DrSCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



WASHINGTON AS AN EXPLORER 

 AND SURVEYOR. 



Washington was a surveyor and ex- 

 plorer before he entered upon the fields 

 of war and statecraft, and his honesty 

 of purpose, sincerity of action and ac- 

 curacy of statement and method, so 

 manifest throughout his career as a 

 soldier and statesman, are found also 

 in the earlier record. At the age of 

 sixteen he crossed the Blue Ridge on 

 horseback and made a series of success- 

 ful surveys in the Shenandoah valley, 

 overcoming physical obstacles with the 

 method and system of a modern scien- 

 tist. At twenty- two he led a party into 

 the wilderness of the valley of the Ohio 

 to treat with the French and Indians. 

 He then became acquainted with the 

 great resources of the interior, and saw 

 that the valleys of the James and Po- 

 tomac afforded unusual facilities for 

 lines of transportation for the trade 'of 

 a rising empire.' In 1754 he reported 

 in favor of a scheme of communication 

 between the Atlantic states and the 

 great west. Sixteen years later he sug- 

 gested that the project of opening up 

 the Potomac be 'recommended to public 

 notice.' The idea contained in the Po- 

 tomac scheme was of far-reaching im- 

 port, and only the present generation 

 can fully realize its significance. 



Washington was not only the first to 

 map and recommend the general route 

 of the great highways called the Na- 

 tional Pike and the Chesapeake and 

 Ohio Canal, which are now in truth 

 'becoming the channels of conveyance 

 of the extensive and valuable trade of a 

 rising empire,' but he was also the first 

 to predict the commercial success of 

 that route through the Mohawk valley 

 which was afterwards taken by the Erie 

 Canal and the New York Central Rail- 

 road. 



One hundred and fifteen years ago he 



asked: "Would it not be worthy of the 

 wisdom and attention of Congress to 

 have the western waters well explored, 

 the navigation of them fully ascertained 

 and accurately laid down, and a com- 

 plete and perfect map mad© of the 



country The advantages 



would be unbounded, for sure I am that 

 nature has made such a display of her 

 bounties in those regions that the more 

 the country is explored the more it will 

 rise in estimation, consequently greater 

 will the revenue be to the Union." 

 Again he declared, "I shall not rest con- 

 tented until I have explored the western 

 country and have traversed those lines 

 which have given bounds to a new 

 empire." 



Washington did not do this as fully 

 as he wished, but his ambition has been 

 and is being realized through the me- 

 dium of hundreds of enterprises under 

 both national and private encourage- 

 ment. The result of a trip made in the 

 fall of 1784 was the real historic be- 

 ginning of the Potomac enterprise. On 

 his return he wrote to Benjamin Har- 

 rison, Governor of Virginia, "I shall 

 take the liberty now, my dear sir, to 

 suggest a matter which would mark 

 your administration as an important 

 era in the annals of this country if it 

 should be recommended by you and 

 adopted by the Assembly." He reached 

 far out for those days, assuming De- 

 troit as a point of departure for the 

 trade of the northwest territory. His 

 confidence in the practical abilities of 

 the American people is shown by the 

 remark, "A people who are possessed 

 with the spirit of commerce, who see 

 and will pursue their destinies, may 

 achieve almost anything. No person 

 who knows the temper, genius and 

 policy of this people as well as I do can 

 harbor the smallest doubt." 



In urging the Potomac scheme, he 



