Digital scans produced by Maryland Geological Survey in 2012 from a hand-written report illustrated with photographs entitled The Patapsco Project compiled by H.S. Shryock. The report documents Baltimore City’s Department of Public Works investigation of water and water power rights – essentially, the active, inactive, and ruined mills and dams – along the Patapsco River and its tributaries in Maryland between 1932 and 1933.
The Patapsco Project, digital images
For each of the 27 “privileges,” the investigators followed the format outlined in a Water and Water-Power Rights questionnaire in collecting data about each site (e.g., location and description of privilege, description of dam and plant). In addition to the textual information, the report includes (a) 45 labeled photographs of all of the investigated privileges – their mills, plants, dams, or ruins and (b) 41 figures depicting property plats, general plant maps, and sections through some of the dams, including a map showing the locations of 23 of the 27 Patapsco privileges.
The original notebook is currently in the possession of the Maryland Geological Survey (MGS). Although still intact and readable, is showing its age, the notebook's handwritten pages are turning brown and brittle, oversized figures are torn or beginning to tear along fold lines, and photographs are coming unglued from the pages to which they are attached. As the existence of the notebook has become more widely known, others have expressed an interest in its contents. To preserve the book from additional damage from handling, MGS decided to scan it. Click here for more information about the original notebook and scanning project.
Suggested Credit for Use of the Notebook and its Contents
Office of Advisory Engineers on Water Supply, 1933 (unpublished), Water and Water Power Rights - Patapsco Project: Baltimore, Md., Baltimore City Department of Public Works, Public Improvement Commission, 375 pp. (digitized by the Maryland Geological Survey)
