Existing comment:
Harnessing the River:
The power produced by the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers transformed Harpers Ferry into an industrial town. Throughout the first part of the nineteeth century, both the Federal government and private industry tried to harness the rivers. But the forces of nature resisted control. Floods threatened life and property; drought could bring the work of the community to a stand still.
Harpers Ferry "affords every advantage that could be wished for water works to any extent."
-- George Washington to Secretary of War James McHenry, September 28, 1795
"The water power [at Harpers Ferry] is not surpassed by any situation in the country and a sufficiency may be obtained for almost any eligible purpose."
-- Charles Town Virginia Free Press, August 16, 1832
"[The rivers'] chief peculiarity lies in the great fluctuations to which their flow is liable... [and they] are subject to very sudden and heavy freshets, while in dry season their discharge becomes very small."
-- Report on the Water-Power of the United States, 1885 |