Evening star., 1950-12-17

One of the most unusual exca.
vations made in downtown Wash
ington, In July, 1923, was made
from Constitution avenue north tc
Pennsylvania avenue, and from
Tenth street east to Twelfth street
west. After the removal of dwell.
ings and business houses, a great
hole was left for the Internal
Revenue Building. The sight
drew quite a crowd. especially
when the old wharves and piles
came to view.
Just when these wharves were
built along the Tiber is not al
together clear, and 1t is probable
that they preceded the canal
Like the average stream, it was
irregular in It's course. and be-
tween Tenth and Twelfth streets
it took a northward bend. reach
ing to about the middle of the
block as indicated by the ap-
pearance Of the piles.
Christian Hines, one of Wash
ington's earliest chroniclers
speaking of trips he made as q
youth, in 1897. from Georgetown
to Greenleaf Point, makes this
statement:
after passing the Presidents
House, our road lay along F street
until we arrived at Eleventh
street west. We then continued
along this stream, in the same
direction, until it crossed Pennsyl-
vania avenue where the Center
Market house now stands, anc
then we crossed the bridge. Al
that time there was not a single
house on the Avenue from the
Presidents House to the Capitol
On the east side of the road there
were, I suppose, several acres Of
elegant forest trees. On the west
side there were not so many, there
being only a narrow strip. I think
part, or perhaps all of them, were
on the public Mall. The bridge
as we'll as I can remember, was
constructed in this manner
There was a causeway, or rather
two small wharves, constructed o.
logs and filled in with earth, or
each side of the creek. They
were built so close to one an
other that a large scow coulc
scarcely pass between them. Or
these wharves, or causeways, the
bridge was erected" The bridge
was very low and not wide enough
for two carriages to pass ovel
side by SIDE"
Hines Recollections
Further on he says:
"When buildings commenced te
60 up along and near the Avenue
the building materials, such az
stone and sand, were mostly
landed. I think, between Twelfth
and Thirteenth streets. The boat
men would wait for high tide anc
then bring their scows as neal
the shore as possible, and ther
fasten them to some projecting
root of a tree and proceed tC
unload. BY the time the tide fell
the carts could be backed up to
the stone and sand for the pur-
pose of hauling it away.
cat this time there was no
particular outlet for draining the
Avenue of water so as to permit it
to pass into Tiber Creek, so there
were two trenches dug for that
purpose, one along Eleventh
street, and the other. I think
down along Fourteenth street
which, in a great measure. drained
the Avenue and carried the water
into the Tiber."
In 1897 a writer for The Star
speaking of the Tiber and the con
ditions hereabouts, gives this in
tC1 cSGn1S lll1OI IlldI1OIl.
"The Tiber proper was formed
by Reedy Branch. which had it
sources in Mount Pleasant ant
entered the head of Eighth street
a stream west of Glenwood. cross.
ing Florida avenue between Firs
and Second streets NV. and {
third from near Montello, on the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, en-
tering the city east of First street
NE. Before reaching N street
the three branches united and al
or near K street formed quite 6
favorite place for bathers, known
as the Blue Cork Between
and K streets a small stream from
Second street west and between
D and E streets the waters from
the Northeast section, rising at
Twelfth and G streets, Maryland
avenue and Seventh street and
Third and K streets flowed.
"On First street, south of C street
NV, the Tiber received the wa