[[underline]] 1892 [[/underline]] 
December 18, continued 
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the gravels, thick beds of sand, brown, red, &c. that would be regarded 
as Potomac anywhere else. These as well as the large lenses of pink 
clay, sometimes occur near the top. In fact there is no generic distinction 
between this and the Lanier Hights bed. Underneath all the gravel is a 
continuous bed of coarse Potomac sand which is doubtless normally in 
place. It only rises a foot above the track. 
In the next cut below this sand comes in again, but below this in a cut 
between two road crossings appears the greensand, rising nearly 15 
feet on the west side of the track. The same is true of the next cut in 
which the greensand rises still higher. This is just above the 15 (20) mile 
post & the first place where the railroad crosses the Accotink. A ditch 
through a 
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marsh on the west cuts through pebbles which lie white on the 
embankment, but an inspection did not prove that they come from the 
Potomac. The same conditions prevailed in the shallow cuts above 
Accotink station, and the deeper one next below was described on Dec. 
5. The next one presents the peculiarity that over the Chesapeake sand 
lies a bed of interstratified gravel and brown sand like the gravel bed at 
Franconia, showing that this is certainly younger than Miocene. 
Then comes a long cut in a curve averaging 15 feet above the tracks. 
The lower 10 feet is Potomac sand, gray, rather fine and nearly uniform. 
Above this for the whole length is a gravel bed three (1-3) feet thick, the 
pebbles large & angular, with some quarts and granite boulders. One of 
the latter is two feet through. Over this for half the length of the cut is a 
bed of reddish loam 4-5 feet thick in places. The lower 
Local field note-book of Lester Ward 
Transcribed and Reviewed by Digital Volunteers 
Extracted Oct-11-2015 07:35:03 
Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center, Smithsonian Institution Archives 
