The plan, which had been cherished by Washington, of making a lateral
canal along the Potomac which should one day be extended across the
mountains to the Ohio, was resumed when New York had taught the country
that it was now ripe for the boldest enterprises of this kind. John
Quincy Adams, then President of the United States, favoured the project
with all his might. At that time it was not a settled principle, that
the Federal government had no right to engage in internal improvements.
The old idea, which Washington had cherished, of making the political
capital of the Union a great city, was not less to the taste of Mr
Adams and his friends. It was, therefore, resolved to undertake the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and a company was incorporated for this
purpose. Congress voted a subscription of 1,000,000 dollars; the
city of Washington without commerce, without manufactures, with its
population of 16,000 souls, subscribed the same sum; the other little
cities of the Federal District, Georgetown and Alexandria, having
both together a population of about 10,000, furnished a half million;
Virginia contributed 250,000, and Maryland 500,000 dollars; and 600,000
dollars were raised by individual subscriptions. The work was begun
July 4, 1828. Next year, by aid of a loan of 3,000,000 from Maryland,
this great work will be carried to the coal-beds of Cumberland at
the foot of the mountains; the length of this division is 185 miles,
the estimated cost 8,500,000 dollars, or 46,000 dollars per mile.
The execution is on a bold scale, and superior to that of the works
before-mentioned; its dimensions exceed those generally adopted in the
proportion of 3 to 2, which gives a larger section in the ratio of 9 to
4.