Evening Star Newspaper, May 4, 1930, Page 93

= 'AMERICAN ENGINEERS PLAN TO RESTORE CANAL AS IN HONOR TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, THE BUILDER THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., MAY 4, 1930. Old Waterway Will Be Completely Rebuilt by 1932, the Two-Hundredth Anniversary of Washington’s Birth. A Contribution to the Many Honors to Be Paid the First President of the United States. EDITOR'S NOTE: Recently the engineers of the United States, through their respective societies, voted, as their contribution to the honoring of George Washington on the bicentennial of his birth, to re- build the old Potomack Canal, origi- nally built by Washington. To that end, at their request, a group of Army engincers completed, a few days ago, a survey of the old canal, near Great Falls, with a view as to the feasibility and cost of the resto- ration. Herewith The Star pre- sents, for the first time, an article dealing with the plans of the Ameri- can Engineering Council and ' the Army engineers’ report looking to ward this restoration, which is set for completion by 1932, the 200th anniversary of Washington’s birth. BY JOHN L. COONTZ. EORGE WASHINGTON, the engineer, is to be memorialized. The old Potomack Canal, built by him, is to be restored and maintained as a permanent memorial to his career as an engineer. This much has been decided upon by the four great engineering societies of the country, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, The restoration of the old canal was con- ceived and will be carried out by the engineers of America as their contribution to the honor- ing of Washington on the bicentennial of his birth—1932. The old Potomack Canal lies on the Virginia side of the Potomac River near Great Falls, one of the beauty spots of the State and the District for the residents thereof. Washington was one of the leading developers of the canal, the hope of many of the first minds of the early republic for an eastern seaboard trade route for the products of the Ohio country. The -father of his country was the first President of the corporation, one that hoped to do a profit- “able and enterprising business. He had a hand -in the construction of the canal which, at this -particular point, swings away from the river through the Old Dominion to avoid the falls. The interest of the engineers of the Nation in honoring Washington by restoring this por- tion of the waterway to the West had its in- cipiency in a letter from A. D. Flynn, secretary of the United Engineering Society, to the Ameri- can Engineering Council, whose executive sec- retary, L. M. Wallace, has offices in Washington. Mr. Flynn, in his letter, sought from the coun- cil information with reference to the engineer- ing profession and the celebration of the bi- centennial. This was in June, 1926. In April of the following year a request from Calvin W. Rice to the council “to definitely find out in what way the engineering societies could participate (in the bi-centennial) and what they could and-should do,” was had. THIS set the Engineering Council to work on the evolution of some definite program for the engineering profession worthy of its consideration and support. Engineering so- cieties throughout the eountry were communi- cated with, both as to suggestions and interest in a bicentennial project to honor Washington. The responses weére wholehearted and en- couraging. All spoke of an eminent desire to participate in “some project” to honor the “lost engineer.” “Would like to co-operate”; “ready to co-operate”; “certainly worthy of Nation-wide celebration” ran the steady stream of replies from coast to coast and border to border. So genuine and great were the responses that Albert Bushnell Hart, historian of the commis- sion, declared jestingly to a conference com= mittee of the four great societies of the country that it will “soon be my duty to save the situa- tion and proclaim Washington as ‘the states- man!'” Such was the engineering, enthusiasm of the country. Many projects were, from the first, in the mind of the engineering societies, determined now upon carving anew the' name of Wash- ington on the tablets of memory. Suggestions even came in from the District of Columbia Commission for the celebration. There was the restoration of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal from Cumberland to Washington, D. C, the converting of the canal and towpath into a modern water-grade highway; support of a national University in Washington—Wash- ington’s idea—and the endowment therein of a chair of engineering; the erection of an engi- neering building for George Washington Uni- versity; support of the Cramton bill for a George Washington Memorial Parkway on both sides of the Potomac from Mount Vernon to Great Falls through Washington; the prepara- tion of a film depicting the development of transportation in the United States; the prepa- ration of a book “Washington—the Engineer”; restoration of the old Potomack Canal. Of these, the last, after much deliberation, was selected, and then only after the question of the feasibility of the restoration had been Tangled undergrowth, but once a_part of the canal. determined by a group of Army engineers. This question was settled most -recently by a survey made from the office of Maj. Brehon Somervell, Distriet engineer of the Engineer Corps of the Army. In a lengthy report made by Maj. Somervell's office the problem of cost and Yeasibility of the reconstruction of the old canal was gone into thoroughly. Concerning the restoration Maj. Somerville’s office in-part says: _ “The plan of treatment proposed follows that laid down in your (Engineering Council’s) let- ter. The general scheme is to set aside an area along the lower part of the canal which would be cleared of underbrush and made ac- cessible by roads and paths. The area selected “for the reservation begins with the headgates - at the basin just below Dickey’s and follows canal to the river. It is believed unwise and unnecessarily expensive to attempt to im- prove the upper part of the canal at this time, inasmuch as this part of the canal contains no striking features and as the improvement would - require the demolition of certain of the build- ings and the amusement park. The cost of this part of the land, if it could be obtained at all, would be unduly high. 3 “Access to the land will be secured by means Showing a bit of the original wall of the canal. Jugla of existing roads and by paths which will lead from the entrance to the various structures on the canal and to the model. It will be de- sirable, inasmuch as the private roads running from the turnpike to the canal may be in bad repair, to secure an easement over these roads and to surface them so that the public, and engineers in particular, will not find the ap- proach to the property unworthy of engineers. ‘Roads within the reservation are purposely left out of the project, as it seems desirable not to permit automobile traffic on the grounds. In the first place, the creation of a suitable road would introduce an artificial feature out of harmony with the project, and in the second place, no suitable facilities could be provided within the limited area for an extensive auto- mobile traffic. “It is proposed to secure a better definition of the canal where it is in cut by excavating the debris which has fallen in it. At the,locks the debris is to be removed and the masonry is to be put in such a state of repair as will prevent its further deterioriation. ‘To do this a large percentage of it will have to be torn down and relaid. It is thought also that it would be desirable to rebuild the gates at lock 2 to give the public a better idea of the opera- tion of the locks than could be obtained from the small working model. “The most suitable location for the house to shelter the model is in the basin above the last flight of locks. In preparing estimates for this house it was found that a model on a suffi- ciently good scale to prove interesting could not be housed in a building of the size men- tioned in the Engineering Council's letter. For this reason the size of the house has been enlarged. . . . This will permit a symmetrical design. . . . It is proposed to build the house of field stone, with a stone floor .and fireplaces, the roof to be of hewn timbers and covered withy slate. The window and door frames . . . hand« made. The whole building will follow somewhat the general lines of those found along the old Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and in this part of the conutry which were built cotem« poraneously with the canal. . .. “The model will depict the entire canal, to« gether with the surrounging topography, plané growth, rock outcrops and old structures whicls were known to be in existence at the time of the construction of the canal. It will be equipped with gates and wickets and will have water supply for its actual operation. The portion of Great Falls adjacent to the canal will also be shown with running water. Using a scale of 1:100 the model will be 20 feet by 60 feet and it will be sturdily eonstructed, having sheet lead lining for water areas and cement molded to show topography, with as much natural rock necessary to represent actual conditions. Growth and ground effects will be appropriately shown with miniature trees and colorings.. Where necessary to bring out relief and to secure proper representation of struce tures the vertical scale will be enlarged. “The layout for the memorial will contain several acres and this valuable model. . .. Bronze signs and plaques are provided at the locks and other major features of the works and also on the paths leading to the structures contained in the project.” Such, in detail, will be the restoration of the old Potomack Canal for coming generations Continued on Thirteenth Page iegly 2a20i00 0L JuodA bk