Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 13).djvu/164

 when it was again abandoned because of the usual lack of means. Upon the seventeenth of July the board of president and directors formally declared the canal abandoned and on the following day entered into a new contract with Michael Byrne, of Frederick county, for the completion of the canal to Cumberland. The work remaining to be done was inconsiderable, yet tedious, consisting of numerous unfinished portions between Dam No. 6 and Cumberland. This work was promptly commenced and diligently prosecuted, and the canal was opened for navigation purposes, and through trade commenced, on October 10, 1850. Mr. Byrne continued to press forward the work, which did not interfere with the passage of the boats, and on February 17, 1851, the final payment was made to him under the provisions of the contract. From this time the completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal may be dated.

From the clerk's statement made from the books of the company, with an additional allowance for a few small unsettled claims, it appears that "the cost of the