134 FIRST COUNTY PARK SYSTEM 
It was, therefore, largely a matter of Hobson’s choice 
with the commission as to which horn of the dilemma should 
be taken. The matter was held in abeyance and left unde- 
cided for years. Commissioner Bramhall, who had pre- 
viously taken an active interest in the question, afterward 
wrote a formal letter to the board protesting against the 
lake raising level plan. That plan was, however, adopted, 
and, at the Park Board meeting August 9, 1904, bids were 
received for removing the bogs and other growth from the 
lake. These bids were for amounts from $32,000 up to 
$97,500. The contract was awarded to P. Sanford Ross at 
his bid of $32,000, and the work began in October, 1904. 
The lake water is now at the raised level and the bog clean- 
ing contract is practically finished. This lake and the sur- 
rounding bog marsh comprise about eighty acres. When 
dredged and portions of the borders filled in, the lake area 
proper will be between fifty and sixty acres. 
The old race track of the fair association is used under a 
nominal lease by the Road Horse Association. The “play 
stead” is used, as was intended (mosquitoes permitting), 
for athletic sports. 
The cash expenditures for land for the Weequahic reser- 
vation, including the $75,000 to the ‘fair association, grew 
from the estimated cost in 1895 of $180,900, to the cash 
expenditure up to December 31, 1901, of $243,563. The 
improvements up to that time had cost $67,258. Large ex- 
penditures have since been made, and must continue to be 
made, before this park of 265 acres can well or effectively 
answer, to any marked advantage, the purpose for which 
it was acquired. 
