[undecipherable: first page wholly illegible per project notation] ...etise of erecting Dams on... ...private w[or]ks for my own Use, some of which [are] very forcible, and being well Acquainted [with the sit]uation of the Rivers Potowmack and Shenan[doah] ['s] Lands [ad]joining particularly at th[e] nction, and for some miles from the forks up each River, having Erected a Dam & mills on the Shenandore about one mile above Harpers Ferry and resided at said mills several Years, and as I conceive have a Competant Knowledge of the Quantity, force, and power of Water as may be thought requisite for the support of the Arsenal either for Casting, Forging, Slitting, boreing, Grinding, Polish[ing] or otherwise, I am Clearly of Opinion, that by erecting a Dam in either of the Rivers from the main Shore to the Island (of which there is one in each River) and conducting the Water from the Dam to the Seite of the works by a proper Canal, that any Quantity of [W]at[er] operate with full for[ce] [at] a [undecipherable] [part] of the Expen[se of] the mode Contemplated of Conducin[g] through a Mountain of Rocks for ne[arly] which I conceive not improbible b[ut] and the Expence at this time [--] I am Sir Your humble [signature: Jno. Blu[e?]] [Received from State Dep't. Nov. 21 1824. R.P.O.401810.]