Evening star., 1932-10-16


The vicinity of Washington than right now
knowing this to be the case, the writer de-
cided few days ago TO take short run into
nearby Virginia to feast his eyes once again
on the inviting and aIluring Landscape for
which this dear cid State is 50 noted and some
of whi. h can be easily reached from here in
very short while.
The village Of Mclean was the objective point,
for here the writer has an old friend whom
he does not often see, and selected this par-
ticular day because it was near ideal as 1t
could possibly be.
The route cut of Washington through
Georgetown and along the Canal road to the
Chain Bridge, an o!d historic spot. For though
the present iron structure dates only from 1874,
yet no enc seems to know Just how long there
has been bridge at this place. We do know
that wooden roOfed-in structure was there as
early as 1907 that from natural decay 1t col
lapsed in seven years, and that new one was
erected after. which in six months was
swept away by freshet
There seems to have been bridge here even
prior to 1897. In 17e1 we find the Legislature
of Maryland incorporating the Georgetown
Bridge Co. for the purpose of erecting q toll
bridge at the Little Falls Of the Potomac River
and four years later the same body gave this
company authority to construct a road from
the bridge to Georgetown, which was to become
"a public highway forever and kept in repair
by said company"
Because of the narrowness Of the river at this
point under NJ rmal conditions, this has always
been favored pEce for a bridge, but. as demon
strated many times in the early days, not the
most logical. The volume Of water here is
quite deceptive because of the unusual depth Of
the river, which is over 80 feet Immediately
below the Little Falls and the current always
swift and treacherous.
During heavy floods, the water often covers
the flats from one end Of the bridge to the
other, and during the Winter feshetS, when
the situation Is aggravated with enormous guam
titles of ice, the condition is all the more crit
ical. Many Of US do not have to look back very
far to recall occasions when at points of van
tage we watched the ice in the river break up,
expecting almost at any moment not only to
see this bridge 60 down stream, but the old
Aqueduct and Long Bridge as WELL and they
were much stronger structures, too, in our days,
than those erected during the days Of our
fathers and grandfathers
IT was due to the huge accumulation Of ice
at this point that nearly all of the earlier
bridges here were destroyed. Back in 1882. ac-
cording to the chronicles Of Richard P. Jack
son, there was much ice banked up against
the Chain Bridge that it was taken down by
the bridge company to permit the ice and
water to flow off gradually and not sud-
emily, as it was likely to do when the Spring
thaw set in Thus, much damage to George
town property, along the river front, was pre-
vented and thousands of dollars were saved
to the West End merchants
It was at this time that Mr.. Jackson re-
called seeing the flats lying between the tow
path of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and
the river banked up with ice, mountains high,
and so covered with debris and drift wood
that persons who went fishing at the Little
Falls in the month of May or June, could
always find a lump of ice to put into the
bucket Of water.
The Chain Bridge, as we see it today, was
opened to the public So years ago, and, since
its erection, has upon number Of occasions
undergone repairs. few years ago 1t was
closed to traffic until 1t could be put in safe
condition, and no doubt, as it now stands,