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3. Before consummating the purchase of the land referred to in Exhibit "A", as a result of the study of maps and general inquiry, the following tracts were investigated, members of the Board having personally examined each of the tracts.

(a) About 3 miles north of Hampton, Va., 
(b) About 2 1/2 miles southeast of Aberdeen, Md.,
(c) At and southeast of Tolchester Beach, Md.(On the east shore of Chesapeake Bay, almost directly east of Baltimore).
(d) About 16 miles northwest of Cairo, Ill.,
(e) About 1 mile east of Oxford, Md.,
(f) About 6 miles and west of Cambridge, Md.,
(g) About 9 miles west of Parkersburg, W. Va.,
(h) About 5 miles east of Cincinnati, Ohio,
(i) About 8 miles south of Memphis, Tenn.,
(j) At and east of Edgewood, Md.,
(k) At and surrounding Eastville, Va.,
(l) About 8 miles northwest of St. Louis, Mo.,
(m) About 1 mile south of College Park, Md.,
(n) About 6 miles southwest of Mt. Vernon, Va., on the Virginia side of the Potomac River.
(o) About 8 miles southwest of Mt. Vernon, Va., on the Virginia side of the Potomac River.

4. The following cities reported through the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce in each case, that there were no tracts in their vicinity which might be suitable:

Louisville, Ky.,
Wheeling, W. Va.,
Huntington, W. Va.

5. The board not only visited the places above indicated but also carefully examined the records of the size and topography of the several military reservations, and arrived at the conclusion that none were suitable for the purpose.

6. Attached herewith and marked Exhibit "B" is a letter dated April 3, 1917, from Messrs. F. W. Darling, Nelson S. Groomss, H. R. Bocher, and H. H. Holt, enclosing a blueprint indicating some 220.44 acres of land owned by them, and some 2838.81 acres of land for which they have obtained a land warrant from the office of the Register of the Land Office of Virginia. This tract is located on Chesapeake Bay and forms the end of a peninsula, the tract being approximately one mile wide and five miles long. This comprises the entire end of the peninsula except some two hundred acres indicated on the blueprint, which cannot be obtained by purchase. This tract is approximately two miles from the tract already purchased and makes admirable ground for bomb-dropping, demolition and any form of target practice. 3059.25 acres is offered for $5,645.31. The remaining two hundred acres cannot be obtained by purchase.

7. There has been expended $290,000.00 of the $300,000.00 appropriated by Congress for the purchase of land for aviation purposes, leaving a balance of $10,000.00 available.