Times of Uncle Ernest -

Chesapeake City and Beyond– Bill

Chapter 6

"So, Bill, when did our canal finally get dug?"

       "You know, boy, if you'd been paying attention you'd know that it was opened for traffic in1829," he growled, pushing the poster into my hands again. "You read it once. Here, read it again for God's sake, if you can," he said, not hiding the contempt in his voice. So I read part of it again, sounding out the words slowly.

       "Huh … wow, the thing was just a ditch running through. Yeah, Bill, it says that the boats couldn't draw more than seven feet of water."

       "By God, you can read, and that's what you'll have to do to find out the particulars about it. It's all in the history books, pretty near. I'll give you some more that I know and then I need to feed Babe and the other livestock. By that time they'll be wanting you at home anyway. Now, don't you know that mostly Irishmen dug the canal? They did it all by manual labor, using mules and horses, of course. Some of the workers stayed at the Hole-in-the Wall, which was new at the time, actually the first building in Bohemia Village, the old name of our town. There was a gang of those Irish, so a priest came down to preach to them. And he was sorely needed, too, because they had a devil of a time getting the job done.

       "The swampy area at the Delaware River side caused great problems. It was almost like digging through quicksand. Much of what was dug out one day would have to be repeated the next because it would cave back in overnight. And digging through the Deep Cut at Summit was a monstrous job. Men worked constantly to cut through the upper layer of boulders and gravel. Once they got deep enough they had to deal with water-bearing sand and black, stinking clay. That stuff allowed the sides of the trench to slide in and cover what was dug. Efficient earth-moving machinery hadn't been invented, so the work had to be repeated over and over again. But they finally got it dug through, and in 1829 the water from both ends met at the Deep Cut and the canal was officially open for traffic. The 14-mile short cut required three sets of locks to raise the vessels above sea level. They were located at Chesapeake City, Saint Georges, and Delaware City. Road level pivot bridges were built, and a huge covered bridge was built high above the canal at Summit.

       "In 1919 the federal government bought out the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, and by 1926 had deepened it to sea level. The rest you can see, boy, because just about the time you were born—the mid-thirties—the canal was deepened and widened again. So that now, when you swim in it, you'll be going 250 feet to make it across, and in the channel you'll be treading water with 27 feet below you."

       "You bet I'll be swimming in it, Bill, when I get old enough." Just then, Nina, I heard Granny's call resounding across the countryside. 'Baa-beeeeeee,' it rang. Then again she called, louder and even more drawn out than the first time. "Bye, Bill," I said, jumping off the steps. Bill grunted something that I didn't hear because I ran out his lane, down the black-topped road, and up my long lane to the house. About half-way up the lane I heard Bill calling Babe, so I knew he would be feeding his animals and doing whatever chores that were needed. So, Nina, that ended the longest time I ever spent with Bill. Oh, I would talk with him often in the years to come, but never again would I get such an elaborate history lesson.

       What happened to Uncle Ernest? I thought you'd be asking that, Nina. I told you before that he had to go away for a long time. I heard Mom telling someone that they sent him away so he could get better. So for a good part of that summer I just moped around. I went down to see Bill a few times and watched him and his brother, Doc, till the fields with Babe. Pop took me fishing at the Burnt House once or twice. And I played on the farm, catching frogs and digging crayfish in the streams of our woods. But later on that summer Uncle Ernest would visit again, and he would continue his crazy stories of adventure.  [To be continued Friday, 5/25/2012]