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118-517: Planning for a railroad to Point Lookout started in 1866. The Southern Maryland Railroad (SMR) was incorporated on March 20, 1868, “for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, and working a railroad from some point in Prince George’s County to Point Lookout.” The planned right-of-way ran along the peninsula created by two rivers: the Potomac and Patuxent . The company's founders hoped that

236-668: A European spelling of Patawomeck , the Algonquian name of a Native American village on its southern bank. Native Americans had different names for different parts of the river, calling the river above Great Falls Cohongarooton , meaning "honking geese" and "Patawomke" below the Falls, meaning "river of swans". In 1608, Captain John Smith explored the river now known as the Potomac and made drawings of his observations which were later compiled into

354-586: A bill that would guarantee the SMR a payment if they completed the railroad, but it never passed. Nonetheless the promise of a guaranteed customer if the line could be completed drew the frequent attention of other railroaders. In 1878, the WC&;PL was authorized to purchase the SMR but never did. In March 1881, the railroad began to lay track from Brandywine where it would connect with the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (later

472-451: A critical national defense purpose. When that failed, Rep. Syd Mudd had the government cancel the contracts to buy the scrap metal from the new owners and had the court intervene to prevent their removal. After it was shut down and nearly scrapped in 1918, a new company, the Washington, Brandywine & Point Lookout Railroad was formed to purchase it. That company, owned by locals along

590-494: A group headed by John Prentiss Poe and John's sons Edgar A. Poe and Johnny Poe . But the group that secured the company in 1901, composed of Philadelphia capitalists called their corporation the Washington, Potomac & Chesapeake Railway (WP&CR). John P. Poe, a lawyer, represented parties in several cases involving the rail line and eventually became a director of the WP&;CR. They quickly set to exerting their control over

708-485: A map and published in London in 1612. This detail from that map shows his rendition of the river that the local tribes had told him was called the "Patawomeck". The spelling of the name has taken many forms over the years from " Patawomeck " (as on Captain John Smith 's map) to "Patomake", "Patowmack", and numerous other variations in the 18th century and now "Potomac". The river's name was officially decided upon as "Potomac" by

826-609: A new station opened in 1926. Rains in August 1928 caused three washouts, which halted service for two months. In that same year, the railroad ended passenger service because it was no longer profitable. The railroad helped carry material for building the paved highway (which brought more competition from trucks), schools and repairing the military school in Charlotte Hall and also pulp, wood, lumber and farm products outbound and merchandise, fertilizer, machinery and gasoline inbound. By 1920,

944-593: A rail line from the major north-south Potomac River crossings into Virginia near Washington, D.C., to a port on the Patuxent River near the Chesapeake Bay would spur agricultural and mineral businesses on the peninsula. The company quickly set its sights on running into Washington, D.C. In 1872, the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) began work on its mainline to Pope's Creek and this motivated work on grading

1062-528: A resort. Their Chesapeake Beach, Maryland , resort was to be a vacation spot for the rich and middle class alike, with two grand hotels , a boardwalk , racetrack, and amusements. A pier would accommodate Chesapeake Bay excursion steamers from Baltimore, Annapolis , and Eastern Shore points. In 1894, the W&;CBR was granted a charter to incorporate the Town of Chesapeake Beach. Its grand schemes never bore fruit, and

1180-605: A series of large islands while it heads northeast to Moorefield . At Moorefield, the South Branch is joined by the South Fork South Branch Potomac River and runs north to Old Fields where it is fed by Anderson Run and Stony Run. At McNeill , the South Branch flows into the Trough where it is bound to its west by Mill Creek Mountain (2,119 ft) and to its east by Sawmill Ridge (1,644 ft). This area

1298-654: A serpentine path through the eastern Allegheny Mountains. First, it flows northeast by the communities of Bloomington , Luke , and Westernport in Maryland and then on by Keyser , West Virginia to Cumberland , Maryland. At Cumberland, the river turns southeast. 103 miles (166 km) downstream from its source, the North Branch is joined by the South Branch between Green Spring and South Branch Depot , West Virginia from whence it flows past Hancock , Maryland and turns southeast once more on its way toward Washington, D.C. , and

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1416-738: A small stub into north Lexington Park and 15 miles of siding and yard track. Its 32 employees operated three diesel locomotives and 110 cars. The Navy operated an "accommodation" train that connected with the Pennsylvania Railroad in Brandywine until the PRR stopped passenger trains on the Pope's Creek Line in 1949. By 1952, the Navy had 55 miles of track, three diesel locomotives, and three dozen railcars delivering gasoline, coal, ammunition and airplane parts. By 1953,

1534-465: A stop called District Line. From there, it went through Upper Marlboro , passing over the PRR ( Pope Creek Branch ), and then on to Chesapeake Beach. On July 7, 1913 their agreement to use B&O tracks ended and afterwards all CB passenger trains ended their runs at the Seat Pleasant trolley terminal called "District Line." Chesapeake Junction remained the railroad's primary freight interchange, but

1652-407: A time, the railroad ran two trains a week, and on other days employees worked on their farms. In 1940, the railroad had to stop running trains between Mechanicsville and Forrest Hall because of poor maintenance and later that year it sought, and received, permission to abandon that segment. On June 1, 1942, the federal government took over operation of the line; 15 days later, it took possession of

