[c.1762] GW to a Participant in the Potomac River Enterprise

pp. 175-76: "At your request I hav[e mutilated] /my Papers & found the remarks/ [mutilated] for the Remarks I made upon the Navigation of Potomack in the year 1754 (1) & found the copy [mutilated] a Letter which I wrote to a gentn of our Assembly /in Aug. 1754/ at that time. the followg. Is an extract thereof.(3)

Sir,

"Your desire & my /own/ curiosity together /engaged/ excited me the last time when last I was in Frederick to explore the Navigation of Potomack /downwards/ and the followg observations I made in My passage down it.

"From the Mouth of Patersons Creek to the Shannondoah Falls /are no/ you encounter no other obstacles but shallow Water (in places, & t his only at certain Seasons) /to encounter/. but from hence there is Rocky, Swift & consequently uneven Water for near Six Miles in which distance there are 4 falls. the first /of which is tolerable clear of Rocks/ is shall & pretty clear of Rocks /but very capable of relief/ wch may be avoided by opening a channel on the Maryland side-Abt 2 Miles from this & half a one below the Mouth of Shanh lyes what is commonly called the Spout wch indeed is the principal /difficulty commonly called the Spout/ and /indeed/ I might almost add the only difficulty of the whole. The Water here is confined to narrow bounds & having a pretty considerable fall at the same time shoots thro. With great rapidity-the risk of passing this sluce is somewhat Increased by the rockyness of the bottom which occasioning dry uneven surface. Subjects small Vessels to the danger of filling-I passed it in a Canoe & was near sinkg here may likewise be had a passage on the Maryland Shore thro. wch Vessells with ease may be hauled up. after removing some Rocks at a moderate expence-One of the other two Falls is swift & ugly not much unlike the last. but when the River is swelled beyond its usual bounds might (or I believe in any other than this dry Season) a passage is to be had /round a small/ between a small Island & the North Main /on the North Side/ which passage may be greatly Improvd. /Abt/ Eight miles lower /down/ is another fall, but very easy & passable and at the end of two Miles /further/ more is a cluster of small Islands with numberless Rocks & rapid Water, which renders the Passage somewhat in its pest state precarious-From hence to the Seneca Falls /is [mutilated]/ a fine water scar[c]e any perceptable Fall. The Seneca fall is [mutiliated]ed in two places & Canoes may now proceed within 2 miles of the g[mutilated]ther it is not practacable till great alterations are made.

"These Sir are the Observns [mutilated] year 1754 when I hoped (upon /examination/) seeing the Practicability of the thing that the expediency [mutilated] this Com[ns] would have been attended to /in the practicable light I beheld/ & that [mutilated] our future operations, wd have been conducted /thro. This chanl I/ [mutilated] /cant charge my Memory/ in this most [rational] or pointed manner but Genl Bradks [mutilated] late coming in Spring 1755 & hurry of business /when he did come/ [illegible] immediately upon his arrival allowed no time for [mutilated] attempts of this sort. & afterwards our affairs as everybody knows took /a very different/ quite another turn. & was [conducted] from a very difft Quarter cannot charge my Memory with any [mutilated] further knowledge but you are welcome to make what use you [mutilated] please of the Informn.

pp. 176-78: Ed. Note: GW seems to have meant to leave out words he underlined; these are printed in italics between slashes.

In the Annap. Md. Gaz. 11 Feb. 1762, a notice dated 4 Feb. 1762 announced: "The Opening of the River Patawmack, and making it passable for Small-Craft, from Fort Cumberland at Will's-Creek, to the Great-Falls, will be of the greatest Advantage to Virginia and Maryland, by facilitating Commerce with the Back Inhabitatns, who will not then have more than 20 Miles Land-Carriage to a Harbour, where Ships of great Burthen load annually; whereas at present many have 150; and what will perhaps be considered of still greater Importance, is, the easy Communication it will afford the Inhabitants of these Colonies with the Waters of the Ohio.

"The whole Land-Carriage from Alexandria, or George-Town, to Pittsburgh, will then be short of 90 Miles; whereas the Pennsylvanians (who at present monopolize the very lucrative Skin and Fur Trades) from their nearest Sea Port have at least 300; a Circumstance which must necessarily force that gainful Trade into this Channel, should this very useful Work be effected; and that it may, is the unanimous Opinion of the best Judges, and at a moderate Expence, compared with the extra-ordinary Conveniencies, and Advantages, which must result from it.

"That an Affair of such general Utility may be carried into Execution, it is proposed to sollicit the Public for their Contributions, by the Way of Subscription."

Col. George Mercer and Col. Thomas Prather were to be treasurers of the enterprise, and 22 men "who live convenient" to the Potomac were to be its managers. They were to take in subscriptions before their first meeting scheduled for the last Monday in May in Frederick Town, Md. On June 10, 1762, it was announced that the meeting had been deferred until 26 July. The project was probably dropped when it became clear that the transmontane west was to be closed to further settlement as was confirmed in the royal Proclamation of 1763. In 1769-70 as soon as some of the restrictions on acquiring lands in the west were lifted, men of affairs living on both sides of the Potomac in the vicinity of Alexandria again took up the project of making the upper Potomac navigable and pushed it vigorously until the break with GB forced its deferral until after the war. GW and Thomas Johnson in Md. assumed the lead in the Potomac River enterprise of the early 1770s; neither is named a manager of the enterprise in 1762, however, and no evidence has been found that GW had any connection with it beyond writing this letter. Thomas Johnson has usually been identified as the person to whom GW was writing, and he may have been, though it seems more likely that it was one of the managers of the enterprise who had some experience with the Potomac. Thomas Johnson at this time was living AA Co. and had not acquired land until March 1761 in Fred. Co, where he later settled and became a leader in developing the navigation of the Potomac.

Ed. Note 1: See "Notes on the Navigation of the Potomac River above the Great Falls," July-August 1754, in Papers, Colonial Series, 1:179-80

Ed. Note 3: See GW to Charles Carter, August 1754.