Evening star., 1923-02-07


unearthment of the stumps to the
effect that these forest remains dated
back from thirty thousand to one
hundred thousand years. contends
remained after the cutting over Of
that area of the National Capital by
| the early settlers of the District. In
| this pocket" and its covering of
soil the author also thinks he notes
some Of the activities of the Shcp-
I herd regime of half century ago.
Mr.. Cuno writes from the standpoint
| of the forester and the man familiar
| with cypress forests.
peculiar thing about the dis
| covery was that, while plenty Of
stumps were found, no tree trunks
| were discovered, and Mr.. Cuno finds
| it difficult to believe that prehistoric
| men or any other prehistoric agency
| could have removed every log.
Days of Shepherd" Recalled.
1.-THE clay material" states the
| article. in part. discovered above
have been dumped there in the days
| of the energetic Boss Shepherd
when he pushed vigorously the I'LL
Ing in OF swamp areas. cut roads and
moreover, that this same material
| outcrops in other sections Of the Dis
| trict.
| "All agree that the site of the i'm
mense excavation was once swamp,
and that a stream. whose source was
Mount Pleasant flowed through the
very point where the excavation was
made. That an artificial fill was
made at that spot is granted, but
there is disagreement as to the depth
of the fill. Gov. Shepherd, in the
+ seventies, built a causeway on Con
! necticut avenue which in itself was
! ten to twelve feet above the sur
| rounding country, and at the point
| of the excavation there was an old
| dumping ground which had been used
self was of considerable depth.
/ Neither group has had time to
| examine into the early engineering
records Of the city, to ascertain for
fill, but the writer has personally
measured it and found it to be from
sixteen to eighteen feet throughout
! the excavation. This is the depth at
| which the layer of muck containing
| the stumps was found. Biologists
claim the artificial fill was from two
| to twelve feet in depth. The fill in no
case was as little as two feet, and In
Yearly every part of the perimeter of
| the excavation one can still plainly
| see that the fill extends below twelve
! feet.
! "One of the most peculiar things
about the discovery is that trunks Of
the trees, either as remnants of trees
4
en-, were not found. There were
| found, well preserved, an abundance
of large branches. twigs, leaves, seeds,
fruit scales, bark and other plant de-
bris. The geologists claim the trunks
rotted away while standing. This is
! highly improbable, because decay
| would have taken place at the point
| where the water or mud or quicksand
! met the trunks, and the trunks would
| then have fallen, become submerged
stumps and branches. 1t seems more
likely that the trees were felled BY
the early settlers. and were removed
for use in building construction in
such as Annapolis, Md. 1t might be
| interesting TO know that one of the
steam shovel men presented bullet
which he claimed he had found at the
base of one of the stumps.
Wood Identified as Cypress.
The United States forest service
identified the wood as cypress wood,
while members of the Smith sonian
institution identified the seeds, fruit
scales and leaves to be the same as
the present-day bald cypress, Taxo-
dunn dfstichum. Bald cypress is found
growing naturally down the Potomac
river at Marshall Hall, about twenty
miles from Washington. Cypress, as
we know, has the tendency to follow
streams, and as the i.lled-in stream
was Joined to the Potomac, it seems
that cypress may very readily have
grown along it. 1t is highly improb-
able, however. that in sc. 900 years the
tree would have the exact character
istics of the group from which it
arose. 1t is more likely that the cy-
press would have changed some in
that period of time.
The wood itself is exactly the same
as present-day cypress, except that ii
is lighter when dry and somewhat
| Il;
| weight may be due in a large measure
to the teaching out of resins and other
chemicals process which would
not take many years. On the other
has inf1ltrated the cell cavities
thing which would very likely have
happened to some extent had the
wood been buried for 10000 years. It
shingles were shipped from Bladeus-
burg, Md, around one hundred years
ago.
Sizes ErroneousIy stated.
Most of the news articles concern
ing the size of these stumps claimed
that they were from nine 10 fourteen
and in some cases twenty-five feet in
diameter. These sizes are erroneous
The writer has kept in touch with the
excava ton from the time the work
was started, and has never seen
stump more than five feet in diameter
! duON6 IHe usual TOOE
swelling. Possibly some of the meas
urements were taken across root
swellings.
THE argument is by no means end
ed. The biologists have reviewed the
case only from the standpoint OF a
study of the soil strata. 1t is hoped
that further investigation may be
made from the viewpoint of the for
ester. Perhaps an extended search
into the engineering records of the
city will settle the question definitely u