Four Locks - Big Pool MD
Posted by: 
Don.Morfe
N 39° 36.919 W 077° 56.900
18S E 246903 N 4389216
To avoid the bend in the river, the canal engineers cut the canal one-half mile across the neck. Because of the rapid elevation change, these four locks were necessary to lift the canal boats a total of 33 feet.
Waymark Code: WM16KAB
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 08/19/2022
Views: 1
TEXT on the historical marker:
Four Locks-Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park
— National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior —
Here the Potomac River makes a meandering four-mile loop around Prather’s Neck. To avoid the bend in the river, the canal engineers cut the canal one-half mile across the neck. Because of the rapid elevation change, these four locks were necessary to lift the canal boats a total of 33 feet.
[Sidebar:]
A small but busy community grew up here. Children dallied on their way to the one-room schoolhouse still standing just down the road. In the barn just ahead mules rested after long canal miles. Canal boats loaded and unloaded cargo at the warehouses at Locks 49 and 50. Other boats were repaired at the dry dock at Lock 47.
Group that erected the marker: National Park Service
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
Four Locks Road
Along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath, at mile 108.6.
Big Pool, MD United States
21711
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