USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Centennial history of the city of Washington, D. C. With full outline of the natural advantages, accounts of the Indian tribes, selection of the site, founding of the city to the present time > Part 3
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26
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
five hours, eight minutes, and six and five-tenths seconds. An error, therefore, of two or three seconds in this determination, Mr. Paine thought, was an improbability, and there being but little doubt that there was an error of six miles in those maps of this country in the construction of which the longitude of the Capitol was supposed to be five hours, seven minutes, and forty-two seconds, the quantity reported by an individual acting under the authority of a resolution of Con- gress.
In the annual report of the Coast Survey for 1851, the latitude of the Capitol was given as thirty-eight degrees, fifty-three minutes, and nineteen and eighty-nine hundredths seconds, and the longitude, seventy- seven degrees and fifteen seconds, a value derived geodetically through the triangulation connected with Cambridge, Massachusetts, the longi- tude of Cambridge being assumed as correctly ascertained, four hours, forty-four minutes, twenty-nine and five-tenths seconds. This same value is given in the "American Almanac" for 1861. In an important paper. Mr. Sears C. Walker, assistant in the Coast Survey to the superintendent, gives the longitude of the Capitol at Washington as five hours, eight minutes, and eight hundred and fifty-three thousandths seconds, which in angular distance is seventy-seven degrees and one and two thousand seven hundred and ninety-five ten-thousandths seconds.
When the transatlantic cables were utilized for the determination of longitude, a new value for longitude was introduced. Again, in 1880, a change was made by substituting Clarke's spheroid= for that of Bessel." previously employed for the development of the triangulations. By these operations the observed differences of longitude between Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Washington, District of Columbia, was twenty-three minutes and forty-one and forty-one thousandths seconds, which, added to the longitude of Cambridge, above given, gives five hours, eight minutes, and ten and five hundred and forty-one thou- sandths seconds for the longitude of the Capitol, which, expressed in angular distance, is seventy-seven degrees, two minutes, and thirty- eight and one hundred and fifteen thousandthe seconds; or for the dome of the United States Naval Observatory, as given in the United States Coast Report for 1884, page 423, five hours, eight minutes, and
1 William Lambert.
2 Equatorial radins, 6,376,206,4 meters, equal 20,926,062 feet; Polar radius, 6,356,503.8 meters, equal 20,555,121 feel.
" Equatorial radins, 6,377,397.15 meters, equal 20,923, 404.61 feet; Polar radius, 6,356,079.11 meters, equal 20,853,462.91 feet.
27
NATURAL ADVANTAGES.
twelve and thirty - eight thousandths seconds, equal in degrees to seventy-seven degrees, three minutes, and fifty-seven seconds.
"The following table contains the positions of some prominent objects in the District, according to the latest geodetic data of the survey .
"United States Capitol, head of the Statue
of Liberty 38° 53' 23.25" 77° 33.54" Old monument, supposed meridian stone1.38 ° 54' 44.45" 77º 35.25''
Washington Monument, apex of obelisk ... 38° 53' 22.02"
77º 2' 7.78"
District of Columbia south corner stone,
Jones's Point. 38° 47/ 25.15"
77° 2' 27.01 "
District of Columbia north corner stone .. 38º 59' 45.38" 77° 2' 28.48"
District of Columbia east corner stone .... 38º 53' 34.23"
76° 54' 33.94"
District of Columbia west corner stone .. 38° 53' 35.60"
77° 10' 21.19"
United States Naval Observatory, center of small dome, main building. ..... 38° 53' 42.27" 77º 3' 6.10"
"From these positions it will be seen that the boundary lines of the District are somewhat longer than ten statute miles; also, that the southwest line (and its parallel ) is somewhat longer than the southeast line (and its parallel ), which inequalities throw the north corner slightly to the west of the south corner, and the west corner slightly more north than the east corner." 2
In connection with this valuable information furnished by the gentlemen named, through the kindness of Dr. T. C. Mendenhall
1 'This is "Ellicott's Azimuth Mark," or what is otherwise sometimes called the "North Meridian Stone." It is located, according to Mr. C. H. Sinclair, assistant in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, "to the west of the prolongation of North Capitol Street, just beyond Boundary Street, and near the beginning of Lincoln Avenue. The monument consists of six blocks of sandstone placed on top of each other; the two bottom stones are twenty-eight by twenty-eight inches, and extend to the height of forty inches. The next stone has a base of twenty-four by twenty-four inches, and tapers, as do all the others, to the top of the monument. The monument is fifteen and five-tenths feet above the ground. In the top stone, south face, are three vertical lines about one-half an inch deep and one-half an inch wide, the center one terminated by a horizontal line. Near the top of the fifth stone is a horizontal line, cut deeply like the others. This bench mark (?) is on the south face of the bottom stone. The stone next to the bottom has a similar piece of iron on the east face, about four inches below its top (or three feet above the ground ). The monument leans slightly to the north.
