Price Asked Prohibitive, Con¬ 
demnation Suit Is Begun by 
Order of Col. Sherrill. 
Immediate steps will be taken to 
condemn land considered necessary 
for the park system of the National 
Capital. Lieut. Col. Clarence O. Sher¬ 
rill, director of the office of public 
buildings and public parks of the Na¬ 
tional Capital and executive officer of 
the National Capital Park Commis- 
ision, today sent a letter to the At¬ 
torney General of the United States 
asking him to immediately institute 
proceedings to condemn three tracts 
of land in this city. These include 
what is known as the Piney Branch 
- Parkway, extending in a northeaster¬ 
ly direction from the Tiger Bridge on 
• Sixteenth street to Fourteenth and 
Varnum streets, following the line of 
Piney Branch, which is now inclosed 
in a pipe; the large tract of land 
east of Connecticut avenue and north 
of Klingle valley road in the Cleve¬ 
land Park section and the triangle 
at Thirty-seventh street and Wiscon¬ 
sin avenue. 
Will Halt Dumping. 
i . The purpose of this move, accord¬ 
ing to Col. Sherrill, is to prevent any 
further destruction of these lands for 
park uses. Institution of the pro¬ 
ceedings will have the immediate ef¬ 
fect of stopping further dumping on 
the grounds. Considerable dumping 
of earth has been going on for some 
time in the Piney Branch Parkway, 
and if it were allowed to continue 
the site would be destroyed. 
It is the purpose of the Park Com- 
jmission to purchase this plot to pro¬ 
vide a driveway by way of Rock 
Creek Park to the downtown section 
\vithout the necessity of getting into 
the heavy traffic in the highways of 
the city proper. 
Negotiations have been conducted 
for some time by the Park Commis- 
fsion in an effort to purchase these 
Sands at a reasonable figure, but it 
has been found impossible to get 
them on this basis. Therefore, it was 
decided to take the land for Govern- 
jment use by condemnation. 
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Beauty So Marred by Dumps 
i; That It Canutft Be Used, 
Sherrill Says. 
Piney Branch Park, long sought as a 
3p®rt of the $ark, system of the District 
of Columbia, has so far been destroyed 
for park purposes by the marring of 
its natural beauties by the dumping- 
incident to the advance of building 
that it never may be purchased. This 
section of parkway follows the valley 
of the old Piney Branch, now piped, 
running between Fourteenth and Var- 
num streets, at its junction with the 
present Tuberculosis Hospital grounds, 
to the east side of the so-called Tiger 
Bridge on Sixteenth street. 
Consistent efforts < were made to 
have the present owners to desist from 
the dumping there and preserve the 
1 ract until legislation could be put 
through. Congress to provide for its 
purchase. But great trucks dump yel¬ 
low clay and debris daily down the 
slopes, destroying Its beauties for all 
time. The provision for the purcha.se 
of this tract was carried in a bill 
Which was up in Congress many times. 
The same measure, always carried the 
authorization for the purchase of the 
Klingle Valley tract in Cleveland Park 
and the Patterson tract on Florida ave¬ 
nue, adjoining the Columbia Institution 
for .the Deaf. 
i Hiive Poiter to Buy. 
Ildwever, the National Capital Park 
Commission has the authority to pur¬ 
chase such tracts without specific au¬ 
thority from Congress. In fact, one 
of the first acts of the commission 
was a purchase of the Klingle Ford 
tract, which was taken over by the 
Government as a part of the park 
system several weeks ago. 
The. Government owns the ground 
up to the east side of the Tiger 
Bridge, and efforts were made to I 1 
haye-Ahe other side purchased before 5 
the -filling was continued up to the iI 
bridge. Local civic bodies made , 
many valiant fights to save this prop¬ 
erty, for the park system. Establish- . 
meht of this parkway would have 1 
made; It possible for traffic to come 
downtown through a beautiful drive ^ 
without having to be impeded by the 
cro §]S7trafflc. on the city streets proper. , 
Lieut. Col. Clarence O. Sherrill, di- f 
rector of public buildings and public ,, 
parks of the National Capital, and 
executive officer of the national park 
commission, said today that the de- c 
struction of the parkway seemed to 
have gone so far that it would be , 
practically useless for the purposes \ 1 
for which it was intended, and that , 
Jt was probable that it would never , 
be purchased. 
The final decision, if it should he j 
not to purchase, would be a source of < 
much regret, it is shown, to the peo- ; 
1 Pie of the District of Columbia. But, , 
< it was pointed out, its natural beau- , 
, ties are so far destroyed that it would i 
be rather expensive to attempt to re- , 
store it. Only a narraw gorge now 
remains down the valley, flanked on . 
either side by ugly clay banks, and in ! ; 
some cases the tree trunks are cov- ’ i 
ered for a portion of their height. 