1770-705: A water intake 725 feet (220 m) offshore, citing potential harm to Maryland's interests by an increase in Virginia sprawl caused by the project. After years of failed appeals within the Maryland government's appeal processes, in 2000 Virginia took the case to the Supreme Court of the United States , which exercises original jurisdiction in cases between two states. Maryland claimed Virginia lost its riparian rights by acquiescing to MDE's permit process for 63 years (MDE began its permit process in 1933). A Special Master appointed by

1888-756: Is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States that flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland . It is 405 miles (652 km) long, with a drainage area of 14,700 square miles (38,000 km ), and is the fourth-largest river along the East Coast of the United States . More than 6 million people live within its watershed . The river forms part of

2006-456: Is at least 3.5 million years old, likely extending back ten to twenty million years before the present when the Atlantic Ocean lowered and exposed coastal sediments along the fall line. This included the area at Great Falls, which eroded into its present form during recent glaciation periods. The stream gradient of the entire river is 0.14%, a drop of 930 m over 652 km. "Potomac" is

2124-842: Is currently re-bounding as a result of the ICPRB 's successful "American Shad Restoration Project" that was begun in 1995. In addition to stocking the river with more than 22 million shad fry, the Project supervised the construction of a fishway that was built to facilitate the passage of adults around the Little Falls Dam on the way to their traditional spawning grounds upstream.   *denotes naturalized species; Sources: Striped mullet Mugil cephalus Spot Leiostomus xanthurus Spotted seatrout Cynoscion nebulosus Atlantic Croaker Micropogonias undulatus Chesapeake Beach Railway The Chesapeake Beach Railway (CBR) , now defunct,

2242-729: Is located on its banks, as is Mount Vernon , the home of "Father of his Country" George Washington . During the American Civil War, the river became the boundary between the Union and the Confederacy , and the Union's largest army, the Army of the Potomac , was named after the river. The Potomac River runs 405 mi (652 km) from Fairfax Stone Historical Monument State Park in West Virginia on

2360-402: 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 pollution from sewage and restore the beauty and ecology of this historic river. One of

2478-443: Is the habitat to bald eagles . The Trough passes into Hampshire County and ends at its confluence with Sawmill Run south of Glebe and Sector . The South Branch continues north parallel to South Branch River Road ( County Route 8) toward Romney with a number of historic plantation farms adjoining it. En route to Romney, the river is fed by Buffalo Run, Mill Run , McDowell Run, and Mill Creek at Vanderlip . The South Branch

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2596-513: Is traversed by the Northwestern Turnpike ( U.S. Route 50 ) and joined by Sulphur Spring Run where it forms Valley View Island to the west of town. Flowing north of Romney, the river still follows the eastern side of Mill Creek Mountain until it creates a horseshoe bend at Wappocomo 's Hanging Rocks around the George W. Washington plantation, Ridgedale . To the west of Three Churches on

2714-530: The Allegheny Plateau to Point Lookout , Maryland, and drains 14,679 sq mi (38,020 km ). The length of the river from the junction of its North and South Branches to Point Lookout is 302 mi (486 km). The river has two sources. The source of the North Branch is at the Fairfax Stone located at the junction of Grant , Tucker , and Preston counties in West Virginia . The source of

2832-773: The Atlantic coastal plain . Once the Potomac drops from the Piedmont to the Coastal Plain at the Atlantic Seaboard fall line at Little Falls , tides further influence the river as it passes through Washington, D.C., and beyond. Salinity in the Potomac River Estuary increases thereafter with distance downstream. The estuary also widens, reaching 11 statute miles (17 km) wide at its mouth, between Point Lookout, Maryland, and Smith Point , Virginia, before flowing into

2950-511: The Board on Geographic Names in 1931. The similarity of the name to the Ancient Greek word for river, potamos , has been noted for more than two centuries but it appears to be due to chance. 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 and, along the lower Potomac,

3068-544: The Chesapeake Bay to a point on Trippe's Bay in Dorchester County would drive new business. The ferry was blocked by the Claiborne-Annapolis Ferry Company, a competing ferry out of Annapolis . A hurricane in 1933 irreparably damaged the resort's facilities, and the subsequent loss of business led to foreclosure and a request for abandonment in 1935. On April 15, 1935, after entering receivership,

3186-509: The Chesapeake Bay . The exact location of the South Branch's source is northwest of Hightown along U.S. Route 250 on the eastern side of Lantz Mountain (3,934 ft) in Highland County. From Hightown, the South Branch is a small meandering stream that flows northeast along Blue Grass Valley Road through the communities of New Hampden and Blue Grass . At Forks of Waters , the South Branch joins with Strait Creek and flows north across

3304-1460: The Fall Line . This 108-mile (174-km) stretch encompasses the Potomac from a short distance below the Washington, DC - Montgomery County line, just downstream of the Little Falls of the Potomac River , to the Chesapeake Bay . Along the way the following tributaries drain into the Potomac: Pimmit Run , Gulf Branch , Donaldson Run , Windy Run , Spout Run , Maddox Branch , Foundry Branch , Rock Creek , Rocky Run, Tiber Creek , Roaches Run, Washington Channel , Anacostia River , Four Mile Run , Oxon Creek , Hunting Creek , Broad Creek , Henson Creek, Swan Creek, Piscataway Creek , Little Hunting Creek , Dogue Creek , Accotink Creek , Pohick Creek , Pomonkey Creek , Occoquan River , Neabsco Creek , Powell's Creek , Mattawoman Creek , Chicamuxen Creek , Quantico Creek , Little Creek , Chopawamsic Creek , Tank Creek , Aquia Creek , Potomac Creek , Nanjemoy Creek , Chotank Creek , Port Tobacco River , Popes Creek , Gambo Creek , Clifton Creek , Piccowaxen Creek , Upper Machodoc Creek , Wicomico River , Cobb Island , Monroe Creek , Mattox Creek , Popes Creek , Breton Bay, Leonardtown , St. Marys River , Yeocomico River , Coan River , and Hull Creek . The river itself

