The Washington times., 1922-09-17
ALPRObLEM
C|NCH IF HOTEL
WERE DELAYED
In a Million Years Or So, Allan
Walker Would Have
.. Al Mine.

poned building. for a million years
or so, the hotel at Connecticut ave
nue. and De, Salles street, they
wouldn't have had to worry about
coal strikes.
They might well have poopoohed
at priorities, for they would have
been sitting-that is. the hotel would
nave set, or. settled--upon, a coal
mine.
Mr.. Walker and his company dis.
covered they had been too hasty in.
erecting the ultimate in hostelries'
when workmen on the foundation
uncovered. forty feet below the
street level, great stumps Of trees,
more than 100000 years old.
Chester X. Wentworth. Of the
United States Geological Survey,
who examined the stumps. says the
wood, would have turned into coal
II Mr.. Walkers hired help hadn't
fooled with II too soon.
Some Of the stumps are nine or
ten feet In diameter, and the wood is
supposed to be a species of cypress
of q period whose name would mean
nothing to most Washingtonians.
Even the Oldest inhabs. wouldn't re.
member 1t.
Very Ancient Wood.
The wood has no marks which a
hyman would recognize as unusual.
But the eye of the scientist detects
in its physical condition the ear
marks OF old, old age-age that
makes Methuselah appear, as
young man cut off in his prime.
The stumps were struck by a
steam shovel, in a layer Of black
swamp muck, containing large
quantities of wood, tree trunks and
stumps. Some Of the wood shows
its structure and the external mark
ings Of the bark.
The Geological Survey tells. in
plain English, the story of, how the
stumps came to be on the hotel site.
For the benefit of, the little readers
of The Times the sleepytime story OF
Uncle Allan and his Subterranean
Orchard, told by the Geological Sur
vey. is given. !, A.,
millions Of years ago, in the
Gracious period-the age OF rep
tiles" begins the tale, and at in
tervals still later. this part of the
Atlantic Coastal Plain was coVt<l
by the sea. forming thick deposits
that covered large areas.
when the region finally emerged
from the sea the Potomac river cut
fits valley through these deposits,
which were carried about here ana
there also by smaller streams. Ihe
gravel found beneath She swamp
deposit just uncovered contains az Tvs
base boulders two or three teet III
diameter. This gravel lies on tns
smoothed and worn surface Oh SIu
crystalline granite like that seen IN
Rock Creek Park and In Ine
Potomac valley at Great Falls. Inc
larger boulders nre derived from tne
Granite on which the gravel lles' Dul
, some ofNthe smaller pebbled come
Sroyo m rts of the Potomac basin pe-
vond the Blue Ridge and others from
veins Of quartz in the granltes !"
-,he Piedmont Plateau. ,.;s
cover the layer OF plant aepl,S S
IN this old swamp fine Gay anu
nebbles were laid down py 1. s.re'm'
n water during the glaclai cP"n,
when the northern part ol In - ~
America, as far south as no' ,,,ith
;,on,ense sheets of ice, In many
Wees thousands of feet thicK.
Po,,Iders snd pebbles found in beos
- the same age elsewhere in WASH
sn.ton hear scratches and grooves
M,sn those found on boulders
.cratched by glacial ice. Ihese
80 tones were probably produced
nv heavy foe ice that carried on
~ bottom hard bits Of sand ana
gravel. Such Ice was aouo.ivoT .ivor
Formed along the Potomac river
dwrinr the glacial epoch. and the
increased cold of the period caused
The disappearance Of trees OF thls
kind from the vicinity OF WASH
ington.
Then Climate Improved.
"Many thousands Of years later
,he climate again became warm,
the glacial ice melted ana lne
potonac river still further deep
sned it's valley, and trees ike
those Of the present day grew In
the latitude of Washington.
"The layer Of vegetable matter
3ust uncovered lies beneath M,
made in grading the city. old
rasidents Of Washington remem-
her that small creeks, which are
now covered up, once flowed across
\ fhe city to the Potomac ana that
trees grew in their valleys. These
trees. however, which lived fifty
cr a hundred years ago. are widely
Sifferent from those which formed,
With other vegetation, the layer
NJ neat now disclosed by the ex'
cavation, which tells us OF swamp
vegetation and Of giant trees that
- ern