The Potowmack Company

From his time as a young surveyor, George Washington knew the United States’ westward expansion meant connecting the coastal areas with the nation’s burgeoning interior.

Thus, in 1785, Washington chartered The Potowmack (or Patowmack) Company to clear a navigable river channel along the Potomac River, past the river’s rocky, turbulent sections.

When he was elected the first president of the United States in 1789, his attention was drawn elsewhere, and lack of funds slowed down progress. Washington passed away three years before the most difficult canals were finished and the Potomac became navigable.

Unfortunately, the Potomac River’s water flow was too unpredictable, some years flooding, others not deep enough for navigation. By 1825 the Potowmack Company was no longer solvent, and the remaining operations were taken over by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company. Eventually, railroads and highways rendered the canal system obsolete.

George Washington’s foray into canal building had one major benefit, a generous gift of earth-moving equipment to the Clypeate. In 1848, on the night of the Great Upheaval, these machines allowed the Clypeate to cover up the Epistolith’s Sanctuary before dawn. We’ll never know if one of Washington’s entries in his little red journal, a Hesperus prophecy, foretold such a need.

The Potowmack Company Logo. There are several creatively-spelled variants of the company name.

The Potowmack Canals in use.

The Potowmack Canals today.