| Meanwhile, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Washington urging that he take the lead in
developing the Potomac route to the West, stating that this would "pour into our lap the whole
commerce of the Western world.''" Washington replied in March 1784 that he supported the
idea, suggesting that Jefferson speak with Thomas Johnson.' However, Congress dispatched
Jefferson to Paris in May 1784, along with Benjamin Franklin and John Adams." Jefferson
``consequently was unable to cooperate with Washington and Johnson in connection with the
Potomac project.''°9
In September 1784, Washington witnessed James Rumsey's successful demonstration of
a mechanical boat (the predecessor to Rumsey's steam boat) on the Potomac River in Berkeley
County, Virginia (now West Virginia)." Washington noted in his diary that this invention
'`convinced" him that "it might be turned to the greatest possible utility in inland Navig
ation .. . ."'' On his journey home, Washington made particular note of those portions of the
North Branch of the Potomac River where the navigation could be improved." Washington
concluded: "The more then the Navigation of Potomack is investigated, and duly considered, the
greater the advantages arising from them appear."53
'6 Delaplaine, supra note 30, at 385-86.
4' 27 Fitzpatrick, supra note 43 at 373; Delaplaine, supra note 30, at 386-87.
4' Delaplaine, supra note 30, at 387.
'9 Id.
'° 2 John C. Fitzpatrick, The Diaries of George Washington 283 (1925) [hereinafter
"2 Fitzpatrick, The Diaries of George Washington"]; Delaplaine, supra note 30, at 387-88.
'' 2 Fitzpatrick, The Diaries of George Washington, supra note 50, at 283.
5= Id. at 284, 308, 310-11, 318.
''' Id. at 318.
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