Evening star., 1923-11-11
BY GEor,GE H. DACY.

House, out Georgetown way, is
the terminal OF historic
- American canal, an inland
waterway which was the important
stepping stone in the establishment,
during the early days of our repub-
lie. Of easy means of communication
between the Atlantic seaboard and
the rich, fertile agricultural lands
Of the Ohio valley.
The Chesapeake and Ohio canal and
the earlier attempts to harness the
Potomac river for navigational pur-
poses were the pet hobbies of George
Washington enterprises in which
causes he campaigned and struggled
as earnestly as he worked for our
national liberty.
Away back in 174S, when the Ohio
Company was chartered and given a
grant of a half-million acres of land
in the state of what is now Maryland
along the Potomac river, George
Washington was mastering the COM
plexities of Surveying at Mount Yer
non. Ultimately he acquired such
proficiency that he was hired as one
of the surveyors of the Ohio Company
and in time was promoted to be chief
| surveyor OF the enterprise.
For several years Washington wan
dered this way and that along the
stretches of the Potomac, surveying
different tracts of land and gaining
intimate familiarity with regions
which previously had been nothing
more than wilderness. He came to know
all the crooks and turns Of the upper
Potomac as we'll Is he knew the fields
of his beloved Mount Vernon.
AS he became better acquainted
with the length and breadth OF the
peaceful Potomac George Washing
ton sensed the possibilities of a great
project--a network of waterways to
furnish an easy channel of continu-
Gus communication between tidewater
Virginia and the distant lands of
Ohio. Even after he left the employ
of the Ohio Company to accept
military commission Washington con-
tinued to husband his pet hobby of
harnessing the Potomac to the needs
of navigation
After the evolutionary war and
the inauguration of the national Con-
stitution, through the personal in
fiuence of Gen. George Washington.
ed, and its purpose was to clear the
channels of the Potomac river and
other connecting streams and to con-
struct a chain of highways as land
links in the avenue of communicat ton
that was to be made readily passable
between Virginia and Ohio. Gen.
Washington even went so far as to
subscribe $4,000 of the original $40, 900
raised to finance the scheme.
NUR first President went on a
" scouting trip of more than 700
miles by horseback. during which he
visited the regions through which
the proposed national roadway and
waterway were TO run. During the
revolution Virginia ceded to Mary
land all jurisdiction over the Potomac
river, reserving only the right of free
navigation. Hence both these states,
by Legislative approval, had to in
dorse the Pawtommack project be-
fore it became official.
When the lawmakers acquiesced to
the plan. George Washington and his
associates devised the scheme of con-
Structing canals and locks around
the impossible falls and rapids of the
Potomac. Such facilities would favor
water. transportation as far north
and west as little settlement then
called Wills Creek. now known as
the city of Cumberland. Md. They
planned to build Il national highway
from this terminal to the mouth of
the Cheat river and to join this river
by connecting roadway links with the
Youghiogheny and Monongahela
rivers, which would give ingress into
Ohio.
Strange to say, at that time there
was not a single American engineer
who had ever seen canal lock or
who was in any way familiar with
such contrivances. Notwithstanding.
the best mechanical talent available
was assembled for the prodigious op-
erations. No public undertaking in
the history of the new republic had
aroused such interest and enthusi-
asm, as most every one appreciated
that the potential prosperity of the
country depended upon making the
western prairies and farm lands
readily accessible.
Although money was scarce, in
some way or another the promoters
OF the Pawtommack plan scratched
together enough funds to commence
their colossal task. For the next
twenty years the hum of construction
and the hustle and turmoil of almost
incessant industry prevailed along
the route of the Potomac river, where
artificial detours had to be installed
around the rapids. AS much coun-
tryside interest was manifested in
the herculean assignment as has more
latterly been concerned in the COM
pletion, perfection and profitable
utilization of .the Panama canal.
When completed the canals and
locks which were built around the
Little Falls and Great Falls of the
Potomac were the outstanding engi-,
neering feat of the eighteenth CEN
tury. Engineers and construction ex-
perts in all parts of the world were
keenly interested in how the clever
Americans had solved battling
enigma.
George Washington was a firm be-
lever that expansion, prosperity and
national unity would resut from a
commercial development of the Poto-
mao river. He gave unstintingly of
his time and service in the consum
nation OF the bonanza project Every
time an obstacle arose, Washington
loaned his ready wits to its solution.
Notwithstanding, unfavorable wealth
er and labor conditions irnpeded the
activities.
Finally. the white contract work.