" While in Salt Lake City in July, 1890, I met Major Wilkes, son of Admiral Wilkes, who told me that this stone was placed by his father in the meridian of the transit of the old observatory that stood on the north side of Capitol Hill." The date of this monument is about 1838.
2 From a letter to the writer by Assistant Charles A. Schott, in charge of Com- puting Division, Coast and Geodetic Survey.
28
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, it may not be without both interest and value to note briefly a few facts about other original landmarks, established by the early surveys of the District of Columbia. In another chapter may be found an account of the setting of the corner stone of the District, at Jones's Point. The initial stone, at this point, was about two feet high and one foot square. It stood isolated until the United States built the wall enclosing the lighthouse, and it now forms part of this wall on the south. From this initial stone the meridional center line of the District was located by Andrew Ellicott. This meridian center line extended through the President's House, north along the center of Sixteenth Street, and thence over Peter's Hill, afterward called Merid- ian Hill, to the intersection of the diagonal lines at the north point of the District of Columbia, about one mile due west from Silver Springs, Maryland. Upon this line, about eighty yards south of the present unsightly and unutilized standpipe, near the brow of the hill, Commodore David Porter had a mansion, the entrance door of which was due north of the center door of the President's House. The farm upon which this mansion stood, was long known as the " Meridian Hill Farm." On the edge of the south lawn, in close proximity to the mansion, was placed the "Meridian Stone." This meridian stone was nearly two feet across and two feet high. The north edge of it was circular, and upon it was afterward placed a brass sundial. From this stone "Meridian Hill" received its name, and hence " Meridian Hill Farm." This stone remained in its original position until about the time of the opening of Sixteenth Street extended, when it was removed to its present place, at the southwest corner of Fourteenth and R streets, where it is used as a carriage step.
The line crossing this meridian line at a right angle near the Washington Monument, extends west across the Potomac, passes near old Fort Corcoran, and on to the intersection of the diagonals at the west corner of the District of Columbia, near the village of Falls Church, in Virginia. Eastward, it extends through the rotunda of the Capitol, and on to the intersection of the diagonals at the east point of the District, about three miles east of Bennings Bridge.
At the crossing of these lines, near the Washington Monument, should be found the precise center of the District, and at this intersection was placed, in 1792, a stone to mark the center of the District. It was called the Jefferson Stone, or Center Stone. Its precise position is not now visible, but it was about one hundred and fifty yards northwest from the present Washington Monument, on the
29
NATURAL ADVANTAGES.
bank of the old Tiber Creek. It had a blue rock foundation, which was six feet high on the creek side. It was covered by a huge sand- stone eap, about five feet square and eight inches thiek. This cap stone and part of the foundation were removed in 1872, by order of General Babcock, the Commissioner of Public Buildings and Grounds, through a mistake as to its identity, and what remained was covered up by earth several feet deep when the roadway was made. It is on the east side of the road, between the lakes and the intersection of Virginia Avenue.
There is still one other stone a remembrance of the location of which should be preserved. This was called the "Capitol Stone," and stood a little south of the Washington Monument, and about eighty- five yards to the west. This was a rough-hewn freestone, projecting about three feet above the surrounding earth, and one foot in diameter on the earth line and eight inches across on the top. The distance between this and the Center Stone corresponded with half the length of the old part of the Capitol building. These three objects, therefore, the Monument, the Center Stone, and the Capitol Stone, would, if all were visible, mark a triangle, two sides of which would be of the lengths given above, and the other perhaps about one hundred and seven yards. But for all practical purposes the Washington Monument may be considered the center of the District of Columbia.
