Two unusual items related to General Peter C. Hains’ project to improve the drainage along the D.C. waterfront. Hains is credited with creating the Tidal Basin and solving the drainage and foul odor problems of the marshes and “flushing lakes” along the Potomac near the White House. In the process of dredging, an island was created which now serves as a park and its tip is a recreational area named Hains Point.

A. View Looking Up, from Off Hog Island [on sheet with] View of Washington from Off Giesboro Point, by J.R. Barker and W.H. Davis, circa 1880 (34.1 x 4.8"). The bottom view shows a broad expanse along the Potomac with fine detail including the Capitol, Georgetown College and the Washington Monument (unfinished, as it was in 1880). The top view stretches form Alexandria to Fort Foote, Maryland with the Capitol building in the distance. This view is listed as plate 1562 in the Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey for 1880 under the heading in Appendix 5 "Plates Completed...during the fiscal year ending with June, 1880." Despite the reference in the coast survey report, there are no auction records, dealer listings, or copies located on OCLC. Condition: Backed on heavy paper, as issued, with scattered foxing. (B)

B. Potomac River in Vicinity of Washington D.C. Showing the Proposed Improvements in Front of the City, by Peter C. Hains, from Annual Report of 1883, published 1883 (19.5 x 4.8"). This is a pen and ink tracing by Hains that prominently show the "Flushing Lakes” which were eliminated. Also locates Georgetown, the Naval Observatory, Arlington, and Alexander's Island. Numerous soundings fill the Potomac. Condition: Issued folding with minor soiling, some ink spots, and a few extraneous notations. (B+)

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