Both companies now went quickly to work on their undertakings; in the same issue of the Register (July 19, 1828), and side by side on the same page are these notices:
"The engineers of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company have, by public notice, invited proposals for the construction of twelve miles of the road, commencing at the city [Baltimore] line, and extending westwardly."[1]
"The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company have issued proposals for the excavation, embankment and walling, of the 11½ miles of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, in half mile sections, extending from the head of the Little Falls to the head of the Great Falls of the Potomac river."
In August, thirty-four sections of the canal from Little Falls to Seneca (seventeen miles) were placed under contract and, on September 1, work was actually begun.[2] "At this time the capital stock subscribed and payable in current funds, exclusive of