3422-569: The Great Depression and the rise of the automobile . The last train left the station on April 15, 1935. Parts of the right-of-way are now used for roads and a future rail trail . In 1891, Baltimore lawyer (and later Maryland governor) Edwin Warfield and others organized the Washington & Chesapeake Beach Railway to connect Washington, D.C. , with 3,000 acres (12 km ) of virgin bay front property at Fishing Creek where they would build

3540-545: The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin . The compact was amended in 1970 to include coordination of water supply issues and land use issues related to water quality. Beginning in the 19th century, 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

3658-647: The Patuxent River , the Air Station's northernmost point. They changed the name to the U.S. Naval Air Station Railroad, although it was also known as the Brandywine and Cedar Point Railroad , the Patuxent Railroad or just the U.S. Government Railroad . In April 1943, the Navy paid the company $ 127,500 to settle their claims and ran their first train that month. It included a wye just north of Lexington Park with

Washington, Brandywine and Point Lookout Railroad - Misplaced Pages Continue

3776-597: The US Geological Survey and the Fish and Wildlife Service , began to identify fish in the Potomac and tributaries that exhibited "intersex" characteristics, as a result of endocrine disruption caused by some form of pollution. On November 13, 2007, the Potomac Conservancy, an environmental group, issued the river a grade of "D-plus", citing high levels of pollution and the reports of " intersex " fish. Since then,

3894-500: The franchise of the W&CBR. Mears optimistically anticipated that the railroad would be completed by July 1898—though before it could open, a draw span bridge would have to be built over the Patuxent River below Bristol to permit steamboat traffic. Plans were approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , a contract to construct the bridge was awarded to the Youngstown Bridge Company , and, after numerous delays,

4012-472: The war in Turkey . Owners of the competing Washington and Tidewater railroad, tried to get the state to force Watson to either build more rail or allow them to - as under Maryland law he was required to build 5 miles of rail by November 1914. For years afterward, residents of St. Mary's County and owners of other chartered railroads tried to get the WP&CR's charter revoked as there was still interest in completing

4130-547: The 1980s, through sewage plant upgrades and restrictions on phosphorus in detergents. By the end of the 20th century, notable success had been achieved, 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. In 2005 two federal agencies,

4248-548: The Alexandria Branch for four miles to Chesapeake Junction, located in today's Deanwood neighborhood where current-day Minnesota Avenue NE and Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE. On December 5, 1898, the line from Hyattsville to Upper Marlboro was officially opened. Their primary goal was to tap into the Baltimore market by connecting directly with the Baltimore-Washington trains that stopped at Hyattsville. As part of

4366-525: The Brandywine Junction, which became a Department of Defense Warehouse and shipping point until it was destroyed by fire. The Brandywine terminal was U.S. government property and was maintained by Public Works personnel from Patuxent River. The terminal was turned over to the Air Force just before it burned. Potomac River The Potomac River ( / p ə ˈ t oʊ m ə k / )

4484-572: The CBR took possession of this section of railway, presumably via a tax auction and used it for its operation. When the SMR emerged from bankruptcy in 1901 as the Washington, Potomac & Chesapeake Railway (WP&CR) it sued the CBR in 1902, claiming they still owned the railbed. The case went to the Supreme Court and in 1905 WP&CR won and took title to the railway. The Chesapeake Beach stopped running on

4602-533: The CSX tracks, has been used for parking and for an auto repair facility, but in 2017 work began to convert the property into a major firehouse, EMS and storage facility to replace the one at 4201 Minnesota Avenue. All of the diesel locomotives operated by the East Washington Railway survived for many years after the railway itself was abandoned. No. 101, a GE 45-ton centercab, was built in 1946 and purchased by

4720-609: The Chesapeake Bay. The source of the North Branch Potomac River is at the Fairfax Stone located at the junction of Grant , Tucker and Preston counties in West Virginia. From the Fairfax Stone, the North Branch Potomac River flows 27 mi (43 km) to the man-made Jennings Randolph Lake , an impoundment designed for flood control and emergency water supply. Below the dam, the North Branch cuts

4838-479: The Chesapeake Beach Railway stopped running in 1935. Its main customers were a liquor wholesaler, a cement company, a bakery and PEPCO , the local power company. PEPCO needed coal delivered to its Benning Road Plant from Chesapeake Junction, the interchange with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad . During the late 1930s and early 1940s operations changed with EWR's two secondhand 4-4-0 locomotives switching

Washington, Brandywine and Point Lookout Railroad - Misplaced Pages Continue

4956-672: The DC section of the railway, instead stopping at the train station in Seat Pleasant called District Line. Passengers would get there by using the Columbia Railway's street car line from Navy Yard. In 1911, they started leasing the District section of the line and continued until the WP&CR went out of business in 1918. At that point they purchased the section. The railroad was never financially successful and never paid off any interest on its original one million dollar mortgage. Starting in 1921, when

5074-862: The EW in September of that year. It was retired in 1970 and sold to the Pinto Islands Metals Company in Mobile, Alabama, and for decades has been the plant switcher at the James River Cogeneration Company in Hopewell, VA. The plant was retired in 2019. Following the plant's closing, it was acquired by the Richmond Railroad Museum in Richmond, Virginia. The locomotive itself was transported from

