Might be a hornbeam - Carpinus.

Better pictures would be important for an ID.

While the tree in my fathers yard was no where near the size of this one it was about 14" in diameter. The leafs looks similar to what he always called a Chinese Elm. ( I zoomed in on the area in the upper left of the 3rd pictures where the leaves are clear.)

I’m still going with Carpinus betulus - there are at least three fastigiate varieties, and the last picture seems to show a tightly upright branching structure.

It's not Carpinus - the leaves are not pleated enough for C. betulus and any of the fastigiate cultivars are unlikely to produce a 40' wide canopy! 'Fastigiata' (the least fastigiate of the selections) is a common street tree here but even very mature ones only get about 25' wide at the base of the foliage, not the canopy crown. The bark is also not calling out carpinus :-)

Nothofagus or southern beech came to mind but most species that grow here in Seattle also have rather pleated foliage, which does not show up in any of the OPs photos.

Is it possible to get a shot of the tree taken at a distance to see its entirety? And leaf detail, please.

I have a far-fetched hunch about this one, but it's so far fetched, I'm just going to wait for better pictures!

If you can, get a stem w/leaves & place it on a white background & get a close-up pic. The form is elm/zelcova/hornbeam-like. Never seen a northern-hemisphere beech grow like that, but I have no idea about southern beech, and the shallow, extensive root crown on the surface is beech-like.

Could be Ironwood ( American Hornbeam ).

I agree with Carpinus betulus. They can have a spread of 35 feet, so it's believable that it could reach 40ft. Everything matches, the bark, the stems, the leaves which look pleated enough to me. I don't think the OP will be giving us anymore pics.

the bark seems a little whitish and smooth for Carpinus but it's in the range of variation I suppose

This tree resembles pictures I've seen of Celtis africana, which Rachel Saunders told me she thought was probably one of the hardiest deciduous trees native to South Africa. But they are incredibly rare in Northern Hemisphere gardens, apparently. Probably incredibly rare gardens in outside of ZA, period. http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/multisite/multisite3.php I'm trying a few...if they make it, they make it, if not, no great loss. It's interesting but not something astonishing like Bretschneidera. (It's possible mine will be a little hardier because there is some hybridization with other, Asian Celtis happening in its native range now. It definitely doesn't look like our native hackberry seedlings.) Still, could some intrepid South African brought seeds to the PNW decades ago? Not impossible!

Yes, but Occam’s razor: if you hear hoofbeats, it’s probably a horse, and not a zebra.

Carpinus betula is abundant in the PNW.

Oh, definitely I agree. I was just revealing what my other suspicion had been!

Hi, sorry to leave you all hanging, I haven't been on for a week or so. But I guess I am still leaving you hanging because I don't have better pictures. I will hopefully drop by the house this week and take some more. Sadly, these were the best pictures I could get, the canopy is to high up for me to reach but with fall approaching I might be able to find a leaf on the ground. I will also and get one from the ground but further back so you can see the entire structure.