Evening Star Newspaper, January 8, 1933, Page 68

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY 8, 1933. POWER PLANT SITE AT BUZZARD BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR. HEN the Potomac Electric Power Co.’s plant at Con-titution avenue and Fouriecenth street northwest was taken over by the Government and the build- ing razed, it necesitzted that company's looking for office quartcrs elscwhere, which it did by erecting on the site of the old Medical Building, at Tenth and E streets, a centrally located building for its business head- quarters. The giving up of the old building also made it necessary to build a new pewer plant to augment the Benning station and to taks care of its present requirements as well as to provide for the growing neceds of the city, and this it 15 soon going to do by erecting at Buzzard Point a plant that will be equal to the requirements for some years to_come. Somehow the power company selects for its plants historic sites ¢f the District. The of- fice building at Tenth and E streets occupies the corner where stcod for many years the Medical Department Building of Columbian University, erected there in 1826. However, it was not owned by the university, for we find the title to the property at that time to b2 In Drs. Thomas Sewell, James M. Staughton, Thomas Henderson, Nicholas Worthington, Frederick May and Richard Randall, as tenants in common. The building was also known as the Masonic Hall, since the Masons used it for some years as a meeting place, and further interest is at- tached to the site because William C. Langdon, Thomas Duncan and William J. Rhees called a meeting there in 1852 for the purpose of or- ganizing the local branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, for many years, and ever since then, one of the established institu- tions of Washington. After the Medical Build- ing was removed, a gascline station occupied the corner for awhile. UZZARD POINT, where “Pepco” intends lo- cating in the near future its $5,000,000 power plnt, is one of the oldest historic sites in the City of Washington. Hugh T. Taggart, a well known Washington lawyer, prior to his death some years ago, in describing a map prepared by Moll, a London geographer, in his story of Old Georgetown, has this to say: “There are other features of this map worthy of note: Upon it the Anacostia River or East- ern Branch is indicated, but it is not named; the main river above the mouth of the Anacos- tia is shown upon it as a long but otherwise in- significant stream, to which is given the unro- mantic but suggestive nams of ‘Turkey Buzzard Run’; to the point at the Arsenal is given the name of ‘Turkey Buzzard Point’; that point continued to be known as ‘Turkey Buzzard Point’ down to the time when the Federal Cap- ital was laid out; it then bccame known as ‘Young's Point,’ taking the name from Notley Young, the owner of the land; it was later called ‘Greenleaf's Point,’ after James Green- leaf, a large purchaser of lots in the new city, many of which were located in its vicinity; finally it took the name it now bears, Arsenal Point, from the military uses to which it was put by the Government.” Unfortunately, the map here referred to, which Mr. Taggart tells us was in his posses- sion in 1907, was undated, though he believed “that it made its appearance early in the first half of the eighteenth century.” UST who named this locality Buzzard Point no one seems to know, but the reason for 80 naming it may have been the enormcus quantity of fish which once inhabited the Po- tomac and its tributaries. Some of the early explorers give what might seem, offhand, ex- aggerated statements. One says: “In divers places that aboundance of fish, lying so thick with their heads above the water, as for want of mets (our barge driving amongst them) we attempted to catch them with a frying pan; but we found it a bad instrument to catch fish with. Neither better fish, more plenty, nor more variety for small fish had any of us ever “Scene in any place so swimming the water; but they were not to be caught with frying pans.” It is almost impossible for us at this period to believe the Potomac fishery statistics and stories handed down to us, and yet they are undoubtedly true. We are told around 1830 shad and herring were so abundant that they were oftery used on nearby farms as fertilizer, and frequently heavy four and six horse teams Taken from the Anacostia side of the Eastern Branch, showing the Navy Yard, and, to the extreme left, Greenleaf and Buzzard Points. Early History of Section and of the Eastern Branch—Purchasers of Lots in Carrolls- burg— Great Output of Potomac Fisheries. came all the way from remote parts of Pennsyl- vania, Maryland, Virginia, and Ohio for a year's supply of fish caught in the Potomac River in and near the District of Columbia. Another account informs us: “In the Spring of the year quantities of shad and herrings are taken, which may appear almost incredible. The number of shad frequently obtained at a haul is 4,000 and upwards, and of herrings from 1 to 300,000. In the Spring of 1832 there were taken in one seine at one draught, a few more than 950,000 accurately counted. * * * The - lowest prices at which these fish sell when just taken, are 25 cents per thousand for herrings, and $1.50 per hundred for shad, but they gen- erally bring higher prices, often $1.50 per thou- sand for the former, and from $3 to $4 per hundred for the latter. In the height of the season a single shad weighing from 6 to 8 pounds, is sold in the market of the District for 6 cents. Herrings, however, are sometimes taken so plentifully that they are given away or hauled in the land as manure for want of purchasers, Some idea may be formed of the importance of these fisheries from the fol- lowing statement: Number of fisheries on the Potomac, about 150 Number of laborers required at the landing 6,500 Number of vessels employed. 