From the 19th century onwards, the number of writers recording their visits increased substantially, and the number of cedars counted by the writers was in hundreds. Alphonse de Lamartine visited the place during his travel in Lebanon (1832–33), mentioning the cedars in some texts, and Henry Bordeaux came in 1922 and wrote, "Yamilé", a story about the place. Concern for the protection of the biblical "cedars of God" goes back to 1876, when the grove was surrounded by a high stone wall, paid for by Queen Victoria, to protect saplings from browsing by goats. Nevertheless, during World War I, British troops used cedar to build railroads.