Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1866-11-05
ALEXANDRIA,. ;.
MONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER S

Quincy Adams, sixth President Of the United
States, threY. up the. first shovel full Of earth
of the excavation Of the Chesapeake Sand Ohio
Canal; upon which occasion he uttered the
grand watchword to. the friends Of this great
wo.k, perseverance,. :. How few of our eciti-.
cps Of that day are now LETT amongst US
One Of these few, however, who from the
first was an unwavering and unfinching advo
cate of it, and its adjunct, the Alexandria Ca
nal, as an important outlet-may we not say
the indispensable outlet OF the great trade of
this great work--thasi furnished us. some facts,
in connexionswith the inception Of the copstruc-
ton of the.aqredu which may be vem6edsby
the recordstot proceedings of c.. T.. o. CanaI
Co., and which we commendto theeconsidera1.
ton of our neighbors Of Georgetown, before
commencing legal proceedings, as suggested by
the memorial to their City Council. Soon after
the active commencing Of The Canal, tthe City,
of Washington, as a subscriber to its2sstock, to-
the amount Of one million Of dollars United
States one million, Georgetown and Alexandria
quarter Of a million each), became restless,
and demanded thatthe Canal should be brought.
within.hcr limits It must be promised that
originally the Eastern terminus of the Canal
was fixed at point5a mileler sozaboye George
town--called, it is believed, .ZacaryE Bakers,
house here, at the proper time, were to be
constructed outlet locks, twhefeEthe boats were
to be transierredctolthe Iriver,G thence to
seek market a Georgetown, Washington, Al
exandria By what means they were to reach
Alexandria was not then,arrangcd ay the good
people Of that day. 4, = a.;...f j., .t....,.
As before remarked, the peore Of Washing
ton persisted 10 their demand 81. bringing the
canal within its limits though earnestly toppo:
sed by some of their best men lo5f that day, such
as Gen. Walter Jones and other men Of his
stamp, who deprecated the idea Of bringing the
Canal to The level Of tide, and thus cutting off
Washington from all chance OF water power
as we'll as the folly of spending nearly million
of dollars yon the Eastern end Of the. Canal,
which should beapplied to pushing the work
westward towards the coal felds.49y gnsag SIT
Sill the demand was perssted;in, aud at the
next annual meeting, Hon. Richard Rush, Sec
rotary Treasury, as representative OF the W.
S., gave Into the measure for the sake of har7
mony, &c. To this the representatives Of AZ
cxandria objected, as the people ofAhat town
had burthened themselves with . heavy debt,
not to construct work for thebeneftso Wash
ington and to cut them off from all lchanceaof
participation inits bene6ts-butfora work emp
tying'into the river above, where they would
have fair shake" with their, competitors for
this important trade, ag
The objections of Alexandria were considered
reasonable and through the influence Of Mr..
Rush, if not at has suggestion, a compromise
was agreed TO, that to com pensate Alexandria
for this misappication of her funds, the G. Il
O. Canal Company. should purchase the site,
and construct the Northern Abutment of an
Aqueduct across the Potomac for a canalto
Alexandria. bsa4oa.Iza 1Ei q I-ebasjta xf5qm5g
This was carried mem. con. I'D and at an early
meeting of the C.t& %. Canal board, Waiter
Smith, Of ,Georgetoac1l, and, Phineas ,Jauney,
Of Alexandria, were appointeda committee to,
select a. site for the abutment,- which was done
purchased and paid for, at the point where it
now stands Z The constructions was carried on
and completed under hthes superintendance OF
that distinguished engineer, 9sthea1ate William
Turnbull, then Major of US. Tppogra phical:
Engineers Col J...J. Abert whoStook great
interest in the construction Of the piers, being
then aSthe head Of thatn corpse Though not
material in this connection, it may here be re-
marked, that at the Suggestion OF 5CokTAbert,
every other.pier Of the. Aaaeduct was enlarged
to about double the size Of the others-called
abutmept picrs77--so as; to provide ier sstruc-7
ture of stone, Shich Col. Albert hoped Congress
would enable the Alexandria Canal Company
to construct. a5asS G5ea sad
COL Albert was an enthusiast: in reference to
the construction Of these piers, thirty six feet
below thelevel of tide, and remarked to TIE
late Phineas Janney and others, that the infor-
nation acquired in the construction of Golfer
dams and the erection of works at tbs great
depth Of water, was a triumph of Engineering
science and skill, and was worth to the Gcner.2
al Government all the money it had eaatmbuted
to the work.. This it is believed 5ully settles
the question suggested ID the Georgetown
memorial for fnaS adjudication before the
legal tribunals, the question whether the cree,
ton oftke Agued act was authorized AS we'll
Is that other question loosely intlmated in that
memorial, whether its reconstruction asHC Ca
nal purposes would be fatal to the tsaulree de-
velopment of the trade which was designed to
be secured to Georgetown, We presume, by
the completion Of the Chesapeake and Ohio 4
Canal. - *.s.. ~. Z ....5s.<.iGtis'5 ,'15ssd
We on this side ofthcP tomach have long cher (
ished heidea, that tie Full development of the
trade OF G. so. Canal, is. essentially Deepen
dant upon the operations Of the Alexandria
Canal, and if We are not mistaken, such is the
q. n 4 L (