Beck, Great Falls of the Potomac

Great Falls of the Potomac by G. Beck (c. 1748-1812) Engraved by J. Cartwright, London. Aquatint, hand-colored; 1802. "the celibrated falls of Potomac" to Meriwether Lewis Notice the diminutive admirers, their arms outstretched in amazement, lending scope and majesty to the scene before them. Compare this interpretation with James Olmstead's photograph, below.

The Great Falls of the Potomac

he Great Falls of the Potomac River, fourteen miles upstream from Washington, D.C., consists of a series of cascades and rapids dropping a total of about seventy-six feet over a pitch of two-thirds of a mile, the greatest drop being about twenty feet.¹

--Joseph Mussulman; 11/03

1. "The Great Falls of the Potomac, Montgomery County." Maryland Geological Survey, http://www.mgs.md.gov/esic/features/great.html/