The Iron Titans Tame the Marsh?
The Waterways
The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal Gains Steam
By 1850, larger steam driven commercial carriers needed a faster, deeper and wider passage to market than the hand dug Dismal Swamp Canal, a few miles west of here. Digging the Dismal Swamp Canal, between 1793 and 1805, was filled with challenges. Manually dug by slave and indentured labor through snake-infested swamp land, the canal proved too narrow and shallow for steam powered vessels.
Steam power changed the face of America. The steam engine was adopted by industry, transportation and agriculture. In 1850, steam dredges, called “Iron Titans,” dug through tangles of roots and rock-hard cypress knees to build the deeper and wider Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal.
In 1859, the pony steamboat “Calypso” (pictured above) was the first vessel to navigate the new Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal.
Marker can be reached from Locks Road 0.6 miles west of North Battlefield Boulevard (Virginia Route 168), on the left when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
