In 1785 the James River and Kanawha Canal was begun. George Washington personally surveyed its location. Here is an illustration from Harper's Weekly of the canal.
Not only was the Potomac being developed as a route to the West. In Richmond a similar project, the James River and Kanawha Canal was begun. The original plan was to build a waterway all the way to the Ohio River. An impressive tunnel would have been built through the mountains.
But flooding, financial troubles and the coming of the Railroad ended the effort. In 1851 the canal was only half finished and the railroads were expanding in all directions faster than the canal could be dug. After the Civil War some of the canal right of way was used for the Richmond and Allegheny Railroad, later incorporated into the C&O system.
Shokhoe Bottom in Richmond.
Today the business of the Commonwealth is carried on in a hotel atrium featuring a floor map of the canal and turning basin...
...while stones from the old locks and turning basin provide a resting place on a sunny day.
The James Center stands on the site of the old turning basin.
Atrium in the James Center.
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