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Article: Antiques.(influence of rivers and canal systems in American history)
- Article from:
- The Magazine Antiques
- Article date:
- August 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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And empires rising where the sun descends!--
The Ohio soon shall glide by many a town
Of note; and where the Mississippi stream,
By forests shaded, now runs weeping on,
Nations shall grow, and states not less in fame
Than Greece and Rome of old!
Philip Freneau and Hugh Henry Brackenridge, "On the Rising Glory of
America," 1771
George Washington's first surveying expedition parceled out what was then Virginia's northwesternmost territory, and he went on to become, in effect, the surveyor general of the nation. As the patron saint of civil engineering in the United States he favored a system of canals that would make the Potomac River navigable to its headwaters. ...