Besides the sand and gravel company founded by the dredge-owning Lewis E. Smoot, there was (and still is) a Smoot Lumber Co. Vernon,” wrote Hopewell, of Alexandria. He said Bryant wasn’t the only family member to die while working for Smoot Sand & Gravel. His body was recovered later in the day.”ADSmoot Sand & Gravel almost killed something else: Dyke Marsh, a freshwater, tidal wetland on the Virginia side of the Potomac. From 1940 to 1972, the company hauled away over half of it — 270 acres — for sand and gravel, destabilizing it and accelerating its erosion, said Glenda Booth.

Source: Washington Post June 29, 2020 20:15 UTC