on the question of which is the american national river
the mississippi was looking solid for gold here
until the missouri branch of the mississippi showed up
not to mention its own greatest fork
since i cant even identify it at the moment

but even all these great ones cant undo the potomac as our national river
for it is of course the river of our nations capital
as well as of the father of his country himself
geo wash whose life flowed mostly within its life
& who is even said to have been the discoverer of its source
still marked by the fairfax stone allegedly planted by him in youth
& well described in bus&ss pp 88 & 94
shortly after he must easily have thrown the silver dollar across it
& not long after he chopped down the cherry tree

in any case the fount was actually marked somewhat belatedly in 1746
whether by a pubescent gw or not
because it had been the designated western extremity of md since the
original royal charter of 1632

it is still very near the westernmost point & sw corner of md
my own favorite state

when drinking here i like to recall
it may be the source of our nations river
but md owns the entire potomac
except for that odd little scrap in & around dc

m