THE TRR IGH1ION AGE. 29 



Enclosed please find a plan and description of my modern railroad 

 'towns for the arid regions, from which you will see that I take some 

 interest in the arid land question. As you will see from my design, I 

 :am not in favor of square blocks in towns; I prefer the curved lines 

 the lines of beauty; neither do I like to see a town started with a so- 

 called "main street," where the saloons outnumber the stores; it is 

 not inviting, and will not draw intelligent settlers. 



Hoping my idea will be of some interest for the readers of the 

 AGE. 



BRIEF DESCRIPTION. As a means of developing the desert lands 

 in portions of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and California, it is pro- 

 posed to lay out, at the railroad lines, towns on suitable locations, 

 where irrigation can be made available according to the plan sub- 

 mitted, with streets in curved lines, as shown. The grounds around 

 the railroad station are to be selected for a park, and are to be beauti- 

 fied by flower beds, lawns and shrubbery. Residence portions of the 

 town are to be planted with ornamental and fruit trees, flower bushes 

 and shrubbery before the lots are sold. The business part of the town 

 is to be hidden from view and located around an oval market, the 

 building restrictions of the town being so drawn that business build- 

 ings will be permitted only in this locality, thereby doing away with 

 the everywhere present ''main store," with its shanties and saloons. 



On either side of the railroad lines, extending to the town limits 

 and around the town, it is proposed to lay out boulevards and plant 

 them with shade trees, with here and there flower beds, shrubbery, 

 etc. Just outside the residence lots, the land is to be laid out in five 

 and ten acre tracts, with larger ranches, farms and alfalfa fields out- 

 side the town limits. The scheme would seek to give all possible 

 assistance and encouragement to actual settlers who would buy and 

 improve land along the railroad lines in both directions from the town, 

 by low prices for land, privilege of long time payment, low interes^ 

 etc., and giving as far as possible, the work of laying out the town, 

 the building of roads and streets, irrigation pipe lines and ditches, the 

 planting of trees and the care of lots, ranches, etc., to the settlers. 



In this way it is thought that, starting with the place partly im- 

 proved, the homeseeker with capital would come and invest in ranches 

 and lots, and it is also thought that, with the restrictions above noted, 

 an intelligent and progressive class of settlers could be drawn, who 

 would soon make use of the sites for schools, churches, library, Y. M. 

 -C. A. building, etc. 



To explain the lay-out of the town, the following key is attached: 



1, Railroad station; 2, hotel and opera house; 3, fountains; 4, 

 stores; 5, market; 6, alleys; 7, church sites; 8, school sites; 9, library 

 and club house; 10, Y. M. C. A. building site; 11, natatorium site; 12, 

 electric light and power station; 13, lawns and flower beds; 14, boule- 

 vards; 20, high trellis for climbing rose around business alleys. 



