James River and Kanawha Canal Historic District | |
 Canal Walk, Richmond, Virginia | |
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| Nearest city | Richmond, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 37°31′57.2514″N77°25′54.876″W / 37.532569833°N 77.43191000°W /37.532569833; -77.43191000 |
| Area | 138 acres (56 ha) |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000982[1] |
| VLR No. | 127-0171 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | August 26, 1971 |
| Designated VLR | September 9, 1969[2] |
TheJames River and Kanawha Canal was a partially builtcanal inVirginia intended to facilitate shipments of passengers and freight by water between the western counties of Virginia and the coast. Ultimately itstowpath became the roadbed for a rail line following the same course.
Encouraged byGeorge Washington,[3] the canal project was begun in 1785 as the James River Company, and later restarted under the James River and Kanawha Canal Company. It was an expensive project which failed several times financially and was frequently damaged by floods. Though largely financed by theCommonwealth of Virginia through theVirginia Board of Public Works, it was only half completed by 1851, reachingBuchanan, inBotetourt County. When work to extend it further west stopped permanently,railroads were overtaking the canal as a far more productive mode of transportation.
After theAmerican Civil War funds for resuming construction were unavailable from either the war-torn Commonwealth or private sources and the project did poorly against railroad competition, finally succumbing to damage done by massive flooding in 1877. In the end its right-of-way was bought and the canal was largely dismantled by the newRichmond and Alleghany Railroad, which laid tracks on the former towpath. The R&A became part of theChesapeake and Ohio Railway in the 1890s, which developed much of the former canal route into an important line for West Virginiabituminous coal headed eastbound for thePeninsula Extension to reach theHampton Roadscoal piers atNewport News for worldwide export aboard largecolliers.
The James River and Kanawha Canal was a project first proposed by George Washington when he was a young man surveying the mountains of western Virginia, which at the time consisted of what is todayWest Virginia,Kentucky, and to the north bank of theOhio river. He was searching for a way to open a water route to the West. He believed that was the key to helping Virginia become an economic powerhouse in what would emerge as theUnited States quite a few years later.
In those times, waterways were the major highways of commerce. Early developments along the east coast of the colonies tended to end at theFall Line (thehead of navigation) of the rivers that emptied into its great bays (e.g., theDelaware and theChesapeake). Such early communities in Virginia included what we now know asAlexandria on thePotomac River,Fredericksburg on theRappahannock River,Richmond andLynchburg on theJames River andPetersburg on theAppomattox River.
It was known by then that theOhio River flowed into theMississippi River, which flowed into theGulf of Mexico. It was also known that theAllegheny Mountains formed theEastern Continental Divide, and that there was apparently no inland waterway to sail between the two large watersheds.
By 1772, Washington had identified the Potomac and James rivers as the most promising locations for canals to be built to join with the western rivers. His preference was the James, as the Potomac led to rivers in land disputed withPennsylvania and would be equally helpful toMaryland. The James could be aligned with theKanawha River (in what is nowWest Virginia), and would best serve only Virginia, which was his priority. In 1785, theJames River and Kanawha Company was created, with formerRevolutionary War Commander in Chief George Washington as honorary president, to build locks around the falls at Richmond. By then, Washington was quite busy with the affairs of the new nation, in 1789 being elected its first president.
Promoted by such men as George Washington,Edmund Randolph, andJohn Marshall, theJames River and Kanawha Company opened the first commercial canal in the United States. Stretching fromRichmond, Virginia toWestham, Virginia and paralleling the James for 7 miles (11 km), it supplemented existingbateaux transportation on the James River. These flat-bottomed boats floated down the James to Richmond laden withtobacco hogsheads and returned with French and English imports, furniture, dishes, and clothing.
In addition to bateaux, many canal boats werepackets, which drew more water than the smaller bateaux. Mules and horses pulled the packets along the towpaths. Locks were necessary at points where the river had rapids. TheAmerican Revolutionary War and theWar of 1812 each slowed construction. Work was slow, expensive, and very labor-intensive through the rocky terrain of Virginia'sPiedmont region, a transitional area between the sandycoastal plain and the mountains. The early congregation of St. Peters Church in Richmond consisted mostly of Irish immigrants who worked on the canal.[4] After many of the original Irish laborers died of hypothermia, they were replaced byenslaved Africans hired from plantation owners who lived near the route of the canal.[citation needed] After work stalled for a number of years the canal company went broke and gave up.[citation needed]
In 1820, the Commonwealth of Virginia took control of the project and with state funds provided through theVirginia Board of Public Works resumed construction. Work stalled yet again, then resumed in 1835 under the new James River and Kanawha Company, with JudgeBenjamin Wright as Chief Engineer. He was assisted by his sonSimon Wright,Charles Ellet Jr., andDaniel Livermore. By 1840, the canal was completed toLynchburg. Service was inaugurated byWilliam Henry Harrison who was elected president that same year. In 1847,Walter W. Gwynn was hired as Chief Engineer, withEdward Lorraine as his assistant.
