30 
EASTERN SHADE TREE CONFERENCE 
the explanation for diverse and often apparently conflicting observations 
of specific tree injuries. However, all reports agree that the large num¬ 
ber of trees destroyed by the hurricane is unprecedented and the state¬ 
ment in the press that 100,000,000 trees were down in Massachusetts 
appears to be a reasonable estimate. Not all of these trees were shade 
trees by any means since the forest plantings suffered heavily; but the 
loss of street trees as well as ornamental trees on private property was a 
major catastrophe. 
In Central Massachusetts trees were partially or completely uprooted 
throughout a rather wide but not unbroken area. In the town of 
Amherst for example, approximately 1000 trees on public property 
were uprooted or otherwise destroyed, while in the town of South Hadley 
about ten miles south of Amherst relatively few trees were destroyed, 
but the loss included the progressively weakened sycamore which stood 
out so prominently on the highway approaching Mount Holyoke College 
from Amherst. In the town of Sunderland the collapse of two huge and 
vigorous elms long known as landmarks on the east side of the main 
street left a gap to mar the tranquil beauty of this quaint New England 
village street. Less than a half mile north of these elms the renowned 
sycamore, believed to be the largest tree of its species in Massachusetts, 
escaped serious injury. The destruction of sugar maples in Sunderland 
was sufficiently extensive to indicate a curtailment of maple syrup 
products next spring. On the west side of the Connecticut River just 
across the Sunderland Bridge in the historic town of Deerfield, locale of 
the early Indian massacre and now a mecca for tourists, with its fre¬ 
quently photographed colonial structures picturesquely framed by 
stately elms, considerable damage resulted to trees and buildings in that 
area but fortunately the damage is not beyond repair. 
Meteorological conditions for the period preceding the hurricane as 
recorded by the observatory at Massachusetts State College have an 
important bearing on the extent of destruction of trees in Central 
Massachusetts. During a heavy rainstorm from the 17th and terminat¬ 
ing with the hurricane on the 21st of September, a total of 11.96 inches 
of rain fell in a period of slightly more than four days. On September 
20, the Deerfield River rose two inches in one hour. During the four 
days of the storm the Connecticut River rose to a height of 14.9 feet 
over the Holyoke Dam, which reading is 1.7 feet lower than in the flood 
of March 1936 and .1 foot higher than in the flood of November 1927. 
During the month of September the total rainfall was 14.55 inches 
