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Manuscript DS, signed “Go: Washington,” one page, 8.75 x 16, January 3, 1787. Potomack Company payroll document for workers at Shenandoah Falls from September 29–November 12, 1786, overseen by Alexander Pollock, Thomas Pollock, Robert Duke, and James Hamilton, listing the names of over fifty men along with their occupations, number of days worked, rate of pay, and amount owed. Endorsed on the reverse by George Washington, John Fitzgerald, and George Gilpin as directors of the Potomac Company. In very good to fine condition, with archival repairs to fold separations; Washington's crisp signature remains bold and unaffected.
One of George Washington's greatest interests in the period between the end of the Revolutionary War and the start of his presidency was the development of the picturesque Potomac River as a navigable inland transportation route. The Potowmack Company, formed in 1785 to accomplish this task through a series of locks and canals, was among the earliest large-scale infrastructure ventures in the United States, with Washington serving as its president. The company's charter provided 'liberal wages' for 'any Number not exceeding one hundred good Hands with provisions and a reasonable Quantity of Spirits.' These laborers led a difficult life, being required to remove a certain amount of rock and debris before receiving their rations of spirits.
Washington regarded the Potowmack Company as far more than a commercial enterprise: he believed that improved transportation routes would bind the trans-Appalachian territories to the eastern seaboard and strengthen the fragile Union at a critical moment in the republic's formation. Concerned that western settlers might otherwise fall under the economic influence of Britain or Spain, Washington envisioned the Potomac Canal as a vital commercial link forming a 'chain which could never be broken.' The interstate cooperation required by the project also helped inspire the Mount Vernon Conference of 1785, an important precursor to the Annapolis Convention and ultimately the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
The project was beset by constant difficulty: insufficient funding, engineering obstacles, and persistent legal disputes contributed to the company's ineffectiveness and eventual failure. Nevertheless, the Potowmack Company became a foundational model for later American internal improvement projects, including the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. More than a simple payroll, this document embodies Washington's broader effort to unite the new nation through commerce, transportation, and western expansion, an ambitious vision that helped lay the groundwork for the federal union itself.
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