The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1946-10-03
Ac4oAAMeDe4k
By ]. William Hunt. in the Cumber-
land Sunday Times

impressive size it is still short of the
prospects enviSioncd for it 112 years
AGO when the point AT which the
bridge on L. S. 219 now crosses the
lake, was marked as the summit level
of the proposed canal that was to
unite the Potomac, Youghioghenv
and Ohio rivers.
The present generation but little
appreciates the serious project of
over century ago that would have
carried the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal beyond Cumberland to the
Ohio. 1t was one of Washington's
dreams that an inland waterway
would unite the eastern American
seaboard with the Ohio Valley and
the country beyond. The canal finally
was completed as far as Cumberland,
but the extension over the mountains
was never constructed.
DESPITE failure to start construc-
ton, plans were in an advanced stage
for the section of the canal that
would go on from Cumberland to Gar
rett county and the Youghiogheny
river.
1t was member of the advance
party that visited Deep Creek in
October, 1924, who envisioned a great
city where the bridge on U. S. 219
Ac Al,
October A, 1924, issue of the Maryland
Advocate and Farmers and Me-
chanics Register published in Cum
berland), this early visitor to the
glades country stood at the summit
level" of the great canal-to-be and
soliIoquized as follows:
who can unveil the future when
this spot, the most important in the
New World, shall become the resort
of nations; when cities lin the glades
country shall spring up as if by
magic; when these extensive plains
shall be filled with a busy population
And Deep Greek, that now moves
along unseen and but little known,
shah become famous as the stream
of Washington, for its waters will
mingle with those of the Potomac and
pass the shades of Nj. Vernon where
he who first formed the grand design
of uniting the waters Of the west and
the east, now rests in peace. From
this summit level the waters of Deep
Creek shall find sea on either side.
Flowing westward i will pass the
spot (by way of the Ohio and Missis-
sippi) where Jackson saved his coun-
try and gained immortal fame.
We are near the spot where the
east and west, the north ard south
meet, and | shall never forget the
feeling which then inspired me in
that vast Wilderness At this impress
sive moment we were in the center
of the United States; the place where
the east and west were to be I'M
barred, rendering the union Of these
states permanent, lasting and secure
forever"
Such were the expectations of an
early group locking into the project
Of a canal over the Alleghenies!
A boiling spring Of the "purest
water" was found at McHenry and
was described by the same writer.
This spring is now covered by the
waters of Deep Creek Lake.
Included in the group that surveyed
the canal route was "Mr. Shriver,"
one of the ancestors of the present
Shriver family of Cumberland. At
Mr. McHenry's place the party had
supper, talked on the subject of
canals and, to quote the 1924 paper,
"surmounted all obstacles, even to
the point of actually getting boats
running across the summit Level IN
their imaginations.
The return trip to Cumberland of
those early canal pioneers is interest
inc enough to quote;
The word was given to march and
after bidding adieu to our worthy
friends. our original Cumberland
company, took the road towards
Potomac; we passed Backbone noun
tain. and arrived in the evening at
Smarr's on the state road, five miles
above Weste1n-port, The rain favorlng
us with its presence most of the way.
Next morning early, we went to
the mouth of Savage, where that
river empties into the Potomac. This
is a bold stream, which discharges at
the driest season, about so feet cubic
of water per second sufficient to fill
at least thirty locks per hour, and
the Potomac here discharges three
or four times more than the Savage.
~ met here with a very old friend,
John Templeman, Esq, formerly OF
Georgetown, and we could well say
that we had wondered many weary
mile since 'Auld Lang Syne', for we
were friends in 1876. He gave us
cordial reception, and we breakfasted
with him on fine fresh fish, at Mr..
Robertson's.
We now proceeded down the north
branch of the Potomac, and crossed
it four times before we arrived "'