Maryland State Archives

Judge Brewer rules on whether or not the Great Falls Manufacturing Company can claim damages against the U.S. government for the dam built for the aquaduct and how much those damages are. A portion of the claim of the manufacturing company is based on the supposed riparian rights of the Toulson Tract in Virginia and on Conn's Island (Bishops Island, which the company appears to have purchased earlier and eventually had resurveyed and patented in 1862). Brewer rules the Toulson tract has no riparian rights on the Potomac River and that "The riparian rights of the Great Falls Company has is entirely upon the ownership of Conn's Island, the title to which is derived from the State of Maryland through its grant." (p.9) There is additional information and discussion on water use, the boundary, and water rights.