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No. 1. 

 Report of the Building Committee of tJie SmitJisonian Institution. 



The committee submit to the hoard, as a complete record of their pro- 

 ceedings from the date of their appointment, on the 5th of February last, 

 to the 1st of December current, a copy of their journal. 



By reference to that journal, the board will perceive that the committee, 

 in discharge of their duty, were led into a somewhat extended field of 

 inquiry, especially as regards building material ; and that they liave been 

 enabled to collect, and have duly recorded, a large amount of detailed 

 infonriation on this subject essential to their own guidance, but also, they 

 believe, important to the public generally, and especially to the government, 

 if Congress should decide to erect any other public buildings in tliis city. 

 They caused to be examined the various marble, and granite, and freestone 

 quarries within a moderate distance of Washington, having been fortunate 

 enough to engage the services of a gentleman of practical experience as a 

 geologist, and who tendered these services gratuitously, his necessary'- trav- 

 elling and other expenses only being paid. 



The examination embraced the chief marble and granite quarries of 

 Maryland ; the freestone quarries of Aquia creek, Virginia^ whence the 

 material has been drawn for the construction of the Capitol, President's 

 house, Treasury building, and other public structures in this city; and the 

 freestone quarries of the upper Potomac, chiefly in the vicinity of Seneca 

 creek, on the banks of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, and about twenty- 

 three miles from the city. 



The results of this examination, as contained in reports made by the 

 geologist, and which will be found spread at large on our journal, were 

 briefly these : 



1st. That the marble quarries of Maryland, chiefly in the vicinity of the 

 village of Clarksville, about thirteen miles from Baltimore, on the line of 

 the Susquehanna railroad, contain two qualities of marble : one fine- grained 

 and of beautiful uniform color, approaching the character of statuary 

 marble ; the other, of inferior quality, similar to the Sing Sing marble em- 

 ployed in New York, in Grace church and other public structures, of a 

 somewhat coarse and highly crystalline structure, and known to the quarry- 

 men here under the name of ''alum limestone." The former v^'^as confi- 

 dently recommended as a building material equal in durability to any in . 

 the world; the latter was -pronounced inferior, both in beauty and dura- - 

 bility, yet capable of furnishing a very lasting material if the selection was i 

 made with care. Being less tough than the finer-grained variety, it was 

 thought less suitable for ornaments having bold projections, and somewhat 

 liable to chip off where there was much undercutting. 



2d. That the granite quarries of Maryland, in the vicinity of Wood- 

 stock, on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and about sixteen • 

 miles beyond the Relay House, furnish a granite ec^ual to that of Qnincy, 

 and not excelled for beauty of appearance, compactness of structure and 

 uniformity of color, texture, and composition, by any granite in the United 

 States; splitting, also, with remarkable facility, so that on a block twelve 

 or fourteen feet in length the face of cleavage may not vary more than a 



