Online Galleries
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
Captain Myers was an experienced canal boat captain who regularly hauled 200 tons of coal in his cargo boat on the C&O Canal. On April 20, 1920 he returned to the Cushwa Basin in Williamsport, Maryland, with a load of coal from Cumberland. After the boat was unloaded, he started back up the canal to get another load. His boat and mule team entered the stone aqueduct near the Cushwa Basin when it gave way. Captain Myers, his crew, and his mules survived, but his boat ended up in the Conococheague Creek below. And then for the next 24 hours, water from the canal poured out of the breech, stranding boats up stream for weeks.
View this online gallery with your students to see photos of the breach of the aqueduct and Captain Myers sunk canal boat.
Last updated: August 2, 2018