USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Historical sketches of the ten miles square forming the District of Columbia : with a picture of Washington, describing objects of general interest or curiosity at the metropolis of the Union. > Part 6
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
79
Polomac-Low Water Survey.
good to Millit's spring, except about two hundred yards of shoal water.
September 3d .- Left Millit's spring; good water 2 of a mile, then pass the fish-dam; then good water for 3 a mile; then another fish dam; good water, but intersected by big rocks and ledges; then Hog river ripples continues about a mile; wingdam made by Potomac company about midway; then ripples; boat fast on a ledge of rocks in 5 inches water; good water for a mile, then fast on a bed of rocks at Zuck's fish-dam. Water variable,passing three fish-dams to the head of Ground's ripples, two miles. Boats moored at Spong's landing, for the night.
September 4th .- Moved from Ground's ripples; shoal water a short distance; boats rub at one place on a ledge of rocks; the navigation interrupted by ledges of rocks, ranging with the current, where is a fall of three or four feet in a quarter mile; narrow passes through those ledges, then good water to Chap- line's; then shoal a short distance; then good water to Shep- herdstown.
Thursday, September 5th .- Moved from Shepherdstown, en good water, half a mile; then shoal from shore to shore; ledges of rock, with few passes for boats; very difficult navi- gation; the channel shoal and winding; boats rub, and are drag- ged in many places through this shoal, which extends a mile and a half; then good water to the Antietam Forge ripples; a parrow ledge of rocks across the river, with but one shallow and narrow pass; the fall in this ledge about a foot, then good water to Coon's, where the boats put in for the night.
Friday, September 6th .- Set off from Coon's, two miles below the Antietam iron works, with a fine sheet of deep wa- fer one-fourth mile below; this river beads suddenly to the west, is wide, and too deep for poling; at Reynold's mill, river bends to the south; at the bend, a rocky island, on the Mary- lual side, and rocky on the Virginia side; water deep to the end of the island, where a ledge of lime-stone crosses the river obliquely ; here we enter the Cow Ring sluice is formed on the most approved manner, by the assistance of nature, and a le Age of rocks, so situated as to throw the collected water of the river into the sluice; with this advantage, the greatest that can be obtained by wingdams, you have the iner ased rapidity of the current to surmount, which is so great as to require a cap- stan, which is placed at the head of the sluice, by which a boat is drawn up slowly, and with much labor; the force of the current is moreover, so great, as to dislodge the stones on the walls, and even large ones, flat and well placed, making free
4
80
Potomac- Low Water Survey.
quent repairs necessary-so that sluice navigation, under the: most favorable circumstances, is a miserable shift; below this sluice, water deep, little current, river bends to the south 12 miles; below the sluice is an extensive hill, on the Virginia side, colored with the oxyde of iron: in it, a considerable ex- cavation for ore; this bank furuishes ore to the Antietam iron works, ore said to require mixing; below the sluice, water deep; river broad; river bends S. W. in the bend; clift of rocks ap- proaches to the shore opposite Keep Trice's old furnace; a large ore bank on the Maryland side, and the Virginia banks shew signs of ore; below the furnace, Virginia sid- high; rocky shore; the river without obstacle until you reach the head of the canal, (as it is called ) on the Maryland side, which we found closed by a dam, two feet high, made to enable the public works to continue in operation during the extreme lowness of the water at this season; to surmount this obstacle, by agreement with the superintendant at Harper's Ferry, (Mr Stubblefield,) we passed over to the canal race of the public works, and had our boats drawn out on a carriage into the river, near the ferry, crossing without any interruption of our works At the head
of the long canal, (so called, ) a rapid commences, and the bed of the river is umformly covered with fixed rock and huge stones, projecting three and four feet above the present level of the river, presenting an aspect terrifie to the beholder, and dangerous to the navigator; this appearance and state of the river continues to the ferry, a distance, on the Maryland side, of about two miles; the fall in that space, ascertained to be 27 feet.
To improve the navigation through this rapid, the Potomac Company have constructed, at great expense, partial channels on the Maryland side-three mn number: the first with a tolera- ble level bottom. clear course, 18 or 20 feet wide; and the .wo others with very unequal bottoms, and irrigular courses, affor- ding an imperfect and dangerous navigation in high water, but now two feet above the level of the water; along the whole course of these rough passage ways, a broad wall, at the foot of the Rocky Mountain, which here binds the river, is used for a tow p th, along which houts are dragged up. The boat stopped this night at the head of the long canal, and next morning the boats were hauled over into the river.
