Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1916-05-03
TITLE TO THE
BATTERY COVE.

1 Rodgers, between Franklin stree,
and Jones' Joint, was completed. The
owners of the AUDITING land naturally
supposed that they owned out to the
channel bank, and that the reclaimed
land, about forty acres, belonged te
! them. The United States govern
ment, however, almost Immediately
laid claim to the property, and offlclal:
came here and after having placed
wire fencing around what was form
erly the cove; posted signs warning
all persons against ytrespassing upon
the property upon the pain OF prose
cution.
A suit entitled the UNITED States
VS.. the Marine Railway and Coal Conn.,
pany," was instituted in the Supreme
Court of the District of Columbia fol
possession of the land.
The case is now pending before
that tribunal. James R. Cation, Of
this city, is counsel for the defend
ants, and he has prepared a brief
upon which he bases the claims OF the
Marine Railway and Coal Company.
Mr.. Cation has made close study OF
the issue, and his brief is an inter-
esting document, as it throws con-
siderable light upon the early history
of Alexandria. The geography of the
city, especially that Of che river
front, is interesting. Mr.. Cation goes
back to June 20, 1852, when Charles
1. granted to Cecelius Calvert, Lord
Baltimore, son and heir of George
Calvert, charter, which included the
Potomac river to high, water mark on
the Virginia side. He then proceeds
to days following the close OF the
revolutionary war, when Maryland
and Virginia ceded portions of their
territory to the United States for
the formation of the District of Col
umbia and the retrocession of the
part donated by the Old Dominion
back to Virginia in 1916.
The action o. the United States
to recover the land in dispute is bas-
ed exclusively upon the cession by
the State of Maryland to the United
States, of territory for the District
of Columbia, and the claim that such
cession extended to high water mark
on the Virginia side Of the Potomac
river.
The defense contends that the ter
ritory and jurisdiction coded by Mary
land to the United States did not in
clude the land in dispute or the area
of land in Battery Cove made by the
United States government in the i'm
provcment of the Potomac river at
Alexandria.
The defense quotes the following
paragraph from the compact of 1875:
''1'he citizens of each state respec-
lively shall have full property in
the shores of the Potomac river ad-
joining their lands, with all emolu-
ments and advantages thereto belong
ing, and the privilege of making and
carrying out wharves and other i'm
provements so as not to obstruct OF
iniure the navigation of the river.
1t may not be generally known that
the boundaries Of Alexandria spread
over greater area in old times than
at present, even since the acquisition
of territory from Alexandria and
Fairfax counties.
Mr.. Cation calls attention to the
fact that at the date of the cession
of territory for the District of Col
umbia by Virginia to the United
states, Alexandria then part of Fair
lax county, was an incorporated town.
and the lines to which the corporate
limits of said town extended were
! fixed by the statute laws of the State
of Virginia as follows: Beginning "a
Great Hunting Creek and running
therce parallel with Fairfax street to
Four Mile Run or Greek so as to in
=! tersect King street (when eXtended)
one mile west from the courthouse:
thence eastwardly down the said cree
or run to its confluence with the Po-
! tomac River; thence southwardly
down the said river to the mouth Of
! Great Hunting Creek; thence west
wardly up the said creek to the be-
ginning.
There were three distinct points OF
headlands making into the Potomac
River in front of Alexandria city al
! that time-Jones Point on the south
Point Lumley, Duke street,, ant
Point West, near the city gas works