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[[image:Canal_035.jpg|thumb|250px|Upper part of the Potomac River]]
The '''Potomac River''' is a [[tributary]] of the [[Chesapeake Bay]], located along the mid-[[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] coast of the [[United States]] (USA). The [[river]] is approximately 413 [[mile|statute miles]] (665 [[km]]) long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles (38,000 km²). In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the Atlantic coast of the USA and the 21st largest in the USA as a whole.

==Geography==

The Potomac River springs from southwest [[Maryland]] (MD). The river then forms part of the borders between MD and [[Washington, DC]] (the District of Columbia) on the left bank and the State of [[West Virginia]] (WV) and the Commonwealth of [[Virginia]] (VA) on the right bank.  Up to its right bank, the entire Potomac River is considered part of MD, with the exception of a small tidal portion within DC. The river pours out 13000 gallons of water a minute.

[[Image:Usa_great_falls_potomac_md_2004_01_31_a.jpg|thumb|right|Great Falls of the Potomac]]
About 300 miles (483 km) from the source, the Potomac River's [[estuary | estuarine]] portion commences. About 11 km² of water enters the estuary each year (250 m³/s) at the [[fall line]] at Little Falls. Fall line flow is quite variable across months and years, highest during the spring [[freshet]] and lowest in late summer (in the absence of [[hurricane]]s or major [[storm]]s).

The river's source is 396 m above sea level and it drops to 61 m at [[Morgantown, West Virginia]]. Once the Potomac drops from the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] to the [[Coastal Plain]], [[tides]] further influence the river as it passes through DC and beyond. Salinity in the Potomac River Estuary increases thereafter with distance downstream. The estuary also widens, reaching 11 statute miles (17 km) wide at its mouth, between Point Lookout, MD, and Smith Point, VA, before merging into Chesapeake Bay.

Major Potomac tributaries include the [[Shenandoah River]] (WV and VA) and the [[Monocacy River]] (MD) above the fall-line and the [[Anacostia River]] (DC and MD) and [[Occoquan River]] (VA) below the fall-line.

Over 5 million people live within the Potomac [[watershed]], where [[precipitation (meteorology)|precipitation]] provides the equivalent of over 8 m³ (more than 2100 [[gallons]]) of water per person per year.

==History==

The name Potomac is a European spelling of an [[Algonquin]] name which supposedly means 'river of swans.'  Other accounts say the name means 'place where people trade' or 'the place to which tribute is brought' and that the name translated as 'river of swans' was another word, 'Cohongorooton.'  The spelling of the name has been simplified over the years from Patawomeke to Patowmack in the 18th century and now Potomac.

Being situated in an area rich in [[American history]] and American heritage has led to the Potomac being nicknamed "the Nation's River." [[George Washington]], USA's first [[president]], was born in, surveyed and spent most of his life within the Potomac basin. All of DC, the nation's capital city, also lies within the watershed. The [[1859]] siege of [[Harpers Ferry, West Virginia|Harper's Ferry]] along the river's right bank  was a precursor to numerous epic battles of the [[American Civil War]] in and around the Potomac and its tributaries.

The [[Patowmack Canal]] was intended by [[George Washington]] to connect the tidewater near [[Georgetown]] with [[Cumberland, MD]].  Started in 1785, it was not completed until 1802.  Financial troubles closed the canal in 1830.  The [[Chesapeake and Ohio Canal|C&O Canal]] operated along the banks of the Potomac in Maryland from 1850 to 1924 and also connected [[Cumberland, MD|Cumberland]] to [[Washington, DC]].  This allowed freight to be transported around the rapids known as [[Great Falls of the Potomac]], as well as many other, smaller rapids.

With increasing [[mining]] and [[agriculture]] upstream and urban [[sewage]] and [[runoff]] downstream, [[water quality]] in the Potomac River deteriorated. This created conditions of severe [[eutrophication]]. It is said that President [[Abraham Lincoln]] used to escape to the highlands on summer nights to escape the river's stench. In the [[1960s]], with dense green [[algae | algal]] blooms covering the river's surface, President [[Lyndon Johnson]] declared the river "a national disgrace" and set in motion a long-term effort to reduce sewage pollution and restore the beauty and ecology of this historic river. By the end of the [[20th century]], there was notable success, as massive algal blooms vanished and recreational fishing and boating rebounded. Still, the aquatic [[habitat]] of the Potomac River and its tributaries remain vulnerable to [[eutrophication]]; [[heavy metals]], [[pesticide]]s and other toxic chemicals; over-fishing; [[alien#Biology | alien species]]; and [[pathogen]]s associated with ''[[Fecal coliform]]'' [[bacterium|bacteria]] and [[shellfish]] diseases.

==See also==
*[[List of Maryland rivers]]
*[[List of Virginia rivers]]
*[[List of West Virginia rivers]]

==External Links and References==

* The [http://www.potomacriver.org Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin] (ICPRB)
* Lippson, A. J., et al. [circa early 1980s.] Environmental Atlas of the Potomac Estuary. Maryland, USA: Environmental Center, Martin Marietta Corporation. (Prepared for the Power Plant Siting Program, Maryland Department of Natural Resources.)
* The [http://www.potomac.org Potomac Conservancy]
* [http://www.waterfordva-wca.org/history/indians-loudoun-names.htm Indians Left Their Mark in Naming Landmarks in Loudoun County]
* [http://www.virginiaplaces.org/watersheds/3names.html River Names in Virginia]

[[Category:Maryland rivers]]
[[Category:Virginia rivers]]
[[Category:West Virginia rivers]]
[[Category:Washington, DC geography]]
[[Category:Chesapeake Bay Watershed]]

<!-- The de version has not yet been updated to reflect recent changes, since one or more recent editors do not speak German -->
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[[he:&#1508;&#1493;&#1496;&#1493;&#1502;&#1511; (&#1504;&#1492;&#1512;)]]The <b>Sacred Fraternity of the Cross</b> is a [[Hermetic]] society founded by Alexander Guilford (known in the order as Frater Auriel) in [[London]] in the [[1930]]'s.  The order promoted [[Christian]] [[mysticism]], and is most known for a variation on the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]]'s Supreme Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram (SIRP), which utilized scenes from the alchemical work <i>Rosarium philosophus,</i> and was reconfigured to allow use of the Pentagrammaton over the Tetragrammaton.  It dissolved in the early [[1960]]'s after the unexpected death of the <i>Dux Ducis</i>, Simone Montbarde (known in the order as Frater Carpocrates).