5192-406: The East Washington. When Kenilworth Avenue was converted into a limited-access highway, PEPCO sought permission to build a railroad bridge over it to ensure coal deliveries from the Pennsylvania Railroad, a move Capitol Transit and the East Washington—which delivered coal from the B&O—opposed, but the bridge was built anyway. At the time, the Highway Department wanted Capitol Transit to abandon

5310-460: The Government should occasion arise." and later that year, the PRR took control. It continued to run a weekly train through St. Mary's and used the line to deliver aviation fuel to the base. However, when fuel started coming in by barge in 1966, the importance of the line dwindled. In 1962, the Pennsy built a spur off of the line from the north side of Hughesville to the new Chalk Point Generating Station to deliver coal, bringing renewed value to

5428-490: The Maryland Midland. The District of Columbia had considered, in their 1976 bicycle plan, using the railroad right-of-way as a bicycle trail but the opposition of local residents who wanted single-family housing on the strip, budget constraints and the presence of an alternative option along Watts Branch led them to forego that plan. In 1979, planning began to construct 31 detached homes on the portion of right-of-way between 43rd Place and Division Avenue, NE. In 1982, as part of

5546-444: The PEPCO spur ran on August 18, 1975. In 1978, the railroad, which by then was down to four employees from 10, and a single Whitcomb ceased operations after successfully overcoming a protest of their abandonment by a liquor warehouse owner. The same year they ceased operations, the tracks were sold to Maryland Midland Railway which pulled them up and sold most of the rail and some of the ties. The remainder were kept in storage by

5664-432: The Pope's Creek branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad ). The WC&PL also broke ground on its rail line to Point Lookout in 1881 and, like the SMR, it started at a connection with the Baltimore and Potomac at Brandywine. The two started work at almost the exact same time and their two roads were no more than 100 feet apart. At this point both companies had graded separated routes from Point Lookout to California, MD; but only

5782-437: The Potomac and its North Branch since both states' original colonial charters grant the entire river rather than half of it as is normally the case with boundary rivers. In its first state constitution adopted in 1776, Virginia ceded its claim to the entire river but reserved free use of it, an act disputed by Maryland. Both states acceded to the 1785 Mount Vernon Compact and the 1877 Black-Jenkins Award which granted Maryland

5900-442: The Potomac as its principal source of drinking water with the opening of the Washington Aqueduct in 1864, using a water intake constructed at Great Falls. An average of approximately 486 million US gallons (1,840,000 m ) of water is withdrawn daily from the Potomac in the Washington area for water supply , providing about 78 percent of the region's total water usage, this amount includes approximately 80 percent of

6018-799: The Potomac from just above Harpers Ferry in West Virginia down to Little Falls, Maryland on the border between Maryland and Washington, DC. Along the way the following tributaries drain into the Potomac: Antietam Creek , Shenandoah River , Catoctin Creek (Virginia) , Catoctin Creek (Maryland) , Tuscarora Creek , Monocacy River , Little Monocacy River , Broad Run , Goose Creek , Broad Run , Horsepen Branch, Little Seneca Creek , Tenmile Creek , Great Seneca Creek , Old Sugarland Run, Muddy Branch , Nichols Run, Watts Branch , Limekiln Branch, Carroll Branch, Pond Run, Clarks Branch, Mine Run Branch, Difficult Run , Bullneck Run, Rock Run , Scott Run, Dead Run, Turkey Run, Cabin John Creek , Minnehaha Branch, and Little Falls Branch . The Tidal Potomac River lies below

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6136-411: The Potomac, including bass , muskellunge , pike , walleye . The northern snakehead , an invasive species resembling the native bowfin , lamprey , and American eel , was first seen in 2004. Many species of sunfish are also present in the Potomac and its headwaters. Although rare, bull sharks can be found. After having been depressed for many decades, the river's population of American shad

6254-444: The SMR had graded the road from California to Brandywine and so they were laying track faster. When it came time for the WC&PL to issue more bonds to continue the work, a rumor that the SMR had secured a larger loan than the WC&PL scared off the WC&PL's English investors. The WC&PL formed an alliance with the B&O, but their plans were scuttled by company President John W. Garrett . Years later when it became clear that

6372-409: The SMR was investigated for defrauding the state of Maryland, the sole shareholder in the company. In 1874, the U.S. Naval Board reported that Point Lookout, with its key location and deep water, would be a good location for a coaling station. The Navy also thought that the railroad, paired with a steamer, could cut the travel time between Washington and Norfolk by six hours. The Navy thus supported

6490-414: The SRC got the right to use whatever portions it needed in exchange for financing the replacement of the lost section of utility corridor. The highway was widened onto the railroad ROW in three parts in 1973, 1982 and 1985. In the late 20th century, the county sold numerous easements across the right-of-way to adjacent landowners and beneath 2.5 miles of it to the Washington Gas Light Company. In 1998, there

6608-406: The South Branch continues north through the Monongahela National Forest to Upper Tract where it joins with three sizeable streams: Reeds Creek, Mill Run, and Deer Run. Between Big Mountain (2,582 ft) and Cave Mountain (2,821 ft), the South Branch bends around the Eagle Rock (1,483 ft) outcrop and continues its flow northward into Grant County . Into Grant, the South Branch follows

6726-413: The South Branch is located near Hightown in northern Highland County , Virginia. The river's two branches converge just east of Green Spring in Hampshire County , West Virginia, to form the Potomac. As it flows from its headwaters down to the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac traverses five geological provinces: the Appalachian Plateau , the Ridge and Valley , the Blue Ridge , the Piedmont Plateau , and

