Evening Star Newspaper, June 30, 1929, Page 92

8 ' THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE 3. 1920_PART 7. Holidays Up the C. and The 0ld Water- aay Was a Rendez- wous for Washington’s Early Excursionists. iAndrew Jackson’s Lanal Trips—Alex- andria and the Aque- duct That Precipi- tated Retrocession. BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR. 4IS would bes an ideal season of the year for a trip up the canal—that is, of course, if the canal was navigable all the way through to Great Falls. But the chances seem to be somewhat against ever opening up again’ this historic waterway, the scenery along which, in days gone by, was most delightful and fascinating, and is so even now, though its wild character is nat- urally giving way to beautiful residences and vills: sites for quite a way outside the city. Today, if some one invited you to go on an excursion to Great Falls, via the canal, it is doubtful if you would appreciate the invitation, and yet the writer recalls having gone on a Sunday school excursion up this old canal and thought he was having the time of his life, and no doubt many who read this story will recall having done the same thing with equal delight. All the canal boats then were mot operated by mule power, some being driven by steam, and it was on one of the latter type that the writer made his “voyage” to Dickey’s and to the sur- rounding country for one brief day's recreation. How amusing it was then to enter the lock and wait until it was filled with sufficient water to raise the boat to the level of the canal on the upward journey and to enjoy the reverse opera- tion on our way home. Unquestionably, the present mode of travel is a great improvement over what it was 50 years ago, but after all, taking an excursion on a canal boat is well worth remembering and it had its good points, too, for today we lose much of the beautiful scenery of the country through which we pass, due to the high rate of speed we ordinarily maintain. ‘r'he custom of giving excursions up the canal evidently began-at an early date—perhaps when our grandparents were children—for we find recorded in the National Intelligencer that a line of passenger boats began running on this canal as far back as 1831, and a special event, heralded by the Metropolitan as being of much portance, occurred on July 4, 1835, when President Jackson and hi¥cabinet®the foreign minister, and about fifty invited guests, took an outing in a canal boat—described as an “all-day trip”—up to six miles above Great Falls. The Marine Band was taken along “to enliven.the ‘occasion,” and it is quite likely that Reggy O'Neil went along, too, to grace the occasion, and that Gen. Eaton assisted the President in entertaining the crowd, although their names @re not specifically mentioned. RUNNING back the old newspaper files of nearly & hundred years ago, we come across some very amusing items. A marriage an- nouncement copied by the Metropolitan, & town newspaper—published from 1820 to 7—from the Richmond (Ky.) Chronicle, . “Married.—In this county, on Friday . the 12th instant,’Mr. Asa Anderson to Martha Allet. On Saturday evening, the , Mr. Anderson hung himself to an apple in his father’s orchard, and was found the t morning dead. He had the reputation of & sober, industrious, and moral man.” ©Of course all marriages did not pan out that Boats that had just passed through one of the canal locks. way, or our chances for being here would in- deed have been slim. Here are two reported by the same paper in the issue of January 9, 1837, which we might be justified in believing turned out all right, from the poetic send-off given the " parties by the editor. The announcements read: “On Tuesday eve- ning, the 3d ult., by the Rev. Mr. E. K. Time, Mr. Charles Toreign of Baltimore City, to Miss On June 2, 1837, we find an item especially interesting to genealogists and - those looking up their family history. It reads: “A wagon load of girls passed through Northampton, Massa- chuseets, destined for the West, to supply the matrimonial market.” And yet some folks say we are getting worse. Maybe we are; but surely this method of marrying off our daughters— even if we were as poor as Job's turkey—would Dickey's, once a headquarters for Washington excursionists and fishermen, on the Virginia side at Great Falls. Mary Sands of the same,” and ‘‘Cornelius H. Gray, Esq, to Miss Henrietta Young,” and the editor's contribution which followed: “O Time, thou art mysterious— I tremble at thy name— For at thy bid the very Sand Has changed itself to rain (Toreign); Thy powers I have seen displayed Upon & lady gay, : But