Evening Star Newspaper, July 20, 1930, Page 67

Fiction 7 B?):)—l—(s PART 7. The Sundiy Star Magasine WASHINGTON, D. C, JULY 20, 1930. eatures Puzzles 24 PAGES. = Rare Canal Boat Retic 1s Found Hand-Hewn Dugout, Believed the Last Survivor of Canal-Borne Commerce Between the Capital and the West, Discovered on an Upper Potomac Farm, Recalls Glamorous Era When “George Washington’s Canal” Teemed With Long-Boats in Pioneer Days. Rex Collier IME-SCARRED and weather-beaten, but still possessed of the sturdy characteristics that marked a color- ful past, there has been found on the shores of the Upper Potomac a venerable hand- hewn long boat, believed to be the last survivor of a glamor= ous era of canal-borne come merce between the Capital and the West. The ancient dugout, carved from a single poplar tree, could tell an absorbing story of the early river days on the picturesque “Potowmack”; days marked by pioneer canal en- gineering, by boom industries and trade, by blasted hopes, by primitive hard work and gayety and romance. The story it might. tell harks back to men and places and undertakings indelibly asso- ciated with the Nation’s his- tory and linked with the “growing pains” of early American prosperity. Believed to be considerabiy more than a century old, the quaint old craft probably was one of the fleet of hand-poled canal boats which once plied between West Virginia and Georgetown, carrying whisky and flour and other commodities to the busy marts of trads that once flourished along the river. Perhaps it is the lone survivor of all the boats that were accorded the distinction of navigating those engineering wonders of the eighteenth century, the Potowmack Co.’s canal locks at Great Falls, the crumbling ruins of which are w be preserved as a lasting monu- ment to the engineering skill of their creator, George Washington. ISCOVERY of the river relic by local per- sons interested in historical research has attracted the attention of Government officials, who are understood to be contemplating means for bringing the boat here for exhibition in connection with the Washington bicentennial celebration. It is known a representative of the Bicentennial Commission has inspected the boat and obtained photographs of it. More suggestive of an aboriginal war canoe than a carrier of commerce, the craft is 30 feet long, a yard wide in its broadest breadth of beam and fully 10 inches deep. Undoubtedly it consisted originally of one piece of carefully carved poplar, with raised, sharply pointed bow and a blunt, tilted stern. The original bottom long since has disap- peared, and in its place there now appears a makeshift understructure of thick planking, secured with wooden pegs and wrought-iron nails. Apparently the hull never boasted a coat of paint. Of course, the old boat no longer is river- worthy. For years it has reposed, almost for- gotten, in the weed-overgrown yard of a farmer living a few miles below Cumberland. The farmer says the old craft has remained in the family since it was built by his great-grand- father. The first person to realize the boat’s histori- cal significance was Walter Jex, a local busi- ness man, who came upon it while vacationing on the river near the farm of its owner. Learn- ing of the relic’s antiquity, Mr. Jex advised the jarmer to remove the boat to a safer location near his house and to take good care of it un- til an examination could be made by qualified experts. The farmer’s method of compliance was to haul the boat to a point near the barn- yard, where it now continues its marvelous de- fiance of the elements. The farmer told the Washington man that his great-grandfather used the boat in trans- porting small cargoes to points as far down the river as Washington, and that his grand- father and father had found the old boat serv- * iceable for later river duty in the Harpers Ferry region. Excellent photographs of the boat have been taken by Mr. and Mrs. Harold Gray of this city. There were no oars, the crew of two qr three men propelling the rakish ‘“canoce” with long poles. This mode of propulsion, common on the river and canal in those days, was & Priceless relic of George Wt;shington’s Canal. This last member of the rugged pioneer fleet of hand-hewn, hand-pol ed boats, was recently found on the shores of the upper Potomac, almost hidden in weeds. perilous business in a river so swift and turbu- lent and fraught with rapids and whirlpools as the upper reaches of the “Potowmack.” Oft- times these boats would strike a rock and sink, with a total loss of cargo and at times with loss of life. At other times the craft would fall a prey to tricky