Chainsaws last week finished the work that time, disease and rot started on the maple trees that for more than 50 years shaded the graves in Pioneer Cemetery.

City officials said the trees in the century-plus cemetery between Auburn Way North and Eighth Street Northeast were in danger of toppling and had to be brought down. Some of them had only a couple inches of good wood left holding up a 36-inch trunk.

“You could put a probe all the way through those trees,” said Daryl Faber, director of Auburn Parks, Arts and Recreation.

Faber said the City learned about the problem three to four years ago and already had taken down three of the 10 tree because of the danger of falling limbs. The trees had been improperly trimmed over the last 20 to 30 years, leading to decay and rot. They also had been continuously trimmed over Auburn Way North, so all the weight was on the other side of the tree.

A small crowd, drawn there not for sentimental reasons but for the free wood, gathered in the gravel parking lot east of the cemetery as a crew from Rainier Tree Company brought the big trees down.

“It’s good wood,” said Sh’ell McPharren, who’d driven up from Kent for the chance to cart some of it away.

McPharren came away, however, impressed by the little cemetery and the seriousness of the danger the rotting trees posed.

“They cut one tree and water just poured out,” McPharren said.

Pioneer Cemetery won’t be without trees for long, though the trees that take their place will take a long time to reach the stately grandeur of their forebears.

“Next week we’ll be replanting the cemetery with 10 Autumn Blaze maples,” Faber said.