Lock 58 at Mile 144 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath
Lock 58 is located at Mile 144 on the C&O Canal towpath. It cannot be accessed by vehicle, so reaching it requires hiking or biking 3.1 miles (one way) upstream from the parking area at the Fifteenmile Creek Campground. See the Locks and Lockhouses web page for an interactive location map.
Locks on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal were typically made using cut stones that fit tightly together with mortar and had a very finished look. However, by the time construction reached the western end of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in the late 1830s and early 40s, it was obvious that the railroad would replace it in the near future. The C&O Canal Company was in financial trouble, plus it was difficult to get cut stone to the upper reaches of the canal. To save money, locks 58 through 71 were constructed from rough, uncut stones with large gaps between them, which was not going to hold water very well. To combat leakage, a wood lining was attached to the walls. In most cases this didn’t work that well, and starting in 1891, many of the locks had the wood replaced with concrete. Lock 58 is one such lock. For comparison, the first photo below is of lock 58 and the second is of Lock 62, a lock that retains its original uncut stones.
Concrete walls of Lock 58 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Rough, uncut stones covered with wood made up the walls of Lock 62 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Part of Lock 58’s upstream wooden lock gate still exists. Some of the restored locks on the lower end of the canal near Georgetown have lock gates, but on the upper end, it is rare that any part of the gates—or anything made of wood that matter—remain.
Remnants of the upstream gate of Lock 58 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Another feature of Lock 58 that is not seen on many locks along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is the sluice, which is a ditch that runs parallel to the lock. When the upstream gates are closed, the sluice allows water to flow around the lock instead of backing up into a pool of excess water that could spill over the banks of the canal or put additional pressure on the lock gates. The water empties back into the canal just past the downstream gate. All locks had sluices, but today many have been filled in with dirt or are covered in vegetation and hard to spot.
Remains of the Lock 58 sluice on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
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Last updated on June 26, 2026
