Covington and Ohio Railroad

Beginning in the 18th century, for purposes of shipping goods and passenger transportation, Virginians had long sought a canal or railroad link between the navigable rivers which drain to the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean at the Fall Line and the Ohio River, which leads to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. As a surveyor, George Washington had mapped out several potential routes, and in 1785, he had been an early investor in a canal venture. The James River and Kanawha Canal was the last final effort to do so by canal, and was partially completed. However, after 1830, emerging railroad technology made it increasingly clear that it offered a better solution to providing the desired link.