6844-399: The Supreme Court to investigate recommended the case be settled in favor of Virginia, citing the language in the 1785 Compact and the 1877 Award. On December 9, 2003, the Court agreed in a 7–2 decision. The original charters are silent as to which branch from the upper Potomac serves as the boundary, but this was settled by the 1785 Compact. When West Virginia seceded from Virginia in 1863,

6962-459: The Virginia side of the river, it was not completed until 1802. Financial troubles led to the closure of the canal in 1830. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal operated along the banks of the Potomac in Maryland from 1831 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. Washington, D.C. began using

7080-432: The Virginia/West Virginia border into Pendleton County . The river then travels on a northeastern course along the western side of Jack Mountain (4,045 ft), followed by Sandy Ridge (2,297 ft) along U.S. Route 220 . North of the confluence of the South Branch with Smith Creek, the river flows along Town Mountain (2,848 ft) around Franklin at the junction of U.S. Route 220 and U.S. Route 33 . After Franklin,

7198-435: The Washington & Potomac Railroad Company. The Southern Maryland Railroad was eventually sold to a new company called the Washington & Potomac Railroad (W&P) on April 1, 1886, and trains continued to run until the end of 1889 when a fire destroyed the roundhouse, engines and rolling stock. A lawyer from New York, working with the WC&PL, received permission from the underlying land owners to build another line on

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7316-410: The aging track rails were frequently breaking; operators requested that the rails be replaced. After a cost/benefit analysis, the Navy decided to discontinue service. The last train ran from Patuxent NAS to Hollywood on June 30, 1954, carrying employees, family members, troops, and the station's band playing music. The Navy chose not to dispose of the railroad, to leave it "available for prompt return to

7434-484: The battles of Antietam (September 17, 1862) and Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863). Confederate General Jubal Early crossed the river in July 1864 on his attempted raid on the nation's capital. The river not only divided the Union from the Confederacy, but also gave name to the Union's largest army, the Army of the Potomac . The Patowmack Canal was intended by George Washington to connect the Tidewater region near Georgetown with Cumberland , Maryland. Started in 1785 on

7552-473: The borders between Maryland and Washington, D.C. , on the left descending bank, and West Virginia and Virginia on the right descending bank. Except for a small portion of its headwaters in West Virginia, the North Branch Potomac River is considered part of Maryland to the low-water mark on the opposite bank. The South Branch Potomac River lies completely within the state of West Virginia except for its headwaters , which lie in Virginia. All navigable parts of

7670-426: The bridge was open by May 1899. Like much of the rail infrastructure throughout the United States, the CBR was built and maintained predominantly by African-American workers. The CBR was segregated by race, with separate waiting rooms and rail cars for African-Americans. The CBR entered into successful agreements with the B&O to extend service from their Hyattsville station on the Washington Branch and then along

7788-416: The catching near Fletcher's Boat House of a Striped Bass estimated to weigh 35 lb (16 kg) was seen as a further indicator of the continuing improvement in the health of the river. The average daily flow during the water years 1931–2018 was 11,498 cubic feet (325.6 m ) /s. The highest average daily flow ever recorded on the Potomac at Little Falls, Maryland (near Washington, D.C.),

7906-509: The connection to the streetcar and then along the streetcar line past Kenilworth Junction to the plant. The plant was the central power facility for the onetime Washington Railway & Electric Company, the largest of the city's two street railway companies. Later it was inherited by Potomac Electric Power Company and progressively expanded over the years as the city's major generating plant. The streetcar company handled all plant switching and interchange with its own electric locomotives. To avoid

8024-453: The contract, B&O built a separate siding in front of its Hyattsville station for CB trains to lay over. Most of the time, they ran two round trips a day. By 1899, the line was completed all the way to Chesapeake Beach; the first excursion train ran on July 31, 1899. The hotel was not ready, so normal operations on the eastern leg of the railroad began on June 9, 1900. In April 1900, the Washington Traction & Electric Company extended

8142-428: The corridor. On June 26, 1970, the St. Mary's County Commissioners purchased 28 miles of the abandoned right-of-way from Hughesville to Patuxent River for a utility corridor. The tracks were removed in the mid-1970 and SMECO put transmission lines on the right-of way. The State Roads Commission had been trying to acquire part of the ROW for use expanding SR-235 since 1959, and when the county purchased it in 1970,

8260-438: The deadline was killed by the Maryland House in March of 1900, the Union Trust Company foreclosed on the railroad, it was put in receivership and then forcibly auctioned off on the steps of courthouse in Upper Marlboro in July for $ 100,000. After the Washington and Potomac was sold, there were many people interested in acquiring its assets and trying to connect it to Point Lookout and its strategic location and deep water, included

8378-445: The drinking water consumed by the region's estimated 6.1 million residents. As a result of damaging floods in 1936 and 1937, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed the Potomac River basin reservoir projects , a series of dams that were intended to regulate the river and to provide a more reliable water supply. One dam was to be built at Little Falls, just north of Washington, backing its pool up to Great Falls. Just above Great Falls,

8496-560: The endeavor was hopeless the rails and ties, which had sat in piles in Brandywine, were reallocated to the building of the Chesapeake Beach Railway . Over the next couple of years the SMR graded the railroad all the way to Esperanza (located on the Patuxent just downstream from the current Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge ) and laid track to Mechanicsville. Trains began running between Brandywine and Mechanicsville in 1883. At that time

