every allotment or assignment to the respective proprietors in pursuance of this act. 10. And, for the encouragement of masterbuilders to undertake the building and finishing houses within the said city, by securing to them a just and effectual remedy for their advances and earnings, be it enacted, That for all sums due and owing on written contracts, for the building any house in the said city, or the brick work, or carpenter's or joiner's work thereon, the undertaker, or workmen, employed by the person for whose use the house shall be built, shall have a lien on the house and the ground on which the same is erected, as well as for the materials found by him; provided the said written contract shall have been acknowledged before one of the commissioners, a justice of the peace, or an alderman of the corporation of Georgetown, and recorded in the office of the clerk for recording deeds herein created, within six calendar months from the time of acknowledgment as aforesaid; and if within two years after the last of the work is done, he proceeds in equity, he shall have remedy as upon a mortgage, or if he proceeds at law within the same time, he may have execution against the house and land, in whose hands soever the same may be; but this remedy shall be considered as additional only; nor shall, as to the land, take place of any legal incumbrance made prior to the commencement of such claim. "11. And be it enacted, That the treasurer of the western-shore be empowered and required to pay the seventy-two thousand dollars agreed to be advanced to the President by resolutions of the last session of assembly, in sums as the same may come to his hands on the appointed funds without waiting for the day appointed for the payment thereof. "12. And be it enacted, That the commissioners aforesaid for the time being, or any two of them, shall, from time to time, until congress shall exercise the jurisdiction and government within the said territory, have power to license the building of wharfs in the waters of the Potomac and the Eastern Branch adjoining the said city, of the materials, in the manner, and of the extent, they may judge durable, convenient, and agreeing with general order; but no license shall be granted to one to build a wharf before the land of another, nor shall any wharf be built in the said waters without license as aforesaid; and if any wharf shall be built without such license, or different therefrom, the same is hereby declared a common nuisance; they may also, from time to time, make regulations for the discharge and laying of ballast from ships or vessels lying in Potomac river, above the lower line of the said territory and Georgetown, and from ships and vessels lying in the Eastern Branch: they may also, from time to time, make regulations for landing and laying materials for building the said city, for disposing and laying earth which may be dug out of the wells, cellars, and foundations, and for ascertaining the thickness of the walls of houses, and to enforce the observance of all such regulations, by appointing penalties for the breach of any one of them, not exceeding ten pounds current money, which may be recovered in the name of the said commissioners, by warrant, before a justice of the peace, as in case of small debts, and disposed of as a donation for the purpose of the said act of congress; and the said commissioners, or any two of them may grant licenses for retailing distilled spirits within the limits of the said city, and suspend or declare the same void; and if any person shall retail or sell any distilled spirits, mixed or unmixed, in less quantity than ten gallons to the same person, or at the same time actually delivered, he or she shall forfeit for every such sale, three pounds, to be recovered and applied as aforesaid. "13. And be it enacted, That an act of assembly of this state, to condemn lands, if necessary, for the public buildings of the United States, be and is hereby repealed. THE RIVER POTOMAC, Which passes through the District, is one of the finest in the United States. It takes its rise in the Alleghany Mountains; and after a winding course of about four hundred miles, falls into the Chesapeake Bay, During its course it receives many additional streams, the most important of which are the Shenandoah, the Monocacy, the Conegocheague, Patterson Creek, and Opechon Creek. The Shenandoah, after running through the Limestone Valley, two hundred and fifty miles, joins the Potomac, just before that river makes its opening through the Blue Ridge mountains. Both these rivers, by means of locks and canals, have been rendered navigable for a great part of their course. The Potomac is navigable for line-of-battle ships, up to the Eastern Branch, at Washington, and for large boats to Fort Cumberland. The Shenandoah is navigable for boats from Port Republic to its junction with the Potomac. The Shenandoah river, from Port Republic, till within eight miles of the Potomac, a distance of nearly two hundred miles, has a gradual descent of about two feet in the mile, except the last eight, of which the descent is ten feet. By means of locks and canals, this river is now navigable from its mouth to Port Republic; and it is proposed to extend the navigation much farther, by the middle fork; from this place to the mouth of Lewis's Creek, and from thence to Staunton. There are five locks each, of one hundred feet long and twelve feet wide, and six canals, each twenty feet in breadth, and four and a half feet in depth, extending two thousand four hundred yards. The water of all the canals is supplied by the river. The boat navigation of the north, or main branch of the Potomac now extends to Western Port, near its source, a distance of two hundred and nineteen miles above tide water. The south branch of the Potomac is navigable one hundred miles from its junction with this river, and the north fork about sixty miles. The Monocacy, which falls into the Potomac, about fifty miles above. Washington, is navigable about forty miles. Conegocheague Creek, twentyfour miles. Patterson Creek, about the same distance. The Opechon Creek, twenty-five miles, and the Cape Cacapon, twenty. The boats employed for the navigation of these rivers, are seventy-five feet in length, five feet wide, draw eighteen inches water, and carry twenty tons burthen. Two of them, with more than one hundred barrels of flour, pass the locks of the great falls in one hour, and it rarely happens that the boat or cargo is injured.. The following is a comparative estimate of the transportation of a barrel of flour by land and water, to the tide water of the Potomac : By land-carriage from Cumberland, By land-carriage from Williams Port, By water from By water from do do 'do By land-carriage from Harper's Ferry, $2 25 1 33 1 50 1.00 1 50 1 00 Could the bed of the river be so cleared as to admit more boats, and those of greater burthen, no doubt this expense would be still much reduced. The Potomac Company, incorporated by acts of the states of Maryland and Virginia, in the year 1784, have done much to improve the navigation of the river, but much yet remains to be done. The capital stock of this company consisted of seven hundred and one shares; which at four hundred and forty-four dollars and four-ninths, the value of each share, amounted to three hundred |