1334 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
Letter from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution transmitting 
a report of the Loological Park Commission. 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 
Washington, D. C., January 17, 1890. 
Str: I am instructed by the commission for the establishment of a zoological park 
in the District of Columbia to present a report. This report, signed in duplicate, I 
have the honor to inclose to you. 
Very respectfully, yours, S. P. LANGLEY, © 
Secretary Smithsonian Institution and Secretary Zoological Park Commission. 
The SPEAKER OF THE House or REPRESENTATIVES. 
REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMISSION TO ESTABLISH A ZOOLOGICAL PARK 
IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
OFFICE OF THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK COMMISSION, 
Smithsonian Building, Washington, January 16, 1890. 
To the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled: 
The commission for the establishment of a zoological park has the honor to report 
that by the terms of the act of Congress entitled ‘‘An act making appropriations to 
provide for the expenses of the government of the District of Columbia for the fiscal 
year ending June 30, 1890, and for other purposes’’ (approved March 2, 1889), sec- 
tion 4 of which provides ‘‘for the establishment of a zoological park in the District 
of Columbia,’’ this commission was created and charged with the duty of selecting, 
within a specified area, a tract of land suitable for a zoological park, and of purchas- 
ing the same for the Government; and for this purpose an appropriation of $200,000 
was made. 
_ The commission was authorized and directed to make an inspection of the country 
along Rock Creek, between Massachusetts avenue and the point where said creek is 
crossed by the military road leading west from Brightwood, and to select from that 
district of country a tract of land of not less than 100 acres, and which shall include 
a section of the creek, such as the commission shall deem suitable and appropriate 
for a zoological park ‘‘for the advancement of science and the instruction and recre- 
ation of the people.’’ 
On March 9, 1889, the commission held its first meeting, effected an organization, 
and immediately thereafter began to inspect the country situated between the two 
points on Rock Creek that were designated by Congress. At the request of the com- 
mission the Director of the Geological Survey caused to be prepared a preliminary 
map, based on the charts of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, showing the 
ownership of each separate parcel of real estate in the region available for the location 
of the park. 
The members of the commission made repeated personal tours of inspection to and 
through the various portions of the Rock Creek region between Massachusetts avenue 
extended and the military road, a tract of country over 3 miles in length, every por- 
tion of that region being visited and studied until the relative merits of the different 
possible sites:for a zoological park were all considered. 
Inasmuch as the act required that the first step toward condemnation proceedings 
should be the locating of the park, and the filing in the public records of a careful 
map of the same, ‘‘showing the location, quantity, and character of each parcel of 
private property to be taken,’’ the commission found itself confronted with the 
danger of locating a park which might afterward be condemned .and appraised at a 
total valuation in excess of the amount appropriated. In view of this, of the numer- 
ous holders, and of the excessive prices in many cases demanded, it was decided to 
invite the various owners of lands along Rock Creek, between the two points indi- 
cated, to state to the commission in writing the lowest prices at which they would 
be willing to sell all, or certain specified portions of their lands, for the purposes of a 
zoological park. 
