Among these bowlders, and in many 
places covering them, are myriads of 
water-worn stones, ranging from the 
size of a man’s hat to the size of an 
apple or orange, and then on down to 
pebbles from the size of a walnut or 
pecan to the size of a pea. Below the 
size of a pea are millions of minute 
pebbles, and these merge into coarse 
sand, some of which has been brought 
from a distance by the water and some 
of which has been produced nearly on 
the spot by the grinding of the pebbles 
and the rocks. 
Mingled with the bowlders are many 
pieces of quartz, some of them much 
too heavy for a man to lift. These have 
evidently been brought down into the 
creek bottom from the higher land, be¬ 
cause even on the top of the terrace or 
as outcrops in the upper slopes of the 
valley one sees much of this character 
of rock. Much of this quartz is white, 
creamy or translucent, and much of it 
is iron-stained, and its weathered sur¬ 
faces are colored various hues of yel¬ 
low, orange, brown and tints that ap¬ 
proach red. Between the bowlders of 
gneiss and these big fragments of 
quartz are the water-worn stones, 
smooth of surface but of many forms, 
some nearly round, some flat and some 
oval. In the creek are spaces where 
stones of this character extend for 
many square yards, areas in which no 
bowlders or quartz blocks appear. The 
effect is that which might be given by 
masses of cobblestones, and certain ex- 
. cavations which have been made in this 
territory for the purpose of improving 
Rock Creek Park show that these cob¬ 
ble masses are deep. 
An usually large number of these 
water-worn stones have been broken and 
chips and larger fragments may be 
found, though the Rambler has been 
told that the great, body of these frag¬ 
mentary masses are to be found by dig¬ 
ging. The water-worn stones in their 
colors are brown, plain dirt color, gray 
and slatish-pink. In texture they are 
.flinty. Among them are smaller stones 
of a quartz character, and some of these 
are milk-white, colorless and translu¬ 
cent, and pink and here and there a 
small red stone may be found. The 
stones mentioned here are those of 
which the Indians wrought arrow heads, 
spear heads and stone axes. Explorers 
reasoning from the countless number of 
defective and broken weapons and from 
the deposits of chips split and splintered 
off in_ the fashioning' of stone weapons 
have identified this part of Piney branch 
as one of the large and old workshops 
of the Indians of the Potomac region. 
It is certainly an interesting place. 
The slopes of the valley are worth a 
trip to the' Piney brinch neighborhood 
because there are so many rustic 
touches cjjpge tp, the paved and heavily 
traveled Ways of the city. The general 
nature of the growth is oak, while ever¬ 
green slrines among the bare trees and 
the thick carpet of fallen, crinkling 
leaves. The evergreen which grows here 
is that which most folk call laurel, and 
which really .is a'species of laurel and 
a member of the great heath family. 
Every one is familiar with the blossoms 
of this plant in spring 
mer. Sometimes it is called Wooden 
dron and sometimes calico’bush, but 
most persons call it mountain lain el. 
Another name for it among the colored 
folk who gather it for various purposes 
is “wild ivv,” or “wild ivory. . 
’ The number of persons who visit the 
Indian workshop is very small v hen 
compared with the number passing 
close to but above it. A great deal of 
the travel into Rock Creek Park passes 
down Park road. At the top of Kimgl- 
road the main tide of automobile traf¬ 
fic turns to the right, passing a long 
row of houses built, on a terrace. 
houses are on the east side of the 
street On the west is park land, a 
steep ‘hillside covered with big trees. 
This road leads over a high br cig 
which spans Piney Branch valley a kw 
hundred yards above its mouth. Under 
that bridge the scientists have found 
much of the debris from the Indian 
workshop, though the greater quantity 
of the stone age refuse is said to 11 ®, a 
city block or two eastward fi om the 
point where the bridge has been 
thrown across the valley 
There is a proposition that this In¬ 
dian workshop be preserved an< * ap¬ 
propriately marked. One of the resolu¬ 
tions approved by the Pan-American 
Congress recited: “Many parts o. the 
American continent are rich in archeo¬ 
logical remains, such as ruins, monu¬ 
ments and burial sites containing many 
examples of industry and art of the 
aborigines; that scientific explorations 
of these remains, with the study of re- 
suiting finds, are objects of utmost im¬ 
portance, for on their basis only will 
it be possible to reconstruct the lost, 
history of the American race; and in 
order that such remains may be saved 
to science and not be wantonly ex¬ 
ploited or destroyed before they could 
be studied it is essential that proper 
laws and regulations be adopted by the 
various countries where such remains 
exist.” 
In the office of the surveyor of the 
District of Columbia is a topographic 
map of the District “surveyed in the 
years 1856, 1857, 1858 and 1859 by A. 
Boschke and published by D. McClel¬ 
land, Blanchard and Mohun of Wash¬ 
ington, D. C., in 1861.” This old map 
shows Piney branch rising near the 
Left Pork road in the vicinity of the 
lands then owned by Dr. Noble W. 
Bladen, Mrs. C. Sanders, William Mor¬ 
rison and Mrs. S. A. Greeves. South of 
the 7th street pike Piney branch ran 
through or close to the lands of J. Saul, 
A. Ray, E. Osborn and “W. Osborn 
heirs.” Those lands were all situated 
along Piney branch betw'een the 7th 
street pike and the 14th street road. 
Between the 14th street road and the 
Pierce Mill road the property holders 
along and close upon Piney branch 
were Thomas Blagden, H. Waldbridge 
and W. Selden. The Blagden tract was 
the largest in that vicinity. 
