The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-10-27
Frederick Haskin's Letter



washington. D. c.. Oct. 5s.-The
recent discovery. in the course OF
an excavation for . new building.
Of the remains Of what the United
States geological survey declares
was a prehistoric forest beneath
the city Of Washington. has turned
interest toward what lies beneath
the ground ON which the national
capital is built. Consideration OF
this fascinating subject reveals
that underground Washington Is
equal in interest to that domain
recently called Behind the Mir
rors of Washington"
The prehistoric forest was dis
covered while the steam shovels
were making a deep excavation for
new hotel. The remains were un-
covered at a depth Of Is feet and
the experts Of the geological sur
vey declare thRt the subterranean
discovery is anywhere from 10000
to 10000 years old and contempor.
airy with the earliest human life on
the North American continent.
The remains of the prehistoie
trees indicate that they grew In
one Of the vast swamps in the muir,
| ky dampness Of which the life
which the researches of investiga.
tors have described, developed
Great wingeA cterodactyls flew oveI
this region and the dinosaur here
sought his food. 1t was an age Of
vast physical proportions. The
tree stumps found show that the
/ trees were 9 or 10 feet in diameter
These trees were more like the
modern cypress than anything else
Chester X. Wentworth. one OF thu
geological survey experts who ex
amined the remains, traces the &C
ton of the great ice age on thu
prebi historic swamp and finds man!
other Indications Of geologic his
tory of the utmost value to geolo
gistc.
To find prehistoric survwals be
meath Washington is exceptiona
and is only an evidence Of the stor,
of what lies beneath the nationa
capital. Curiously enough, at tn
same time the excavations reveale'
this find, one of equal interest
though in a different field, was dis
covered at the capital. Underground
Washington belongs both to a his
toric period and to a prehistori
age.
For a century there have bee
fugitive legends of the secret pas
sages and concealed apartments @
the old capitol building. The othe
day a piece of masonry at the CAPT
toll became dislodged and shove
an opening, wholly unsupported b
the superintendent and other fune
tionaries of the capitol. A smaI
block of masonry dropped from it
place and disappeared. Accordin
TO all reasonable calculations. tn
stone should have fallen into
known passage below. 1t did no
but crashed through the ceiling {
a room on a lower floor. To do 81
| it must have fallen through shat
the existence of which had not bee
known. The accident has starte
investigations which are now i
progress and which are expected I
reveal a. few Of the structural Sc
crets of the building.
The capitol is a vast structure
portions of which have been COZ
, structed at different periods.
will be recalled by every schOo
boy that the British burned the oil
capitol in the War of 1872. A he
building was reared on the Of
foundations. These were eItende
and utilized and the new mingle
with the old in such a way tn;
no plans exist which show the el
tire scope of the masonry.
Buried Treasure, 1t Course.
DR.. William Thornton, the arch
! tect of the part of the capt.
, built following the fire, was
builder of the Old school ar
doubtless followed old English tr'
ditions which leaned strongly to Il
: idea of secret passages ar
apartments. There has long bee
a legend that somewhere beneat
the great terrace on the west sit
j of the capitol, there is q seer
. chamber which contains treasu
, secreted there when the BIRTHS
: were marching on Washington ar
, never recovered because the me
! who had arranged the hiding of
alone knew how to find the place
, Any person who will 60 into tt
. crypt and cellars of the capt.
or even in what is known as Il
5 old library space, which is Il
( most ancient part of the capt.,
| will readily understand how it
I possible for the massive walls
0 contain hidden passageways, al
$ staircases. The known corrido
n take surprising twistings and tur
D ings and there are whole sectio
S of masonry, large enough to co
: tain rooms, which apparent
q have no entrances.
( When the recent discovery
an unknown shaft occurred, it W
: recalled by old employees of t