|
12
In February 1762 an announcement in the Maryland Gazette proposed the
opening of the Potomac to regular navigation. The authors (who were not
identified)suggested that their purpose was to facilitate "commerce with
the back inhabitants who will not then have more than 20 miles land
carriage /around Little and Great Falls/ to a harbour where ships of
great Burthen load annually; whereas at present many have 150." The
amount of commerce was not specified by the announcement. Reflecting
English precedents for river improvements, the economic benefits were seen
as being of primary concern only to those who lived along or used the
river. It was therefore logical that the managers of the project would
be appointed from among those who "live convenient as they can more readily
attend when required and have the greatest opportunity from their situation
to be acquainted with the nature of the Undertaking." The authors also
sought to attract the support of speculators by adding: "and what will
be considerFd of still greater importance is the easy communication it
/the improved river/ will afford the inhabitants of these colonies with
the Waters of the Ohio." 18 Perhaps demonstrating that there was indeed
speculative interest in the plan, one of the managers turned out to be
Colonel George Mercer, who was the son of John Mercer, the secretary and
legal advisor to the Ohio Company. Also, Thomas Cresap, who was the Ohio
Company's manager in the field and who had large property holdings in
western Maryland, was one of those authorized to take subscriptions. 19
The lack of available specie in the colonies at the end of the
French and Indian War made filling subscriptions difficult, and the
18 Maryland Gazette, February 11, 1762.
19 J. Thomas Scharf, History of Maryland from the Earliest Period
to the Present Day (Baltimore: J. B. Piet, 1879), p. 518; Bacon-Foster,
Early Chapters, p. 16; Bailey, Thomas Cresap, p. 59.
|
