Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-16
Saiboats Bring in Winter Wood Supply as Washing

A ROMANTIC industry which
~ traces back to the dawn days
~ of our National Capital is the
u supplying of Washington with
10000 to 20, 900 cords of oak
pine and hickory cordwood for use
IN stoves, furnaces and freplaces
throughout the District.
The fuel which Washington, Jeffer-
son and Adams burned in the execu-
+, tive quarters during their services as
President. the first fuel which heated
the American Capitol. the fuel which
has been used freely as the gift of
nature since the beginning of time,
is still as serviceable as ever. Wood
has seen the popularization of btu
minous coal and anthracite and it has
witnessed the advent of oil burners
for use in private and public habita-
tons. Wood will be used for fuel as
long as 1t is available, Notwithstanding
the greater efficiency of concentrated
coal and oil.
In Washington's infancy. wood and
small amounts of charcoal and coke
occupied the limelight as the source
or June-tn-January-t with
In Capital City homes and buildings.
The abundance of timberlands con
Ukuous to the newly created Federal
City made cordwood cheap and ideal
for fuel. Professional wood choppers
Piled keen axes during the Winter in
neighboring Virginia and Maryland
/, woods. chopping the National Capt.
tails fuel supply for the following
Winter. The wood was corded and
allowed to season until the succeeding
Autumn. Then the wood wagons,
hauled by powerful horses. began
their endless procession to and from
h. w. i.
wood continued until the following
Spring, when Washington thawed
out, famed by warm breezes, and
laid aside its batteries of heating
stoves until the next coming of
BA@aS and Jack Frost. Cook stoves,
however, burned wood throughout the
year.
Those were the days when practi-
cally every householder in the Dis
t'ict owned an ak and buck saw.
Bankers, business men and Govern
ment employs played golf" in the
backyard. converting the oak and
pine cordwood into stove-size fuel.
The wealthy folks hired wood chop
pers TO get up their Winters fuel
supply, but the average citizen did
the job himself during his idle hours
Easements were filled to capacity
with orderly rows of well-piled fuel
The cordwood pile was a feature of
every back lawn some time or other
during the late Summer or Fall.
Wood peddling hucksters, their
carts and wagons loaded with fuel
ready for immediate use, travelled
regular routes about the city. Many
poor folks purchased their wood sup
plies from day to day and incidentally
paid double and treble prices for the
material bought in such small guam
titles. Drive your motor car through
Washington's side streets today. and
you will see similar wood peddlers
plying their trade Small bundles of
cut wood sell like hot cakes these
nippy frosty mornings.
y x
THE romantic aspect of the wood
purveying business harks back
OF the timberlands which abut the
lower Potomac as far as rs miles
south OF Washington. The crash and
crackle of falling trees resound every
Winter along the shoreline, and from
five to ten miles inland. Farmers,
their hired help and all other men
who can handle axes devote their
idle time during the Winter to chop
ping down native trees or to cutting
up the slash and tops-byproducts of
she telephone pole, pile and railroad
crosstie harvest
During the Winter months prac-
tically every woodlot owner who lives |
within easy hauling distance of the |
river wharves cuts II supply of cord |
wood which he subsequently sells and |
delivers to the jboatfnen or other wood |
buyers who freight the material in
sailboats Do washington. Fleets of
sailboats<haul wood constantly from
late June until early November.
Sometimes, if you isit the Eleventh
street wharves during this period you
win see from 10 to Is of these
vessels which range from 40 IN 150