28 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



southern side by taking in the cemetery that now lies near the Adams 

 mill entrance and constitutes a serious blot upon the surroundings of 

 the park. 



The following letter from the landscape architects, Messrs. Olmsted, 

 Olmsted & Eliot, sets forth the advantages of the additions upon the 

 eastern side of the park, and may be considered in connection with 

 the plan just referred to, and the adjoining bird's-eye view, the same 

 letters in each case indicating the same features: 



Dear Sir : We have at various times since our first employment in 

 connection with the Zoological Park strongly urged that more laud 

 be acquired in order to secure a suitable boundary at various points. 



Having been employed a year or more in connection with the plans 

 for the extension of the street system in the city of Washington, we 

 gave considerable study to the question of suitable boundary streets 

 on the east side of the Zoological Park, and in designing these streets 

 we were governed largely by regard for the desirability of adding to 

 the Zoological Park with a view to improving its landscape borders. 



It is generally recognized that the Zoological Park is not solely a 

 piece of ground of sufficient area for the proper maintenance and exhi- 

 bition of living animals, but that it possesses remarkable landscape 

 beauties and includes a considerable part of one of the most charac- 

 teristic topographical features of Washington, namely, Rock Creek, 

 winding picturesquely among unusually high hills and with beautiful, 

 wooded slopes. 



It is obvious, therefore, that in securing land primarily for the pur- 

 pose of a zoological park it would be a great waste of a most valuable 

 opportunity not to secure also, to be preserved for the enjoyment of the 

 public, the scenery of Rock Creek and the adjoining slopes. This pur- 

 pose was undoubtedly constantly had in view at the time the Zoological 

 Park was purchased, but unfortunately, owing to the inadequacy of 

 the funds then available, some pieces of laud of vital importance in the 

 landscape had to be omitted. 



The laud which it is of most pressing importance to add as soon as 

 possible to the park lies along the eastern boundary from a point near 

 the southeast corner to Kenyon street. This addition may, if necessary, 

 be secured in three stages. 



The most important is a narrow strip (C) above the abandoned quar- 

 ries now occupied in part as the bear pits, and extending from the end 

 of the southerly branch of Summit road to the Quarry road. Above 

 the solid ledge in the old quarries there is a constantly disintegrating 

 stratum of rock, the face of which is nearly vertical, and from which 

 pieces of rock of considerable size are frequently falling through the 

 action of the weather, endangering people's lives, and also the animals 

 in the cages below and the property of the park. Above this disinte- 

 grating rock is a bank of hard earth, approaching the consistency of 

 stone, which stands at an angle much steeper thau engineers would re- 

 gard as safe. This bank can not be sloped back to a gentler inclination, 

 because the top of it ends immediately at the boundary of the park, 

 and it would be a serious damage to the private lauds adjoining to have 

 the present surface lowered. ^We believe that no one examining the 

 matter on the ground would hesitate a moment in acknowledging that 

 an addition to the Zoological Park at this point is a pressing necessity 

 for safety, aside from any consideration of benefit to the landscape and 

 suitability of appearance. 