450 Number of men to navigate these vessels Number of shad taken good season, which lasts only about six weeks 1,350 22,500,000 Number of herrings under similar circumstances Quantity of salt required to cure the fish (bushels)... Number of barrels to contain 750,000,000 995,000 Indeed, the statement made by the writer of the foregoing remarks is borne out by an item appearing in the Metropolitan, a Georgetown newspaper, dated April 25, 1836, which says: “We were not fully aware of the immense importance of the Potomac fisheries, and their value to Georgetown, in particular, until this Spring. Besides the large supplies shipped daily by the canal, every night the long length of Bridge street and High street, besides many other places, is crowded with heavy four and six horse wagons from the most remote parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, even to the confines of Ohio, which exchange the produce they bring down, for the delicious fish which thic noble siream affords in an exhaust- less abundance, and return with a year’s sup- ply of these cheap and grateful delicacies to the far-off homestead of the inland farmer. Activ- ity and enterprise are only wanting to make the fish trade a source of immense, and perma- nent wealth toc the town.” HE vast amount of fish in our nearby waters was not confined alone to the smaller va- rieties which made the Potomac a breeding ground, but frequently catches of large quanti- ties of rockfish, weighing from 50 tc 60 pounds each, are recorded. Sturgeon, too, were once quite plentiful, and the story comes to us of a ....Hauling seine in the,Eastern Branch opposite the Navy. Yard.. An early Civil War picture. N Reproduced From An Old Drawing. gentleman who resided for some time at Mount Vernon, after the Revolutionary War, and who afterward wrote: “From Gen. Washington’s house, which stands on the lofty banks of the Potomac, I have seen for several hours together, in a Summer’s evening, hundreds, perhaps I might say thousands, of sturgeon at a great height above the water at the same instant, so that the quantity in the river must have been in- conceivably great.” From another source we find it stated: “* * * Sturgeon also abounds in the Po- tomac and are of enormous size, weighing from 75 to 150 pounds. It comes up the river twice & year, which is in the months of May and Au- gust—presses up to the very foot of the first falls, and is taken in the greatest quantities with- in the District, in times of freshets in the strong water between Georgetown and those falis. They are taken either in floating nets, with large meshes, or by an ingeniously contrived hook, not baited, but by a curious device, pre= pared to pierce him on the body so certainly, and so deeply, as to hold him and bring him in.* * * This latter mode of taking the stur- geon is believed to be peculiar to the Potomac. “% * * So soon as the sturgeon is hung, he makes off with great strength and swiftness, the line is plaid out to give him play, and the little boat, if before stationary, is cast loose, so that when the line is out the boat, to which one end was secured, is for a time darted so . rapidly through the water that her bows are brought almost under; his speed, however, pres- ently slackens, his strength exhausted, and he yields himself up to be drawn in and hoisted on board. An instance occurred near the Lit- tle Falls some years ago, of the strength and power of this fish. A noted fisherman, whose name is well known, had incautiously made fast one end of the line to his leg, and having hung a sturgeon, was dragged overboard and drawn off by it to a considerable distance in the river, sometimes above and sometimes under water, but from his intrepidity and skill in swimming, he was enabled to get through this peritlous conflict safely, and to conquer the sturgeon and stow him safely on shore, without the aid of his boat.” HE Ansacostia River, or the Easiern Branch, as it is generally called, proved quite profit- able as a fishing ground from the earliest days of the city, and even as recent as the late 70s seine hauling was a familiar Spring sight, both above and below the Navy Yard bridge, particularly on the shores of the Divall, Tal- burtt and Barry farms, opposite Buzzard Point and the Navy Yard. Giesboro Point also had valuable fishing rights. Undoubtedly it was the lay of the land across the Eastern Branch, and to the southeast of the property to be oc= cupied by the power company, as well as the vast quantities of fish to be found in the waters close by, that prompted the Necochtank Ine dians to settle there, and, no doubt, the vul- tures frequented this neighborhood to feed upon the remains of the fish washed upon the shore and left there to die, and because of this, it is logical to assume that the place received the name Buzzard Point. After the city was laid out into lots ana squares, and James Greenleaf, Robert Morris and John Nicholson came here and invested - their fortunes, that part of Buzzard Point to the west of James Creek became generally known as Greenleaf Point, while the point to the east of the creek retained its original name. But all did not go smooth with these early speculators, and we find, on March 24, 1801, that the first suit growing out of the trouble-"+" some affairs of these gentlemen was fil the new Circuit Court on that date, angff the press commyents as follows: “The: cpesatians:ief: these- gentlc s