Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-22
INJUNCTION PRAYED
Effort to Prevent Construction of Dam
at Great Falls.
CANAL COMPANY vs.. POWER COMPANY
Trustees of Former File a Suit at
Rockville, Maryland.
ALICIA TIONS OF BILL

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Com
pany through its trustees, John K. Cowen,
Hugh L. Bond, jr., and Joseph Bryan, filed
bill in the circuit court of Montgomery
county, at Rockville, Tuesday afternoon
asking that the Great Falls Power COM
pany, a corporation under the laws Of
Maryland and Virginia, be restrained from
continuing work on the dam designed to
cross the Potomac river at the Great Falls
and also asking that the power company
be required to remove forthwith any and
all dam or constructions of any kind which
in any way obstructs binders the flow of
the waters of the Potomac river at the
Great Falls
Some time ago the Great Falls Power
Company began the construction of a dam
at the Great Falls for the purpose of OBJ
taining water power for the generation Of
the electric railways Of the Washington
Traction and Electric Company in the Dis
trict of Columbia, for lighting the city of
Washington and for other purposes.
The bill alleges that the dam as now be-
ing proceeded with will cut off the water
from the entrance and destroy the pur-
poses and uses of what is known and
called the Potomac Company's canal now
the property of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal Company, and will interfere with
the rights of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal Company. 1t also alleges that the
dam that is being constructed crosses an
old dam which was built by the Potomac
company and interferes with and destroys
the purposes for which the dam was built
Declarations and Pleas.
The bill asks: /. THAT the said Great
Falls Power Company, its president and di-
rectors, its servants, officers and agents and
attorneys may be restrained and enjoined
and prohibited from erecting any dam of
any kind or sort or description in said Po-
tomac river at the Great Falls, or in any
way interfering with the property of the
said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company
at said Great Falls, or from in any way
blocking or shutting the entrance to said
canal known as the Potomac Companys
canal, or from in any way diverting the
waters of the Potomac river from any of
the property of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal Company.
2 THAT the said Great Falls Power Com
pany, its president and directors agents
and attorneys may be restrained enjoined
and prohibited from interfering with any
existing right of the said Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal Company, and that the said
Great Falls Power Company be restrained.
enjoned and prohibited from taking using
interfering with or damaging any property
or right vested in the said Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal Company acquired as the sue
cessor of the Potomac Company or other
wise.
B. That the said Great Falls Power Com
pany its president and directors, be re-
quired forthwith to remove any and all
dams or construction Of any kind which in
any way obstructs and hinders the flow of
the waters of the Potomac river at the
said Great Falls. SO far as the same has
been constructed below low-water mark
upon the Virginia shore of the said Poto-
mac river"
The Old Potomac Company.
The bill further states that the Potomac
Company's canal and works were begun in
the year 1871, and were many years. in
their construction, and involved a heavy
expenditure of money. The work consisted
of the construction on the Virginia shore of
canal 5000 feet in length, from eighty
to 14O feet in width and four feet in
depth. one-quarter of which was hewn
through solid rock. Four locks were hewn
out of this rock, making in all a rise of
about so feet from the bottom to the top.
This canal. works, buildings and real es-
tate formed part of the corporate prop
erty and franchises of the Potomac Com
pany. all of which was surrendered and
transferred to the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal Company, and now forms part of
the right property and Improvement of the
Said 10 nd