A Place that Loses its History Loses its Soul.

Central Rappahannock

Heritage Center

Newsletter

Volume 14, Issue 12

November 2024

Harnessing the Rappahannock River

By Hal Wiggins

Part 1: Commercial effort in the 19th century

built locks and canals for navigation upstream

Our beautiful Rappahannock River is a free-flowing river, but it hasn’t always been this way. For many years, the large concrete Embrey Dam and an adjacent crib dam near the fall line prevented the river’s natural course. It has only been since 2004 and 2005, when the dams were breached and removed, that the Rappahannock River has run free.

Today, the Rappahannock River in eastern Virginia is one of our country's longest free-flowing rivers, running for approximately 184 miles from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west all the way to the Chesapeake Bay in the east. Free-flowing rivers are the equivalent of wilderness areas in the United States, most with lush streamside forests supporting a myriad of terrestrial and aquatic organisms.

The Rappahannock River is also one of the most scenic rivers in the eastern U.S., with a protected 5,000-acre streamside forest buffer extending more than 23 miles upstream from Fredericksburg. However, at one time in the 1800s, 20 crib dams constructed of wood and stone rubble marred the scenic beauty of the upper Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers.

These dams were associated with a commercial project called the Rappahannock Navigation, a system of 20 crib dams, 47 locks, and 15 miles of stone-hewn canals. This engineering marvel envisioned a 50-mile highway of river, ponds and canals to carry goods from Fauquier County to Fredericksburg.

In telling this story, it may be helpful to understand how cultural and societal values change over time. In the early 1800s, the Rappahannock River was not only valued for its fisheries, but also as a potential conveyance for transporting goods both upstream and downstream to Fredericksburg.

Rappahannock Navigation was the Fredericksburg area’s most colossal transportation project for its time, involving the town’s governing body, the Virginia legislature, and private investors. Goods could reach Fredericksburg and continue downstream on sailing ships in the tidal — or open-water segment — of the Rappahannock River to markets in the Chesapeake Bay and beyond.

Our story begins in June 1816, when the Virginia Herald in Fredericksburg reported a meeting to develop plans for making the Rappahannock commercially navigable above the fall line rapids at Fredericksburg.

This great task became the sole venture of the

Rappahannock Company organized in 1816 to develop a navigation system to serve the Rappahannock River Valley.

A celebratory procession marked the beginning of construction on the Rappahannock Canal on January 21, 1829.

The planned system would extend from Waterloo in Fauquier County at the mouth of Carter’s Run near Warrenton, downstream to the falls at Fredericksburg. The plan also included construction along the Rapidan River, a major tributary to the Rappahannock. 

A series of meetings resulted in an official survey and recommendation in 1817 to build 20 dams to form slack water ponds that would flood rocky waters and rapids. These ponds would be used for poled canal boats as well as to provide access to the 33 lift locks needed to navigate the 323-foot difference in elevation. There would also be 14 guard locks and 15 miles of canals to be dug along the side of the river to bypass areas of rapids.

Early investors of this venture were primarily Fredericksburg merchants and the Common Council of the Corporation of Fredericksburg, who wanted Fredericksburg's port to be able to compete as a major shipping location. Among the investors were a Colonel Storrow, president of the company, and Major Hugh Patton, a company vice-president.

Despite the enthusiasm of investors in the immediate Fredericksburg area, it appears that potential canal users on the upper reaches of the planned navigation system were reluctant to invest or otherwise support the company unless work had started on a stretch of canal that would serve their immediate interests.

Local quarries provided granite for building locks and canals

Actual construction on the project did not begin until January 21, 1829. Bit by bit, the work was accomplished during the next 20 years, and in 1849 the work was declared completed. In reality, though, the navigation system had been used piecemeal for years prior to the announced completion date.

Local granite was plentiful and it came in handy for construction of the system’s rock-hewn locks and canals. The Rappahannock Company made use of most of the granite quarries just above the fall line in Fredericksburg, one of which was Quarry Lake, now within the present boundaries of the City of Fredericksburg, just upstream of the fall line on the south side of the river.