The longitude and latitude of a place, especially the latitude, have much to do with its climate. And it may be naturally inferred from the low latitude of Washington, when coupled with its slight elevation above the level of the sea, that its climate in the summer time is very warm. Actual observation and experience prove the correctness of the inference. The winters, too, are found to be much milder than those of more northern eities, and even milder than some winters in earlier times. In January, 1772, the snow, in what is now the District of Col- umbia, was nearly three feet deep on the level, and in places it drifted to from ten to twelve feet in depth. In 1780, according to Mr. Jeffer- son, the Chesapeake Bay was frozen solid from its head to the mouth of the Potomac, and at Annapolis, where it is five and a fourth miles between the nearest points of land, the ice was from five to seven inches thick, so that loaded carriages went across. But in later years, as the country became more thickly settled, cleared, and better cultivated, the climate of winter became much milder. But mollification of the elimate by the clearing away of the forests and better draining of the land is not unique in the United States. In the times of Julius Cæsar neither the olive nor the vine was grown upon the Rhine.
30
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON. .
Now, with rare exceptions, one of these exceptions being the winter of 1890-91, which was a most remarkable winter in Europe, the winters of France are both mild and pleasant. The improvement in the climate of Rome, the mountains near which city were, in the days of Horace, covered with snow, and the great change in the climate of Germany from settlement, clearing away of the forests, drainage and cultivation of the land, and the great changes in our own West- ern States, all tend to show the natural results of civilized man's occupation upon the land which he inhabits. Heretofore, and now, the vicissitudes of temperature are often distressing, mainly, perhaps, because of the suddenness of the changes which occur. However, even if there should be a gradual and steady mollification of the weather, extremely cold winters and hot summers will occasionally come. In the United States, the winter of 1855-56 was like that of 1890-91 in France, excessively severe.
The following table shows the temperature of the city of Wash- ington for each month of the five years, 1823, 1824, 1825, 1828, and 1829, the data for the first three years being extracted from The Washington Gazette, published by S. A. Elliott in 1826, and those of the other two years from other sources:
1823.
1824.
1825.
1828.
1829.
MONTH.
Maximum.
Minimum.
Mean.
Maximum.
Minimum.
Mean.
Maximum.
Minimum.
Mean.
Maximum.
Minimum.
Mean.
Maximum.
Minimum.
Mean.
January ...
57
28
42
66
20
38
50
19
35
66
10
38
55
10
32
February ..
62
29
35
69
11 =
34
57
16
39
66
22
44
50
10
30
March
67
29
47
62
28
33
66
34
48
78
20
49
66
22
44
April
76
43
59
76
34
55
77
35
56
69
30
49
85
32
58
May
90
50
66
80
49
82
46
65
84
36
60
85
42
63
June
93
58
74
88
52
73
93
54
76
94
60
77
90
60
75
July
91
65
78
90
67
79
95
64
79
94
58
76
90
57
73
August
92
6:
76
84
63
75
94
62
76
97
60
77
90
62
76
September
87
12
68
80
58
69
85
46
68
92
47
69
86
47
66
October ....
76
34
54
71
31
57
87
34
60
80
29
54
70
35
52
November
60
24
41
61
27
43
69
25
44
70
30
50
62
28
45
December
59
26
37
62
24
40
54
10
36
62
10
39
62
27
44
31
NATURAL ADVANTAGES.
The following table shows the barometric elevations for the years 1828 and 1829:
1828.
1829.
MONTH.
Maximum.
Minimum.
Mean.
Maximum.
Minimum.
Mean.
January
31.03
29.75
30.39
30.93
29.66
30.29
February
80.81
29.37
30.09
30.61
29.33
30.17
March
30,63
29.63
30.18
30.45
29.35
30.10
April
30.42
29.62
30.02
30.52
29.35
29.93
May
30.45
29.56
30.00
30.38
29.65
30.01
June
30.21
29.77
29.99
30.20
29.24
29.72
July
30.65
29.65
30.15
29.90
29.05
29.47
August
30.90
29.72
30.31
29.83
29.39
29.61
September.
