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158 * HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
The mayor readily acceded to the proposal and the meeting was called for
the thirteenth of the month, but postponed until the twentieth, for the purpose of also taking into consideration whether the citizens of Baltimore
"preferred a canal to be made first to the Susquehannah River or to the Ohio."
On the day appointed the meeting assembled, when the mayor was made
chairman, and General Harper in a "great speech," explained his views "to
the citizens of Baltimore, on the expediency of promoting a connection
between Ohio at Pittsburgh, and the waters of the Chesapeake at Baltimore,
by a canal through the District of Columbia."
At this period the cities of Georgetown, Alexandria and Washington, felt
great apprehensions about the rivalry with Baltimore in the advantages that
were to flow from the projected communication with the West. Baltimore
desired that the canal should terminate at Baltimore as originally intended,
and not at the tide-water of the Potomac. Baltimore at this period by the
advantages of her position enjoyed the whole trade of the Chesapeake, that of
the fertile, populous and highly cultivated counties of Pennsylvania, between
the Susquehannah and the mountains, that of Frederick and Washington
Counties in Maryland ; and the whole downward trade of the Susquehannah.
These natural advantages enabled her to leave Georgetown and Alexandria
far behind, although they commenced their career about the same time with
her, and to swallow up all the towns which existed on the shores of the
Chesapeake, at the time when her foundations were laid. These advantages
she feared would be now overcome by the small towns on the Potomac, and
therefore the great majority of the meeting at the Exchange preferred a canal
to the Susquehannah to secure the trade in the interior of Pennsylvania
instead of one from Cumberland to Georgetown.
The improvement of the Susquehannah River, as we have seen, had been
from a very early period a favorite object with the people of Baltimore, and
they determined that the Legislature should not be diverted by the magnificence of other projects from the Susqehannah canal upon which their
prosperity so largely depended.
At the December session of the Legislature in 1822, Theodorick Bland,
George Winchester and John Patterson, were appointed commissioners "to
lay out and survey a route for a canal, which will connect the waters of the
Susquehannah with the City of Baltimore, beginning at the Conewago Falls,
or on a point of said river, which the commissioners may deem the most
practicable; and they shall also be directed to lay out and survey a route for
a Canal from the same point on the Susquehannah or Conewago Falls, to the
head of tide-water, on the Susquehannah; and report upon the practicability,
the expense, and other necessary circumstances attending the same to the
next General Assembly." They accepted their appointment in May following,
and in June set out to examine the New York and Erie Canal. Arriving
in New York they obtained an interview with Mr. De Witt Clinton, the great
founder and advocate of the canal policy in the State of New York, from
| Title | History of Maryland - 3 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000185 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 158 * HISTORY OF MARYLAND. The mayor readily acceded to the proposal and the meeting was called for the thirteenth of the month, but postponed until the twentieth, for the purpose of also taking into consideration whether the citizens of Baltimore "preferred a canal to be made first to the Susquehannah River or to the Ohio." On the day appointed the meeting assembled, when the mayor was made chairman, and General Harper in a "great speech," explained his views "to the citizens of Baltimore, on the expediency of promoting a connection between Ohio at Pittsburgh, and the waters of the Chesapeake at Baltimore, by a canal through the District of Columbia." At this period the cities of Georgetown, Alexandria and Washington, felt great apprehensions about the rivalry with Baltimore in the advantages that were to flow from the projected communication with the West. Baltimore desired that the canal should terminate at Baltimore as originally intended, and not at the tide-water of the Potomac. Baltimore at this period by the advantages of her position enjoyed the whole trade of the Chesapeake, that of the fertile, populous and highly cultivated counties of Pennsylvania, between the Susquehannah and the mountains, that of Frederick and Washington Counties in Maryland ; and the whole downward trade of the Susquehannah. These natural advantages enabled her to leave Georgetown and Alexandria far behind, although they commenced their career about the same time with her, and to swallow up all the towns which existed on the shores of the Chesapeake, at the time when her foundations were laid. These advantages she feared would be now overcome by the small towns on the Potomac, and therefore the great majority of the meeting at the Exchange preferred a canal to the Susquehannah to secure the trade in the interior of Pennsylvania instead of one from Cumberland to Georgetown. The improvement of the Susquehannah River, as we have seen, had been from a very early period a favorite object with the people of Baltimore, and they determined that the Legislature should not be diverted by the magnificence of other projects from the Susqehannah canal upon which their prosperity so largely depended. At the December session of the Legislature in 1822, Theodorick Bland, George Winchester and John Patterson, were appointed commissioners "to lay out and survey a route for a canal, which will connect the waters of the Susquehannah with the City of Baltimore, beginning at the Conewago Falls, or on a point of said river, which the commissioners may deem the most practicable; and they shall also be directed to lay out and survey a route for a Canal from the same point on the Susquehannah or Conewago Falls, to the head of tide-water, on the Susquehannah; and report upon the practicability, the expense, and other necessary circumstances attending the same to the next General Assembly." They accepted their appointment in May following, and in June set out to examine the New York and Erie Canal. Arriving in New York they obtained an interview with Mr. De Witt Clinton, the great founder and advocate of the canal policy in the State of New York, from |