In his 1967 American University master’s thesis on the Rappahannock Canal, Donald S. Callaham described “several large granite quarries such as Fredericksburg’s Battlefield Granite" that were once touted as being among “the most valuable granite properties in the United States.”

Callaham further described an ad published in the Virginia Herald newspaper on May 27, 1829, offering laborers $5 to $7 a month to work on the canal. Pay would include “as much bread, meat, fish and molassas as can be consumed three times a day, with some spirits.” Irishmen, skilled craftsmen and slaves did much of the back-breaking work. Slaveowners were assured that the danger of the canal work was not greater than that on a farm.

Dams constructed along the river were either of crib or wall-type construction — the basic ingredient of either type being stone covered with oak planks about two inches thick. Dams were linked with abutments made of stones laid in mortar on either bank, and they varied in length from 200 to 1,000 feet and in height from six to 12 feet. Some of the slack water ponds created by the dams were over two miles in length, enabling canal boats to

navigate with poles or oars over the flooded rapids. There were no towpaths like

 those found in other canal systems along Virginia inland rivers, such as the more elaborate Chesapeake and Ohio Canal constructed on the Maryland side of the Potomac River.

There were 18 lift locks and seven guard locks built of stone, usually granite laid in cement. Most of these are still visible today along the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers. The remainder of the locks were built of pine or white oak.

The canals, which were needed to allow boats to bypass difficult parts of the rivers, totaled 15 miles in length, with some individual canals being over a mile long. They were relatively shallow, but none less than 2½ feet deep. They were also required to be at least 21 feet wide, with some wider areas to allow boats to pass.

Watercrafts at that time were designed to navigate the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers as well as the canal system, and were shallow-draft vessels known as Rappahannock River batteaux. These specialized boats measured 65 feet by 9¾ feet -- the maximum size allowed by the locks -- and drew about 20 inches of water when fully loaded.

Astoundingly, these shallow-draft vessels could carry about 200 barrels or loads up to 25 tons. The Rappahannock Navigation’s system of dams, locks and canals in the upper stretch along each side of the river enabled cargo in these boats to be brought around rapids at regular intervals.

There are still examples of what these batteaux looked like and how they work at the yearly James River Batteau Festival in Lynchburg. The actual remains of one old batteau found in 1953 may be seen at the Old Jail Museum in Warrenton.

A view of the crib dam exposed after the breach of both the Embrey Dam and crib dam in late February 2004. Photo by Hal Wiggins.



Navigation project required two canals on the Rapidan

The Rappahannock Navigation plan also included construction along the Rapidan River, a major tributary of the Rappahannock River. This part of the project consisted of two different canals built at different times — the Old Rapidan Canal and the Rapidan Canal.

One of the larger components of the Rapidan Canal is Lock 9 located in Spotsylvania County about 10 miles above Fredericksburg. This is the most well-preserved of the Rapidan Canal locks. It is adjacent to a massive crib dam consisting of a wood timber shell filled with heavy stones that was built just above the confluence of the Rapidan and Rappahannock rivers.

The dam is now long gone, having been moved downstream by flood events, but its

huge stones are still strewn across the river, creating a labyrinth-like series of rapids that run for almost half a mile downstream.

Lock 9 and a section of this canal run for well over a mile downstream and can easily be seen by canoe facing downstream on the right side of the river. The canal was built into a bluff and is the most unusual on the river because the north lock chamber is solid masonry. The lock is massive, and it is difficult to imagine how it worked. 

Due to its size and structural integrity, the Rapidan Canal was considered significant enough to be listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register on June 19, 1973, and on the National Register of Historic Places on July 26, 1973.

Commercial transportation system never paid off but ruins remain

The company’s vision of the Rappahannock Navigation project as a commercial bonaza did not materialize, and in fact, this first attempt in the 1830s was a failure. However, the Rapahannock Navigation system was completely rebuilt in 1845-49.

Construction during that time frame reached Carter’s Run near Warrenton, with 25 stone locks, 55 wooden locks, 20 dams and 15 miles of stone canals, along with a large, rectangular basin constructed in downtown Fredericksburg where the Dorothy Hart Community Center is located today. 

