Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-05-14
- Mth Che @atnbf@r -

for itself through the hills, the depth
is very impressive.
The bottom of this bowl is far be-
meath solid masses of those familiar
gneiss. granite-gneiss. etc. In the
Washington folio of the Geologic Atlas
of the United States, embracing the
District of Columbia and adjacent parts
geological survey. there is this in
tereSting paragraph concerning the
rocks of The neighborhood:
The rocks themselves thus Yield records Of
widely separate epochs from the earliest age Of
geologic history to the present. The entire rec
earliest formation TO the latest. Earliest of
all was the production Of the great bodies Of
Carolina sneiss. 1t. origin. whether igneous or
sedimentsry. is buried in cbscurity. 1t repre-
sents complex development and many proc
esses Of change. in the course Of which all
original characters have been obliterated. The
gness is however. distinct from and much older
than any other formation yet identified on the
Piedmont plateau. and the time of Its production
is the earliest Of which have record.
During succeeding cpochs masses Of igneous
rock were forced into the gneiss. The lapse
Of time was great. the nature of the igneous
trusive were forced into the earlier
The granite texture of of the formations
and the lamiuation and schistosity Of others
were produced Al great depths below the
face Upon these once deep-seated rocks now
rest lavas which poured forth upon the surface
tact two extremes of igneous rock-those which
consolidated at considerable depth and those
which cooled at the surface. The more ancient
crystalline complex had therefore undergone
upltft and long-rontinued erosion before the
period of volcanic activity began. The COM
plex may he safely referred 10 the Archean
period Whether these ancient Iavas represent
late portion of the Archean of the Al
gonkisn age is not certain. The latter, however,
is more probable
The rocks of the Washington district
are divisible. say the. biologists, into
two classes. the ancient and highly
crystalline rocks and the unconsoli-
dated formations of the coastal plain.
The former generally occur northwest
and southwest of Washington and the
latter lie to the east and south. Among
the crystalline rocks are gneiss. schist.
granite, diorite, sabbro. peridotite and
rocks derived from these by meta
morphic action such granite gneiss,
diorite- gneiss. serpentine and soap
stone. The unconsolidated formations
are the gravels, sands. loans, marls
and clays
1t is curious to behold how deep this
basin OF Burnt Mills has been secured
covering of the soil derived from de-
composed rocks and brought down by
rain and wind from the top of the sur
rounding high land.
on higher ground. is the home of Dr.
William T. Brown. whose trotting
horses have long been famous in Mont
gomery and other counties. Leading
from the mill in northeastern. direc-
ton is the trace of the road which
passed through this part of the coun-
try before the building of the Sligo
Colesville-Ashton pike, and the Ram
bier thinks he has found the trace of
that older road leading through the
woods and paralleling the Colesville
road along that part of it's course which
came to be called Sleepy Hollow-be-
tween Indian spring and the mill
From the mill there is a well worn
trail which leads to the ancient rocks
above the mill and the rushing and
roaring waters of the branch. High
up there. with great broad rock masses
and just enough soil to support a
growth of trees. many people from the
city go to enjoy the scene and eat their
lunches. 1t is a popular place with
folk who know about it. and there
have been proposals to build a trolley
line and turn the section into a resort
for picnickers and summer cutters"
But to follow the branch, one must
climb down these rocks to the edge of
the seething water and get into trail
that is not we'll worn. 1t is rather a
faint trail. because many persons do
not venture. once started on this tran,
YOU must either turn back or keep on
about three miles to the point where
the road from Takoma to White Oak
crosses it. Much of the way is through
a high and heavy growth of laurel
The dense thickets of laurel are called
by men and women with lofty broWs,
as well as by ordinary persons, laurel
brakes" and in the difficulty they pre-
sent to transit and to progress are kin
to the cane brakes of the southland.
But there is more than one difficulty in
connection with the masses and tan
giles of this beautiful towering shrub
whose close clusters of strange bios
SONS will be unfolded by the time these
lines get into print. Everybody in
these parts knows this shrub, but
good deal that is known about it is not
true. 1t has number of names, one
of which is calico bush, because of
the curious marking of the flowers. and
another name is "spoonwood"-why it
is called spoonwood the Rambler does
not know. Perhaps it is because the
blossoms have a strange bowl-like
form. but for that matter it would be
more reasonable to call it the saucer