30.25
29.10
29.07
30.15
29.16
29.65
October
30.75
29.70
30.25
30.95
29.43
30.19
November
30.72
29.90
30.31
30.33
29.50
29.91
December
30.89
29.87
30,38
30.80
29.30
30.05
With reference to the healthfulness of the climate, early writers have made numerous comments. Warden, in his "District of Columbia," elsewhere quoted from, in connection with his remarks on the longitude of the city, says, "It is scarcely possible to imagine a situation more beautiful, healthy, and convenient than that of Wash- ington." In another place he says: "It is a prevailing opinion throughout the United States that the elimate of the District of Washington is unhealthy; but the opinion is formed on prejudice, for it is certain that in no season is it visited by habitual or endemic diseases. The best proof of the salubrity of the place is the longevity of its inhabitants; and we recollect to have seen several natives, always residents . of this District, whose features and general appearance in- dieate a very advanced age. Mr. Blodgett has, we know not from what data, estimated the annual deaths in Washington City at one to 48 to 50 persons; in New York, at one to 44 to 50; at Baltimore, at one to 43 to 49; at Charleston, at one to 35 to 40; from which it results that of all these places Washington is the healthiest. And in this respect it has evidently an advantage over the great cities of
32
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON. -
Europe, where the annual deaths are one to 23, and in towns as one to 28. .. . It may be remarked that during autumn bilious fever some- times prevails; but at this season it is common to other parts of the United States."
In the "History of the Ten Miles Square," published in 1830, by Jonathan Elliott, the following table of deaths for the ten years preceding was given: In 1820, 327; 1821, 335; 1822, 296; 1823, 356; 1824, 290; 1825, 225; 1826, 283; 1827, 252; 1828, 254; 1829, 304; which was an average of one death to every 53 of the inhabitants, or, as the ratio would now be stated, of 19 to each 1,000, which, if it were intended to include the black race, was a very low ratio indeed. Further remarks will be made about the health of the city in another chapter.
The Potomac River forms the greater part of the boundary line between Maryland and Virginia. It rises near the Back Bone Moun- tain, and in its descent to the Chesapeake Bay, passes the District of Columbia about three hundred miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Tide water in the Potomac reaches a point about three miles above Washington, the rise and fall of the water in the river being about four feet. In its course from its source to the sea it receives the waters of several minor streams on either side, the largest of these being the Shenandoah River, which rises in Augusta County, Virginia, two hundred and fifty miles above its junction with the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, where the latter passes through the Blue Ridge.
In this connection, although perhaps not strictly within the scope of this volume, it may not be amiss to introduce Mr. Jefferson's descrip- tion of the confluence of these two streams, in which description may be clearly seen the play of his imagination. "The passage of the Patowmae through the Blue Ridge is, perhaps, one of the most stupen- dous seenes in nature. You stand on a very high point of land. On your right, comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountains an hundred miles, to seek a vent. On your left, ap- proaches the Patowmac in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder and pass off to the east. The first glance of this scene hur- ries our senses into the opinion that this earth has been created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the rivers began to flow afterward, that in this place particularly they have been damned up by the Blue Ridge of mountains, and have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that continuing to rise, they at length broke over at this spot, and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the
33
NATURAL ADVANTAGES.
Shenandoah, the evident marks of their disrupture and avulsion from their beds by the most powerful agents of nature, corroborate the impression. But the distant finishing which nature has given to the picture is of a very different character. It is as placid and delightful as that is wild and tremendous. For the mountain being cloven asun- der, she presents to your eye, through the cleft, a small catch of smooth blue horizon at an infinite distance in the plain country, invit- ing you, as it were, from the riot and tumult roaring around, to pass through the gulf and participate in the calm below. Here the eye ultimately composes itself, and then away to the road happens actually to lead. You cross the Patowmac above the junction, pass along its side through the base of the mountain for three miles, its terrible precipices hanging in fragments over you, and within about twenty miles reach Fredericktown and the fine country around that place. This scene is worthy of a voyage across the Atlantic. Yet here, as in the neighborhood of the Natural Bridge, are people who have passed their lives within half a dozen miles, and have never been to survey these monuments of a war between rivers and mountains, which must have shaken the earth itself to its center."
Volney, the celebrated traveler, visited Harper's Ferry in 1796, and wrote a description of this same chasm. Volney was much more of a scientist than was Mr. Jefferson, and his description has much more interest from a geological standpoint, but we must content ourselves with referring the reader to Volney himself.
Forty-seven miles below Harper's Ferry are the Great Falls of the Potomac, where the river breaks through a granite ridge which stretches across its pathway. Here the river gradually narrows itself, until it approaches the shute, to about one hundred yards in width, when the entire mass of water is precipitated over a fall of about forty feet in height. It then sweeps along with great velocity for three or four miles, when it subsides into a gentle, placid stream. About ten miles below the Great Falls are the Little Falls, which are, in fact, but rapids. Their descent is about twenty feet, and below the falls is a bridge across the river. From this point to Georgetown is two and a half miles, the fall of the river in this distance being about thirty- seven feet.
