Survivors in Fremont

At one time rows of American elms were a signature of town streets throughout the Northeast and Midwest. With their arching, fountain-like crowns interlaced as much as 100 feet overhead, American elms transformed roads into cathedrals from Philadelphia to Chicago. In an address to the Illinois Horticultural Society in 1882, horticulturist John Warder said, “Let the whole avenue consist of noble elms, arching beautifully overhead.”

Then, in the middle of last century, the Dutch elm disease was inadvertently imported from Europe, resulting in a catastrophic die-off. The practice of planting elms in rows, closely enough that their roots intermingled, facilitated the rapid spread of the fungal infection, while bark beetles became vectors spreading the disease to new areas.

But the American elm did not die out entirely, and in isolated instances may still be found here and there on back roads and in woods, and even in a few cities.

The trees pictured here were observed on a back road in the Town of Fremont. We sent photos of them to Scott Graber at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Center of Sullivan County, and he judged that they were certainly elm and “most likely” American elm.

Although the trees do not appear to be infected by the Dutch elm disease, it is clear from the leaves that they have been plagued by pests, and seem to be under stress. If they are indeed survivors of the plague that wiped out most of their relatives, it is to be hoped that they fight through their afflictions and remain a reminder to denizens of the Upper Delaware region of this threatened but magnificent species.