Our story continues from September 30, 1849, through September 30, 1850. During this time, the canal company reported the following business accounts: “descending traffic consisted of 617,000 pounds of merchandise; 348,000 feet of lumber; 39,500 pieces of barrel timber; 34,000 bushels of wheat; 26,000 barrels of flour; 3,000 bushels of corn; 1,000 cords of wood and 300 bushels of oats. Tolls collected were $4,000.

 "Ascending traffic consisted of 932,000 pounds of merchandise; 175,000 pounds of guano; 84,000 pounds of lime; 49,000 bricks; 2,000 tons of plaster; 1,000 sacks of salt; 1,000 bushels of clover seed; 154 barrels of fish; 38 barrels of tar and 13 tons of agricultural salts. Tolls collected were $2,000.”

In 1852, the last full year of the Rappahannock Company’s operation, the company collected its largest number of tolls -- a whopping $8,600, indicating very little increase over the first year's income. Since expenses each year for repair of dams, locks, and canals amounted to about $10,000 a year, it is easy to see why bankruptcy was declared by the company in 1853.

These numbers were just not sustainable for a successful business. Newer, faster, and cheaper rail transportation also took its toll, as the Orange and Alexandria Railroad began hauling many of the goods produced in the Rappahannock Valley.

Although it appears that parts of the canal system may have been used by individuals on a piecemeal basis after 1853, the Rappahannock Company ceased to exist after the initial 37 years of planning, 20 years of construction, and four years of "in the red" operations. 

By 1855, parts of the canal system were already in disrepair. That year, the Fredericksburg Water Power Company purchased lower sections of the canals to repurpose them for power generation.

The ruins of Taylor’s Lock date to the mid-1800s project to commercialize traffic on the Rappahannock. The lock is located on the south side of the river within the city limits. Photo by Hal Wiggins.

At that time, there were mills requiring power along the Fredericksburg waterfront, and the goal was to establish Fredericksburg as a manufacturing center.

The city’s canals, their water source exhausted, would in time appear to be little more than deep trenches. This is ironic as their existence as natural barriers was of tactical importance during the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862.

The present-day canal in Fredericksburg that would be refitted to serve the water filtration plant is a remnant of the original canal used by the canal boats in the 1835-1855 period

Slowly, over time, most of the crib dams constructed for miles upstream washed away, though one crib dam remained preserved underwater immediately behind the Embrey Dam until 2004.

Even though the Rappahannock Company failed in 1853 and the navigation project was abandoned entirely by 1855, remains of canals and locks are still visible by canoe and kayak. Most of these remains are on city-owned public land.

Today, we can thank the Rappahannock Company for the Rappahannock Canal that runs through the city and the walking and bike trails alongside it.

Part 2: Embrey Dam is built as a source of power;

Proposal for Salem Church Dam is abandoned

Back to the early 1900s: construction of the Embrey Dam for generation of power.

Built at the fall line just upstream of the City of Fredericksburg, the 22-foot tall Embrey Dam and hydroelectric plant were completed in 1910, expressly for generating alternating current (AC) for the city. The dam essentially created a mile-long lake on its upstream side.

Due to changes occurring in the nation’s electrical supply grid in the 1960s, the Embrey Power Station stopped generating electricity, so the Embrey Dam had outlived its purpose.

In the late 1980s, a newly formed river conservation group, Friends of the Rappahannock, started lobbying for removal of the Embrey Dam.

The final breach and removal of the last two dams on the Rappahannock River occurred in 2004 and 2005 with the removal of the Embrey Dam and the crib dam behind it.

The project was overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers, with the breach occurring in front of thousands of spectators on Feb. 23, 2004.

There were clearly compelling reasons for removing these two dams.

According to a U.S.Fish & Wildlife report in 2000, “the breach and removal of these dams would open up a total restored anadromous and resident fish passage range of between 716 and 1,019 mainstem and tributary miles of both the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers.” 

Whitewater canoe and kayak paddlers could also travel downriver with no obstructions.

It should be noted that a requirement under the National Historic Preservation Act instructed the Corps to mitigate the historic impacts to removing the Embrey Dam and crib dam from the river.

