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VOICE ONE:

This is Mary Tillotson.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program, Explorations. Join us today as we travel along the Potomac River in the eastern United States. The Potomac is one of America's most historic waterways.

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VOICE ONE:

The Potomac River flows more than six hundred kilometers from the
Mather Gorge on the historic Potomac River.
Allegheny Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay, on the Atlantic Ocean coast. The river flows through West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia. It also flows through the United States capital, Washington, D.C.

The Potomac is the wildest river in the world that flows through a heavily populated area. It supplies water for more than eighty percent of the four million people who live in the Washington area. Millions of people use the river and the land nearby for recreational activities. These include boating, fishing, hiking and bird watching. The area is home to important birds such as the great blue heron and the American bald eagle.

The Potomac River has played an important part in American history. For example, America's first President, George Washington, lived for many years along the Potomac in Virginia. He urged that the river be developed to link Americans with the West.

VOICE TWO:

We will explore the Potomac River in a small boat called a canoe that we move through the water using sticks called paddles. Our trip will take seven or eight days. The boat has only enough space for two or three people. But we will not be alone on the water. Other canoes float nearby.

We start in the calm waters of Shepherdstown, West Virginia. A guide in the boat next to us says people lived here fifteen thousand years ago. The Potomac River was a meeting place for American Indians long before Europeans arrived. The Indians gathered to trade food and furs. Today, people often find objects that the Indians left behind.

VOICE ONE:

We work hard to paddle our canoe, and are happy to stop and rest at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. During the nineteenth century, this village was an important transportation center for the river, a smaller waterway and a railroad. At Harpers Ferry, the Potomac flows through the Blue Ridge Mountains. Here it meets the Shenandoah River. From our boat we can see the water flowing toward huge rocks. Green trees cover the mountains on either side. Round white clouds hang low against a blue sky. It looks very peaceful.

VOICE TWO:

But this area is not known for peace. In eighteen fifty-nine, the United States was close to civil war between the northern and southern states. The federal government had a weapons center at Harpers Ferry. John Brown, a militant who was against slavery, decided to raid it. Historians believe he did this to provide slaves with weapons for a rebellion.

John Brown and eighteen of his supporters captured the weapons center. However, federal troops recaptured the center the next day. John Brown was later hanged. But his name was made famous forever by American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson wrote that although Brown had died, his spirit would march on.

VOICE ONE:

Harpers Ferry became a national historical park in nineteen forty-four. Today the park welcomes visitors who come to learn about life along the river. The park also operates a program to restore an important bird, the peregrine falcon, to the area. About fifty years ago, the use of the insect-killing chemical DDT had almost killed all these large birds. DDT was banned in nineteen seventy-two. Wildlife experts now bring baby peregrines from the Chesapeake Bay area. Then they place the birds in rocky areas high above the Potomac River near Harpers Ferry.

The baby birds wear a device that sends signals telling where there are. The devices let wildlife experts follow the b

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