8614-511: The hoppers the three blocks between the B&;O and Capital Transit. In 1946 East Washington dieselized, first with a GE 45-ton centercab locomotive, then an ex-U.S. Army 65-ton Whitcomb and finally a former Washington Terminal Alco RS-1. The Seat Pleasant streetcar line was abandoned in 1949, but Capital Transit continued to operate the line to the Benning plant until January 1955 when it sold the section to

8732-507: The junction with the B&O to a connection with Washington Railway and Electric Company tracks three blocks away. In the early years, trains left Hyattsville and used B&O tracks to Chesapeake Junction. Then it traveled out of the District on the once-abandoned right-of-way of the Southern Maryland Railroad . It exited D.C. at Seat Pleasant , where it met with the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway at

8850-512: The last train left Chesapeake Beach. All but the 2.631 miles from the roundhouse at "Maryland Park" to the junction at Deanwood, which confusingly took on the name of "Chesapeake Junction" in later years, and the 0.756 mile spur from Chesapeake junction to the PEPCO plant was abandoned, as that section had significant freight business. The remaining section was bought that same year by the East Washington Railway, formed specifically for that purpose, and

8968-424: The line or a parallel one. The railroad was eventually sold to a New York corporation that was then dissolved. On December 31, 1917 the railroad was shut down and the company began removing the track, about a half mile of it, for scrap due to the high price of scrap metal during World War I . Maryland's senators then called on the U.S. government to buy the railroad to keep it from being removed, arguing that it had

9086-423: The line to Hollywood and then to Esperanza with a spur off the main line south of California, where they hoped to gain access to an important freight terminal, and then later to Point Lookout. The work was made easier because much of the route had been surveyed and graded in the 1880's. They had hoped to reach Hollywood by the summer of 1922, but work stalled and the extension only made it as far as Forrest Hall, where

9204-424: The line, since the new bridge would provide a more direct service and at great cost to the District and the three rail companies (B&O, Capital Transit and EWR) the rail spur was moved and accommodated. In 1975 the power plant converted to oil to meet District environmental regulations which resulted in the demise of the East Washington Railway as PEPCO accounted for 97% of their revenue. The last coal train down

9322-470: The line, was unable to raise the full amount needed so the federal government lent them $ 50,000, on the grounds of military necessity and on the condition that the government would oversee and supervise operations of the railroad. The purchase was completed in July 1918. By 1919, trains were running again, using a gasoline engine for passengers and a steam engine for freight. In November 1921, work began on expanding

9440-502: The much larger Seneca Dam was proposed whose reservoir would extend to Harpers Ferry. Several other dams were proposed for the Potomac and its tributaries. Operational Non-Operational Planned, but never built When detailed studies were issued by the Corps in the 1950s, they met sustained opposition, led by U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas , resulting in the plans' abandonment. The only dam project that did get built

9558-633: The nation's capital was to be located on the river. The 1859 siege of Harper's Ferry at the river's confluence with the Shenandoah was a precursor to numerous epic battles of the American Civil War in and around the Potomac and its tributaries, such as the 1861 Battle of Ball's Bluff and the 1862 Battle of Shepherdstown . General Robert E. Lee crossed the river, thereby invading the North and threatening Washington, D.C., twice in campaigns climaxing in

9676-502: The necessity for the CB to switch the cars over the three block stretch between B & O and the trolley interchange, CBR made an agreement in 1919 to allow B & O locomotives to use their track, paying CBR a per-car charge. So the whole operation was carried out on the track of three companies using B&O and then streetcar locomotives. In the early years, the fare for the round trip train ride from District Line station to Chesapeake Beach

9794-553: The northern 11.5 miles of track. This track is called the Herbert Subdivision, while the source of the name is not confirmed, one source attributes it to John C. Herbert, who was a Vice-President of PEPCO at the time. Chalk Point operator GenOn Energy Holdings closed the two coal-fired units at the plant in June 2021. The plant is scheduled for full decommissioning in 2027. Without coal trains there are no more regular customers on

9912-538: The old Columbia H Street car line to Seat Pleasant, connecting with the Chesapeake Beach at the extreme eastern corner of the District. It became the main way Washington passengers reached the beach trains. When the Benning Road Power Plant was opened in 1906, a three-block section of the railway became a critical part of the freight route for coal heading to the plant. Cars were moved on CBR tracks from

10030-563: The only rail it would build was the Alexandria Extension . By mid-1873, the SMR had built 30 miles of roadbed from the B&P at Brandywine to St. Joseph's Church in Morganza and 12 miles north from Point Lookout. Work was delayed by the Panic of 1873 . SMR officials frequently promised to complete the work, but had laid down no rails or ties when it was forced into receivership in 1875. In 1876,

10148-611: The plant to the museum's satellite yard in Hallsboro, Virginia. No. 102, a Whitcomb 65-ton centercab, was built in July 1944 as U.S. Army 8465. Following the demise of the East Washington Railway it was acquired as the first motive power for the new Maryland Midland Railway . After a career working as a quarry switcher in Ohio, it was acquired by the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway , a tourist line in Ohio. No. 103, an Alco RS-1,

10266-478: The question of West Virginia's succession in title to the lands between the branches of the river was raised, as well as title to the river itself. Claims by Maryland to West Virginia land north of the South Branch (all of Mineral and Grant Counties and parts of Hampshire , Hardy , Tucker and Pendleton Counties) and by West Virginia to the Potomac's high-water mark were rejected by the Supreme Court in two separate decisions in 1910. A variety of fish inhabit

