April 2S, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



163 



citizens, fifty-seven of whom have given land for public 

 use. Of the $2,250,000 that the Minneapolis parks have cost 

 up to this time, a million has been contributed by citizens, 

 who either gave the land outright, or continue to pay for it 

 in yearly installments of ten per cent, for ten years. The 

 schedule of parks for 1896 enumerates forty-eight different 

 parks and city squares, ranging in size from a fraction of 

 an acre to nearly two hundred acres, and there are plans on 

 foot for a still greater extension of the system. Elaborate 

 reports are yearly published containing photographs which 

 show the charms of the reservations, and it is the aim of the 

 Commission to rival Boston in the extent and beauty of the 

 pleasure-grounds. Playgrounds for the children are not 

 forgotten, and the water frontage affords admirable oppor- 

 tunity for sports of all kinds in summer and winter, boating 

 and skating alternating with each other in making the region 

 of the lakes attractive to the young, while electric cars ren- 

 der the grounds easily accessible. 



Though the resources of the city have not been large 

 enough to greatly develop its system, the authorities have 

 wisely expended them in securing land in different parts of 

 the town while it could be bought at a moderate price, 

 trusting to the growing feeling of the importance of parks 

 to enable them to care for the property as it deserves. 



The parks of Minneapolis fortunately possess such 

 beauty of lake and river, wildwood and glen, that even 

 in their undeveloped state they are full of attraction. The 

 banks of the Mississippi on both sides for some miles 

 below the city have a height of 150 or 200 feet, and are 

 even precipitous in places. These banks are covered with 

 a magnificent growth of trees and shrubbery. Elms, Oaks, 

 Lindens, Ashes, Buttonwoods, Cottonwoods, Birches, 

 Cherry, Willows and Hornbeam are found there, inter- 

 spersed with fine specimens of White Pine and an under- 

 growth of flowering shrubs similar to those of New Eng- 

 land. Little rivulets and springs abound, and on the eastern 

 side two or three natural cascades tumble over the rocks, 

 one of which, known as the Bridal Veil, has a peculiar 

 loveliness. 



One can take a train or a river steamer from Minneapolis 

 or St. Paul to Minnehaha Park, situated at the junction of 

 the stream of that name with the Father of Waters, and find 

 there a wild sylvan region of one hundred and twenty-five 

 acres in extent, containing the famous silvery waterfall 

 which hurries over the stratified rocks into the glen below, 

 amid a surrounding of picturesque wooded hills, green 

 meadows and running brook, " a -New England picture set 

 in a prairie frame." The slender branches of the trees 

 nearly meet above the rushing stream, here and there 

 crossed by a rustic bridge, and the " Laughing Water " dashes 

 into spray over its stony bed after leaping headlong from 

 the cliff. In winter the great ice columns and bowlders 

 heaped high with snow have an impressive aspect, and at 

 all seasons the glen and the waterfall are beautiful. From 

 this park, Minnehaha boulevard, a broad avenue compris- 

 ing nearly two hundred acres, leads to the chain of lakes 

 which bounds the city on the west. Parks and parkways 

 abounding in trees connect these great sheets of water, and 

 another handsome parkway at the northern end leads back 

 into Minneapolis. Thus the city grounds are provided 

 with easy and desirable approaches from both directions, 

 and electric cars furnish transit for those who cannot drive 

 to them. 



The lake parks are visited more frequently than any of the 

 others, and though the improvement of the driveways is 

 still incomplete, the outlooks over the wide, blue expanses, 

 and the noble opportunities afforded for all sorts of water 

 sports, make them very popular and of untold value. 



Minneapolis is situated on level ground, but St. Paul is 

 built mostly on the high bluffs of the winding Mississippi, 

 whose valley, from Minneapolis down past Mendosa and 

 Snelling, through the city, averages half a mile in width. 

