And a great song it is. I live near the end of the ill-fated James River and Kanawha Canal, which was planned to go from Richmond all the way to the Kanawha river near Charleston. It never got beyond Eagle Rock.

There is a good book on the subject, titled: Cabell's Canal: The Story of the James River and Kanawha Canal by Langhorne Gibson.
It can be ordered from:

The Commodore Press
1318 Loch Lomond Lane
Richmond, Virginia 23221
Tel. (804) 353-7059
Fax. (804) 353-3362
E-mail. lgibsonjr@aol.com