Rappahannock River Canal 1816 - 1860
... calculated that the 323ft. fall from Carter's Run at Waterloo to Fredericksburg would require 28 locks, 18 dams, and four canals.
The canal system would be just over 50 miles long, and he estimated the cost at $210,480, including $10,000 to cover "contingencies." ....
The canal was finally opened up to Carter's Run on July 1, 1849. By then, the refinanced company had spent over $280,000 on new construction, and nearly $30,000in repairs....
A far larger project than Laomi Baldwin had envisioned over 30 years earlier, the completed Rappahannock Canal had 25 stone locks, 55 wooden locks, 20 dams, 15 miles of excavated waterways, and a large boat basin in Fredericksburg...
Brief Service Life
Shipping on the canal followed a predictable pattern.
Canal boats made the journey up the canal with manufactured goods, fertilizer and building materials, and returned to Fredericksburg loaded with farm products, lumber, and firewood.
For the period Sept. 30, 1849, to Sept. 30, 1850, the company reported the following business:
Descending Traffic
25,859 barrels of flour
34,356 bushels of wheat
2748 bushels of corn
348,221 feet of lumber
1183 cords of wood
300 bushels of oats
616,649 1bs. merchandise
39,516 pieces barrel timber
Tolls Collected: $4002.00
Ascending Traffic
913,965 1bs. merchandise
1700 tons of plaster
1015 bushels of clover seed
137 barrels of fish
1188 sacks of salt
174,539 1bs. of guano
Tolls Collected: $1646
Tolls for the period described above amounted to only $5648.00·
With so little income, the company had no money left for maintenance or repairs, to say nothing of retiring the huge construction debt, which had reached nearly $450,000 -a huge investment in those days...
(
visit link)