European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 13, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Historians bogged Downwash Washington a swamp by Barbara  National geographic very summer As rising humidity transforms Washington into a steam Bath somebody sets Down his Glass of lemonade and declares of course we know Why it s so humid hers. Washington was built on a  was it in s True that Constitution Avenue used to be a waterway and an Inlet of the Potomac River lapped at the Back Yard of the White House. But some historians Are saying that the capital in a swamp image has been Laid on a bit thick. Washington was not built on a swamp to was soggy pastureland at most says Kenneth Bowling a historian who is writing a Book on the capital s Early Days. The swamp idea was spread by Yankees who thought going South was  Gary Scott regional historian for the National Park service won t go that Lar. I would t Call old Washington a swamp like the Everglades but it was certainly marshy around the River Bottoms he says. But Don Hawkins a Washington architect who has intensively studied engineering maps of to old City has his own View Washington was not built on a swamp it was built on at least four swamps and several  one swamp he says was jus Southwest of the while mouse another about a mile North. The third Lay about a mile North of the . Capitol and the fourth ran irom capital Hill s West Side Down toward today s Forl Mcnair on the Anacostia River. Other historians add to Washington s swamp list the area now called foggy Bottom where the state department in located used to attract More waterfowl than diplomats they say. Much of the Virginia Banks o1 the Potomac River was Mosquito infested Marsh. A swamp As defined by dictionaries is a piece of Wel spongy land a Marsh or a bog. These elements certainly were a part of the Topography of the District of Columbia and in fact existed Long galore the initial Survey of the District says Larry Baume curator of the Columbia historical society which keeps track of the history of Washington. Records irom the 1790s show that George Washington one of the chief boosters of the site for the new Federal City tiptoed around 1he area s swampy features instead describing its loftier Points. But Thomas Jefferson who also favored the Sile Tor the new capital wrote of its Hilla valleys molasses and Waters in 1791. While he was president he recreated to Monticello his Hilltop Virginia estate in july and August. As the Federal City blossomed Northern newspaper satirists referred to the Capitol As the Palace in the wilderness and Pennsylvania Avenue As the great seroonian  and there Wera plenty of locals willing to Call a swamp a swamp. Accounts of several Early residents of Washington Are summed up by Albert j. Beveridge in his Lite of Erma Bombeck i few ill bet you did t know there was a special name Tor unhappy people. They suffer from Anh Edonia the inability to experience pleasure. And hero s the weird part. There Are nearly 2 million americans who suffer from this malady and by my count 1 have met All Bui one of them some have been teachers editors talk show hosts Bankers and shopkeepers. Hard to believe but nearly everyone i dated suffered from Anh Edonia. You be me a Tew in your time too i la bet. What about the Guy in the audience of the tonight show who has just stumped the band. When Johnny Carson presents him with a certificate for dinner Lor two at a fancy restaurant he looks pained and whines i m Here with 30 members of the Cedar take Frisbee team. Can t they have a free dinner too sometimes it seems to go with the Job. Somewhere it is written that people on the supreme court can never John Marshall a strange sight mat the Eye of the traveler who aboard one of the Little River sailboats of the time reached the Strelches of the sleepy Potomac separating Alexandria and Georgetown a wide swamp extended Inland from a modest Hill on the East to a still lower Elevation of land about a mile to the West and Christian mines a resident of Young Washington writes in his Early recollections of Washington City. From about Carusi s Saloon up to seventh Street Bridge there was a considerable swamp overgrown with Bushes Briars thorns  swamp or no swamp Washington then was certainty a Oggier place than ills now. The mall now Home of smithsonian to Shulton museums was flooded enough for boat traffic water regularly inundated the Sile of today s National gallery of Art. Constitution Avenue the present location of Many Federal buildings  not a Street but a canal. Built in 1815 along tiber Creek lha Washington canal was first suggested by Pierre l in fall designer of the capital As a Way to move people and goods through the new City. The canal however soon became a shallow open sewer that carried More garbage than people. In the 1870s it was riled although tiber Creek still runs underground through a series of culverts. An Inlet of the Potomac Hiver in the 1800s reached nearly to the White House enabling president John Quincy Adams to stroll out the Back door Lor a swim. The River was than twice its current Width at Tho Sile of today s National Airport. Wild Rice grew in the Marsh on the Soult Banks of the Anacostia River where presidential helicopters Are now Hangard. Easl and West Potomac Parks where memorials to Lincoln and Jefferson land used to be nothing but water and Silt. The Parks were creations of engineers who dredged and filled the River Isle in the 191h Century. One of the swamp est areas was just soul Wesl of the Capitol. Christian Hines writes that one Day during the Capitol s construction workmen leaving the Job were swept away by rising Rainwaters and forced to scramble up Trees. At Hal Point Hines writes president Jefferson came by on horseback and offered Cash to anyone who would try to save the men. Eventually the author writes they were rescued irom the  while historians get bogged Down Over the City s recent geography they must agree Hal Washington s prehistoric roots Are definitely swampy. In 1921, workmen excavating the foundation of a downtown hotel found hundreds of Bald Cypress stumps. Geologists identified them As part of a Cypress swamp that covered a portion of today s City 38,000 years ago during the pleistocene epoch. The White House Constitution Avenue . Capitol Jefferson to. Memorial open water 1791 so swamp 1791 Modem shorelines and avenues sold Fictor do Hawkins. Ii