 A memorandum of agreement(MOA) stipulated that an important Rappahannock Navigation lock be preserved for interpretation on the Fredericksburg side of the river.

That lock was preserved and can still be seen along the existing Quarry Trail, approximately a quarter of a mile upstream from Fall Hill Avenue on city property.

This photograph was taken the day after the breach of the Embrey Dam and the crib dam behind it. Photo by Hal Wiggins on Feb. 24, 2004.

Salem Church Dam never built; Dam-building era declines in U.S.

Although the Salem Church Dam was never built, it is important to mention discussion of the project, an Army Corps of Engineers mega-dam that would have flooded the upper Rappahannock River Valley.

The Salem Church Dam had been authorized by Congress in 1946, at a maximum height of 220 feet above sea level. Recommended in response to the historic floods of 1942, the flooding of a 23-mile segment of the Rappahannock River proposed a number of assumed benefits, including flood control, water supply, lake recreation, and hydropower.

But just when engineering drawings for construction of the dam were on a fast track to be completed, the proposal to flood the Rappahannock River Valley caught the attention of people who lived upstream of Fredericksburg. In particular, white water canoe enthusiasts such as Randy Carter, who lived in the upper Rappahannock basin, expressed outrage over the proposed Salem Church Dam.

Subsequently, the Rappahannock Defense Committee (RDC) was formed in the early 1970s as a united front to fight this large-scale project.

Opposition by canoeists and other advocates of free-flowing rivers, together with concerns about cost estimates and environmental impacts, prompted a revision in 1971 of the benefit/cost ratio of this dam.

The Corps of Engineers ultimately determined in 1974 that the dam was not a feasible project, after a recalculation of the interest rate dropped the benefit/cost ratio to 0.09.4, a negligible number. A side note — several original members of the RDC were founding members of the Friends of the Rappahannock, formed in 1985 and still functioning today as a watchdog for the river. 

In a strange twist of fate, a positive environmental benefit of the failed Salem Church Dam project was the 1969 expansion of the City of Fredericksburg’s riparian holdings. 

In anticipation of the proposed Salem Church Dam, the city acquired nearly 5,000 acres of forested land along the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers from Virginia Electric and Power Company. The city’s riparian holdings

extend more than 23 miles upstream from Fredericksburg on both sides of the two rivers and are now under conservation easements to protect these forests in perpetuity.

It is important to remember that there was once a high point of dam building in our nation’s history. This era is much diminished

today. In cultural and historic terms since the beginning of our nation, dams built across major rivers have always held the promise of using technology to harness nature for the benefit of people. The best example in the United States is perhaps exemplified by the dams of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Yet today, large-scale dams are a much-maligned, even vilified, proposal on major rivers. This is especially true in our country’s western landscapes. Major dams on rivers are criticized today as destroyers of animal habitats, usurpers of native lands, misadventures for land speculators and developers, or subsidies for wealthy farmers.

Multiple factors combined to bring the big dam era to a close. Federal legislation, particularly the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970, the Clean Water Act of 1972, and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 provided environmental lobbies with powerful legal tools to oppose new dam projects. Political leaders of both parties also backed away from financing expensive new dam projects that lacked financial justification and could cause deleterious environmental effects.

The decline of dam building also coincided with the movement to dismantle dams and restore rivers to their natural state. There is a steady trend in the U.S. to remove large dams on major rivers. According to American Rivers, a non-profit environmental advocacy organization, 46 dams in the U.S. came down between 1915 and 1975. 

In an ironic twist, the Corps of Engineers assigned to build the Salem Church Dam in 1974 was called back to Fredericksburg to remove the Embrey Dam just 30 years later in 2004. As a society, our collective thinking about dams has swung 180 degrees in less than 100 years. Personally, I consider this a positive development.

I also advocate for including all existing components of the Rappahannock Navigation system on city-owned property on the National Register of Historic Place 

I’ll end this piece about our beautiful Rappahannock River with the words of Bob Gramann, a singer/songwriter in the Fredericksburg area:

(Chorus)

For a man can only hold a piece of earth for a lifetime.

Water leaks through fingers, you can’t hold it all.

