The plan was to connect Dc to the Ohio river..........the Potomac eventually empties into the Chesapeake Bay.............but they ran out of money halfway to the Ohio..........

Geography
Start point	Georgetown, Washington DC (originally Little Falls, MD) (Canal extended down to Georgetown in 1830)
End point	Cumberland, MD (originally Sections to Pittsburgh, PA never built)
Connects to	Alexandria Canal (Virginia), Goose Creek & Little River Navigation

A 1917 video, "Down the Old Potomac (Part 1 of 3)", shows the canal during its operating days. Some of the information is inaccurate. For example, it says "barges" (more correctly, "boats") passed through 86 locks descending 800 feet to tidewater; in fact, there were 77 locks descending 610 feet.