OF THE TERRITORY OF COLUMBIA. THE Territory of Columbia, which formed a part of the States of Virginia and Maryland, became the permanent seat of Government in the year 1801. This territory, extending on both sides of the Potomac, contains a surface of ten miles square, of which the diagonals are north and south, and east and west. Two of the sides run in a direction from north west to south east, and the two others from north east to south west; so that the angles are each towards one of the Cardinal Points. That of the south is at Fort Columbia, situated at Jones's Point, at the mouth of Hunting Creek, on the left bank of the Potomac. From this point the lines of demarcation run each at an angle of 45o to the distance of ten miles, where they take a direction perpendicular to the first, forming by their intersection the northern corner. POTOMAC RIVER. The Potomac takes its rise in that great chain of mountains known by the name of Alleghany, or Apalaches, which separate the western waters from those that run into the Atlantic Ocean. This river traverses the territory of Columbia, from which to its mouth, in the Chesapeak Bay, it is navigable for the largest frigate—a distance, in following its course, of about 200 miles. 1 Mr. Jefferson, in his "Notes on Virginia," has given the following table of the breadth and depth of this river, at different places: * This river forms the line of boundary between the States of Virginia and Maryland, to the distance of three hundred miles. Thence to the falls, 13 miles above Alexandria, 10 feet. The tide water flows to the distance of three miles beyond Washington city, where the common tide rises to the height of four feet. The Potomac, in its course, receives several streams. Of these the most considerable is the Shenandoah, which traverses the Limestone Valley, two hundred and fifty miles in length, and joins the Potomac just before their united streams burst through the chain of mountains called the Blue Ridge. 1 By a survey of the Potomac, made in 1789, it was ascertained, that at the distance of fifteen miles above the city of Washington, this river is a hundred and forty-three feet higher than at tide-water: that from the mouth of Savage River to Cumberland, a distance of thirty-one miles, the descent is four hundred and forty-five feet, or 14 per mile; and from Fort Cumberland to tide-water, a dis By Messrs. Gilpin and Smith. |