Great Falls

Tim Iverson

(7/2018) I began my professional life working as a park ranger on Catoctin Mountain. Initially working for the Maryland Park Service at Cunningham Falls State Park and later for the National Park Service at Catoctin Mountain Park. In May I began a new position with the National Park Service at Great Falls Park in McLean, Va. ~ Tim

Great Falls has attracted people to the shores of the Potomac for thousands of years. Initially, American Indians settled this area. Later George Washington came to the banks of the river to carve a legacy for the nation out of the stone. Rivers connect mountains to plains to the ocean. Over the course of time the river and the falls have connected people to the resource. From prehistoric peoples to colonial Americans to present day visitors the river binds us together in a common history.

The Potomac River and Great Falls have played host to people throughout the ages. Today, just like in centuries past, people are drawn to the this place. American Indians, predominately the Powhatan and Piscataway peoples, called this area home. When the English colonists sailed up the Potomac River 400 years ago, they were surprised to find that early settlers had cleared fields, planted crops, built villages, and established profitable trade routes. Due to the fertile soil and abundant natural resources tribes along the Potomac were populous and prosperous. Captain John Smith, while initially exploring and mapping the New World, sailed to the base of Great Falls. He meticulously mapped and documented the area and tribes along the way. Compared with the rest of the Potomac River Great Falls is a very unique area. Unlike the majority of the river, there is very little floodplain here, making it unsuitable for agriculture. Therefore, Great Falls functioned as a seasonal hunting and fishing area. Great Falls is also a point of constriction, going from 1,000 feet wide up river down to 50 feet just below the base of the falls. These unique geographic features allowed indians to control regional trade by occupying this strategic location.

Great Falls has always been a meeting place throughout human history. Nowhere in the park is that more pronounced than the ruins of George Washington’s famous Patowmack Canal. Before George Washington was the President of the United States he was the president of the Patowmack Canal Company. He had a vision to sew the newly formed United States together using the thread of the Potomac River. The reality is that this river, the "nation’s river," was uniting communities together before European colonists arrived and is still binding them together generations after the canal dissipated. This canal was one of the very first to link early America east to west.

In 1784 we had just come off the cusp of the Revolutionary War. Our new country remained extremely fragile. Without a strong government, leadership, and a connection with other American people George Washington was concerned the frontier might be lost to foreign powers in the years to come. Connecting people and unifying a country is part of the Patowmack Canal story. George Washington thought a strong transportation and trade link would "bind people with ties that cannot be broken."

234 years ago, we didn’t have planes, trains, or automobiles. Our road system at the time was extremely rudimentary, making travel and transportation extremely slow and dangerous. We didn’t have an interstate highway system, but we did have rivers. These bodies of water linked areas of great distance, and they became our highways.

Modern life is thoroughly enveloped by technology. When pressed most people think of computers or cell phones. However, technology can be anything. Any knowledge or tool that makes life or a task easier is technology. The canal, especially in its present state, might not seem very impressive. However, it was an engineering marvel at its time. It was cutting edge technology. It was the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy of its era.

The construction lasted 17 years and was completed in 1802. It was the first of its kind in the United States and it linked the Eastern states to the western frontier. The Patowmack Canal Company built improvements along the river that allowed for boats to navigate 180 miles of river between Cumberland, MD and Georgetown. Great Falls presented the greatest challenge. Here the Potomac River drops 76 feet, so an extensive canal and lock system had to be constructed to allow boats to safely navigate this section of river. By digging through earth and blasting through rock an intricate lock system allowed boats to safely pass.

The Patowmack Canal was hailed as a technological achievement, yet in the end it didn’t work out. The river could only be navigated about a of the year. The Potomac River is a long, winding, shallow river – most of it vastly different than Great Falls. Most of the year the river was too shallow for boats to use it. A system of bypass canals, although well engineered, and certainly a technological feat of the day, could not promise boatmen a safe or reliable journey the entire way. Eventually the canal went bankrupt and turned over its assets to the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Company in 1828. The river has always been and continues to be unpredictable, prone to seasonal droughts and large scale flash flooding.

On average, the Potomac River experiences a major flood about every ten years. Floods bring benefits as well as losses. They are important in maintaining ecosystem habitats and soil fertility. Due to the unusual hydrogeology, the Gorge is one of the country's most biologically diverse areas, serving as a confluence for more than 200 rare plant species and 30 biological communities.

The watershed is nearly 15,000 square miles, and comprises parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and DC. Floods can happen at any time of the year. As long as a large water event occurs within the watershed, a flood can happen. Sometimes it’s caused by a hurricane or tropical storm, rapidly melting snow, or even just a lot of rain. Upstream of Great Falls the Potomac slowly meanders and winds its way towards the Chesapeake Bay. Suddenly, here at Great Falls the river picks up speed and intensity as it drops 76 feet. Just below the falls lies Mather Gorge, where the river narrows and chokes off. Imagine trying to force a bucket full of water down a funnel all at once. It can’t all fit so the water backs up, fills the basin, and spills over the edges. Once the river spills over the banks, nutrient rich sediment and silt is deposited, and seeds that may have travelled hundreds of miles find new homes. A thriving riverside prairie can be found along the tops of the cliffs here. Several grass species can be seen waving gently in the breeze. Wildflowers add splashes of color during the spring and summer.

Just as the silt and seeds come from upstream areas, so does pollution. Everything upstream effects downstream. A rain storm to the west can wash excess fertilizer from farms and yards into the river causing deadly algae blooms hundreds of miles away. A plastic lunch bag, accidently left by a careless visitor, can be blown from the picnic area or overlook into the river and be mistaken by a sea turtle and choke to death. The Potomac supplies drinking water to over 5 million people in the Washington, DC metro area. The Potomac flows into the Chesapeake Bay, which is one of the most productive estuary in North America. It accounts for over $6 billion economic output and nearly 70,000 jobs in fisheries and tourism. Restoring the river to full health is not just an environmental issue. It’s a matter of public health. People’s livelihoods depend on the water quality.

Over the course of time the Potomac River and the falls have connected the people to environment. George Washington’s vision for the canal may not have panned out as planned. The river did help to sew the nation together, just as the the river continues to sew the watershed together today. At this juncture nature has dictated how people interact and come to know this place. Just as ancient peoples before you, the park today serves as a meeting place to connect with family, friends, and the environment.