Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1873-06-20
ROCKVILLE. MARYLAND, FRIDAY MORNING. JUNE 2O I873

if performing tattoo or reveille. The
drumming of the spirit is said to have
been heard most frequently before the
building of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal when the river was navigated by
boats and taken around the two Falls Of
the Potomac by short canals built under
tue direction of Geo Washington and
we all know that the number of peo-
pie drowned in the Potomac was greater
then than it has been in latter years,
except during the rebellion. Under con-
tending Aags--alas drowned men and
the discordant drum have lately been of
far too frequent occurrence in the valley
Of the Potomac, There was time when
these fancies made me unhappy, but now
they do not trouble me. ] am growing
old, and though might prefer to have
my body laid under the green sod,
should not be surprised, nor care, at any
time, to hear the wild music of the phan-
tom drum.
Other sounds besides that of the drum
were heard in this valley in the oden
times. In the hollow, on the Virginia
side, just below the Falls, there has been
anil or factory ever since I was boy
First it was flour mill, then woollen
factory, afterwards a distilery, and last
ly paper mill. When the rebellion
commenced, the walls of the paper mill
were standing, but the troops made a
target Of them for their cannon, and now
you can hardly recognize the spot upon
which they stood. At this point, too,
in former years there was store kept,
and of course tavern, and it was for
many years the regular loafng place for
the people OF Cooney. Here a lot of
wild Cooneys could always be found,
cutting up all kinds of capers, running
themselves and starving their families by
drink; and one of their pastimes, on
Sunday afternoons, was to fight with
each other, like cats and dogs, simply
for the wager of a drink of rum or wills
key. But those wretched people arc all
gone away forever.
In the days which | now speak ofsmall
cargoes of -four were brought down the
Potomac in keel boats, and once in
while man would appear who preferred
to run the Falls with his boat, instead of
going around by the canal. At the Great
Falls above, this could never be done, but
here the feat was sometimes performed
Of one OF these daring men, named Ca
meron, it is said that he was thrown from
his boat on the top of the Spouting Rock,
or middle landing, where he was COM
PEELED to remain in continuous rain for
three days. During that time he could
only be fed by catching loaves of bread or
pieces of meat which were thrown to him
from the southern shore. lie was finally
rescued by means Of boat which was
drawn up the rapid by long ropes from
either side of the river, and on the next
day after his escape the water had risen
at least twenty feet above the top of
Spouting Rock, and the ordinary width
Of the river, of perhaps two hundred
feet, was increased until the flood was
half mile wide and washed the high
hills of the Maryland shore.
But nothing so convinces me of my
declining years as the changes which
have taken place in my family and among
my acquaintance and friends. The little
boy who twenty-five years ago brought
me my meals to the river side while dip
ping for shad, fishing for rock-fsh. or
graphing for sturgeon, is now great
strong man, and the eldest of my ten
children. OF my old friends, many of
them have wandered to unknown parts,
and many Of them are dead. They came
here oftcntimes bleached by the con6ne-
mcnt Of city life, and after spending a
day with me at the Falls, drinking in the
pure air and enjoying the wild scenery
and good sport, they always went away
happier and in better health than when
they came. Some of them had roamed
much over the world, and it did me good
to hear them talk about the wonders they
had seen. Among my departed friends
and patrons were some who were great
men, or had names that were known
throughout the land.
Foremost among these was Daniel
Webster. When Secretary of State, he
used to come here, always early in the
morning, and accompanied by his private
secretary. He liked the fresh morning
air as much as any man | ever saw, and
when he talked to me freely about fish and
fishing, | could believe that he had been
in the business all his life. He was al
ways liberal and where other men would
give me one dollar for mornings sport
he would give me ten. And for an old
man, as he then was, he was good fish
crman- remember well the day that
he caught his biggest rock-Gsh had
taken bin in one of my boats to the ''cat-
ting rock" and as we swung across the
roaring waters, the great man clapped his
hands like little child. The fish weighed
sixteen pounds, and gave him much
trouble, and when | GATED the prize and
we knew it was safe, he dropped his rod
in the bottom Of the boat, jumped to his
feet, and gave yell--a regular Indian
yell-whicb might have been heard in
Georgetown. He came often, was always
pleasant in his ways, generally on the
ground as early as five o'clock, and onco
he gave me as reason for winding up
the sport at nine o'clock, that he was
President Fillmorc's clerk, and he was
obliged to be at the Department before
noon. But his fishing days are long
since ended, and ! have thought that if
he had lived at the time, we might not
have been cursed with the Great Re-
bellion.