»A SKETCH

OF THE

CITY OF BALTIMORE.

BALTIMORE, the third city in the United States in size and population, is situated on
in arm of the Patapsco river, 14 miles fro n its entrance into Chesapeake bay; and 175
miles from the oceanr [is latitude is 3J° 17' 23" N.—longitude 76° 37' 30" W. from
Greenwich, and 0° 26' from Washington. It is 40 miles N. E. from Washington; 97 S,
W, from Philadelphia; 185 S. W. from New York; 398 S. W. from Boston; 160 N. W. E.
from Richmond; 228 E. S. E. from Pittsburg; 311 E. S. E. from Wheeling; and 590 N.
N. E. from Charleston.

The arm of the Patapsco on which the city is built, is about three miles long, and
varies in width from one-eighth of a mile to a mile and three-quarters, having its greatest
width opposite to the eastern extension of the city, called Canton. It affords an easy
access 10 the city, and a harbor sufficiently capacious to contain two thousand vessels.

The harbor consists of an outer bay between Fell's Point and Canton, on the north and
east, and Whetstone Point on the south, arid the inner basin a circular body of water at
the head of the stream. The basin is navigable to vessels drawing only ten or twelve feet
of water, but the outer portion of the harbor is sufficiently deep to float ships of the largest
class. From the facilities afforded by the depth of the water at Fell's Point, it is the seat
of the principal ship yards, from which some of the finest and fleetest vessels of the
American Marine have been launched. The entrance to the harbor is defended by Fort
McHenry, which is situated at the point of the peninsula running between the harbor
and the Patapsco river. It is memorable for the successful defence against the British
fleet in 1814. A larger fort is now in process of erection at Sollers's Flats, some eight
miles below the city.

In 1662, Mr. Charles Gorsuch, a member of the society of Friends, took up and
patented fifty acres of laud on Whetstone Point. This was the first land patented within
the present limits of the city. In 1663, Mr. Charles Mountenay took up two hundred
acres on each side of Harford run, and called it Mountenay's neck. In 1663, Mr. John
Howard patented the land lying between the heads of the middle and north branches of
the Patapsco; and, in the same year, Thomas Cole received a patent for a tract of five
hundred and fifty acres extending from Mountenay's neck across the north side of the
river one mile; and northwardly from the river about half a mile. He called the tract
Cole's Harbor, It was rhomboidal in form, and divided into nearly, equal parts by the