Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-28
LINCOLN MEMORIAL
TREESARE PLANTED
Woman's Relief Corps Has
Charge of Exercises at
Monument Site.
PLAN CALLS FOR AVENUE
OF ELMS TO MONUMENT
Memorial Well Under Way. But Will
Not Be Completed for
Three Years.

|
the Woman's Relief Corps today dedi-
| Gated the ground upon which Will stand
the two trees nearest the Lincoln me-
| mortal in Potomac Park in the avenue
of trees which will make a vista from
the memorial to the Washington Monu-
| ment.
| David J. Palmer, commander-ln-cn lei
| of the Grand Army OF the fepubHc,
turned the first spadeful OF earth. ana
he was succeeded in turning the soil
by Mrs. W. E. Andrews. chairman OF
, the committee in charge of the tree
| planting; Mrs. Sarah E. Fulton. ma
| tional president of the w. X. c.: Mrs.
Mary e. Jameson. national president of
| the Ladies of the G. \. r.; Mrs. ISABEL
Worrell Ball and others.
Trees Must Be Replanted.
| Two English elm trees were planted
| by the W. Il. c. today. the ceremony
beginning at 80 o'clock. Owing to
the fact that the terrace around the
Lincoln memorial must be graded, the
trees put in place today are only tenn
porarily planted. As soon as the grad
ing has been completed they Will be
planted permanently in the locations
corresponding to those selected today.
Later markers of bronze will be placed
| on the trees by the w. r. c.
Miss Ruth Ayder, q graduate of George
Washington University and the organizer
of the glee club at the university last
year, sang THE Star Spangled Banner
and Our Countrys Flag The words
and music OF the latter song were writ
ten by Mrs. Mary Litz- Parker. who re-
Gently organized G. A. II. Logan Circle,
No. 4, w. R. c. The veterans and mem
bers of the Relief Corps joined in the
chorus.
thousands of the members of the
G. A. r. and the w. r. c. attended the
tree planting, and when the ceremonies
were completed they went immediately
to the polo field in Potomac Park to
witness a cavalry drill. The visiting
members of the G. A. r. and the W.
r. c. viewed with much interest the
progress of the work on the erection
of the 100000 Lincoln memorial.
While the work on this memorial is
well I'D to time set in all contracts, 1t
was said today by former Senator
Joseph c. S. Blackburn of Kentucky,
the resident commissioner in charge OF
the Lincoln memorial. that not for an.
other three years would the memorial
be completed. He explained that the
act of Congress providing for the cree
ton of the memorial specified that the
work must he completed within four
years from the time ground was broken
at the start. Ground was broken
February II, 1914.
Foundations Are Massive.
Senator Blackburn said that the.
foundation upon which the massive
structure will stand had been so
constructed that it could bear the
weight not only of the memorial, but
also that of the Washington Monument
and the Capitol combined.
,,oI ,yy--f sta
tubes four feet in diameter were sunk
from forty to fifty feet to bed rock
and then two feet into the bed rock
itself" said Mr.. Blackburn. These
tubes were then filled with concrete.
This constitutes the subfoundation, and
the actual foundation rests upon it.
A great amount of work remains to be
done in the matter of terracing the
ground around the memorial. There
is to be a big circular terrace, in the
middle of which the memorial stands,
and this terrace will be 1000 feet in
diameter The terracine will force
Potomac drive 200 feet from where it
now runs and will necessitate the fill
ing in of strip Of what is now the
river"
Mr.. Washburn explained that begin
ming tomorrow the trees which will
form the avenue from the memorial to
the Washington Monument will be set
uation Of the trees planted today by
the w. r. c.
Agitated for Years.
For years the question of building a
great national memorial to Abraham
Lincoln in the capital was agitated in