Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-07-25
American Capital To Rival
Any in the World.
To Have Series Of Impressive
BouIevards and Parks.
Continued improvement In the
Scheme OF Attractions.

Boston. July 24-Elihu Root, while
secretary of war, once contemplated
sending company of soldiers from Fort
Myer to camp on a parcel of land abut-
ting on K-street bridge, along Rock
Creek, thus to hold the property in the
name of the United States and eject
squatters, writes the Washington cor
respondent of the Transcript Proceed
inss did not go quite so far as this. for
the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Company.
which claimed the land, succeeded in
getting an injunction against the Gov
eminent. on the ground that the question
involved was one of title and therefore
should be tried by the courts.
Seven years have gone by, and mean
time all the Government titles in the Dis
trict of Columbia have been investigated
by a special commission, headed by At
torney General Wickersham. AS this
correspondence already has intimated.
these Investigations are certain to result
in some warm lawsuits. The first has
been filed by the Department of Justice
this week with respect to the parcel of
land which so excited Secretary Root
The Government experts are convinced
that the land is the property of the Gov
eminent, and the Chesapeake & Ohio
Canal Company is equally strong in the
belief that it belongs to that corporation.
Hence legal proceedings. which no doubt
will run to the Supreme Court of the
United States. The land Is formed by
accreton from the Potomac River, and
the result of this suit may settle several
other disputes over land of this charac-
ter.
This episode would be of no interest
outside Washington were it not that the
Government must have this land in or
der to complete one of the most impor-
tant links in the scheme of a belt line
of boulevards around the city. No one
great public improvement is more need
ed than the ply steal connection of Rock
Creek Park with the Potomac Drive; and
here, just at the supreme moment, when
everybody, including President Taft, ia
vors this improvement and no one ap-
poses it, looms UP little patch of about
10000 feet of Potomac mud and holds
up the whole proposition.
The Drives of Washington.
Visitors to Washington who have
stayed here long enough to get more
than car window glance at the place
must have been amazed at the paucity of
good automobile or carriage drives in
the National Capital. At first thought,
this statement may sound startling, for
apparently the most inviting highway
and parks extend in every direction. But
a little experience demonstrates that the
of och nOtn for hn OF urf
begin beautifully and end nowhere. The
Potomac Drive, which is the newest
winds gracefully along the bank of the
river south and west of the Washington
Monument and brings up in circle; like
a street car line. A new road is being
put through from this circle east to
Seventh street, the original starting
point, but it is not yet opened The pro-
per thing to do would be to continue
right on to Georgetown, and so on up
to Rock Creek Park; but not only does
this pesky little strip of land stand in
the way. but Congress has not yet made
an appropriation to continue the road
way.
The famous Mall Drive, from the
Washington Monument to the Capitol
runs through an exquisite park and
passes beautiful buildings. like the
Smithsonian Institution. but it brings
up against the forbidding iron -ence of
the Botanical Garden. a square from the
Capitol grounds These two drives cover
the whole of the south and part of the
west side of northwest Washington
which is the only Washington tourists
know anything about.
Where Lincoln Was Under Fire.
On the northeast. the grounds of
the Soldiers Home offer an inviting
stretch for the leisurely automobile or
family nag. but one has to traverse.
from the Capitol. the most humble
and busy part of the city to reach
them. From the northerly end Of the
Soldiers Home grounds the so-called
Military Road skirts the northern edge
of settled Washington and brings up
in Rock Creek Park; but over part of
its course this famous old turnpike is
more suitable for artillery wagons
than for pleasure carriages. This
drive is particularly rich in historical
offerings. The modest cottage where
Abraham Lincoln was wont to spend
the hot nights of summer still stands
near the main buildings of the Sol
diers' Home. A mile or more be-
yond. at Brightwood only pistol shot
north of the Military Road, are the
remains of old Fort Stephen. 1t was
here that a President of the United
States was for the first and only time
under fire from the guns of an en-
envy; for under a tree still growing.
and fortunately marked with wood
en- sign, Abraham Lincoln watched
the skirmishers when Early attempt
ed his raid upon the Capital one sum-
mer's day during the Civil War. The
entertainments thrown up by the de-
tenders are at ones feet as one
stands on the little knoll now conse-
Grated by the military experience of
the great President A squad of
cheap houses lie near. and the little
plot of land which speaks so elo-
quently of the bloody days of sixty
one to sixty five. comprising hardly an
acre, has not yet been taken by the
Government for park purposes.
In it's humble way. this spot pos
sesses the same fascinating interest as
the field OF Gettysburg. 1t is said to-
day that had Early known how weak
Washington was, and he been proper
ly REINFORCED, the Capital might