The Washington times., 1913-04-09
PLAN IS OUTLINED
! FOR FOREST PARK
Lecturer Tells Chamber of Com
merce of Possibilities of Pur-
chasing 100000 Acres.

A stupendous plan, calling for the
purchase of about $500 acres OF forest
land lying between the Pennsylvania
and Baltimore and Ohio railrods as far
out as Laurel, and for the purchase Of
other. smaller tracts of land, totaling
about 100000 acres, and forming a great
forest park around the National Capt.
tai, was presented to the Chamber of
Commerce last night in lecture by
William NJ. EIlicott, a Baltimore archi-
tect.
Mr.. EIlicott has presented the plan
several times before, and has even per-
suaded the House to pass an appropria-
tion for $4,000 for surveying the ground,
but last night was the first time he has
had the first lady OF the land" in his
audience
Mrs. Wilson. accompanied by a dozen
of her women friends, attended the lee
ture, and evidenced deep interest. AS
she entered the room the chamber
members rose and applauded, and when
President Callahan asked Mrs. Wilson
to attend other lectures that will be
delivered before the chamber. the MEM
bers again applauded.
In Mrs Wilson's party were Miss
Helen Woodrow Bones, Mrs. E. w.
James Dudley Morgan, Mrs. Hennen
Jennings. Mrs. william Ellicott. Mrs.
B. Howard Haman, Mr.. and Mrs
Douglas Robinson, and Edward Turn
bull, of Baltimore
Mr.. Ellicott's plans are not entirely
for this generation or for the next gen.
Grafton, but look hundreds of gears
into the future when Washington shall
become the model city of the world. He
said that plans for the future of WASH
ington would be made from a different
viewpoint than those followed in the
development of an ordinary commercial
city.
noblest lines and with the highest in
teiligence, Washington has none Of those
faults which. almost all great American
cities inherit from their small begin
nings and the exigencies of a struggling
community" said Mr.. Ellicott.
Future of the Potomac.
The speaker touched first on the fu-
ture of the Potomac river. comparing it
with the HUDSON above New York.
Its shores" he said, should be under
Government control in order that its
beauties may not--be lost and that It
NAV always add to the luster Of the
Capital That the forests along its
slopes should be cut away and factories
built upon them, that Great Falls should
be marred or obliterated by building
dam and power houses, is not to be
thought of If the true interests of the
nation and city are to be guarded.
Mr. Ellicott then took up especially
the tract Of l50 square miles including
the whole of Anacostia and large
part of the Patuxent watersheds and
extending as far eastward as the Sew
ern and South rivers. He said from
80 to 50 per cent Of this tract is wooded.
and that not more than 10 per cent
has any real agricultural value He
declared 1t is typical forest land and
should be planted in forest.
Under the care Of the Forestry De-
partment, or under a new bureau Of
national parks, which has been strongly
- recommended for the supervision OF all
national parks, ii Is proposed to create
a beautiful national park correspond
ing in character with the forests OF
Fontainebleau or Campieque, in France;
the New Forest, established by William
the Conqueror, in England, and other
great national parks in the old coun-
tries"
He said the tract proposed for the
great national park because Of its 10
cation at the meeting place of the
grow sixty-five varieties Of trees. some
of which could not thrive further north.
others Of which could not thrive fur
ther south. TT would scarcely be pos
sible to find a tract so well located
and so admirably adapted to such a
use" he declared.
Lands Now Neglected.
Referring to the large tract of land
between here and Baltimore, Mr.. Eli
colt said that under private ownership
it had become the most deplorably
neglected area adjacent to any large
city in the country, so that instead of
adding an attraction to the city. as
would beautiful district of rolling
farm lands, mingled with woods as one
finds about Baltimore, Philadelphia,
Richmond. or Boston, We have a coun-
try typifying desolation and ruin to be
avoided for its very sadness and
1T cries aloud for restoration-for
the magic which science knows SO well
how to exercise in order that IL shall in
a few years excite the interest and ad-
ing Washington, through sentiment and
actual pleasure in its use, a still more
desirable city to live in. and attracting
the wealth of the country to its hospi-
tality and varied enjoyments"
Mr. Ellicott suggested that enlarged
courses established in botany and
forestry by the Agricultural Depart
ment, and showed what a wonderful op-
portunity such a reservation would af-
ford for the preservation of certain
species which are about TO become ex-
tinct
He said the valuation of the land
which had been furnished him by the
forester Of the State of Maryland was
an average OF ABOUT sZb per acre. AL
this figure, which the speaker believed
the maximum, the value of the 100000
acres 10 81, 600.00o
III the tract in question has any
value whatever In private hands, he
said. 1T has an almost incalculable
valuable when we think of 1t as a ma
tional domain and an example to in
Vulnerable communities and municipali-
ties throughout the length and breadth
of the land
Would Avoid Productive Lands.
The speaker said productive farms
should not be acquired He advocates
acquiring only the wooded or waste lands.
which yield practically no revenue and
are the most desirable for forestry pur-
poses.
Except for the building Of roads,
cutting Of trails, and the more obviously
necessary improvements, the present
generation may properly confine itself
to acquiring the tract and the improve
uent and care of the forest What pos
terity, when the country is more densely
populated and dista Mt resorts no lnoger
supply the necessity Of recreation. may
rake OF such a heritage, accessible to
La - urntE 10 -