September 7th. - Started from Harper's Ferry and ran thro' the spout, which is extremely rapid and rocky, for a distance of three hundred yards or mere, among dangerous rocks, making & very cracked passage, and must be a most hazardous naviga- tion at any time, and cannot be improved but at an expense
81
€
Potomac-Low Water Survey.
which would make a good independent canal for the same dis- tance For the last three miles, and apparently for some miles abead, it would astonish the beholder, at low water, to be told that the river could be navigated at any time. so numc- rous, so large, and so prominent are the rocks, covering the whole bed of the river; the imperfect channel, called a canal, made by the Potomac Company, being at this time entirely dry, in the run, (this day) but especially through that part of the river called the spout, our boats struck very hard against many of the rocks; and, had not our boats been very light, they must have been wrecked. The boats put in opposite Mr. Weaver's meadow, for the night.
September 8th .- Being Sunday, boats lay to till September 9th; then moved, passed the month of Pleasant Valley at Wea- ver's mill, on rough and shoal water, amidst rocks from three to six feet high, from shore to shore, the passes between the rocks very narrow and irregular, making it necessary to tra- verse the :iver from side to side to gain the passes. This rug- ged bed in the river continues above a mile, with considerable fall, at different places, one called the Devil's Elbow, at Pane's Falls, opposite Pane's Island, between which and the Mary- land shore is wall work, made by the Potomac Company, as a channel for boats, but which channel is now dry. Below this, enter Dever's mill dam, formed of brush and stone, obliquely in the river, to throw the water to the Maryland shore. This dam is much complained of by boatmen navigating the river, and was found to prevent our boats passing through the best channel, and turned them at a right angle to the middle of the tiver; the boats rubbed frequently on the narrow passes be- tween the rocks, which continued, with less fall in the river, to Philpot's or Payne's ripple, a mile and a half. Here we were dear of the South Mountain; a rocky shore on Virginia side, frmm Harper's Ferry. The water then variable, interspersed with rocks, and principally shoal to Berlin, and a mile below it, where the boats put in for the night.
'Tuesday, September 10th .- Mr. Naylor, jun. employed to take meanders of the river, brought on that work from Cum- berland to a stake in Casper W. Weaver's meadow, which we reached on the evening of Saturday, the 7th inst. and declining from indisposition, to progress any further with that work, it licome necessary to employ another surveyor in his place. Corbin West engaged in that service this morning, and the beats proceeded on; water varying in depth, mostly shoal, through scattered rocks, and over ripples, often rubbing, and with difficulty getting through the narrow passes, on ledges of
82
Polomac-Low Water Survey
rock. In fine, it may be truly said, that, from the head of the long canal, above Harper's Ferry, to Sonders' ripple, & Lack et's Ferry, above twelve miles, no navigation is afforded le boats of any burthen, in low water, nor can it be deemed cit'es good or safe, in the best state of the water, from the great now ber of rocks which crowd the river a great part of the war, are scen from three to ten feet above the surface of low wat. From Lneket's Ferry to the head of Hook's Falls, good watts half'a mlle; then shoal and rocky; through these falls, where he river passes the break in the Ketoeton Mountain, one at ... a half miles, are more rocks, and dificult navigation; thengod water, passing Jenkin's Island to a fish dam; then shoal watert boats rubbed, and pass two other fish dams, in very shoal w .. ter, to the Kanawa Spring, opposite Kemp's Island, where the boats put to for the night.
September 11th .- Remained at Kanawa Spring, opposite Kemp's Island, until after dinner, waiting for the engineer ! . come down with his work. Started about two o'clock, and eached Noland's Ferry, a distance of about three and a laft miles, where we moored for the night; the first two and a hait miles good water, from two to four feet; the last mile shoals. the water from ten to sixteen inches, along which we were cu- abled to keep our boats afloat only by frequent windings.
September 12th .-- Started from Noland's Ferry; water good for half a mile, then shoal, be ing about ten inches. This water continues for about 130 cards, to an old fish dam, just below which, boat got fast. This shoal continues for at least half . mile, boat occasionally rubbing, and once more fast; then good! water to . Monocacy, at the month of which one of the boats got fast; thence good water to Holm's Ferry; thenee to Dougal-s' Red Rock generally good water, the boat having scraped once or twice; water very shoal, and boat fast, at head of Chapham's Island; shoal water during the whole length of this Istand.
