598 REPORTS OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE. 



cars, as above, at 70 cents per cubic foot for all sizes under forty feet, and for all 

 above forty feet 85 cents per foot. 



Kespectfully, your obedient servant, 



SAM'L WORTHINGTON. 



The chairman laid before the committee a reply prepared by him to the above let- 

 ter, as follows : 



Washington, Mar eh 1, 1847. 



Sir : I yesterday received your letter of the 26th of February, addressed to the 

 Building Committee of our Institution, and shall lay it before the committee, which 

 meets to-day. 



Will you have the goodness, in addition to the proposals contained in your letter, 

 to state to us at how much per perch of twenty-five feet, measured in the building, you 

 would be willing to rent to us the quarry-right for so much marble as we may require 

 for our building — say about five thousand perches in all. 



I think the Maryland marble, including the specimens I have seen from your 

 quarry and from others in the neighborhood, is of very fair quality, and only needs 

 a reputation to bring it into general use. But it is necessary for us to get the quarry 

 right low, or else the New York marble, which is also of excellent quality, will come 

 into competition with it. The owner of the Hasting's quarry, on the North river, 

 has offered the quarry-right, for the sake of the reputation it will obtain if selected 

 by our Institution. But I think the freight from there may be a trifle higher than 

 that by railroad, if the railroads come down, as I think they will, to 2J cents per ton 

 per mile. 



■ Whatever material and quarry we may select, the particulars regarding it will be 

 published by us in connection with the plans of the building, and a copy sent to every 

 literary and scientific society of any importance not only in this country, but through- 

 out Europe. The reputation of the quarry we may select will therefore be known 

 all over the world. 



If we contract for the quarry right, we shall have to do so subject to the decision 

 of the two railroads to reduce their freight to 2.} cents per ton per mile. 



This will be handed to you by my brother, Dr. Owen, a geologist, who is instructed 

 by our Board carefully to examine the various Maryland quarries, including one at 

 the " Point of Kocks," from which specimens have recently been sent to us. You 

 will oblige the committee by affording Dr. Owen every facility to examine your 

 quarry. 



If we agree to rent of you the quarry right, we should expect to go into the quarry 

 where you are at work. But this need not at all embarrass your own operations. 



If we agree to pay half the expenses of a railroad to connect your quarry with the 

 York road, so that the cars could be loaded in the quarry, will you agree to pay the 

 other half? Please reply to this. 



I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



ROBERT DALE OWEN, 



Chairman of Building Committee. 



Samuel Worthington, Esq. 



The reply was approved by the committee. 



The chairman laid before the committee a letter from Wm. Robinson, owner of a 

 Maryland quarry of " white primitive stone," which he oners for the Smithsonian 

 building. 



Referred to Dr. Owen. 



The chairman laid before the Board a letter from Peter Gorman, stating that he 

 had found a quarry superior to any other he had visited, (Samuel Worthington's,) 

 and which could be rented on cheap terms. 



The chairman informed the committee that he had seen Mr. Gorman since the 

 receipt of this letter, and he (Mr. G. ) stated that Mr. Worthington was willing to 

 rent his quarry for the purposes of the Institution at twenty cents per perch quarry 

 right. 



Letter laid on the table. 



The chairman laid before the committee the following letter from Mr. Howard, 

 President of the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad : 



Office of the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad Company, 



Baltimore, February 24, 1847. 

 Dear Sir: In compliance with your request, I submitted, to-day, the proposition 

 that we should unite with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company in transporting 