The canal eventually extended 196.5 miles (316 km) west of Richmond toBuchanan by 1851. There, the plan was to link it to theJames River and Kanawha Turnpike to provide passage through the most rugged portions of the mountains. The goal was to reach the Kanawha River at its head of navigation, about 30 miles (50 km) east of today'sCharleston, West Virginia.
To this end, French capitalists represented by Ernest Bellot des Minieres and Henri-Théodore Olivari from Bordeaux proposed to complete the canal from Buchanan to theOhio River as well as contribute to water line improvements. However, this did not materalize.[5] The portage necessary made competition with railroads along the same route a real threat. Construction of a planned railroad there was delayed by theAmerican Civil War. In addition, both war damage and interruption in the flow of commerce along the canal did great harm to it.
Railroads began to emerge as a more efficient form of transportation in the 1830s, midway in the canal's construction. In spite of the appointment of formerConfederate generalArmistead Lindsay Long as Chief Engineer following his service in the Civil War (1861–1865), damage which the canal incurred during the conflict was never completely repaired.
By the time theChesapeake and Ohio Railway was built through to the Ohio River in 1873, the canal's fate was clear. The James River and Kanawha Canal Company was authorized in 1876 to build theBuchanan and Clifton Forge Railway to connect the westernmost point of the canal with the C&O.
The Virginia General Assembly, in 1878, gave the James River and Kanawha Company the right to contract with the Buchanan and Clifton Forge Railroad forConvict Labor.[6] However both the canal and the Buchanan and Clifton Forge Railway were sold to theRichmond and Allegheny Railroad company, which built tracks along the towpaths. That railroad was sold to the C&O, establishing Clifton Forge as the division point of the large east-to-west system that resulted when the pioneer railroads were combined under the Chesapeake and Ohio.
Today, CSX trains loaded with coal from the mountains follow the old canal route, much of it at a gentler "water level" grade, headed to port atNewport News at Hampton Roads. TheBuckingham Branch Railroad, ashort-line railroad, has a lease to operate the original C&O alignment over the formerVirginia Central Railroad, including the Mountain Subdivision.
In the second half of the 20th century, portions of the old canal, locks and turning basins became the source of renewed interest in Richmond, Lynchburg and at other points along the line. As part of Richmond's revival and redevelopment of its waterfront, a portion of the canal was restored.
The 138-acre (56 ha) James River and Kanawha Canal Historic District was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1971. Thehistoric district included onecontributing building, ninecontributing sites, and 21contributing structures.[1] Today boat rides are featured along a Canal Walk which extends for 1.25 miles (2 km) parallel to both the old Haxall Canal and James River and Kanawha canal.[7] Several historical exhibits about the canals and the City of Richmond are dispersed along the way.
Visitors can also visit the Three-Mile Locks in Pump House Park, located behind theCarillon in William Byrd Park. This park is located 3 miles (5 km) upstream from the canal's turning basin. It contains the remnants of the Lower Arch (an entrance to the original James River Canal,[8] and the Three-Mile Locks of the newer James River & Kanawha Canal. The park is also home to the City'sGothic-revival water pumping station originally known as theNew Pump House, and its replacement, the 1924 hydroelectric pumping station. TheJames River Park System is working with a local nonprofit, the Friends of Pump House, to return the New Pump House to some form of public use.[9] The park is popular with fisherman and dog lovers, and is near theShip Yard.
The western entrance of the Richmond portion of the Canal lies near the village ofSabot inGoochland County while the eastern lies in the city near theRichmond Deepwater Terminal. Sufficient waterflow appears to be provided byBosher Dam, an 1835 structure located on the western side of the city.
TheLock-Keeper's House is a historic home located near Cedar Point, Goochland County, Virginia. It was built about 1836 to serve Lock Number 7 and is the last remaining lock-keeper's house of the James River and Kanawha Canal system.
Varney's Falls Dam is a historic lock and dam structure on south side of the James River near Gilmore Mills, Botetourt County, Virginia.
There is a restored lock in the village of Big Island off the James River where it is crossed by the Blue Ridge Parkway. A visitor center is located in Amherst County just north of the bridge crossing the river. The canal lock is in Big Island on the Bedford County side of the James and is accessed by a path and a walkway underneath the bridge.
Much of the formerJames River and Kanawha Turnpike portage route through West Virginia is today theMidland Trail, aNational Scenic Byway.
Stock from the canal worth $20,000 was given to Liberty Hall Academy in Virginia'sShenandoah Valley by George Washington as an endowment. That gift prompted the renaming of the Academy to Washington College, which became today'sWashington and Lee University inLexington, Virginia.[10]
Media related toJames River and Kanawha Canal at Wikimedia Commons
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