. 4fl UNItEB STAl'ES, 



Georgetown, above the city; at which place th^ 

 water rises four feet in a common tide. 



The obstruction of the navigation of this great 

 river, which flows through a thickly settled country^ 

 ai'ose chiefly from four falls: 



1st. The little falls three miles above tide water, 

 in which distance there is a fall of 36 feet. 



2d. The great falls, six miles higher, where is 

 a fall of 76 feet in one mile and a quarter. 



od. The Seneca falls, six miles above the former, 

 which form short irregular rapids, with a fall of 

 about 10 feet ; and, 



4th. The Shenandoah falls, sixty miles from the 

 Seneca, where is a fall of about 30 feet in 3 miles ; 

 from which last, fort Cumberland is about 120 miles 

 distant. The obstructions, which are opposed 

 ■ the navigation above and between these falls, are 

 not great. The force of the current is such, that 

 boats ascend only at particular times. At fort Cum* 

 berland in a dry season, it is but a mill stream, but 

 boats go 20 miles higher to Paddytown. The boat- 

 men say the descent in some places is eleven feet in 

 three-quarters of a mile.* In the year 1784, a 

 company was formed for the purpose of removing 

 the obstructions and opening the navigation of the 

 river from its source, down to tide-water, and an 

 act of incorporation, passed by the assemblies of 

 Virginia and Maryland^ authorising the company 

 to take the necessary measures for carrying into 

 effect the object for which they were incorporated, 

 and granting to them, yb?'ex^er, the tolls which may 

 ^rise therefrom ; which tolls are fixed by the same 



« Morst* 