Hence it will be obvious that the floods and freshets give the only navigation at present used. They occur usually from the 1st Sept. to the 20th June, variously however, in various years. And it so happens, that, although boats are known, in some years, to pass down, through cach of the months intervening between these dates, yet, in consequence of the ice, during winter. and the short continuance of a flood giving navigable wa-
85
Potomac-Low Water Survey.
ter, the average duration of the boating time, in A course of many years, does not much, if at all, exceed eight or ten days passable water for full landed boats, late in the year, and from twenty- inve to thirty-five days in the spring of the year, making the whole time, when produce and goods can be staem-bore. in the course of one entire com- mon year, from thirty-three to forty-five days. The duration of this period necessarily increases as you approach the Great Falls, and decreases 24 you ascend to the head of the river. The evils attending the present state of the navigation lessen the benefits which might be supposed to be derived from even this short period. They chiefly consist in its uncertainty and dependence on the vicissitudes of the seasons; in the great rapidity of the current of the river, in conse- ' sence of the great fall or inclination of its plane, in proportion to its length; in its dangerous char- Acter, arising from the wildness of the torrent, and the suddenness of its courses and meanders- having worn its devious way, in the lapse of ages, through countless ridges of rocks and mountains; and, in consequence of huge fragments of rocks and large loose stones, the remains of the wasted untains, scattered thickly, and in some places Doing over the entire bed of the river, and leav- ing no passage for loaded boats, impelled by the v&pal and impetuous current, but what may be f und by warping and winding, with the utmost «kertion of strength, agility, and watchfulness, en the part of the crew, through a most irregular By these dangers many boats and car- gars are destroyed; and hence the navigation is la be wisely superceded by the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
84
Potomac Company -- Queries.
Queries of the joint Committee to the President of the Poto- mac Company, July 5, 1822.
1st. The number of shares of the capital or dividing stock, and the amount.
2d. The number of shares held by the states of Maryland and Virginia, and by individuals respectively.
8d. The whole sum expended on the works, from the com- mencement of the operations of the Company up to the 1st & January, 1822, stating, as far as practicable, the amount ex- pended on the original construction of the works, and the amount expended in repairs.
41h. The amount of the debts due from the Company ou the 1st of January, 1822, shewing to whom due, when con- tracted, and including principal and interest.
5th. The amount of tolls received in each year, from the 1st of August, 1799. up to the 1st August, 1821, together with the number of boats and tonnage employed, and the produce and merchandise transported during that period, with an esti- mate of the value of the same.
6th. The mode of expending the annual tolls, giving as par- ticular an account as practicable.
OFFICE OF THE POTOMAC COMPANY, GEORGETOWN, Dec. 20th, 1822.
GENTLEMEN: By instruction from the Board of Directors of the Potomac Company, I have the honor to make the fol- lowing communication:
The paper (A. ) furnishes answers to 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th queries, put by you in relation to the number, the amount, and the proprietorship of the shares; to the expenditures, and to the dette of the company. As to the 3d query, [amount ex- pended] no seperate accounts having been kept for these items, it has been found impossible to distinguish the amount expend- ed in the repairs; and further, it is proper to remaak, that, although the whole sum of the expenditures is correctly stated at $729,387 29 cents, there has been, actually, laid out, of money, other than that produced by the profits of the works no more than the sum of $511,349 62 cents; since, as will be seen by the note at the foot of paper (B. ) the sum of $216,- 949 60 cents, received for tolls, supplied so much of the ex- penditure.
The paper (B.) gives in detail the information required by the 5th query, s to the tolls received, the boats employed, and the produce and merchandise transported; by which it will be perceived, that, since the first use of the navigation in 1800, by
85
Potomac Company.
brans of the works of the company, to speak in round num- ters, upwards of two hundred and twenty thousand dollars have been received for tolls; a mass of produce and merchan- Site has been transported on the river, equal in value to more than nine millions three hundred thousand dollars, (as one. wisle of which, one million one hundred and thirty-five Gomsand barrels of flour have been water-borne to market,) wł that for the last fifteen years, on an average, seven hun- dred and twenty boats have been annually employed on the
The paper (C.) exhibits the manner in which the tolls of for last year were expended, and is intended as a practical re- ply to your 6th query, inasmuch as they have in each year Win applied to the objects there described, in greater or less
Very respectfully, J. MASON.
To Flie Williams, Athanasius Fenwick, William Naylor, H tham 'T' 'T. Mason, and Moses 'T. Hunter, Esyrs. joint (emnussioners on the part of the states of Virginia aud Mc- rand, &c. &c. &c.
¢
·
[C.]
NO. SHARES.
AMOUNT.
Ist, Capital, or dividing stock, at £100 sterling.
700
$311,111 11
120
53,333 33}
220
360
97,777 773 160,000 00
700
311,111 11
3d, Total amount expended from the commencement in 1784, to 1 st August 1822, including original improvements, repairs, inter- est paid on borrowed money, expenses of collecting tolls, &c.
...
