The Alexandria herald. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1811-1826, 1823-03-24
MONDAY MORNING, MARCH "a, 1928.

tits due, however, to that company &
state, that although the errors unde
which they labored in the principles ant
practice of Improvements in navigation
have been great and have caused use
less expenditure of large sums sti,
they acted with the best lights heretofor.
possessed by the best informed person,
m our states. They have not only ex
pended the whole of their original stock
in attempts to improve tie river, bu
nearly all their tolls with the exception o
| their necessary annual expenses have
been appropriated to the same purposes
And this failure to accomplish the objects
of their incorporation, may &c fairly aitri
buted to want of Information on the sub
ject at the very early period of our exis~
| teDce as nation, when that Company
WIS formed.
The journal OF notes made by the com.
missioners Of the condition ofthe naviga-
ton and depth ofwater taken from day
TO day, as they descended the river, is
hereto annexed marked &C. from which
il will be seen, that the river to Goose
Creek, which has been esceTtained to
be one hundred and fifty-seyen miles
| long, is in no section of ten miles, at all
| navigabie in low waite, by loaded boats of
any kind or dimensions, and for more
than eighty miles distractions from shall
lows sutficien, TO stop skif, are TO be
met with on on average division of that
distance every half mile.
Present State Of The Navigation.
II hos hpe a., Ill,
many persons, that the ri,er Potomac in
its present condition is navigable nearly
half the year. The Potomac company
are required TO give low water nayiga-
ton of foot deep throughout the year.
This circumstance and the idea enter
tanned of the possibility of confirming the
waters in the bed of the river to narrow
sluices ha' e confirmed this opinion.--
The commissioners have given minute
examination to this branch of the duties
imposed upon them, and satisfied them<
selves from their own observations, and
he most ca eful inquire es that no such
blessing is enjoyed by the fertile districts
through which the river flows.
he floods and freshets give the only
navigation at the prescr, used. They oc
cur usually from he first Of September
to the twentieth June, variously however,
in various years Ann i On hannsns ,b,t
although boats are known In sofiT cur ..
TO pass down through each of the months
'tervening betweenthesc dates yet in cor.
sequence OF the ice during winter, and
the short continuance of flood giving
navlgable water, the average duration of
the boating time in course Of many
years does not much if at all exceed eight
or ten days passable water for full loaded
boats late In the year, and from twoiuy~
hive 10 thirty FIVE days in the spring Of
the year, making the whole time when
produce and goods can be stream borne
in the course of one entire common year
from thirty>three to forty-five days The
duration of this period necessarily increa-
ses as you approach the Great Falls, and
decreases as you ascend TO the head OF
the river The evils attending the pre-
sent 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 season in the great rapidly Of the
current of the river in consequence of the
great fall or inclination of its plane, in
proportion 10 Its length; in ITS DANCE
rous character arising from the wildness
of the torrent and the suddenness of its
courses and meanders, having worn It's
| devious way in the lapse FACES through
| countless ridges Of rocks and mountains ::
and in consequence of huge fragments Of
rocks and large loose stones, the remains
of the wasted mountains, scattered thick
| ly and IN some places rising over the
entire bed of the river, leaving no pas
| sage for loaded boats, impelled by the
rapid and impetuous current, but what
may be found by warPiDg and winding
with the utmost exertion of strength,
agility and wstchfulness on the part Of
the crew, through most irregular course.
BY these dangers many boats and cargoes
are destroyed. The uncertainty and
the shortness Of the duration of the foods,
are the very worst features in the charac-
er Of this navigation This uncertainty FIRE
lquently occasions the most ruiDous dis
appointments to the farmers, TRillers,a and
merchants. The expected rains are Of
ten deniedsand the consequence frequent
ly is, that contracts cannot be compile
with, which occasion lose and ruin
Sometimes a small rise and deceitlu
appearances induce collection Of the
A Il. 4