10384-613: The rail east of Maryland Park was removed in the summer of 1935 and the best of it sold to plantation railroads in Cuba. Most of the cars were burned and the metal sold for scrap, except for two that were transferred to the East Washington—the Dolores and San Juan—and a mail car. Two of the three remaining engines were transferred to the East Washington as well. The 3.4 mile long East Washington Railway survived for 40 years after

10502-468: The rail which started in the spring of that year. Prior to that only work being done was surveying and fund-raising. That same year a competitor railroad, the Washington City and Point Lookout Railroad was incorporated and the following year authorized to run trains between Washington, D.C., and Point Lookout with connecting steamers to Norfolk, Virginia . It would be a thorn in the SMR's side though

10620-412: The railroad carried a peak of 352,000 passengers, the increased use of automobiles began to cut into revenue. The destruction of the luxurious Belvedere Hotel by a fire which originally started at Klein's Bakery two blocks away on March 30, 1923, further limited business. In 1929, under new management, an attempt to rehabilitate the line was made and operations continued with the hope that a new ferry across

10738-453: The railroad had laid down ties and some rail in D.C., but it never operated trains on this section, which later came under control of the Chesapeake Beach Railway . In 1885, having spent extensive money on construction but putting into operations only the lightly used line between Brandywine and Mechanicsville, the railroad went into default and in 1886 it was forcibly sold for $ 75,000 to a syndicate of Boston investors, who reincorporated it as

10856-493: The railroad to Esperanza, where the Navy was considering a base across from Drum Point, but no work was ever done. In November 1909, the railroad went into foreclosure and was purchased by Henry Winfield Watson who brought in Edgar A. and John P. Poe and the new owners again planned to extend the railroad to Esperanza. Watson tried to extend the rail line, but money from French investors fell through in 1911 and again in 1912 because of

10974-595: The railroad under the Second War Powers Act . The United States Navy put the railroad to use moving the vast amount of equipment needed to build and support Patuxent River Naval Air Station , the Cedar Point facility where the service's aeronautics bureau had consolidated its aviation testing programs. The Navy replaced the existing rail with newer, heavier rail; rehabilitated the track structure; acquired new right-of-way, and extended service to Millstone Landing on

11092-461: The railroad was still planning to build a line from Benning to Brandywine, to extend the line to Point Lookout and to build a spur off the mainline to Esperanza just across from Solomon's Island. In 1882, the Southern was finally granted permission to enter the District of Columbia. Work began on grading that 2.2 mile rail line from Benning via Deanwood in 1884 and some track was laid by 1885. By 1886,

11210-427: The railroad's rural territory produced little freight. The junction grew steadily more important after the building of the Benning power plant in 1906. Coal destined for the Benning power plant was at first moved into the plant by electric locomotives operating over the tracks of WREC and its successor, Capital Transit. They transferred from the B&O on about three blocks of the CBR tracks from Chesapeake Junction to

11328-575: The railway was placed in receivership in 1895. A new company , the Chesapeake Beach Railway Company, took up the idea in 1896. In 1897, Otto Mears was placed in control of the company. He started construction in October 1897 at the B&;O Railroad 's Alexandria branch north of present-day Deane Avenue between Benning and Kenilworth. On April 7, 1898, the Chesapeake Beach Railway was given

11446-408: The railway, instead stopping at the train station in Seat Pleasant called District Line. In 1911, the CBR started leasing the District section of the line and continued until the WP&CR went out of business in 1918. At that point they purchased the section. In 1903, the WP&CR sought to revive the SMR's rights to enter the District. In 1905, the railroad started acquiring right-of-way to extend

11564-565: The reconstruction of the westbound Benning Road viaduct, most of the Benning Road Power Plant spur from N.H. Burroughs Avenue to Foote Street NE was removed. The only remaining section of rail is buried beneath Foote Street. A one-block long section of the right-of-way in Seat Pleasant was turned into a section of the Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail in 2011. The railway's DC railyard, located north of Sheriff Avenue along

11682-647: The river bank-to-bank from the low-water mark on the Virginia side while permitting Virginia full riparian rights short of obstructing navigation. From 1957 to 1996, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) routinely issued permits applied for by Virginia entities concerning the use of the Potomac. However, in 1996 the MDE denied a permit submitted by the Fairfax County Water Authority to build

11800-491: The river has improved with a reduction in nutrient runoff, return of fish populations, and land protection along the river. As a result, the same group issued a grade of "B" for 2017 and 2018. In March 2019, the Potomac Riverkeeper Network launched a laboratory boat dubbed the "Sea Dog", which will be monitoring water quality in the Potomac and providing reports to the public on a weekly basis; in that same month,

11918-610: The river were designated as a National Recreation Trail in 2006, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration designated an 18-square-mile (47 km ) portion of the river in Charles County , Maryland, as the Mallows Bay–Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary in 2019. The river has significant historical and political significance, as the nation's capital of Washington, D.C.

