Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-11-01
city, the capital of great empire, ought to

In viewing the intended establishment in this
light, and considering how, in progress Of time,
city so happily situated win extend over a
large space OF ground, much elaboration Is
the local distribution, and conceive that
plan on system which, In the meanwhile,
as 1t must render the place commOdious and
agreeable to the first settlers In It, may be capa-
bic OF being made part Of the whole when en-
Iarged by progressive improvements, the which
to be made agreeable to what will first have
been erected, and preserve the similar CORE
should be forseeH In the first delineation in a
grand plan OF the whole city combined, with the
various ground it will cover, and with the par
ttcular circumstances OF the country all around.
THE THEORY UPON WHICH WASHINGTON WAS
PLANNED.
In endeayoring to effect this, it Is not the reg
ular assemblage of houses laid out in squares
and forming streets all parallel and uniform that
Is so necessary, for such plan could only answer
on well levelled plain, and where no surround
ing object being interesting it becomes indlffer-
emit which way the opening OF a street may be
directed, but on any other ground plan OF this
swer for any of the spots proposed for the Fede-
raj city, and on that held here the most eligible;
1t would absolutely annihilate every advantage
enumerated, and the securing OF which Will
alone insure the success Of the undertaking.
Such regular plan indeed. however anSWerlble
they may appear on paper, or Se1uclng as they
may De ON tnp ITSU aspect W LIE eyes Vi SOinp
people, must even, when applyed on that ground
the best calculated to admit OF it, become at
last ttreSOme and insipid, and it never could be
in its origin but mean conrrivaace of SOM cool
Imagination wanting a sense of the real grand
and truly beautiful, only to he met with ware
nature contributes with art ana dver5ifyS the OBJ
jectS. "
Major L'Enfant appears to have dlscerned,
with soldiers eye, the opportunities for de-
fence offered by the heights that eacircle the
city, and which were afterwards to be crowned
hnttn N yyanr Nf oir-
war, but 1t must have required very ardent
imagination to see, in these gentle hills, branch
Of the grand western mountains"
JEFFERsON's PLAN.
He gives reasons for not laying out on so varied
a surface, and amid such scenery a city with
streets solely at right angles with each other. as
appears to have been desired by Thomas Jefrer-
son, who. In a letter to Major L'Enfant OF April
10, 1871, says: Il have examined my papers and
ruhes Amsterdam, Strasburg, Paris. Orleans.
Bordeaux, Lyons, Montpelier, MarseilleS. Turin
and Milan, which 1 send in roll by the post"
1t would appear, however, that he thought the
plans of these cities inferior to that of Old Ba-
bylon, revived in PHILADELPHIA
The plan adopted by Major LEnfant, rldl-
culed while Washington was a collection Of
Struggling villages, causing it to be styled s'The
City of Magnificent Distances" appears In all
its beauty, now that it is becoming compactly
him the tardy justice OF admitting that he saw
beyond the times in which he lived, and worth
lily designed the plan Of the city which he be-
neved would be 'the capital of grand empire"
He did not remain long in charge of the work
but was superseded by Andrew Elllcott. refused
the compensation which he considered adequate
for his services, and died in poverty.
THE GOOSE CREEK" PERPLEXrTY.
The site chosen on which to build the city,
although highly praised by Major L'Eafant,
was unfayorable in many respects The plateau
from the Eastern Branch to the slope OF the
Capitol Hill deserved indeed adj his encomtunS,
but westward from the Capitol toward George
town. the ground was broken, cut into ravineS
by Goose creek and its branches, while a por-
ton OF the ground on which Pennsylvania ave-
nue. was laid out was but marsh, scarcely
raised above tide. and this marsh extended
nearly the entire distance from the Avenue to
the Eastern Branch.
The streams which cut this portion of the city,
and which ha e been the perplexity OF every
successive ad, Illustration which has had charge
of It's affairs, Ve' esteemed in those days among
the great advantages OF the site. Goose Creek
was renamed the Tiber, and canal along its
channel was laid out from the Potomac to the
Eastern Branch, on grand scale, estimated to
cost three millions of dollars. To build this a
lottery was instituted, but as three millions
could not be raised In this or any other way, the
plan was reduced, the canal built by an 1ncor-
porated company, and proved to be, for more
than half century, the greatest nuisance in
Washington. One OF the branches OF Goose
Creek which comes from the hills just to the
eastward of Howard University was to be con-
veyed to the Capitol, and after supplying that
building with water. was TO pour down its west
ern slope in grand cascade Another branch
which enters the city near the head of 9th street
northwest was to be conveyed to the PreSi-
dents house to be utilized in the same manner
These streams are now buried deep in the sew
ers of the city, but are apt in times OF high
water, to again assert their existence and their
right to flow in their ancient channels to the
confusion Of houSekeeperS and of merchants
who have goods stored In cellars.