As has been related, more than three centuries ago, or in the summer of 1608, Capt. John Smith, in an exploration of the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, landed on these very banks. He found a tribe of peaceful Indians, the Nacotchtant (Anacostans), numbering some 80 men, kind and well disposed, who did their best to content Captain Smith and his fellow explorers. These Indians no doubt made their home in this neighborhood on account of the abundance of game.
One of the largest water-lily gardens, the Shaw Lily Gardens, is situated opposite Mount Hamilton, on the east side of the Anacostia River. It is thought these ultimately will become part of the Anacostia Park. The Anacostia is also a popular place for fishing, and it is expected fish ponds will be established there later.
A large stadium and playground at the end of East Capitol Street, adjoining Anacostia Park, is proposed. The National Arboretum will be adjacent to it from Mount Hamilton eastward.
NATIONAL ARBORETUM
The movement to establish a National Arboretum was first definitely proposed by Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, in his report for the fiscal year 1899—
One in which can be brought together for study all the trees that will grow in Washington, D. C., * * * furnishing complete material for the investigations of the Department of Agriculture, and so managed as to be a perennial means of botanical education.
In 1918 the Commission of Fine Arts, at the request of the House Committee on the Library, made a study of the problem of the location of a proposed botanical garden and arboretum. After an elaborate study, conducted with the help of the Department of Agriculture, the commission recommended the purchase of Mount Hamilton and adjacent land, and Hickey Hill, together with the lands between those heights and the Anacostia marshes, in northeast Washington. The report of the commission encountered opposition, but its logic has prevailed.
MAP OF NATIONAL ARBORETUM PREPARED BY THE NATIONAL COMMISSION OF FINE ARTS
The act providing for the establishment of the National Arboretum, approved March 4, 1927, is one of the few measures that survived the filibuster in the Senate on the closing day of that session, because of the untiring efforts of Senator Charles L. McNary, of Oregon, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. Hon. Robert Luce, chairman of the Committee on the Library, handled the bill in the House of Representatives. The sum of $300,000 was authorized by the act for the National Arboretum, and this amount was subsequently appropriated. The act provided also for the appointment by the Secretary of Agriculture of an advisory council in relation to the plan and development of the National Arboretum. To serve on this council the Secretary of Agriculture appointed the following persons: