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INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT CONVENTION. 183
scribe a million. This generous example set by Maryland was not followed
either by Congress or any of the parties to the enterprise. No further subscriptions of money to the capital stock of the company have ever been made,
except those which have been made by Maryland, and, from this period, the
extension of the canal to the Ohio River has been regarded as a postponed
question.
The reports exhibited at the stockholders' meeting, in June, 1834, showed
that the company had then expended $4,062,991.25, and that its whole remaining available means were insufficient to open the navigation beyond a point
about one hundred and seven miles from Georgetown, eighty-six miles only
of which were finished, and the residue nearly advanced to completion. A
line of seventy-eight miles, a few miles above Williamsport, to the town of
Cumberland, remained untouched. In this emergency, the citizens of Alleghany County were convened at the court house in Cumberland, on Saturday,
the 18th of October, 1834, in pursuance of public notice, "to consider what
measures should be adopted to hasten the completion of the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal." After the objects of the meeting had been stated at large, delegates were appointed to meet in convention in the City of Baltimore on the
8th of December, 1834.
On the day appointed, about two hundred delegates, from Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, met at the old Masonic
Hall, St. Paul street, and organized by the election of George C. Washington,
of Montgomery County, Maryland, as president, and Elisha Whittlesey, of
Ohio, Elisha Boyd, of Virginia, William Robinson, Jr., of Pennsylvania, and
William A. Bradley, of the District of Columbia, vice-presidents, and John
P. Kennedy and Joseph Shriver, of Maryland, as secretaries. After a very
interesting and industrious session of three days, in which a great deal of
talent and much zeal was displayed, they adjourned. Their principal act
consisted in the appointment of committees to memorialize Congress, the
States of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, and the corporate authorities
and citizens of Baltimore, for the necessary means to finish the canal to Cumberland. The memorials were presented in due time to the respective
legislative bodies, but without success. The citizens of Baltimore were too
deeply interested in the success of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which
drew largely upon their resources, and they could scarcely have been expected
to contribute or subscribe money for the prosecution of other works. Thq
Maryland Legislature postponed action on the memorial of the committee of
the convention until late in the session, and when it was ascertained that aid
could be obtained from no other quarter, and that the burden of providing
means for the completion of the work had at last devolved on this State.
On the 7th of March, 1835, a bill, granting $2,000,000 in aid of the canal,
passed the House of Delegates by the decisive vote of forty-four to thirty, and
$1,000,000 to complete the Susquehannah (now called Northern Central) Railroad to York, Pennsylvania. As there was some doubts of the Senate passing
| 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 | 00000214 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT CONVENTION. 183 scribe a million. This generous example set by Maryland was not followed either by Congress or any of the parties to the enterprise. No further subscriptions of money to the capital stock of the company have ever been made, except those which have been made by Maryland, and, from this period, the extension of the canal to the Ohio River has been regarded as a postponed question. The reports exhibited at the stockholders' meeting, in June, 1834, showed that the company had then expended $4,062,991.25, and that its whole remaining available means were insufficient to open the navigation beyond a point about one hundred and seven miles from Georgetown, eighty-six miles only of which were finished, and the residue nearly advanced to completion. A line of seventy-eight miles, a few miles above Williamsport, to the town of Cumberland, remained untouched. In this emergency, the citizens of Alleghany County were convened at the court house in Cumberland, on Saturday, the 18th of October, 1834, in pursuance of public notice, "to consider what measures should be adopted to hasten the completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal." After the objects of the meeting had been stated at large, delegates were appointed to meet in convention in the City of Baltimore on the 8th of December, 1834. On the day appointed, about two hundred delegates, from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, met at the old Masonic Hall, St. Paul street, and organized by the election of George C. Washington, of Montgomery County, Maryland, as president, and Elisha Whittlesey, of Ohio, Elisha Boyd, of Virginia, William Robinson, Jr., of Pennsylvania, and William A. Bradley, of the District of Columbia, vice-presidents, and John P. Kennedy and Joseph Shriver, of Maryland, as secretaries. After a very interesting and industrious session of three days, in which a great deal of talent and much zeal was displayed, they adjourned. Their principal act consisted in the appointment of committees to memorialize Congress, the States of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, and the corporate authorities and citizens of Baltimore, for the necessary means to finish the canal to Cumberland. The memorials were presented in due time to the respective legislative bodies, but without success. The citizens of Baltimore were too deeply interested in the success of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which drew largely upon their resources, and they could scarcely have been expected to contribute or subscribe money for the prosecution of other works. Thq Maryland Legislature postponed action on the memorial of the committee of the convention until late in the session, and when it was ascertained that aid could be obtained from no other quarter, and that the burden of providing means for the completion of the work had at last devolved on this State. On the 7th of March, 1835, a bill, granting $2,000,000 in aid of the canal, passed the House of Delegates by the decisive vote of forty-four to thirty, and $1,000,000 to complete the Susquehannah (now called Northern Central) Railroad to York, Pennsylvania. As there was some doubts of the Senate passing |
