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THE GREAT AMERICAN CANALS

down the spade, hastily stripped off and laid aside his coat, and went seriously to work. . . The multitude . . raised a loud and unanimous cheering, which continued for sometime after Mr. Adams had mastered the difficulty."[1]

Simultaneously with this memorable celebration, an imposing ceremony was being enacted at Baltimore. "Fortunately," we read in the Baltimore American, "the morning of the fourth rose not only bright but cool, to the great comfort of the immense throng of spectators that, from a very early hour, filled every window in Baltimore street, and the pavement below, from beyond Bond street on the east, far west on Baltimore street extended, a distance of about two miles." It was estimated that seventy thousand people were in attendance. During the early morning the crowds streamed toward the spot about two miles from the city, just south of the Frederick turnpike, where on a rise of ground in the open field a pavilion was raised for the reception of the honored guests of the occasion. The distance of

  1. Id., vol. xxxiv, pp. 325–328.