The Washington times., 1913-07-31
10000 TREES PAY
TOLL TO GALES FURY
Work of Restoration TO Require
More Than Twelve Months,
! Says Trueman Lanham.

Until the work of restoration, which
will require more than twelve months.
is completed. Washington can no long
er boast of its beautiful foliage
Between 15,O00 and 1900 shade trees
were destroyed, or severely damaged
by the storm, according to early sstf-
mates made by the office of 1rueman
Lanham, Superintendent of Trees and
Parkimgs.
The loss in dollars to the District can
not be accurately estimated, but will
reach into the thousands. A year of
hard work on the part of the employees
Of the office of the department, Mr..
Lanham says, will be required to re-
store the foliage.
Four big trees went down on the
ment today in the office of Superinten-
dent Elliott Woods. The most valuable
and historic trees on the grounds es-
capped. thanks to the system of bRcing
and chaining these old trees.
Elms Escaped.
The famous Washington elm. which
tradition says was planted by the first
President, escaped, as did the Cameron
elm, so named because Senator Cameron
of Pennsylvania saved it from destruc-
ton a half century ago by special
resolution.
The trees which went down were
mock orange, an oak, horse. chestnut
and a linden.
Some famous trees were uprooted at
Fifteenth and P streets. These are the
Willard trees, set out It is SAID
by the first of the Willards "
Washington. The trees surround
the old Willard place and are set
out at regular intervals over the
large grounds. Two that went down
are mighty elms and among the most
beautiful trees il Washington. Other
trees here were stripped of branches.
Up and down street damage TO
trees was noteworthy even in a storm
which laid low trees all over the city.
Some of the beautiful trees or Park
road went down. The street was i'm
passable all night.
The storm wreaked its greatest havoc
Thousands of trees were damaged be-
tween First and Thirty-seventh streets,
many of them being uprooted.
Survey Havoc
Survey of the damage was begun by
Superintendent Lanham and Clifford
Lanham. assistant superintendent, i'm
mediatelv following the storm yesterday
afternoon, and was continued until a
late hour last night Early this morn
ing the work of clearing away the
wreckage and restoration began. Seven
ty-five workmen and twenty-five teams
were put to work. Endeavor is being
made by Superintendent Lanham to OBJ
tain more teams.
In the northwest section Of the city
many of the trees lodged against houses
and their removal will be the first work
Of the 1PnarImPnt weak according
TO Superintendent Lanham, will be re-
Quired to clear away the wreckage from
the streets and avenues.
The majority of the trees destroyed
were silver naples and Carolina pop
lars. II is planned, according 10 Super
intendent Lanham, to replace these :: ith
harder specimens. such as The Syca-
mores and oaks. The work of planting.
II is said, cannot begin until the fall.
Aiding in the work of clearing away
the wreckage are 300 men and fifty
teams of the street cleaning depart
ment. Under the direction of Assistant
Superintendent Doyle the men began
work at o'clock this morning
Worst In History.
Mr. Lanham said today that in his
twentT-eight years of experience as
Superintendent of Trees and Parkings.
yesterdays storm was the worst he has
ever seen. In 1896, he said, a storm
which arose at night. destroyed
400 trees. and three times as many
were injured but the damage was moth
ing in comparison.
In one way, according to officials, the
storm will have a benefiC Il effect on
the foliage. The majority of the trees
destroyed were OF the softer varieties,
such as the silver naples and popIars.
These will be replaced with oaks and
svcamores, which are harder specimens
and more desirable shade trees.