$729,387 29
4th, Debts due by the company to Ist Ang. '22, including interest- To subscribers to Monocacy loan, contracted 1803.
Do Shenandoah Joan, 1812 ..
·
...
4,608 77
Do Antietam loan, 1812.
Do Cumberland loan,
1813.
...
7,642 12
State of Maryland
1814.
.. .
39,950 00
Banks of the District of Columbia, including interest, whereof $55,955 17 was contracted between the years 1803 and 1816, and the remainder in 1816, '17, and '18. .
...
101,192 88
Sundry persons ..
...
1,500 00
.Vote-Although $311, 111 11, as stated above, is really the sim of the capital stock, or dividing capital, the amount of : 36,551 10 was actually paid in, the difference, $25,439 99, r .s sunk to the profit of the present stockholders, by the sale
98
Answers to the ist, 2d, 3d, and 4th queries of the Potomer
Commissioners.
of delinquent shares.
...
3,876 49
...
17,026 SS
J. MOORE, Jr. Treasurer.
2d Shares held by the state of Virginia. . Shares held by the state of Maryland. Shares held by individuals ...
87
Table, shewing the amount of the tolls received by the Potomac
Y'rs
Boats.
Tonnage Bla. Flour. Whiskey
Toba o
Ton Iron
Other art's off Sundryretr'n produce est d. of goods est'd.
1800
296
1,643
16,584
84
25
·
..
$2,950 00
$7,851 00
1
413
2,993
28,209
6193
100
1873
14,060 00
6,180 00
305
1,95º
17,250
379
5
27,232 50
... ..
S
493
5,549
45,055
237
4503
3,936 00
10,386 00
4
426
3,823
39,350
578
8
88
3,250 00
7,514 00
5
405
3,208
28,507
436
11
137
32,975 18
7,486 00
6
203
1,296
19,079
459
.5
20}
3,553 40
4,998 00
7
573
8,155
85,248
971
20
11,796 00
7,314 00
8
508
5,994
48,463
1,535
3
13
10,539 37
7,613 00
0
603
6,767
40,059
1,527
494
8,537 00
11,510 00
10)
568
5,374
40,757
1,080
13
1913
5,703 00
11
1,500
16,350
118,922
3,768
27
200
6,810 00
6,000 00
12
613
9,214
55,829
3,143
6
360
1,691 0)
7,319 75
13
623
7,916
55,902
3,464
11
252
1,899 00
6,119 32
14
596
5,987
38,760
2,684
18
561
675 00
5,314 12
15
613
6,354
47,183
4,616
9
314
2,075 00
5,211 15
16
550
6,132
35,918
1,774
29
419
6,291 65
6,371 35
17
856
8,197
57,662
1,385
10
335
4,004 00
14,000 00
18
746
9,778
58,662
3,1263
8,750 00
15,121 00
19
775 1
7,550
66,4493
1,479
...
27%}
9,688 00
15,521 00
20)
017
10,505
75,272 1
1.215
14
16,587 95
12.2.10) (*)
21
760
11,400
67,557
1,301
10
115
11,315 00
16,927 00
782
11,760
50.158
2, 1165
17.215 0
-
-
-
Company, in each year, from the 1st of August, 1799, to 1st
.August, 1822, together with the number of bouts, and tonnage
employed, and the produce and merchandise transported, with the estimated value of the same, during that period.
[B]
i
Y'ra,
' .Im't of tolls ] 'Total estima -! received. ted value.
1800
$2,138 58
$129,4:4 00
1
4,210 19
328,445 32
3,479 69
163,916 00
3
9,353 93
345,572 82
4
7,765 58
281,040 60
¥5
5.213 24
340,334 18
6
2,123 69
86,790 40
" Hire, provisions, and clothing, for yearly hands to attend the locks.
346 77
8
15,080 42 9,924 27
337,007 47
9
9,094 89
365,528 00
10
7,915 85
313,237 62 925,074 80
11
22,542 89
11,471 37
13
11,816 22
515,525 72 423,340 32
14
9,109 82
15
9,789 57
16
7,501 52
17
13,948 23
18
10,332 26
19
12,514 04
13,107 313
420,818 15
12,490 61
318,810 00
11,103 503
369,522 62
.251,997 67
$9,957,436 764
J. MOORE, JR. Treasurer of Potomac Company.
came in, expended in the works of the Company. the remainder, to wit: $216,949 60, was, from time to time, as $3,990. This, with $1,088 07 cents, in hand, subtracted, shows the stockholders was ever made, to wit: in the year 1802, of "Of the whole sum received for tolls, only one dividend to
GENERAL STATEMENT of Disbursements made by the Treasurer of the Potomac Company, from the 1st day of August, 1821, to 1st day of Au- gust, 1822. [C.]
