Potomac River
From Metapedia
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States (USA). The river is approximately 383 statute miles (665 km) long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles (38,000 km²). In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the Atlantic coast of the USA and the 21st largest in the USA. Over 5 million people live within the Potomac watershed.
[edit] History
The Potomac River brings together a variety of cultures throughout the watershed from the coal miners of upstream West Virginia to the urban residents of the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. and along the lower Potomac, the watermen of Virginia's Northern Neck.
Being situated in an area rich in American history and American heritage has led to the Potomac being nicknamed "the Nation's River." George Washington, the first President of the United States, was born in, surveyed, and spent most of his life within the Potomac basin. All of Washington, D.C. lies within the watershed. The 1859 siege of Harper's Ferry at the river's confluence with the Shenandoah river was a precursor to numerous epic battles of the American Civil War in and around the Potomac and its tributaries. General Robert E. Lee crossed the river, thereby invading the North and threatening Washington, D.C. twice in campaigns climaxing in the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg.
The Patowmack Canal was intended by George Washington to connect the Tidewater near Georgetown with Cumberland, Maryland. Started in 1785, it was not completed until 1802. Financial troubles closed the canal in 1830. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal operated along the banks of the Potomac in Maryland from 1850 to 1924 and also connected Cumberland to Washington, D.C. This allowed freight to be transported around the rapids known as the Great Falls of the Potomac River, as well as many other, smaller rapids.
With increasing mining and agriculture upstream and urban sewage and runoff downstream, the water quality of the Potomac River deteriorated. This created conditions of severe eutrophication. It is said that President Abraham Lincoln used to escape to the highlands on summer nights to escape the river's stench. In the 1960s, with dense green algal blooms covering the river's surface, President Lyndon Johnson declared the river "a national disgrace" and set in motion a long-term effort to reduce sewage pollution and restore the beauty and ecology of this historic river. By the end of the 20th century, there was notable success, as massive algal blooms vanished and recreational fishing and boating rebounded. Still, the aquatic habitat of the Potomac River and its tributaries remain vulnerable to eutrophication, heavy metals, pesticides and other toxic chemicals, over-fishing, alien species, and pathogens associated with fecal coliform bacteria and shellfish diseases. It was designated as one of the American Heritage Rivers in 1997.