yesterday, and she was Young, Alas! she’s now grown Gray.” * not appeal to us in this enlightened day as being just the thing. After all, as to whether our morals are on the improve or the decline may resolve itself into a toss-up. A marriage announcement of especial interest %o an old Washingtonian was that of Allison Nailor, Not the one who used to turn out on the Avenue with his sleigh and beautiful white horses every time sufficient snow fell, but evi- dently his father. The Metropolitan carried this brief announcement: ¢ “On Tuesday’ evening, the 23d of April, in Montgomery County, Md., by the Rev. Mr. Tip- pett, Mr. Allison Nailor "of Washington City to Miss Rachel Dorsev Moreland of Montgomery.” BUT to return to the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, which appealed so much to our youthful fancy, and even in later days when everything looked good to us to which was at= attached the words “excursion” or “picnic.” _The first spadeful of earth was dug on July 4. 1828, by President John Quincy Adams, “amidst the shouts of the multitude and en- livening strains of music,” the spade being handed to the President by Col. Mercer, presi- dent of the company. For the purpose of participating in these cere- monies, a procession was formsd at the Union Hotel, on Bridge street, and moved on to High Street Wharf, where it is said they “embarked on board the steamboat Surprise, and other. boats, and coursed their way up the Potomac until they reached the termination of the old Potomac Canal, where they landed and march- ed a few hundred yards to the canal boats pre- pared to receive them. After being seated in these boats they glided along until they reached the point of destination, where the old powder magazine formerly stood. On landing from the boats the procession formed a large circle, in the center of which was the spot for the com- mencement of the work.” The president of the canal company addressed the President of the United States in a hrief speech. After he con- cluded, he handed to John Q. Adams the spade by which the sod was to be turned. The Presi- dent, on receiving the implement, stepped for- ward and addressed the multitude in an elo- quent and able speech, which follows: “Priends and fellow laborers; We arg in- formed by the Holy Oracle of truth, that at the creation of man, male and female, the Lord of the Universe, their Maker, blessed them, and said unto them: ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.’ To sub- due the earth was, thersfoge, one of the first duties assigned to man at his creation: and now, in his fallen condition, it remains among the most excellent of his occupations. To sub- due the earth is pre-eminently the purpose of the undertaking to the accomplishment of which the first stroke of the spade is now to be struck. That it is to be struck, by this hand, I invite you to witness.” It is said that by the Fourth of July. 1831, the water was let in from the first feeder to the Columbian Foundry. HERE are in all 73 locks on the canal, measuring 100 feet long and 15 feet wide, with an 8-foot lift. They are built of cut stone, and laid in cement. Money was not as plentiful in the Unitéd States thén as it is now, and Richard Rush was empowered by the citizens of ‘Washington, Georgetown and Alexandria is bor< row for the purpose $1,500,000 and this amount Mr. Rush secured from I§p*and.” In 1836 this indebtedness was assumed by the Federal Gov- ernment.’ On the second day of June of last year, an elaborate celebration of this event took place at the approximate spot where the canal had been begun 100 years before. . One of the projects which resulted from the. building of the canal was the. construction of the Aqueduct Bridge, in order to provide a passageway for the canal boats direct to Alex~ andria. Incidentally, it was the building of this artificial waterway that finally caused Alexan- dria County—as that part of the District of Columbia given by Virginia was then called— to request the permission of Congress to returm ta that State. However we may look upon the legality of the question now, there is no question but then Alexandria was thoroughly justified in its seek- ing retrocession, since, for a third of a century of the first years of the District, the only Fed- eral money spent there was for the erection of a jail in connection with the court, which was Federal as well as local, while during that same period not a dollar had been spent in Georgetown, and, it is said, the only benefit ‘Washington received was from the money ex- pended upon public buildings, which was usu- ally spent here, and from such other money a8 e e e s