[[underline]] 1892 
December 5. - continued, [[/underline]] 
Moreover, it seems to extend below the materials of the beach and form 
the true base of the bluff. Above the White House it certainly occupies 
this position and has a much greater thickness. This adds another to the 
many enigmas of this region, most of which hint at least at the possible 
post-Tertiary age of all the disturbed sands and gravels containing clay 
inclusions. 
From this point to the White House everything is obscured, and the 
hillside back of the house is flanked by a heavy bed of Lafayette gravel, 
[[end page]] 
[[start page]] 
[[underline]] 1892 [[underline]] 
December 18. 
Made an excursion with Vick Mason along the Atlantic Coast Line R. R. 
from Alexandria southward. Columbia is alone seen to Mallow. 200 
yards west of Mallow is a low cut (12 ft.) into cobbles & loam above and 
6 feet of nondescript mottled clay below. 
On the Wash. & Alex. R. R. 1/4 mi. beyond (crest of) Bush Hill near the 
24 " [[Ditto for: mi.]] (11) mile post Chesapeake occurs at level of road 
bed. but just beyond this a stream seems to cut through this and expose 
Lafayette gravel below. The whole is the product of wash. Half a mile 
west of this are deep cuts in both railroads, and these exhibit beds of 
marine Tertiary nearly 40 feet thick barely capped with Lafayette. The 
upper portion shows the usual phases of the Chesapeake, clay, sand &c 
of various colors, & below is a heavy bed of gray sand resembling 
Potomac, but always containing glanconite, and the grains rather fine. It 
seems, taken altogether to 
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 
