DCist tries in vain to convince the political journalism world that Washington, DC is not, in fact, located on a swamp. At best, portions of Washington are tidal marsh. At the same time, much of the city is elevated above the river and has never had any even vaguely marshy attributes. What's more, we don't have to put up with straneg odors, only the metaphorical stench of corruption.
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Tidal Marsh
08 Jan 2007 01:33 pm
Comments (10)
I definitely wouldn't want to put up with any "straneg" odors.
Walk into Georgetown via the Key Bridge some very early morning. Certainly straneg odors of the marshy sort.
I used to work along the river in Alexandria, just north of Old Town. It was across the river from a sewage plant that, while in DC, served only Alexandria. Because it wasn't in the city it served, its operators weren't particularly interested in its odor containment. However, whenever it rained, an incredible stench floated westward into our air ducts. (It was particularly funny because of the brand new $750K condos one block from the office, who also had to deal with the sound of a passing train, a particularly dirty coal plant, and GW Parkway traffic.)
Dude, this morning the whole city reeked of mercaptan. I thought I was going to throw up.
I once read a piece from either National Geographic or American Heritage on DC's swampy origins. True, most of the city has never been a swamp. However, most of the area around the mall was, in fact, swampland. The article was complete with maps and pictures that show how the Mall has been turned into dry land over time. If I remember correctly, the land that the Lincoln Memorial sits on is entirely dredged - none of it existed in 1800.
Sam Cassell is known as 'gollum'. Gollums are creatures who can live in swamps. But, yet, Cassell has never played for the 'zards. Hence, Washington is not built on a swamp.
However, everyone knows that McLean, Virginia is built on a haunted Indian burial ground...
Most colonial-era east coast cities were built on tidal land. The reason? Most cities are along rivers that were navigable by ocean-going sailing ship. Many are at the point that is a far as such a ship can go. Once the ship got that far up, it had to stop to unload and pick up cargo- so you had a natural place for docks, warehouses, markets, and inns. On the east coast, the coastal plain comes far inland, so the tide affects rivers many miles from the sea- so ever city had broad, marshy tidal flats that flooded twice a day.
D.C., of course, did not arise naturally like this, but its location was affected by this principle. If you look at tipped square that was D.C. before the southern section was returned to Virginia, you'll see that Georgetown is at the western corner, where the Potomac enters the city, and Alexandria is at the southern corner, where the Potomac flows out toward the bay. The original District of Columbia was laid out with these two already-existing port towns as anchors.
Georgetown and Alexandria are where they are because the Potomac becomes less navigable above Rock Creek, and in a very few miles you run into Great Falls.
The "swamps" of D.C. were the tidal flats- no different from the tidal flats that plagued New York until a canal was built to channel the flow. That canal was where present-day Canal Street crosses Manhattan.
"Swamp" is also a euphemism for sewage odors. Like all nineteenth-century cities, Washington used its rivers for animal, human, and cooking waste. Because the rivers were tidal, they backed up twice a day.
The tidal flats and the sewage problem were dealt with by the construction of the Tidal Basin in the 1880's. The Basin absorbs the rising tidal waters so that the tidal flats could be filled and dried. Then, when the tide recedes, the waters are discharged into the Washington Channel, which connects the Anacostia with the Potomac, and flushed the channel out into the river.
So Washington was not built on a swamp, but it did have swampy areas and foul odors - like every other 19th century port city.
Also there's the cockroaches, real and metaphorical. Lots and lots.
Comments closed January 22, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
If only.
Posted by neil | January 8, 2007 2:09 PM