I love the Rappahannock and its waters running free

In the rapids of this river, that’s where I want to be!

To which I say: Amen!



Literature

Hodge, Robert. “The Story of the Rappahannock Canal,” The Fredericksburg Times, 1978.

News and Notes: Rappahannock River Canal, 1816-60 (PDF), vol. 16. The Fauquier Historical Society, 1994, archived from the original (PDF) on May 5, 2010.

Historic Resources along the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers. City of Fredericksburg, Va., Office of Planning and Community Development and the Graphics Department, 1997.

Trout, W. E. The Rappahannock Scenic River Atlas, Virginia Canals and Navigations Society; The Rappahannock Scenic River Atlas, drawing on the work of Callaham and Hodge, 1992. Available from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library or the Virginia Canals & Navigation Society.

Callaham, Donald S. The Rappahannock Canal, master's thesis at the American University, 1967. Available in the Virginiana Room of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library.

Dennen, Rusty. “The Rappahannock Canal was one of the most impressive transportation projects – and a monumental failure.” The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va., 25 May 2003.

Wiggins, Hal. A Tale of Two Dams: From Salem Church Dam to the Embrey Dam. 2005.

Wiggins, Hal. “Commentary: Causes of silting in the Lower Rappahannock River.” The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va., 30 July 2022.

Wiggins, Hal. “Commentary: The Rappahannock River becomes free-flowing.” The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va., 1 September 2022.

Wiggins, Hal. “Wiggins: Has the era of the mega-dam passed?” Culpeper Star-Component, Culpeper, Va., 4 September 2022. 

 Message From The Chairperson

Florence Barnick

Over the last few years I’ve told you a lot about myself, particularly as it relates to my work with the Heritage Center.

You know I have a passion for history and genealogy. Fall is my favorite season (yay! It finally feels a little bit cooler!) Many of you also know I have a passion for the Fredericksburg Cemetery (who wants to spend eternity together? I can fix you up–but, I digress.)

So what else? You know I enjoy cooking and making things from old family recipes. But you might not know that I’m a quilter, and that’s not an interest I directly inherited.

Sewing has been a sanity-saver for me for nearly a quarter of a century. Too many T-shirts from youth activities inspired me to make T-shirt quilts for my twins, and that got me started.

After a few classes and many video tutorials, I started making quilts for the family. Each of my nieces and nephews got a personalized quilt for their high school graduations, later followed by wedding and baby quilts.

I put a lot of love into the quilts, and I make them to be used and loved. I don’t want them to be safely stored away and protected. So “used” sometimes borders on “abused." And that’s why I’m telling you this story now.

I recently found myself repairing two quilts that needed some TLC. One, like another a few years back, had been a little too loved by the family pup. So, looking for a way to repair, I’m torn between trying to make the repair invisible vs. celebrating its new life. Ah, choices.

In this case, since there were two quilts to repair, I went two different ways. On one I was able to match the fabric with scraps of the

same fabric I still had on hand. For the other, it now sports a cute patch of puppy fabric over the site of the damage, just as the earlier repair I’d done.

Why am I telling you this? I think it parallels where we are with the Heritage Center.

Part of our mission is to make our collection available to the public, in other words, to be used. As an all-volunteer organization, we have to fit a lot of different pieces (people) together, just like a quilt is constructed. There are a lot of ways to do that, and a lot of ways to make something useful and beautiful! 

We certainly try our best to keep everything pristine, but, like the Velveteen Rabbit, we’re REAL. When we find issues. we work to correct them -- sometimes fixing the old, sometimes adding new.

We are now entering a new era post-Covid, adding more open and volunteer hours, more appointments and opportunities. We have needs for new and returning volunteers, and we want everyone to feel welcome.

Our August Open House was a success, and we’re planning another one in early 2025, so watch for the announcement. 

What part of our work appeals most to you? What shape patch can you be? How can you enhance the beauty of this valuable resource?

If the idea of helping perserve the bits and pieces of our past speaks to you, please let us know. We'd love to have you join us, and we could really use your help.

Call: 540-373-3707

Email: contact@crhcarchives.org

We'd love to share our PowerPoint program!

