – and was active until it was overtaken by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company in 1828.
During its operation, the canal system was used to ship flour from mills in the foothills of Appalachia to the tidewater of the Chesapeake, where it was then transshipped to the Caribbean as trade for sugar and other goods.
This trade soon became the basis of agricultural wealth in West Virginia’s eastern panhandle and throughout the Appalachian Piedmont. Coal was also shipped via the canal system from the upper reaches of the Potomac River to workshops at Harpers Ferry (then part of Virginia) and beyond. This industrial trade route laid the foundation for what would eventually become the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal became part of a national canal system that totaled 1,500 miles in length by 1835. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became America’s “mother of railroads” launching another aspect of the nation’s transportation revolution.
“The Potomac Canal: George Washington and the Waterway West” presents a chronological narrative that covers the following topics: early canal proposals (1755–1775), George Washington and the canal system’s early development (1785–1790), Little Falls and Great Falls (1790–1802), the Shenandoah and other lateral canals (1802–1812), operation (1802–1828), and demise of the canal (1819–1828).
Also included is information on people of interest, such as Captain George Pointer, a slave who bought his freedom and became a company engineer; George Washington, the first president of the company; and the workmen drawn from various countries.
Despite the Potomac Canal’s instrumental role in the development of our nation, no book has detailed its history or fully illustrated its routes. “The Potomac Canal” brings to light the history of this important transportation system and its impact on the region and the country.
In this richly illustrated, large-format, 374-page book, Kapsch discusses not only the canal’s economic impacts but its significance in the lives of the men and women who contributed to the canal’s construction and operation.
The book should be of interest to scholars of architecture, transportation, and engineering, and to anyone interested in the early history of the region traversed by the Potomac Canal.
Kapsch holds doctorate degrees in American studies, engineering, and architecture, as well as master’s degrees in historic preservation and management.
For 15 years, Kapsch was chief of the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record, the U.S. government’s premier documentation program.
He is the author of several books on historic architecture and engineering, including “Canals” (W. W. Norton 2004), an illustrated history of American canals.
The publication of “The Potomac Canal” was supported by a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council.
“The Potomac Canal” can be ordered directly from WVU Press by calling 1-866-WVU-PRESS (1-866-988-7737) or online at www.wvupress.com. You may also place your order through your favorite bookstore. Discounts are available for libraries and booksellers.
WVU Press
Office: (304) 293-8400, ext. 4504