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stretch of quiet and peace at the nation's back door."
He invited editorial writers to take time off to walk the canal with him. Some took the challenge. Through neglect, the C&O had remained the least altered of old American canals. It was not even widely used as recreation. Requests to accompany Justice Douglas poured in. At that time the fact that people were walking was news. They started on March 20, 1954, and trucks sagged them. People from Brunswick went down to welcome them through. At 23 miles per day, three to four miles per hour, through mud, heavy brush, and washouts, hundreds walked along with them. Fifty thousand people met the walkers at Washington, D.C., greeting nine who walked the entire distance, including Justice Douglas. They convinced the Washington Post that the canal should be kept. After that there were many reunion hikes of shorter length and another full-length walk. In 1971, our canal became a National Historic Park. Through an act of Congress it was formally dedicated to Douglas.
HOBO JUNGLE During the decade of the thirties and the Great Depression the Tow Path at Brunswick was referred to as a "hobo jungle" with "professional" hoboes. When freight trains stopped here, more men arrived while some ended their stay and took off for what they hoped would be greener pastures. Apparently the B&O Railroad and all the rest of the rail lines did not pull all the stops to keep the men off their trains. They realized what these men were up against, and conditions were the same throughout the country. When a housewife responded to a hungry hobo's request by giving him a sandwich or a platter of food, that house was marked. The word spread and other visitors appeared. Grateful people willingly shared with those less fortunate. Some families seated them at their own tables. Often the travelers asked for work to do in payment for the handout; outside work was frequently available. Dutch Bums was old enough by then to wander down to the "jungle" and make his own observations. These men shared, he reports. If a piece of meat on bread was offered, often the men would eat the bread and take the meat back to their camp, where the collection of meat and other available ingredients became mulligan stew for the entire group. Young girls were admonished by their mothers not to go to the Tow Path.
S - Carolyn Hughes Crowley, "C&O Canal trip offers an animated history lesson," The Sun, Travel Section, July 8, 1984, p.2. - William E. Davies, "Lock 30," Unpublished sheets, Falls Church, Va., n.d. W - MMM
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Do You Remember ... When Picket Barger's grandfather, Pat Barger, pulled Ed Flynn's little storeroom (across the tracks from Grass's store) on LOGS to Petersville Road just below the Baptist Church? You could buy cider, peanuts, cheese, tobacco, candy . .. there. For 2 cents you got a three-pound bag full of peanuts. When you bought a cup of cider, he'd give you crackers free. When the little kids sat on the wall at the Maryland Avenue basement entrance to the bowling alleys in the Kaplan building, every Saturday night, to watch the big kids dance? Didn't Miss Lizzie Kaplon give dancing instructions? When Mr. Wall formed a band that gave Saturday night concerts in the band stand where Fast Eddie's is now located? Grover Stewart, Mr. Hill, John Funk, and some younger men were in this early 1930's orchestra.
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