[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 261 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                        April 30, 2002.
Whereas the First Congress passed the Residence Act authorizing the 
        establishment of a Federal Capital as the seat of Government of the new 
        Republic;
Whereas President George Washington, acting under the authority of the Residence 
        Act, selected the present site of the District of Columbia as the new 
        Federal Capital and seat of government;
Whereas President Washington, aided by then Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, 
        took personal charge of the plans for the development of the new seat of 
        government;
Whereas President Washington decided that the public buildings of the new 
        capital city should be faced in stone so that these buildings would 
        equal or exceed in beauty the buildings of the established capitals of 
        Europe and promote permanence and majesty on the Potomac;
Whereas President Washington, a boyhood resident of Stafford County, Virginia, 
        recommended that the freestone quarries on Aquia Creek in Stafford 
        County be purchased by the Commissioners of Public Buildings as stone 
        quarries for the public buildings of the District of Columbia, a 
        recommendation acted on by Pierre L'Enfant, the planner of the new 
        capital city;
Whereas the new quarries, later named Government Island, became the major source 
        of building stone for the Capitol, the White House, and numerous other 
        public buildings in the District of Columbia;
Whereas there exists substantial evidence of 18th and 19th century stone cutting 
        and quarrying techniques on Government Island, and this physical 
        evidence sheds light on a valuable and informative chapter in the 
        development of the United States Capital; and
Whereas the Board of Supervisors and residents of Stafford County, Virginia, 
        have undertaken action to preserve Government Island for posterity and 
        to make it available for the education and enlightenment of the public: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the national historical significance of the Aquia 
        sandstone quarries of Government Island in Stafford County, Virginia, 
        for their substantial contribution to the construction of the new 
        Capital of the United States under the direction of President George 
        Washington; and
            (2) commends the Board of Supervisors and residents of Stafford 
        County, Virginia, for their efforts to preserve Government Island and to 
        make it available for visitation by the public.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.