currents which would carry them beyond poling depth and hence out of naviga- tion control. Such emergencies called for dar- ing rescue work, participated in by shore volun- teers armed with ropes and boat-books. WHE'R!: the river was too rough for naviga- tion, including such places as the Great and Little Falls, Seneca and the Shenandoah Falls, canals supplied a comparatively safe de- tour. These canals, constructed under the per- sonal direction of' America’s first President, were negotiated with the aid of tow ropes and chains, hand power at first being employed and mules coming into use as the canal boats increased in size. Some of the old iron rings to which the boats tied up remain to this day, firmly imbedded in the rock at Great Falls and other points. Before deciding finally to adopt the canal plan in order to carry out Washington’s dream of a navigable watere way from the National Cap- ital to the western frontier, the Potowmack Co., organized by the first President in 1785, considered various other novel proposals for overcoming ob- stacles in the river. At that time there were no canal locks this side of the Atlantic and but little was known about them. The early American engineers devised many sub- stitute schemes, none of which however, appealed very strongly to the remarkable engineering mind of Gen. ‘Washington. Washington gave considera« tion to at least two of the sub- stitute proposals. In a letter to his secretary, Tobias Lear, in 1794, Washington referred to a plan of “Mr. Claiborne’s engineer” intended to avocid locks altogether. The letter states: “The vessels are received into a basket or cradle, and let down by means of a laver and pullies; and raised again by weights at the hinder ex- tremity of the laver, which works on an axis at the head of a substantial post fixed about the center of the laver, On' this principle, btut dife ferently constructed, Mr. Greenleaf a few months ago showed me a model, the efficacy of which he seemed to entertain a most exalted opinion. . “My doubts of the utility of both arise from the insufficiency of any machinery of this so¥t to bear the weight of the cradle when charged with water and a loaded boat therein, and its aptness to get out of order by means thereof. Mr. Weston told me (but of this I am mot certain) that no method of raising and lower- ing boats has been found equal to locks. Still, as I observed in my last letter, I should be for hearing the opinions and explanations of any and every scientific and practical char- acter that could be easily got at on the subject.” A few months later, in another letter to Lear, Washington wrote: “Much has been said of late of the inclined plane in the Connecti- cut River—of the utility of it, I mean. It would be well to question Mr. Weston pretty fully on this mode of raising and lowering boats, as the simplicity, cheapness and effect is the subject of eulogism.” While it is clear Washington’s mind was open to all suggestions, proponents of the lock plan prevailed, and work was begun on a proj= ect that created as much stir in its day as did the construction of the Panama Canal by America's later engineers. / The major obstruction in the river' was:the Great Falls, and here Washington and his as- sociates concentrated their attention. Sub- scription books of the Potowmack Co. wer® opened May 17, 1785, in Richmond, Alexan- dria, Winchester, Annapolis, Georgetown and Frederick(town). A total of 403, shares were sold, providing a capital of *“40,300 pounds sterling money.” { One of the first contracts of the company was let to Capt. Abraham Shepherd of Shep- herds Town, who was to construct “two strong boats for the company, to be 35 feet long, 8 feet wide and not less than 20 inches deep; to be built after the manner of the flats used at the ferries cn the Potowmack above tide water.” The boats described are believed to have been in the category with that found near Cumber- land. They were of a type easily constructed by the hardy craftsmen of that day, and were sturdy enough to survive the vagaries of pio- neer river service. ; James Rumsey was appointed superintendent of construction. Rumsey had gained promi- nence as an experimenter with mechanically driven ships, and had gained Washington’s friendship as a result of demonstrations with models which, to the general’s astonishment, actually moved against the current. ALL newly-launched enterprises of large ex- tent have their “boom towns.” The Po- towmack Canal was no exception. Almost overnight there arose at Great Falls a mush- room city, chartered by the Legislature of Vire ginia s Matildaville,. The city had its thries