During the months of March and April, 1826,
there passed Marietta, a village four miles
above Columbia, 65 keel boats, 895 rafts, and
813 arks, which at a moderate estimate was
valued at 1,100,000 dollars.

The Potomac River, rising at the eastern base,
and rushing between ridges of the Alleghany
mountains, thence as it were, breaking through
the blue ridge and South mountain, flows in a
rapid stream into the Chesapeake, 105 miles be-
low the head of that bay. This river, from its
source to the mouth, is the south west bounda-
ry of Maryland, dividing it from the state of
Virginia; interrupted however,for the space of a
few miles by the DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, in
which, upon the Maryland side, is situated the
city of Washington, the aeat of the National Go-
vernment. This part of the territory, as well as
Georgetown, situate within the limits of the
District, was ceded by the State of Maryland to
the nation in the year 1790 for the purpose of
erecting a FEDERAL CITY. It is the character-
istic of the Potomac that its head waters ap-
proach much nearer, and furnish a short and bet-
ter course, for connecting with the waters of the
great western valley, and communicating to the
Mississippi,than any other of the Atlantic streams
Surveys have been made under the direction of
the states of Maryland and Virginia, and re-
cently by a corps of Engineers under directions
from the United States authorities, to ascertain