{"id":499,"date":"2024-06-26T14:27:21","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T18:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/?p=499"},"modified":"2024-07-27T16:44:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-27T20:44:30","slug":"introduction-to-a-book-which-was-never-written","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/potomac-river-and-enviorns\/introduction-to-a-book-which-was-never-written\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction to a Book Which Was Never Written"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I live in Leesburg, Virginia and my co-author, Jon lives in Poolesville, MD. Between these two towns flows the mighty Potomac River stretching over 400 miles past important sites in American History; the Antietam battlefield, John Brown\u2019s Fort, the former great port of Georgetown, Washington, D.C., Alexandria, Va. and Mount Vernon home of George Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our area, between Leesburg and Poolesville, the river is quite beautiful and seemingly undeveloped. Great sycamore trees line the shore, leaning over the river, their branches dipping into the water. Bald eagles are common, hoovering, and then, in an instant, swooping down, talons first, seldom missing their prey. Long-legged and even longer-necked great blue herons have a different fishing method. They stand without movement in the shallows waiting for an unsuspecting fish to swim by, then seize it with their long beaks, lift their head and swallow. Occasionally, you will see hundreds of roosting cormorants. They fish by diving under the water, sometimes for as long as two minutes, with a great success rate. And, there are Canada geese, ducks and numerous songbirds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The water in the river is clear and you can usually see to the bottom unless there has been a storm in which case it becomes brown and muddy. Under the water are large carp and catfish which often school in the thousands. Small-mouth bass, known to anglers as \u201csmallies\u201d are the favorite game fish but there are also walleyes and muskellunge, if you know where to look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Occasionally, you will see an angler or two in small boats trying their luck, or a group of canoers paddling down the river. There are many small islands and a family with a boat can claim one of these islands for the day, sometimes with a sand beach and water perfect for wading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is difficult to believe that this area was once a great industrial and agricultural stronghold with mills, factories, mines and quarries. The infrastructure which underlay this industry was George Washington\u2019s 1795 Potomac River Company and later, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington early on imagined a continental republic but feared that without roads and waterways to tie it together, sections would split off and become independent or the proxy of a European power. The Potomac was navigable by the largest 18th<\/sup> and 19th<\/sup> century ships from the ocean right up to Georgetown. But here, where the coastal plain ended and the piedmont began was the fall line where Little Falls and Great Falls blocked off further navigation. The Potomac Company successfully built a series of locks at Little Falls in 1795 and at Great Falls in 1802. The company sent crews up the river and all of its tributaries, clearing all the impediments to navigation. Now thousands of tons of freight could move down to the lower river and out to the world. But there was a problem. The Potomac River was only navigable about fifty days a year and mostly in the spring when \u201cfreshets\u201d would increase the water level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other solutions were necessary and on July 4th<\/sup>, 1828, groundbreaking occurred for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Little Falls above Georgetown and in Baltimore for the B&O Railroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the canal groundbreaking, President John Quincy Adams said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

But while indulging a Sentiment of joyous exultation, at the benefits to be derived from the labour, by our friends and neighbours, let us not forget that the Spirit of internal improvement is catholic and liberal \u2014 We hope and believe that its practical advantages will be extended to every individual in our Union \u2014 In praying for the blessing of Heaven upon our task we ask it with equal zeal and sincerity upon every other similar work in this confederation ; and particularly upon that, which on this same day and perhaps at this very hour is commencing from a neighbouring city  \u2014 It is one of the happiest characteristics in the principle of internal improvement that the success of one great enterprise instead of counteracting gives assistance, to the execution of another \u2014 May they increase and multiply till in the sublime language of Inspiration, every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, the crooked straight, the rough places plain \u2014<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Although it never reached its intended destination, the Ohio River, the canal stretches for 184 miles from Georgetown to Cumberland, Maryland and is one of the great projects which built the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the course of its 184 miles, the canal encounters eleven large creeks or rivers. Here, the engineers built stone aqueducts just as the Romans had thousands of years earlier. These aqueducts carry the canal over the rivers and creeks, Although, some aqueducts are larger than others, or higher, they all share three characteristics, they made of stone, they are beautiful, and they are counterintuitive. Here is what a friend of mine, Richard Welsh, wrote about aqueducts and I agree with him:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

A fascinating effect of canal aqueducts – visually and in the mischief of definitions \u2013 is how they “redefine” the image and the idea of \u201ccanal.\u201d Normally, we think of a canal as like a river or creek: water flowing along a low part of the ground, at the bottom of the “V” or “U” of the topography. It may be man-made, artificially dug, but as a physical object with inherent properties, it\u2019s the same thing as a creek. It obeys the same laws of gravity. It’s inherently a part of, integrated with, the “earth” – how can you separate them? It’s as absurd as imagining a boulder hovering in the air rather than obediently staying in \u201cits place.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet suddenly the canal rises up from the earth. Yes, sure, the earth actually falls away from the canal – though either way, you’d still expect the water to stick to it, not keep running out into empty air, like Wile E. Coyote before he notices there\u2019s nothing under his whirling feet. But that’s indeed what the aqueduct permits the canal to do. Whooo! I’m flying! The flowing water has assumed an independent identity, cut loose from its earthly apron strings. It\u2019s no longer a creek or a river; they can\u2019t do that. And so it\u2019s no longer a canal, either (if a canal is just an artificial creek), unless we ourselves make the same leap from the earth \u2013 flow onward while the earth falls away \u2013 by recreating our idea of \u201ccanal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Each one of these eleven aqueducts have a story, sometimes fascinating and sometimes mundane. Jon and I intend to dig out that story. We are not engineers nor are we architects. We will not tell you in detail how these structures were built. We are really just two old men who have fallen in love with the Potomac River, made by God, and the C&O Canal, made by men. If by the end of the book, you too have fallen in love with the Potomac and its little brother then we will have succeeded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copywrite Paul Kreingold 2023 Leesburg, VA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Monocacy Aqueduct carries the C&O Canal over the Monocacy River where it flows into the Potomac River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
“Yet suddenly the canal rises up from the earth. “<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Imagine this structure filled with water with horses or mules pulling boats loaded with wheat or coal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Stonework of the first arch of the Monocacy Aqueduct<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
1833 Dedication Stone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Dedication stone close-up.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I live in Leesburg, Virginia and my co-author, Jon lives in Poolesville, MD. Between these two towns flows the mighty Potomac River stretching over 400 miles past important sites in American History; the Antietam battlefield, John Brown\u2019s Fort, the former great port of Georgetown, Washington, D.C., Alexandria, Va. and Mount Vernon home of George Washington. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-potomac-river-and-enviorns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":511,"href":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions\/511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potomacrocks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}