Evening star., 1920-02-22

RAmDler set out upon little
journey that carried him over the
CAain bridge, west along the George
town and Leesburg pike. passed the
heaped-up ruins Of Fort Marcy and on
10 an estate which for mere than a
century has borne the name OF Har-
mony Valley. You will note that the
Rambler calls it the Chain Bridge"
II 10 not chain bridge, but the name
comes from the fact that many years
ago such bridge spanned the river
at that place, and IL seems to have
made such an impress on the memory
and imagination Of people hereabout
that successive bridges of wood and
Iron, and Of pier, girder and truss
types have been called the Chain
Bridge" Perhaps. when the new and
stronger bridge with which 1t is pro-
posed TO replace the present has been
built, that new bridge will also be
called "the Chain bridge"
Two narrow valleys worn by Big
Pimmit and Little Pimmit branches
lead from the uplands of Fairfax
county toward the Potomac river.
These streams united back OF the
palisades and broke through the
rocky cliff which is the west wall of
the river The trails of the pioneers
in that part of Virginia and the wag
on roads of their descendants led
down to the river at that point. Very
likely the pioneers found those trails
already made by Indians or buffalo.
because the streams Of Little Pimmit
and Big Pimmit made the Potomac
easy Of approach and the river chan
mel is quite narrow there. though
swift and dangerous al times of high
water. A ferry must have been es-
tablished there at a very early date,
but the Rambler has found no refer
ence to such establishment. though
It was the Virginia law that ferries
should be chartered. and in the old
statutes Of the state one may come
upon the names Of many.
Leaving the ferry travellers In dry
weather could make their way over
the rocky stretch which ages ago
was the bed Of the Potomac. That
rocky stretch Is now generally called
the Chain Bridge mats. collecting
area Of great popularity with bota-
nists and quite we'll known to Wash
ington people with an adventurous
turn Of mind. or foot. Reaching the
Maryland bank Of the river. the
travellers Of old followed trail and
then a road-but which few people
of this generation would designate
as q road-until they came out upon
the highland near where Tenleytown
stands. From this neighborhood old
roads led west. east and north. Trav-
elers from the Pimmit section Of Fair
fax county who wanted to reach the
country which later became the site
Of Georgetown and considerably later
the site Of Washington probably did
not cross where Pimmit run breaks
through to the Potomac, but Travelled
east and crossed at Masons ferry, or
an earlier ferry. which was operated
near where the Aqueduct bridge
stands-and shakes.
The FIRST bridge over the Potomac
at the gorge Of Pimmit run was
fraN wooden structure. When 1t was
built seems not to be Of record. 1t
was, Of course, toll bridge, and be-
ing relatively inexpensive might have
been built by one man. or a partner
ship, and not by an incorporated COM
pany, as in the case of the first bridge
over the Eastern branch in 1875. or
the Great bridge, later the Long
bridge. over the Potomac. which was
built by a stock company incorporated
by Congress in 1903. The first bridge
Ut Pimmit run was washed away.
The ferry then resumed operation.
There was another bridge. and an
other "freshet." Another bridge went
down the river and then there was
another ferry. This process went on
for many years.
Then came the building Of the
Chain bridge. The date Of it's con-
struction Is not at hand, but the
Rambler believes il was in the 30s.
1t was patterned after bridges that
had been erected at Newburyport
Mass, in 1898, and over Jacobs creek,
NEAR Uniontown, Pa. at a much later
date. Two piers were built and over
the tops Of the piers four heavy