Canal Clipper, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Great Falls

Canal Clipper, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Great Falls

While enjoying the Georgetown Heritage Canal Boat trip yesterday, on a perfect sunny autumn afternoon, (*)
along the navigable stretch of the C&O Canal in that part of northwest Washington, D.C., I was reminded of
another boat ride on the canal, farther upstream, many years ago, on another splendid September afternoon.

While the new Georgetown Canal Boat is electric powered, this one, the Canal Clipper, captured in 1982 on Kodachrome-64 slide film, was powered by a team of mules on the towpath, as was the tradition along the
C&O Canal in its years as a major commercial artery between Washington and points west.

If you're wondering at the absence of mules in the photo, I'm guessing this was on one of their "days off,"
or perhaps they were just taking a lunch break out of camera-range - Forgive me, it's been several years ;-)

I shall have to assume the Canal Clipper, seen here at a canal lock, is not a "runaway,"
and that she was anchored or otherwise secured, pending the mules' return!

In any case, the old wooden vessel has been replaced by a newer, larger one, but I loved the continuity of seeing
the C&O Canal landscape at water level, at two separate points, separated by ... my goodness ... forty years.

Proving time flies when you're having fun ... especially when some cameras are involved.

The photo was taken with an M42-mount Pentax SLR through SMC Takumar glass. It makes its first appearance today.

©2022 Steve Ember
(*)