Evening star., 1938-12-04
By John Clagen Proctor.

By John Clagen Proctor.
At last Gravelly Point has been
settled upon as the location for the
Washington National Airport. In
deed, the matter has been so def
nitely settled that President Roose-
welt, on Saturday afternoon, No.
vember 10, last, looked on while an
Army Engineer Corps clam-shell
dredge scooped up load of Potomac
River mud, marking the starting of a
project that will result in one of the
finest airports in the world, and
which will cost before it is completed
an amount not far short OF $l0,O00,-
600.
Gravelly Point is not a new name
for this locality and the section to
the south of the Highway Bridge has
also been we'll known ever since the
District of Columbia came into be-
ing and the site selected for the air.
port may well be regarded as his
toric ground. Indeed, on what was
once known as AleXanders Island,
which was crossed by the road form
erly leading from the Long Bridge
and substantially the same road that
now continues on southwark from
the Highway Bridge of
three Indian villages have been
found, and one farther on toward
Four Mile Run.
James Mooney calls these Indians
the Nameroughquena and the Bu-
reau of American Ethnology tells us
these Indians were a part of the
Powhatan confederacy in 1908, and
that they were then in Alexandria
(now Arlington County, Va, "di-
rectly across the Long Bridge oppo-
site Washington" and for authority
the bureau cites Capt. John Smith.
Powhatan, the ruling chief and
founder of the Powhatan confeder-
acy in Virginia at the period of the
first English settlement in America,
was, as surely every one must know,
the father of Pocahontas, who mar
ried John Rolfe, and the dusky lady
whom Capt. Smith gives credit for
saving his life, when he was about
to be Drained.
However, after all the Indians had
been chased away from this part of
the country and the City of WASH
ington had been in existence for a
third of century, plans were set
on foot by friends of Gen. Jackson,
who was then President, to build a
city to be named for him, just as
the City of Washington was named
for the first President, and over
toward where the airport is now to
be erected Jackson City was to be
placed.
1t was to be a great manufactur-
Ing city, and the site was to be
Alexanders or Holmes Island, which
embraced at that time about 500
acres of ground, or at least that is
said to have been its area in 1847,
years after the bubble of Lemon
City" had been well pricked.
OF course, the city had to be laid
out, and for this purpose an engi-
neer was employed by the New
York men," said to be financing
the scheme, and in his report made
the following year he tells some of
the conditions of the land" to be
turned into the great commercial
city. He said:
The property purchased by the
jackson City Association is situated
in Alexandria County, D. c., on the
Virginia side Of the Potomac River
directly opposite the City of Wash
ington. 1t consists of 572 A. O. r
% p, including the area H. I. K. o1
land, divided into two unequal por.
tions by Gravelly or Flat Creek
through which the tide formerly
ebbed and flowed; but since the
erection of the dixie at the upper
end and the causeway at the lowel
end this creek is seldom submerged
indeed, never is, except in time o.
floods. 1t is. however, wet ane
marshy, producing luxuriant
growth Of vegetation. -"
"A large portion of the property
amounting to 189 A., 3 R., "a p, i.
south of Gravelly Creek on elevated
ground, perfectly healthy, or will bs
rendered so by the preliminary i'm.
provement and is abundantly sup.
piled by numerous and copiou.
springs Of cool and delicious water
1t is principally cleared and wa!
formerly cultivated as a farm. Lik.
all the farms in the immediate vi.
cinity, it has been exhausted by i'm.
proper culture, but was naturall,
rich and productive and is yer,
susceptible of improvement.
''The morass of Gravelly Greek il
about 1000 feet wide and may b'
easily rendered perfectly dry at n,
great cost, or converted into fin
meadow land, depending on the pla,
which may be adopted for the city.
"An examination of the map sug
gests three plans, or rather sites, TO
the proposed city.
first, to build an Alexanders Is
land.
Second, to build on the mainlan,
south of the island.
Third, to build on both the islam,
and mainland, making the CONNER
cial quarter on the river and tn
yssidences on the high ground -
The second plan is to build o.