| lFashillgtoll oltd the Potomac 5o~
1)
Falls fort- miles by water is 7. 6
Portage past the Senecca falls half a mile is 1. 6
From the lower part of the Senecca falls to the Widow
Brouster's Landing five miles by hater is 2. 6
Portage from the willow Brousters landing to the Little
Falls at Tide water Ten miles a days Journey For a
waggon going down and back again is 12. 6
Totall Expence pr Ton as the river now is by water
carriage
f7. lo. 3
Difference between land and water carriage gained. 2. 4. 9
13. 15. o
[Endorsentcnt:) Mr Sample's proposals or Scheme for opening and
extend'g tile Trlland Navig'n of Potomack with an acct. of the diff'e in the
Expc. of Land and water carriage.
II. HILL FOR CLEARING AND MAKING NAVIGABLE THE RIVER POTOMAC.155
Whcrcas cltcnding the Navigation of Potowmack River from the
Great Falls of the .said River up to Fort Cumberland will be of great
benefit and advantage as well to the Inhabitants of the interior parts of
the Colony as to the Public in General . . . . .
And be it further enacted b)• the Authority aforesaid that the said
Trustees or the major part of them after the said River shall have been
so cleared are hereby inlpowered and authorized to demand and receive
for Vessels navigating thereon the Toll following for every Boat Canoe
Battoe or Pettiauger not exceeding Tons burthen anti for every
other Vessel of greater burthen and the money arising thereby
shall be once in every Fear distributed among the Subscribers aforesaid
in proportion to the sums by them subscribed. And the said Trustees or
the major part of them may appoint such Person or Persons as they shall
think fit to collect and receive the Toll aforesaid and such Collector or
Collectors shall give sufficient Security faithfully to perform his or their
I5Journals of the House of Burgesses, ry66-ry69 (Richmond, igo6. ed. 1. P.
Kennedy). Dec. 5, 1769. "Ordered that Leave be given to bring in a Bill for
clearing and making navigalfle the River Potowmack, from the great Falls of
the
said Ri% cr, up to Fort Cumberland ; and that Mr. Richard Henry Lee and Mr
Washington do prepare and bring in the same". Read a first time on Dec. 8:
read a second time on Dec. 13. On December T˘ "Mr Richard Henry Lo-e re-
ported from the Committee to whom the Bill . . . was committed that the
('om-
mittcc had gone through the Bill, and made several amendments thereunto
which
they had directed him to report to the House". Read twice and ordered en-
grossed. Nothing further appears to have been done with the bill. This
attempt
to open the Potoulac route seems to have escaped the notice of Mrs. Bacon-
Foste•r ("The Potomac Route to the Nest", in Records of the Columbia His-
torical Society, kV.). As the draft of this bill found in the Minnesota
collection
is practically identical in terms with "An Act for clearing the Great Falls
of
James River", ate.. passed in the session of October, ,965 (Herring,
Statutes nt
large. \'HL 148-T501, except for the insertion of a provision respecting
tolls.
it is thought sufficient here to print only that additional provision.
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