The Eastern Branch, or Anacostia, is the main branch of the Potomac River, and enters the latter at Greenleaf's Point. This stream was formerly navigable for good-sized vessels to the once flourishing town of Bladensburg. In later years, the navigation of the river has been impeded by the washings from the adjacent soil and sand banks,
3
34
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON. .
and vessels now ascend it only a short distance above the Navy Yard. Tiber Creek, which in ancient times wound through the heart of the city, entered the Potomac near where stood the Van Ness mansion, and was navigable for boats carrying lumber and firewood to the Central Market, and thence by the canal to the Eastern Branch.
Fifty miles above Washington, the Monocacy, which is navigable for about thirty miles, enters the Potomac. Conogocheague and Patterson creeks enter the Potomac about forty miles above Washing- ton; Opequon Creek, about twenty-five miles above; Cape Copeon Creek, about twenty miles above; and Rock Creek, between Washing- ton and Georgetown.
Jefferson, in his notes on Virginia, gives the breadth and depth of the Potomac at different points as follows: At its mouth, the breadth is seven and a half miles; at Nomony Bay, four and a half miles; at Acquia, three miles; at Hallooing Point, one and a half miles; and at Alexandria, one and a fourth miles. At the mouth, he gives the depth at seven fathoms; at St. George's Island, five fathoms; at Lower Matchodie, four and a half fathoms; at Swan's Point and at Alexandria, three fathoms; thence to the falls,-thirteen miles above, -- ten feet.
Bancroft, in his account of Captain John Smith's exploration of the Potomac, says: "The Patapsco was discovered and explored, and Smith probably entered the harbor at Baltimore. The majestic Potomac, which at its mouth is seven miles wide, especially invited curiosity; and passing beyond the heights of Vernon and the city of Washington, he ascended to the falls above Georgetown. Nor did he merely explore the river and inlets. He penetrated the territories, established friendly relations with the native tribes, and laid the foundations for future beneficent intercourse. The map which he prepared and sent to the company in London is still extant, and delineates correctly the great outlines of nature. The expedition was worthy the romantic ages of American History." General Washing- ton's first exploration of the Potomac will be narrated in another chapter.
It will be seen, therefore, that the Potomac is navigable for vessels of a large size, and would be utilized for that purpose to a greater extent than it is, were Washington, like New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, a commercial city. As it is, the river has always been used, for the most part, by different kinds of passenger steamboats, plying between this city and the various other cities on the Chesapeake and on the rivers running into it. Further mention of the river steamboats
35
1254261 NATURAL ADVANTAGES.
will be made in the chapter devoted to the transportation facilities of this region.
The shad, herring, and other fisheries of the Potomac and its tributaries were, in former days, of greater value than at present, though they are by no means valueless now. It was recognized very early in the history of both Virginia and Maryland that laws were necessary to protect the fish in the streams, and hence, in 1768, an act was passed by the Legislature of Maryland prohibiting the destruction of young fish by weirs or dams, the penalty for a violation of this law being £20. This law became a permanent one in 1798. In 1796, an act was passed to prevent persons from visiting the Patuxent River with cords or poles from the commencement of February to the beginning of June, the penalty being £100 for a white person, and, if a slave, it was ten lashes on the bare back, unless the slave were redeemed by his master's payment of £10.
In the early days, many thousands of fish were taken each season, and sometimes extremely large hauls were made. This season usually lasted from five to seven weeks, beginning about the last of March and ending early in May. Early writers on this subject say that a million barrels of herring was not too high an estimate for the number of that kind of fish taken in a season. Also, with reference to the flavor of the fish taken in the Potomac, these same writers say that next to the small and delicate Nova Scotia herring, the herring of the Potomac was by far more nutritious than any others in the waters of the United States. The shad, rockfish, and sturgeon, accord- ing to epicures, also had a flavor superior to any others in the Union. In 1830, when Jonathan Elliott wrote the "Ten Miles Square," fine shad were worth $5 per hundred; Falls shad, $12 per hundred; her- ring, $1 per thousand; rockfish, from $3 to $4 per thousand; and sturgeon, 3 cents per pound. The weight of each kind of fish found in the Potomac River was given by him as follows:
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