About
My project about the Tiber Creek, also known as Goose Creek, was a long interesting journey utilizing many resources. The process of researching the topic was unlike any other topic I had experienced before. The details of researching a hidden geographical oddity can be overwhelming. An initial difficulty with researching the topic was confirming that there was ever anything to study. The Tiber Creek has been entombed under the District of Columbia for over a century when I began researching the topic. The last time the Tiber creek saw the light of day photography had not yet been invented. A great deal of the sources I used as imagery were drawings, etching, or paintings. The lack of photography affiliated with my project left some of my descriptive secondary sources as the real imagery. The paths of the Tiber Creek, meaning its little oddities and turns as it maneuvered itself towards the shore of the Potomac were all best captured by first-hand accounts of the creek. Even the most detailed map is unreliable to a certain degree. There was little to no aerial photography of the area. Mapping and surveying was done on foot while the Tiber was flowing above ground and done with rudimentary tools. The time put into locating my first glimpse, second, and third glimpses of what used to be the path of the Tiber Creek was overwhelming. There is certainly evidence of the Tiber Creek and sources concerned with its history, but they are buried deep within the past of the city.
Secondary as well as primary text sources concerning the life of the Tiber Creek during and shortly before the foundation of the District of Columbia were surprisingly easy to come by. I found the geography of the region around Washington D.C. to be particularly interesting for many historians. The communities that occupied the area before the city had their own storied past that was intertwined with flowing bodies of water like the Tiber. The Tiber creek had its place in the history of the area long before the city of Washington D.C. influenced it. Personal accounts of the Creek recorded in diaries or released to the public span back in time before the District of Columbia was settled in the area. Online databases provided me with ample resources which with time and patience valuable information could be extracted. I utilized Congressional documents to explore the demise of the Creek as urbanization approached along its banks. The Congressional documents really illuminated the difficulties those with leadership positions faced as Washington took off as a populous center for activity. I collected numerous newspaper articles about the Tiber Creek to reflect on what the public’s opinion had become concerning the Creek. The newspapers clued me into the demise of the Creek as it became a smelly cesspool for the urban community. I also utilized book stores as well as informative signs and posters at national parks to draw in as much material for my research as possible. I was visiting Oxon hill farm state park when a sign clued me into the importance of rolling roads and how they might be affiliated with the Tiber in some points of its past.
I learned an enormous amount about the history of Washington D.C. in the process of researching the Tiber Creek. My research dragged me through nearly a hundred sources concerned with the historic past of the District. I have become aware of more online sources than I was prior to beginning my research. I also utilized the online databases I had known before in new ways like searching for the Records of the Columbia historical society; or locating pictures I had found in books on database’s collections of old journal articles which the book had sampled for sources. The Tiber Creek being as hard as it was to find and learn about really pushed me to engage with the history of the District of Columbia. I am immersed in the history of the city more than ever. I hope my project conveys some of the hard work I put into locating and understanding my materials. The Tiber Creek has its importance in the history of the city of Washington and I hope more people than myself will take the time to understand her past.