In May 1798 the president and directors of the Potowmack Company had been authorized by the shareholders “to mortgage as many shares as could be obtained and to borrow as much stock as could be had” to the amount of $10,000. At the August annual meeting the president announced that loans had been made by Daniel Carroll of Duddington “of $2,500 of six per cent. stock of the United States, and by General Washington of $3,498 of the same” and an additional amount might be had of Carroll. Although over $2,000 had been collected in tolls in the last year, the superintendent and overseer were discharged and horses and wagons sold because lack of money had brought the work on the project to a virtual standstill (BACON-FOSTER description begins Corra Bacon-Foster. Early Chapters in the Development of the Patomac Route to the West. Washington, D.C., 1912. description ends , 97–98).