The Coolidge examiner., 1932-08-19

NlollOIS uuTlDR the CeloDrd-
tion of the George Washington BIZ
centennial, the historic Potomac riv-
er, gateway to the National Capt.
tai from the sea, also has enjoyed
the spotlight.
Interest in the Potomac is on the
march instantly one realizes that
it is the river of Washington; of
Washington the man, the greatest
figure of our national history, and
of Washington, the focus of our ma
tional administration, and the city
Of our history in the making.
And our interest is accelerated as
we realize that the old river pre-
sents other great names of celebri-
ties who lived on the plantations
along its shores: the Lords Balti-
more, who planted the first settle
ment Of Maryland, near the rivers
mouth; the Calverts, the Lees, the
Carriers, the Hansons, the Stones,
the Fitzhughs, the Masons, the Mer-
GERS and the Fairfaxes.
There seem to be several Poto-
macs. There Is fresh-water and
there is tidewater Potomac. The
former is all that water coming
down from the mountains and over
the falls above Washington city.
That river is soon lost in the brine
of tidewater Potomac, which ex-
tends from the point Of mingling
to the mouth of the river, at Chesa-
peake bay. Here strong tides rise
and fall, sometimes three feet above
the wharves of Washington. Here,
too, the water is briny. 1t is so
impregnated with the salt of the
sea that, even at the head of tide
water, steamer captains dare not
introduce it into the boilers Of their
ships. This briny reach is really
not a river, it is an arm Of the
Chesapeake.
Then there is the surface Poto-
mac and a secret river hidden in
its depths. The surface waters ex-
press themselves in broad reaches
between banks of engaging lowell
ness. They vary in width from one
to seven miles. The hidden river
is often only a few hundred feet
wide, and unseen it serpentines its
way back and forth from one shore
to the other in a way that leases
and often wrecks the inexperienced
mariner. 1t is called "the channel"
Up it ocean-going vessels of con-
siderable size come to the docks
of Washington city.
How to See the River.
1t is in Tidewater Potomac that
one finds the river Of the greater
interest, the Potomac Of history, Of
the landings, Of the old plantations,
Of the celebrities who have made
it one of the most distinguished riv-
ers in America.
Curiously, the better way to see
this river is not to start where it
appears to begin, and so float down
on its currents to where it ends in
merging with the bay; but rather
to start where it ends and be car
ried up by it's tides and by that in
teresting tide of it's history which
entered here, at it's mouth, three
hundred years ago.
The story of this trip up the
broad reaches of the Tidewater Po-
tomac is actually a composite of
many trips, by many kinds of land
and water craft, but here, for brev-
ity's sake. reduced to it's simplest
terms without the inconvenience of
delays, whether of boat schedules
or motor trails, without the disap-
pointments of weather or of the
many futile side trips which any
one must make in order to find out
where are the points Of genuine in
terest and how to reach them.
Approaching the mouth Of the riv-
er, one speculates on such ques-
tiOns are, who was the first white
man who ever came into it, where
did the river get it's name. and
where in it is the dividing line be-
tween Maryland and Virginia?
The last question troubled the
dwellers on both sides for more than
$50 years. Then, in 1877, a COM
mission Of arbitration finally placed
the waters of the river wholly with
in the boundary of Maryland.
The name Potomac is Indian. The
first explorers found tribe of that
name living on the rivers shores
but one cannot be quite sure wheth-
er the tribe took it's name from the
river or the river took it's name
from the tribe. 1t is now generally
accepted that the Potomac is the
Indian word for Traders; hence the
Potomac river means the River of
the Traders.
Who First Entered 1t?
Who was the first white man to
enter the river is a question less
easily answered. At one time a