12036-427: The same route and began running trains on the repaired W&P tracks but was stopped by an injunction brought by the legal owners of the W&P. After a lengthy 1892 court case, the WC&PL lost and was placed into receivership under control of the W&P. The WC&PL was sold at public auction in 1895 for $ 2500. The WC&PL continued as an entity, owning land in the District of Columbia as late as 1935, but it

12154-614: The section of the Potomac River from the confluence of its North and South Branches through Opequon Creek near Shepherdstown, West Virginia . Along the way the following tributaries drain into the Potomac: North Branch Potomac River , South Branch Potomac River , Town Creek , Little Cacapon River , Sideling Hill Creek , Cacapon River , Sir Johns Run , Warm Spring Run , Tonoloway Creek , Fifteenmile Creek , Sleepy Creek , Cherry Run , Back Creek , Conococheague Creek , and Opequon Creek . This section covers

12272-519: The significant pollution control projects at the time was the expansion of the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant , which serves Washington and several surrounding communities. Enactment of the 1972 Clean Water Act led to construction or expansion of additional sewage treatment plants in the Potomac watershed. Controls on phosphorus , one of the principal contributors to eutrophication, were implemented in

12390-502: The struggling WB&PL was unable to make payments on the principle of its loan to the federal government and quit paying interest in 1932, despite being exempt from state taxes. However "the perseverance and personal sacrifice of the management and stockholders" along with the forbearance of the federal government and other lenders allowed them to keep operating through the Great Depression and increased competition from trucking. For

12508-527: The subdivision and in 2022 the Chalk Point switchers were moved out of state. It has been suggested that the line be used for transit, but a 2009 study considered the route for commuter rail and found it to be circuitous, slow, and costly. In 1965, with the Cedar Point branch in bad shape, the PRR stopped running trains on it. In 1966, the Navy said it no longer needed the line and the line south of Hughesville

12626-414: The tracks the SMR had built in the District, beginning ejectment hearings against the Chesapeake Beach Railway in 1902. In 1898, the CBR took possession of this section of railway, presumably via a tax auction and used it for its operation, ejecting the W&P in 1901. The case went to the Supreme Court and in 1905 WP&CR won and took title to the railway. The CBR then stopped running on the DC section of

12744-581: 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., the nation's capital city , also lies within the watershed. The First United States Congress by act of July 16, 1790 stated that

12862-421: The western side of South Branch Mountain , 3,028 feet (923 m), the South Branch creates a series of bends and flows to the northeast by Springfield through Blue's Ford. After two additional horseshoe bends (meanders), the South Branch flows under the old Baltimore and Ohio Railroad mainline between Green Spring and South Branch Depot , and joins the North Branch to form the Potomac. This stretch encompasses

12980-603: The western side of Cave Mountain through the 20-mile (32 km) long Smoke Hole Canyon , until its confluence with the North Fork at Cabins , where it flows east to Petersburg . At Petersburg, the South Branch Valley Railroad begins, which parallels the river until its mouth at Green Spring . In its eastern course from Petersburg into Hardy County , the South Branch becomes more navigable allowing for canoes and smaller river vessels. The river splits and forms

13098-469: Was Jennings Randolph Lake on the North Branch. The Corps built a supplementary water intake for the Washington Aqueduct at Little Falls in 1959. In 1940 Congress passed a law authorizing the creation of an interstate compact to coordinate water quality management among states in the Potomac basin. Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the District of Columbia agreed to establish

13216-452: Was 50 cents (approximately equivalent to $ 15 in 2017 ). Express trains took about 60 minutes to make the trip; “locals” took about 90 minutes. In 1884, the Southern Maryland Railroad (SMR) began constructing a rail line from Deanwood towards the District line which it eventually planned to connect to Brandywine and the rest of its rail line. They laid out the right-of-way and graded the line, laying down ties and rail by 1886. In 1898,

13334-471: Was a state bill that would have required that the right-of-way be proposed for a light rail line to the then-proposed Branch Avenue Metro station, but the bill didn't pass and the effort never got started. In 2006 the state and county began to build a rail trail, the Three Notch Trail , on the right-of-way. Original line: pre-1926 In 1926, the line was extended to Forrest Hall but then that section

13452-402: Was abandoned in 1940 In 1942, the federal government took over operations of the railroad, rehabilitated it and extended the line adding these stops: After 1954: Pennsylvania Railroad operation When the Navy decided it no longer wanted to operate the line in 1954, the PRR took over operations, moving freight and occasionally a USN passenger car or caboose for special movements to/from

13570-552: Was an American railroad of southern Maryland and Washington, D.C. , built in the 19th century. The CBR ran 27.629 miles from Washington, D.C., on tracks laid by the Southern Maryland Railroad and its own single track through Maryland farm country to a resort at Chesapeake Beach . The construction of the railway was overseen by Otto Mears , a Colorado railroad builder, who planned a shoreline resort with railroad service from Washington and Baltimore . It served Washington and Chesapeake Beach for almost 35 years, but closed amid

13688-538: Was declared government excess. When train operation ceased on the section from Hughesville to Patuxent, it was offered for sale by the GSA , and St. Mary's County moved quickly to obtain the option to purchase it. In 1968 they struck a deal with the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO), where SMECO provided the $ 225,000 needed to purchase it, and in return they were granted a utility easement on

13806-462: Was done running trains or building rail. The W&P was unable to expand the rail line in any direction due to lack of funding and a constant need to extend the deadline to complete the road to Point Lookout. Competing railroads, like the Washington and Seaboard Railroad which was chartered in 1898 to build a line from Hyattsville to Point Lookout, fought efforts to get extensions and tried to undermine funding. After their attempt to get an extension on

13924-535: Was in March 1936 when it reached 426,000 cubic feet (12,100 m ) /s. The lowest average daily flow ever recorded at the same location was 601.0 cubic feet (17.02 m ) /s in September 1966 The highest crest of the Potomac ever registered at Little Falls was 28.10 ft, on March 19, 1936; however, the most damaging flood to affect Washington, DC and its metropolitan area was that of October 1942. For 400 years Maryland and Virginia have disputed control of

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