River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1894-10-04
DOWN THE POTOMAC.
Instructive Account of a Charm
ing Canoe Voyage.
A Trip which Must Prove Revelation to
the Lover OF Nature Some Fine
Samples of Local Nomenclature
The Aquia Ouarries.
Especial washington letter.


The Washington Canoe association is
an organization of which any chief of
the old Analostans, Powtowmacks, Ac-
comacs, or Susquehannas would have
been very proud. IN the days of the
aborigines the placid Potomac was
plOwed bv the dug-out. birch-bark
and RATED Aandicraft of ambitious cop
per-colored sportsmen and warriors.
They went a-fishing in those days, but
they did not go cunning. They had
bows and arrows and crude traps; but
such as they had they used for captur-
ing or killing the reed-birds, ortolans,
ducks, deer and Other game. They in
vaded the flats and marshes, and
tramped over the islands for mere wan
tonness. They had tribal fleets, too,
and went to war as heroically and Zero
ciously as did their white brethren be-
yond the trackless Atlantic waste. But
they had no Armada. nor any panoplied
fotilla such as that in which Cleopatra
led Mare Antony to disgrace and in
fanny
The modern fleet of canoes has its
headquarters near the spot on which
the greatest battle was ever fought in
prehistoric times. The Analostans,
Accomacs and Powtowmaclxs formed a
confederacy; a sort of tri-partite agree
ment for their mutual protection
against the invading hordes of the
north, called Susquehannas. The lat
ter tribe came down like wolves on the
fold Their ranks were as the sands of
the seashore in number. But, upon one
fhax~ lt~ la nd
by water, the southern confederacy of
unprecedented warriors entrenched
themselves upon an emincnce NOW
lown as Observation hilD. repulsed
them. drove them back, followed and
smote them hip and thigh: so that they
never again approached the Potomac
region. Even until this day the bones
of those slain in that great battle on
the river, as well as on the land, and
that ON Analostan island, midway be-
tween the river banks, are occasionally
exhumed, when buildings are erected
on the spot where thousands of dusly
warriors battled for supremacy. 1t is
near this battle-ground that the modern
fleet casts and weighs anchor to-day.
But the complete crafts of the pleas
ure-seekers are models of ease and com
fort In such a safe vessel as the lit
tie Mariner, it is "A great pleasure to
explore the bays and shores of the
lover river. For several days proceed
ing the cruise, active preparations had
been going on to insure a complete out
fit, and the tent, cooking utensils,
blankets and provisions were now
snugly slowed under the deck IN such
a manner as to ballast the cruiser for
her best sailing. Rapialy the familiar
shores of the river near the city were
passed. and once under the long bridge
we felt that our cruise had really be-
gun. The temptation to stop for
brief visit to the wooded bluffs of the
Four Mile run, favOrite rendezvous
of the Potomac canoeists, was resisted
by desire to make camp as far down
cse river as possible the first night, so
we kept our course in midchannel
past Alexandria, the former home of
Lord Fairfax, and Jones Point Just be
low, where on April Is, 1891, the initial
corner stone of the present District of
Columbia was laid by notable gather
fng of distinguished officials, in ac-
cordance with President Wash ington's
proclamation of March 30, 1871, an
nouncing the bounds of the new feder-
al territory afterwards named the Dis
trict of Columbia. The present light
house at Jones' Point stands ON the
site of the interesting ceremonies, and
in the beginning of this century it was
proposed to erect a strong fort there to
be called ''Colum bia in commemoration
of the event.
The Mariner is so different in every
way from the original craft called
''canoe" that it seems to be a great
misnomer. In the first place no oars
are required for its propulsion, for it
has two large, light but strong sails
which make it leap through and over