 No better site exists for a grand street than Summit Avenue, 

 and no lovelier views can be found anywhere than those 

 from the Indian Mounds Park and the proposed river 



boulevard, but St. Paul does not show such evidences of 

 forethought as distinguish its active rival. Mr. Cleveland's 

 plan suggested beautifying St. Paul as well as its sister 

 city, but the latter seems disposed to allow its unrivaled 

 advantages of situation to slip away from it, and no per- 

 manent provision has yet been made for taking care of 

 even its present inadequate system of parks. Since 1894 

 it has depended on the precarious appropriations made by 

 the Common Council, and barely enough is raised yearly 

 to take care of its existing parks, only one of which is of 

 real importance as to size, Como Park, which contains 396 

 acres, the remaining portions of its 453 acres being par- 

 celed out into twenty-eight small ones. 



Money is expended annually on floral monstrosities, such 

 as the Globe, the Elephant, and Gates Ajar, which might far 

 more profitably be employed in permanent improvements. 

 Meanwhile a plan for the acquisition of a tract on the 

 western shore of Lake Phalen to provide a park and boule- 

 vard with exceptional water privileges has been before the 

 Board of Public Works for years. This is a desirable area 

 of 129^ acres, and an assessment for its purchase was 

 completely made out last fall, but revoked again in the 

 month of March, 1897; and, moreover, the superb site of 

 the park of Indian Mounds, commanding a wide and varied 

 prospect, and which consists of seventeen acres enclosing 

 the curious tumular antiquities from which it takes its 

 name, has never been enlarged, though the adjacent 

 vacant blocks could now be purchased at a a very low 

 rate, much to its advantage. 



If these three parks (Como, Phalen and Indian Mounds) 

 could be put on a proper footing and enlarged to the 

 requisite dimensions, the present needs of the city would 

 be reasonably supplied, though it is a pity to lose time before 

 securing the land on the western bank of the Mississippi 

 for future parkways, such as Minneapolis is provided with 

 already. 



The approaches to Como Park are unsightly and incon- 

 venient. An avenue eighty feet wide was originally de- 

 signed to give access to it, but no improvements according 

 to the original plan have been carried out, and the street is 

 disfigured by a street railway running through its centre. 

 The City Council only last year refused to appropriate the 

 small sum necessary to make of this a suitable parkway, 

 with tracks laid in turf on each side. Other plans on foot 

 for public avenues may be some day perfected, but the 

 original magnificent idea of a river boulevard, running 

 seven and a half miles to the Minneapolis line, embracing 

 an uninterrupted panorama of picturesque views along its 

 whole length, has never been carried out, though the land 

 expense would now be very moderate, and the Park Com- 

 missioners reiterate their appeals for its purchase. 



Lake Como and the Phalen-Gervais group are the ex- 

 treme southern part of the galaxy of lakes which spangle 

 Ramsey County. Noble scenery studded with other lakes 

 lies due north of these for nine miles, the addition of which 

 to its park system would be greatly to the advantage of the 

 city and its people. 



There are 102 acres of water in Como Lake, which has 

 two winding tributary basins in addition to its larger sur- 

 face. Around this lie over two hundred acres of land with 

 fourteen miles of driveway and twenty-two miles of walks. 

 A heavy natural growth of Oaks shades the region, which 

 is densely wooded in parts, and in others diversified by 

 open lawns, the whole affording a delightful resort. Four 

 hundred and fifty thousand visitors were carried to this 

 park in the summer of 1895 by the electric line alone. 



Phalen is a natural park consisting mainly of native forest 

 surrounding 450 acres of water surface, and the plan of 

 improvements contemplates the deepening and widening 

 of a small stream a little over a mile long which connects 

 it with Lake Gervais, so as to make a slack-water channel 

 for boats and motor barges, which would open a nearly 

 four-mile stretch of water promenade through the beautiful 

 scenery of the lakes and intermediate valley. It is a pity 

 that provision for securing the land and for carrying out the 



