Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 13).djvu/60

 Lee, John Fitzgerald, and George Gilpin were elected directors.

The services of Mr. James Rumsey, the mechanician, being secured, as general manager of improvements, the president, directors and manager made an examination of the river with a view to planning the work to be done. Three important impediments to navigation were immediately attacked; these were known as "Great Falls," "Seneca Falls" and "Shenandoah Falls." The "Great Falls" of these early days are the rapids and falls above Washington which bear the same name today. Seneca Falls were early known as "Sinegar Falls," in the Revolutionary era on Fry and Jefferson's map. They lie just above Great Falls, near the mouth of Seneca Creek. Shenandoah Falls were at the present Harper's Ferry at the mouth of the river of the same name. In the summer of 1785 parties of workmen were blasting and removing the boulders at these two points until the fall rains put an end to the work. Attention was then given to excavating a canal around Great Falls, concerning which there was a great