Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-20

pounds Of fresh beef or mutton; Ia pounds Of
-four or bread" Rock borers were required to .
penetrate feet or more day or lose their
quota of whisky.
Progress of work on the locks at Great Falls
and at other points was delayed by financial
difficulties, which at times threatened disaster
to the enterprise. The works finally were COM
pleted, thanks to the persistence of Washington
and his colleagues, and commerce expanded at
Q profitable rate.
In 1911 it was reported that "the portage
town of Georgetown received by way of the
canal "27 hogSheads of sugar, 118,076 barrels
of flour, 5,718 barrels of whisky, 465 bushels
of wheat, $500 bushels of maize, and, in adj
dition, large quantities Of pig-iron, castings,
ship-timber, rye, daxseed, hemp, butter, OATS
cloverseed arms and slaves"
Most of the heavier cargoes were carried in
barges or "arks" described by an observer of
that period as being large wooden floats put
together in a substantial, though inexpensive
manner, with wooden bolts and pins" These
arks, it was explained, were hoated down the
river and helped along with poles where the
current Jagged. After discharging their
burdens in Georgetown the baTges were dis
mantled and sold for lumber, it was imprac-
ticabIe to attempt to float them back up the
river
THERE were regulations governing operation
of these craft. An act was passed require
Ing boatmen to procure licenses and providing
that every boat intended to be employed as
aforesaid shall be well ceiled with strong plank,
and sufficiently high to prevent the water in
the bottom from damaging any part of the.
cargo and shall be furnished with tarpaulin
cover, stretched over hoops in the manner OF
wagon covers, sufficient for defending the
weather, and also with a hand-pump, and shall
have plank. footway upon each side of the
boat, either on the outer or inside thereof, as
the owner shall find most convenient, and
shall be numbered"
In 1912 some of the barges were described as
being rs feet long, feet wide and 18 inches
In draught.
DiffcuIty often was experienced in guiding
the larger boats through the narrow locks at
Great Falls. One writer expressed his amaze
ment over the fact that rarely an accident
happens to boat or cargo"
There were five locks in all at the falls.
Three of them were built of brown stone
brought from Seneca and the other two were
blasted from the solid rock with black powder.
The locks we're opened to business in February,
1902 and continued to do duty until 1890, when
the Potowmack Co. was taken over by the
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Co.
The old works were abandoned and left to
the whims of the elements. century Of
disuSe left them in a state of disintegratlon
and nature almost obliterated them beneath
the drapery of weeds and underbrush. The
old sluice-way became overgrown with weeds
and the natural basin into which it led be-
came a field of waving grass
After all these years the ancient engineering
project so dear to the heart of the Father Of
His Country is to have restored at least some
semblance of its former glory.
Patriotic hands viii seek to erase the scars
of time and otherwise make the relics present.
able to the wondering gaze Of admirers OF the
Nations first hero.
News of the finding of one of the curious
boats that once piled bravely over the ambi-
tious route mapped out by the far-seeing first
President should prove Of consuming interest
SvA dahl
restoration