Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-12-16
TUESDAY, DECEMBER le, 1928.

Memorial of the Chesapeake and Ohao Ca
nal Company.
n...,har 8. 1929 Referred to the Committee on
Roads and Canals.
To the Senate and House OF Representatives.
ofthe United States Of Aner1ca IN Con-
eress assembled.
The memorial Of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal Company.
RESPECTFULLY REPRESENTS.
That. shortly after the close OF the last ses
sion of Congress, a general meeting oil me
Stockholders was held, at which the undefsish-
sd wrre duly elected President and Directors
of the Company. They proceeded, uader the
charter which had been granted oy the
Convres. of the Uni'ed States, the States oil
Virsinia. MARYLAND, and Pennsylvania, and con
6rmrd by the assent Of The Potomac Company
70 execute The ttus, reposed IN them.
In the progress Of this duty, II became. IN
the opinion Of the undersigned, exPedien', Tor
the servation of harmony among the princi.
nal subscribers, to convene second genera
meeting of the Company, in order 10 Tx, den,
nitively, the eastern termination oil the Lamar
within the District Of Columbia.
Accordingly, meeting, after due notice, was
held for that s. Other purposes, by very large
m,;ori,v in in, crest OF the Stor kholders, In the
Civ Hall Of Washing on, who after much de-
liberation, adopted the resolutions. which, a
long with copy oil such part OF the p oceed-
mo, Of the general Meeting as relate thereto,
are annexed 10 this memorial See Appendix
Al c..
having, OH due consultation, pronounced The o.
oinion required BY the resolutions 20 give effect
10 the decision of the Company, that their char
fer authorized the termination OF the main
stem Of the Canal, In the manner proposed ana
sanctioned by the concurrent voice OF large
majority of the Stockholders; the obligation de-
yo,yed upon the President and Directors TO pre-
sen, 10 YOUR honorable bodies memorial, re-
ouesting such aid as to you, wisdom: may seem
exnedient, towards the extension Of Canal
II t.ssofam6ia; and towards the construction Of
another Canal from the main stem % the Navy
Yard Of the Unned States, on the Eastern
Branch. at the leve, Of the Potomac river al The
head IL the I.iule Falls. See Appendix B
The duty, thus charged upon the undersigned
President and Directors, cannot well be per-
formed without adverting TO the considerations
which led them to recommend the annexed re,
solutions TO the genetal meeting, and ihe Stock
holders to adopt them with so much uoanim,>
"; nor can such reference be useful, or even
Ineligible, without also atveriing TO the true
origin Of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Whatever views may have an;ecedentiy ex
listed, at any time, with respect 10 the improve
meat of the Navigation of the Potomac, or any
Of the branches Of the Ohio which approach its
head waters, by opening their sluces, by form
ing short canals & lift To- ks around their prin
cipal 'obstIuctious, or conducting continued ca
nails along their valleys; the Chesapeake aud o.
Mo Canal, or connected navigation across
the Allegheny Mountains, from the tide Of the
Potomac TO the Ohio, had never entered into
the concep iion Of any one, much less had it
been ever seriously contempla ed, until the
B1ard Of Public Works of Virgin conf led to
their principal Engineer the survey OF those ri
yers, iu order to ascertain the praeticabilily of
their union
TWAS discovered and made known, on the
summit Of he Allegheny, in the summer Of
1920, TO be possible to effect, by a na,igable
Canal across that grea, barrier, junction OF
the eastern and western waters This discove-
~ was first noticed in the House OF Repre- SEN
tatives, by the Committee on the Distric Of Go
lumbia, Of their report OF the 81 OF May. 1922
on numerous memorials from the States of MAJ
ryland aud Pennsy lvania, which had been refer
red to the Committee, and which were Of vari-
Gus tenor, but all united ia asking nothing
more than the aid or Congress to improve the
defective navigation of the River Potomac.
To attract ,be public a,tenlion 10 the more
enlarged purpose suggested in the report OF
the Commi,lee Of the House OF Representa-
tives, of uniting, by one continued canal, the
waters Of that river with the highest steam-
boat navigation Of the Ohio, and that with The
southern shore of Lake Erie; to manifest the
practic ability and importance Of so vas, an inn
provement Of inland navigation; as well as to
provide the means Of effectlng 1t, convention
Of delegates from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsyl-
yania, and the District Of Columbia, assembled
by prior invitation, in the Capitol in Washing |
ton, on the 9th Of November, 1923. BY this
assemblage, which has, ever since, borne the Ii !
tie Of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Conveu> ,
ton, its present denomination was given to the ,
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal; the terms OF the
charter 10 be sought. in oraer to authorize its
were considered in this Conven-
ton, discussed, and settled; the dimensions Of
the canal were limited; its cost was estimated;
and among the means adopted for providing
the charter and the necessary funds to COM
hvo ord Of fhe Hop |