24 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 
expensive wooden bridges have been in use. During the progress of 
the work they have been several times swept away or seriously injured. 
A number of trees have been planted in different parts of the park, 
in some places for ornament, in others to secure the proper seclusion of 
animals. A considerable area of open land has been prepared for lawn 
and pasture grgunds. 
The development of the park has proceeded steadily during the year, 
the minimum of change in the natural features of the picturesque region 
being made on principle and independent of any considerations of 
economy. As the approach from the city by the way of the Quarry 
road could be made available at the least expense to the park, that 
road is adopted provisionally as the main carriage entrance. At the 
request of the Secretary the Commissioners of the District of Columbia 
expended a sum of $1,000 in grading and repairing this road, but while 
it has served a useful purpose it is still far from satisfactory as a prin- 
cipal avenue of approach. The grade is steep, the carriage way nar- 
row, and the roadbed not sufficiently thick to endure heavy travel. 
The system of roads contemplates other means of approach, especially 
a bridle path by the way of Ontario avenue, a footpath (which will 
probably be enlarged to a carriage road as means may permit) by the 
way of Woodley Bridge, extending along the creek through the park 
as far as the Klingle Bridge, and a carriage road entering from Con- 
necticut avenue extended on the west side of the park, by which per- 
sons brought by the Rock Creek Railway can readily pass in. A wind- 
ing footpath from the Adams Mill road leads by means of rudely con- 
structed steps and a simple rustic bridge down the cliffs and across a 
narrow ravine into the occupied portion of the park. 
Before animals could be safely kept in the park, it was necessary to 
inclose it so as to insure control of all the territory within its limits. 
A boundary fence was therefore built, and experience has shown it to 
be absolutely essential to the safety and well-being of the animals as 
well as to the preservation of the trees, shrubbery, and property of the 
park. 
Near what is for the present the principal entrance is a disused 
quarry, from which arise precipitous cliffs and bold rocky ledges. It 
seemed particularly well fitted for the construction of dens and yards 
for bears. A series of caverns has been blasted in the rock and inclosed 
by a stout iron fence. Within the fence are large and commodious 
yards in which have been constructed bathing pools, with water flow- 
ing constantly from a large spring outside the park at the side of Quarry 
road. The result has been a place admirably adapted for the health 
and general welfare of the animals, as well as a most picturesque and 
striking feature. It has been found necessary, in order to protect the 
yards from falling dirt and débris swept down the cliffs by rains, to build 
a retaining wall on the ledge above the dens at once, and this has been 
done in part, for the reasons already stated, in such a manner as itis to 
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