109 [ 23 ] 



On motion of Mr. Seaton, it was 



Resolved, That the final decision on the subject embraced in Mr. 

 Peter's letter be delayed until the return of Dr. Owen from Aquia creek, 

 and until his report on the quarries there is received. 

 On motion of Mr. Seaton, it was 



Resolved, That among the trees to be planted within the grounds of 

 the institution there be inclnded the following : 



Elm, beech, oak, osage, orange, pecan, iiugar maple, silver-leafed maple, 

 weeping-willow, silver-leafed willow, magnolia grandiflnra, pride of China, 

 common laurel, tulip tree, dogwood, holly, hawthorn, horsechesnut, 

 Spanish chesnut, walnut, hickory, mountain ash, lime tree, evergreens, 

 (including the several varieties of pines,) aspen, and sycamore. 



And, on motion, the committee adjourned. 



NINETEENTH MEETING— March 30, 1847. 



Present, Messrs. Seaton and Owen. 



The chairman submitted from Dr. Owen the following 



Report on the Aquia creek and other Stafford county freestones. 



To the Building Committee of the Smithsonian Institution : 



Gentlemen : On the 26th of March, agreeably to a resolution passed 

 by your committee, I proceeded down the Potomac to examine the quar- 

 ries of freestone of Stafford county, Virginia. 



On arriving at the mouth of Aqnia creek, which is 50 miles from 

 Washington, 1 learned that the quarries which have been chiefly wrought 

 for the public buildings lie about seven miles tip that stream. 



On my way 1 stopped at Major Brook's, five miles on this side of 

 Fredricksburg, to obtain some information about the route. Learning 

 from that gentleman that there were several good quarries of freestone 

 in his immediate vicinity, on Accokeek creek, and near the line of the rail- 

 road, I determined to visit them. 



I found them situated on both sides of Accokeek creek, close to Major 

 Brook's mill-dam. The upper beds here are about six to eight feet above 

 the level of the creek, and are of a coarse texture, approaching to the na- 

 ture of a conglomerate. Beneath, about four to five feet above the level 

 of the creek, the rock is finer-grained, with some yellow and gray streaks, 

 («ee No. 26.) The rock on this part of Accokeek is below the level of 

 the water when the flood-gates of the mill-race are closed. It was here 

 that the rock of which the mill-dam is constructed was quarried. So far, 

 it has stood the test of exposure in this situation well. The abutments 

 of the railroad viaduct over Accokeek creek are constructed of rock from 

 these quarries ; and though the selection does not seem to have been very 

 carefully made, it still remains a substantial work. 



The quarries on Aquia creek most convenient to navigation, and those 

 which furnish a rock lightest colored, finest grained, and most uniform, 

 are situated on what is called the Island, being a neck of land seven 

 miles by the course of the stream from its mouth. This island is eleva- 

 ted 15 to 20 feet above a flat swampy plain, which surrounds it on every 

 side, and which, in the early settlement of the country, was an inland 

 bay, navigable for small craft. 



