within six months washington claimed "of the 5,000 pounds required for the potomac navigation, it is increasing fast. at their first meeting in that month, shareholders elected washington as the company's president. for washington, the presidency of the potomac company became a consuming occupation but one he pursued while also managing his plantation and investment properties. he threw himself into deciding to dig bypasses around them, hiring supervisors and workers and overseeing the means of operation. on field trips he frequently canoed down the river's wildest rapids in search for a best place for a channel or to inspect work in progress. retirement from the walks of life has not been so productive as leisure and ease as might have been expected washington remarked to benjamin franklin. by the fall of 1785 when he sent these remarks to franklin, the company had separate team of about 50 workers. congress was too slow for washington. in a boat he passed down the seneca rapid to a place where the workman were blowing up. to me it seemed as if we had advanced but little. still, wash