Message of the Governor of Maryland, Communicating the Report of the Commissioners appointed to survey the River Potomac
Annapolis: Printed by J. Hughes, 1822. First edition. Two fold-out tables. Modern quarter Morocco and cloth over boards. Octavo. 92 pages. Very good, with foxing to title page and a few following. Spine is titled in gilt. Comes in a custom marbled paper slipcase.
Scarce report on the affairs of the Potomac Company in 1821, as investigated by a joint commission appointed by Maryland and Virginia. Here Maryland Governor Samuel Stevens formally transmits this report to the Maryland Legislature on January 1, 1823.
The Potomac Company was formed in the late 18th century with the object of reengineering the Potomac River to create a navigable link from the Ohio country to the port at Georgetown, George Washington was an investor and served as the Company's first president.
By 1821, the Virginia-Maryland joint commission found that the Potomac Company had "incurred heavy debts which their present resources can never enable them to discharge, nor is it reasonable to expect in such circumstances, that they can ever effect the objects of their incorporation."
Further, the commission found that the Potomac Company's sluice navigation system, which was heavily dependent on "floods and freshets," was impractical and that only a still-water canal with locks could provide a navigable route that could be used consistently enough to be profitable.
In the wake of this report the Potomac Company announced that it could not fulfill its charter. The project was subsequently taken up by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, chartered in 1825.
OCLC locates 10 copies.
Item #1399
Price: $750