REPORT OF THE SECKETAKY. 31 



but as regards its future, tor it need liardly be said that it lias dis- 

 couraged and vebuiited uiaiiy i)ublic-si)irited citizens who would have 

 been glad to ])rcseiit animals to the park, and who \\ill now cease to 

 have any further interest in the enterprise. 



DinKjvrs hi/frcshcf. — On tiie .Ith of September, 1S!»1. a tieshet ot un- 

 usual violence inva<h'd the valley of K'ock (^reek. Such was the rapid- 

 ity of the increase of water that in less than half an hour tlie little 

 stream had risen feet and had become a torrent of considerable mag- 

 nitude and ])ower. The piers lor the bridge had Just been completed, 

 but the banks above and below were not yet ])rotected from the abra- 

 sion of a flood. In consecpience of this the water formed an eddy 

 near one of the piers, causing it to break, and cracked one of the abut- 

 ments. It is believed that this unfortunate accident was not due to any 

 defect in the design of the pier (wliich was constructed un(hn' the com- 

 l)etent supervision of the late Gen. ]Meigs), but rather to the fact that 

 the frcslu^t occurred betbre the neighboring banks weie iirojicrly pre- 

 l)ared. 



The damage to the pier was by no means the total extent of that 

 caused by the flood. The bear-yards, then nearly completed and ready 

 for occupation, were very seriously injured by the precipitation into 

 them of many tons of rock and earth. Tins made it evident that the 

 bank of earth and decomposed rock on the cliff above the yards could 

 not be depended on without some additional safeguard. The heavy 

 fall of water seriously injured and cut away the new r< ►ads, gutters, 

 and drains that were yet fresh and unsettled, removed whole banks of 

 earth from fresh slopes and washed oiit trees and bushes. The creek 

 changed the level of its banks, cutting out a new channel for itself in 

 several i)laces, and < overed the slopes with hundreds of tons of gravel 

 and sand, and occasionally even deposited considerable stones, which 

 were lifted by the rushing water and left upon the grass as a. striking 

 evidence of the violence of the flood. Imnu'diate stei)s were commenced 

 to repair the damage, butthis work was not completed within the flscal 

 year on account of the insufficiency of the appropriation. 



The bear-yards are in an abandoned (]uarry, adjoining a i)recipice 

 whose summit is upon tlie extreme boundary line of the])ark. For this 

 reason no permanent i)rotection can be provided until the Government 

 secures tlie few contiguous roods needed at the top. With this the sum- 

 mit of the precipice, formed of the original rock, would constitute the 

 cheap and natural barrier. For protection uiuler the actual, existing 

 conditions, the only measure (and it is both incomplete and expensive) is 

 to build a I'ctaiuing w;dl reaching from the solid rock of the cliff high 

 enough to hold any detritus that might be disjjlaced by the action of 

 rain or frost.* This has been commenced, but left incompleted owing 

 to lack of funds. 



*.See illustnitiuii, Ii:it<' II. imgv. 11. 