The Heritage Center has a PowerPoint program designed to showcase our efforts to preserve the grassroots history of the City of Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford.

We would be delighted to bring our presentation to your organization, either in person or by Zoom. We've recently presented for meetings of the Caroline County Historical Society, the Stafford Historical Society, and the Fredericksburg Regional Genealogy Society, and we'd like to add more engagements to our schedule to spread the word about the Heritage Center.

To arrange for a presentation, please contact the center:

contact@crhcarchives.org.

Collections

We're always looking for more materials to add to our collections, many of which are searchable on our website. Please don't go to the landfill; entrust your memorabilia to the Heritage Center.

To inquire about donating materials, contact:

540-373-3704

contact@crhcarchives.org

Processing and preserving valuable documents requires special care and archival storage materials. We're always in need of these products, so if you'd care to contribute to our supply, we have a wish list at Amazon that includes archival materials as well as publications we'd like to have for the center.



CRHC Archival Supply Wish List

The Heritage Center's History and Mission

Virginia figures prominently in history books, but the founders of the Heritage Center believed that grassroots history was being lost -- the stuff of basements and attics, old photo albums, tattered newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and boxes of letters and memorabilia.

In 1997 they founded the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center and began collecting all types of historical documents and photographs to archive and preserve the personal heritage of the City of Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania, and Stafford.

Among the center’s varied collections now are family and business histories; court, county, and church records; documents on slavery and Jim Crow era legislation; family correspondence and diaries; genealogy; birth, marriage and death records; local newspapers; maps; photographs; and postcards. The variety covers the gamut and reflects the stories of people from every walk of life in the Rappahannock River region.

The center's mission is a simple one: to preserve historically valuable materials of the region and make it available to the public for research.

Center Hours and Research Services

Hours  

Wednesday 1 to 4 p.m.

Second Saturday of each month 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Other days by appointment only.

Location

 900 Barton Street #111

Fredericksburg, VA

22401 

(540) 373-3704

Our volunteers will gladly offer research services.

For requests, appointments, and rates:

contact@crhcarchives.org

Welcome New Members!

Julie Black

Scott Boyd

William Cather

Renee Davis

Wanda Farmer

London Jones 

Roger Lawson

Judy Miller

Susan Minarchi

Gerald and Deborah Pederson

Reuben Rock

Bernice B. Rowe

Norman Schools

Robert Sullivan

Kathy Thornton

Please go to online to join our membership to support

the preservation of our region's unique history.

If you've enjoyed this newsletter and want to stay

up to date on Heritage Center activities,

please visit our website to sign up:

www.crhcarchives.org.

MANY THANKS

TO OUR GENEROUS 2023 HERITAGE CENTER

 SPONSORS & CORPORATE MEMBERS

Deborah Baker

Jeanette and Nick Cadwallender

Barbara Hicks Cecil

Jim and Betsy Greene

Mary Katherine Greenlaw

Lucy Harman

Donald and Beverly Newlin

The Hon. J.M.H. Willis

Become a 2025 Sponsor and help save our history!

For information on becoming a sponsor, contact:

Thena Jones

tjones@crhcarchives.org

(540) 373-3704

The Heritage Center is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization that relies on donations to fund its important mission of preserving the region’s history. Your generosity helps pay for archival preservation materials, operational and maintenance costs for the library and facility, and other related expenses.

The Board of Directors

The volunteer Board of Directors serves as the governing body of the Heritage Center. Meeting every other month, the board is charged with ensuring that the center is fiscally healthy and that it is fulfilling its mission to preserve materials relating to local history and make them available to the public for research.



Directors

Florence Barnick, Chair

Roy McAfee, Vice Chair

Wayne Brooks

Marceline Catlett

Jonathan A. Gerlach

Daniel Goldstein

Eunice Haigler

Brad Hatch

Christine Henry

Phillip Jenkins

Clinton Jones

Edward W. Jones

Susan Scott Neal

Sharon Null

Gaila Sims

Carol Walker

William C. Withers

Treasurer - Dan Bender

Central Rappahannock Heritage Center

Email: contact@crhcarchives.org 

Call: 540.373.3704

www.crhcarchives.org