Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1871-09-16
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 1871.

For THE REGISTER-A WISH W the
new building for the State Department,
now so rapidly progressing,is my reason
for writing this letter, and hope it will
be of sufficient interest as to make 1t ac-
ceptable to your readers.
Ii is the intention to make this struc-
ture for the accommodation OF the first
executive department, that OF State, all
that architecture and the highest me-
! chanic art can imagine or invent. 1t
will be grand and imposing in appear
ance. conveniently arranged for every
branch of the service, with superb suit
of rooms expressly set apart for inter
viewers with foreign ministers and dl-
plomatic agents accredited from all
countries. Added to appearance and
convenience will be that of strength,
freedom from destruction by fire and
durability, as it is intended that 1t shall,
like the Temple of Baalbec or the Pyra-
mids of Egypt defy old time itself
Every pillar, ASHER, sill, mantel, nay,
every thing made of marble, granite or
brick has been selected with the great
est care. and | learn to keep all these III
place for ages to come that, the authorl-
ties have selected as very superior AZ
ticle the Potomac Mills Cement, manu-
featured in ShepherdstOwn. This IS
certainly very high endorsement of tins
valuable material, imbedded in mex
haustible mines near your town. Your
Railroad completed, land the Chesapeake
& Ohio Canal at the point Of manuiac-
ture, must make this trade Of vast I'M
portance to your people.
My thoughts often run back to the
DAYS of yore, sometimes as far as nifty
wears, and | think with pleasure OF the
high character of the men Shepherds
town and its vicinage used to send to
Congress. We can name John Baker,
Thomas Van Swearingen, the brothers
Edward and William Lucas, Henry Bed
niger and Alexander II. Boteler. All
these gentlemen were highly respectable
in every sense of the word and would
do honor to any constituency. OF the
latter gentleman, the Hon. y. X. Bote-
Ter, the only one left in the prime OF
life, | wish to say word, and that Is
that no new member of Congress ever
had fairer record or won faster the
appreciation of his fellowrepresentatlves.
He was with us in Washington univer-
sally esteemed and we do hope and
trust that his fine talents and modest
gentlemanly department may be appre-
ciated by all those whom he loved so
well. One remark of his while laying
on a sick bed can never forget. 1t
was this, Il hope soon to be well as l
am so anxious to be useful to our PEG
pie" His earnest manner, and the SIN
cerity of his noble heart, is to this day
fresh in my memory.
1t is now one hundred and twenty
five years since my ancestors purchased
from Mr.. Burden, the agent OF Lord
Fairfax, the Baron of Cameron, the pro
perry then known as "The Shenandoah
Falls, now Harper's Ferry, and we
claim that our family was the first to
utilize the waters of the Cohongaroota
IOr DuSlneSS pun poSSo' ''''
says, THAT in 1878, the first boat de-
scended the Potomac river laden with
flour led to the formation, by General
Washington and others,of the"Potomac
and Shenandoah Navigation Company,
Now, Mr.. Editor, as you live on the
banks of this grand old river, | will, by
your permission, at some leisure mo-
ment, give you our version Of the story,
which is that Mr.. Harper commenced
boating flour and lumber to Belhaven,
(now Alexandria, as early as the spring
of 1853, and before he received the
Charter for his Ferry, by the House OF
Burgesses, then holding its sessions in
Williamsburg, Virginia
HARPER,
No. 42l, 10th street