Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1816-07-27
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Eron the United States Gazette.
E.etraet q letter from Wasiiasto

E.uract " Letter from tfaSi.lagton,
Jsiae 29tk, 1916,
Mr..Latrobe has already ~ repaired the
exterior OF the Capitol, that in few months
the effects Of the lire will be scarcely visi-
Die.
In the interior lie is busily at work, hut
no Judgment can be formed of the alterati-
ons, which are intended. from the present
appearances aud which ann informed,
are very considerable. Mr.. Latrobe is a.
bout to employ, for the columns of the
House of Representatives. one Of the must
beau;itulmarblesI have everseen, ofwhich
he gave me the lollnwiugmemorand "Ol
a trip 70 Reading, in our state, with our
late friend Thomas Smith, the Mineralo-
gist, near 20 years ago. they discovered u,
one of the toughest aad most unpromisislr
rocks OF the country. IA bieccia, or aggreea-
| ton oil lime stone pebbles, cemented by a
| red calcareous mass into one body, resem.
bling very much the sn called pudding
stone, which is an aggregation of silicious
pebbles. sand, and gravel, ceinented by a
, ferruginous mass. He afterwards disco
weed .he same stone on James River in
| yirgnie,--un the turnpike road abuve Ere
| dericktown,-and about year ago on tine
south side of the Potomac near Aeesburgh.
It's situation is uniformly on the southeast
side of S. w. Mountains sit is called in
| Virginia, and the Cotocktia mountain i'm
Maryland.
| Abnye the Cotocstin mountain in Lou
dnu county, &c. he also discovered. IN
what is called the white lime stone, "a very
| beautiful white statuary marble.
In a tourney to Loudon county TO exa-
mine the white marble, he saw the breccia
above mentioned in enormous rock masses,
! crossing the Potomac AVID conceived thr.
idea of employing II i'll the Capitol. iiav-
iug ascerta,ned that it could be grou int.
| thai it would receive a. exquisite polish,
and that columns oil aHy given size could
be GOT cut fit, he proposed to the Presi.
dent Inc equipment al this marble instead
of the coarse sand stone formerly used in
! the Capitol. 'Iae President agreed to the
proposition" This account / have ex-
| tracted from memorandum Nlr. Latr0be
was so good as to give me. He iutormea
me that contract was already made for
| the columns, which can be brought by wa
ter 10 the foot al Capitol Hill from thr
| quarry. They viii be &c feet Iong, anu
near feet in diameter in single block |
saw several pieces of this marble at Mr.
Iatrobe>s house. beautifuilypoIished. They
are o! two kiuds: Que mixture ofround-
ed pebbles of all sizes and colors, deep red.
blue, yellow, yeined, spotted, white, and
I of all intermediate colors. embedded in a
deep, and rather dull red cement; which
not receiving so bright polish as the peb
bles, gives TO them. by contrast, the most
brilliant and twinkiing effect imaginable :
The other consists of the same kind of peb-
blcs, imbe,lded in a sca-green cement and
this is. in my o inion. by far the most
beautiful. 1t is only fhund in particular
rock, and no in Sufficient quantity to be
employed for the large columns
Mr.. Latrobe stated that from the whole
a perance OF these rocks, it was eyideet
that q large. rapid aud powerful stream of
water had for centuriesrun over them in
direction to the north east, after the peb-
bles ''ad been cemented into rocks. But
whatever may have been their origin, the
public are under new obligations to this
spritedrengineer for bringing into use the
internal riches Of our country.