Potowmack Company Canal and Locks: Historic Structures Report
Torres-Reyes R. 1970. Potowmack Company Canal and Locks: Historic Structures Report. Historic Structure Report. Great Falls, Virginia
The purpose of this report is to fulfill the needs outlined in RSP GWNP • 8. It deals mainly with the Architectural and construction features of the old Potomac Canal at Great Falls, Virginia. As expressed in the Research Proposal , the information is needed by the park to support and form the basis of an accurate program of interpretation, stabilization, and restoration. Today the aims of the canal and locks constitute the .oSl i-POrtlnt historical resource of the park. Yet, In .any respects, they present I weird picture of abandon. Fro. the entrance of the canal, above the falls, water still flows through I considerable distance. Just beyond the Visitor Center, the dry bed of the ditch vanishes in the glade where nature has taken full possession of it' course . In the uppermost locks, forest trees have pushed their roots down and any or the hand-cut blocks of Senees stones out. Many of the stones, however, are still fitted with precision and ,0-1 tri. alirn-ent . On July 23, 1969, the President of the A.erican Society of Civil Engineers presented to the Director of the National Plrk Service at Grelt Falls, Yirginil, a bronle plaque designating the Grel t Falls Canal and Locks of the Potowaack eo.pany IS I Nationll Historic Civil -Engineering Landaark . this presentltion cul.lnated four d8cad8S of effort to .eaorialiu till I pioneer engineering acllievellllent begun under the l eadership of George Washington In H8S. As early a. 1929 , the Hational Capit a l Park and Planning CoMission proposed tile pres8rvat ion of the Great Falh canal and loch as an appropriate historic enaineerina 1Ie.0rial t o our first President. It was endorsed lit tllat tille by the .-.erican I I::ngine(!ring Council. In 1930, in antie1pltion of Washington" Bicentennial, General Brehon So.ervell, tll8n Major ."d District En,ineer of the Corps of Engineers for the Washington District, propos8d the canal and locks as an 8nginee ring .c.orial to Georg8 Washington. TWenty years later, during tll8 1949 ASCE Meeting in Washington, NaJor Gene ra l U. S. Gr ant III, then Chairaan or the Nat ional C.pltal Park and Pl annin, Co.mission, suggested to the Soci8t y'S Board of Direction that it Initiate a .ave.ent to obtain and present to tile public the orisinal canal and locks at Gr eat Falls, then privately ()Imed.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Torres-Reyes, Ricardo
- Date of Issue
- 1970-05-01
- Units
- GRFA , HIST
- Keywords
- Canal, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Cultural Resources, DC, ehistory, Gates, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Great Falls Park, History, History, MD, Potomac River, Research Report, VA
- Subjects
- CRIS-HS: 214368: Patowmack Canal at Great Falls , CRIS-HS: 010845: Patowmack Canal, Collecting Basin and Wall , CRIS-HS: 010849: Patowmack Canal, Lock 1 , CRIS-HS: 010850: Patowmack Canal, Lock 2 , CRIS-HS: 010851: Patowmack Canal, Locks No.3, 4 & 5 , CRIS-HS: 010848: Patowmack Canal, Lower Guard Gate , CRIS-HS: 045345: Patowmack Canal, Lower Holding Basin , CRIS-HS: 010843: Patowmack Canal, Lower Spillway , CRIS-HS: 045341: Patowmack Canal, Middle Canal Long Wall , CRIS-HS: 010842: Patowmack Canal, Upper Guard Gate , CRIS-HS: 010841: Patowmack Canal, Upper Spillway , CRIS-HS: 010847: Patowmack Canal, Waste Weir-Spillway Combination , CRIS-HS: 045344: Patowmack Canal, Wasteweir/Spillway , CRIS-HS: 210965: Patowmack Canal, Wing Dam