Cash paid mechanics and laborers, em- employed in repairs & improve- ments. . .
$2,989 94
" Materials for repairs and improve- ments. . . 711 982
" Salaries to Treasurer and two Toll Gatherers ... 1,700 00 · " Toward principal and interest of debt 5,276 453
" Contingent.,. 201 043
$11,225 354 J. MOORE, Jn, Treasurer.
Table continued.
88
---
:
312,093 72 489,498 15 357,661 00 787,904 00 781,924 00 565 010 624
551,866 47
89
Deed of Surrender of the Potomac Co.
" KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, That, Whereas at a general meeting of the stockholders of the Poto- mac Company, duly held at Semmes's Tavern, in Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, on the sixteenth day of May, in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-five, the said Potomac Company duly signified and declared their assent to the pro- visions of the Act of the General Assembly of Virginia, passed at the December session thereof, in the year eighteen hun- dred and twenty-three, entitled "An act incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company," and to the acts of the General Assembly of Maryland, and of the Congress of the United States, confirming the same, by the corporate act of the said Potomac Company, duly executed, copies whereof have been duly delivered to the Executive of the States of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, pursuant to the direc- tions of the said acts of Assembly and of Congress: And whereas, at the same meeting of the said Potomac Company, held as aforesaid, the President and Directors of the said Company were duly authorized and required by the said Com- pany to make, in the name and behalf of the said Company, a surrender of the charter of the said Company to the said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, and to convey, in due form of law, to the said Chesapeake and Ohio Caual Company, all the property, rights, and privileges, owned, possessed, and enjoyed, by the said Potomac Company under their charter, to be held, used, and occupied, by the sand Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, in the same manner, and to the same effect, as the said Potomac Company held, possessed, and oc- cupied, the same by law; that is to say, whenever, agrecably to the terms and provisions of the aforesaid act of Vir mia, the subscribers therein mentioned and referred to should have become incorporated; and it was then and there by the said Potomac Company, by their corporate act duly made and re- corded, further resolved and declared, that, upon the comple- tion of the said surrender and conveyance by the said Presi- dent and Directors, to be be evidenced by deed or deeds in the name of the said Potomac Company, under the hands of the said President and Directors, or a majority of them, and the corporate seal of the said Potomac Company, the said charter of the said Potomac Company should be, and, by the said last mentioned corporate act of the said Company, be- come, effectually surrendered, and all the said property,
90 Lafe Potomac Co .- Deed of Surrender,
rights, and privileges, effectually conveyed to the said Chesa- peake and Ohio Canal Company, according to the tenor and effect, .rue intent and meaning, of the said act and acts so incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company as aforesaid, all which will more particularly and at large ap- pear, reference being had to the record of the proceedings and corporate acts of the said Potomae Company: And where- as the subscribers to the capital stock of the said Chesapeake and Ohr. Canal Company have become, and now are, fully incorporated as a b dy politic and corporation aggregate, agreeably to the provisions of the said act of Virginia, and by force of that act, and of the other acts confirming the same as ato: esaid, and being so incorporated, have duly elected a Pre- sident and six Directors, as authorized and required by the said act and acts of Assembly and of Congress, who have res- pectively duly taken the oath or affirmation prescribed by the same, and are now duly organized as a board: Now, be it known, that the sand Potome Company, by their said Presi- dent and Directors, acting in the name and behalf of the said Company, in consideration of the premises, and in the due and faithful pursuance and execution of the intent of the said Com- pany, so resolved and declared as atoresaid, and of the power and authority by them vested in the said President and Direc- tors as af tesaid, have given, granted, surrendered, transfer- red, assigned, and conveyed, and do hereby, by these presents, give, grant, surrender, transfer, assign, and convey, to the said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, and to their sue- cessors forever, the charter of the said Potomac Company, and all the property. rights, and privileges, by them owned, possessed, and enjoyed, under the same: To have and to hold all and singular the said property rights, and privileges, unto the said Chesapeake and Cinio Canal Company, and their suc- cessor- for ever, to be held, possessed, used, and occupied, by them, and to their only use, benefit. and behov f, in the same manger, and to the same effect, as to the said Potomac Com- pany held, possessed, and recupied, the same by law, on the said sixteenth day of May, in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-five. In witness whereof. John Mason, President of the said Potomac Company, and Jonah Thompson, John Laird and Clement Smith, Directors of the said Company, being a majority of the said President and Directors, have, on this fifteenth day of August, in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-eight, her unto subscribed their names, with their proper bands, and atfixed the corporate seal of the said Com
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