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THE AMERICAN MONTHLY REVIEW OE REVIEWS. 



INDUSTRY INVADING NATURE'S HAUNTS, A SCENE ON THE BRONX IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY.* 



(To restore the right bank to a condition something like that of the lefl bank will be one of the objects 



of the Parkway Commission.) 



sico reservoir, amid the Westchester hills. 

 Acquiring by condemnation a strip of land 

 from 300 to 1000 feet wide, along both banks 

 of the Bronx, the parkway commission will 

 be able once for all to check the pollution 

 of the stream and restore its waters to their 

 original state of purity. Without some con- 

 trol of this sort the stream is rapidly becom- 

 ing a public nuisance. It is only a question 

 of time when it. will have to be dealt with as 

 a sewer. 



Apart from the question of sanitation, the 

 preservation of scenic features would justify 

 such a work as the proposed parkway. For 

 several miles in Westchester county the banks 

 of the Bronx are wooded and remain almost 

 as they were when white men first came to 

 the region, more than two centuries ago ; but 

 if steps are not taken very soon to secure pos- 

 session of these wooded banks they will be 

 despoiled of their beauty forever. It would 



*The photographs accompanying this article, 

 taken by Col. E. A. Havers, are reproduced by the 

 courtesy of the Bronx-River Parkway Commission. 



be a shame to permit the needless sacrifice 

 of these bits of woodland scenery, within 

 twenty miles of New York City, now that 

 they have survived to this late day the rav- 

 ages of real-estate companies and suburban- 

 lot speculators. 



Besides ministering to the city's aesthetic 

 needs, the Bronx-River parkway will offer a 

 direct and practical connection between New 

 York's park system and the open country to 

 the northward. It will be the chief boule- 

 vard leading out of the city. From the limits 

 of Bronx Park it wall form a continuous 

 driveway for fifteen miles, to the great Ken- 

 sico reservation of 4000 acres which is soon 

 to be established in connection with New- 

 York's system of water supply. The cost of 

 the parkway will be divided between New 

 York City and Westchester county, the 

 former paying three-fourths and the latter 

 one-fourth. The total cost is estimated at 

 $2,500,000, the amount to be expended 

 under a State commission named in the bill 

 as introduced in the Legislature at Albany. 



