C&O Canal Lock 3

The C and O Canal Lock three is identified by the heavy, iron-strapped wooden gates that block the stone-walled channel. This lock lifted canal boats eight feet upward, allowing them to bypass the rocky rapids of the Potomac River. In eighteen thirty-nine, a local merchant named John Dulin successfully lobbied for the lock’s construction to keep boats moving past his warehouse. He argued that the natural river currents made transit impossible for the heavy, coal-laden barges coming down from the mountains.