'98 AliTNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1&16. 



Automobile. — The office of the park very much needs to have a 

 small automobile for use in attending to the public business. The 

 distances within the park itself are so considerable that it is a great 

 waste of time and energy to traverse them on foot, or by horse 

 vehicle, and the use of an automobile would greatly increase effi- 

 ciency in the business of the park. The purchase does not involve any 

 increase of the appropriation for the park, but merely the insertion 

 of a clause in the appropriation act authorizing the purchase of a 

 motor-propelled vehicle. 



Roads. — The ordinary thoroughfares in the park were, at the close 

 of the fiscal year, in fair condition. Nothing has been done, how- 

 ever, toward the repairing of the injury done by the construction by 

 the District of the main trunk sewer knoAvn as the Rock Creek Main 

 Interceptor. Attempts were made to get an appropriation to repair 

 this defacement of the natural beauty of the park, but as yet v/ithout 

 avail. The remarks then made were as follows : 



By authority of Congress a large sewer has been constructed on the right 

 bank of Rock Creek through the entire length of the park, part of it being laid 

 in a deep open cut, and part of it in a tunnel. A very large amount of rock has 

 been excavated by blasting and this has been piled along the bank of the stream, 

 destroying the natural beauty of the park by large piles of fragments of stone. 

 While the contractor Vv'as required to " restore the surface as nearly as possible 

 to the condition in which he found it," yet the amount of disturbance is so 

 great that it is practically impossible to do this. It is proposed to cover these 

 stone heaps with earth and to plant upon them, trees and shrubs which will 

 modify the unsightly appearance. A narrow road can be formed upon the top of 

 the open cut sewer which will be a convenience to the public entering the park 

 from the southern end. 



The general appropriation for the park has remained at $100,000 

 per annum for six years past. This has had to suffice for the repairs 

 and construction of buildings, the care of grounds, and the mainte- 

 nance of roads and walks. In the meantime the cost of supplies, ma- 

 terials of all kinds, and labor has steadily increased so that there has 

 been no opportunity to make even the most necessary improvements. 

 The appropriations should be markedly increased, since a well- 

 equipped zoological park is something of which the nation may well 

 be proud. 



Respectfully submitted. 



Frank Baker, 

 Superintendent. 

 Dr. Charles D. Walcott, 



Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution., 



Washington^ D. C. 



