PAR K AND C EM ETER 
grounds, ranging in size from a city block 
to thirty acres in area. Twelve of these 
playgrounds have been substantially im- 
proved with modern outdoor gymnasium 
equipment of steel and other recreation fa- 
cilities of a modern play field, and men and 
women supervisors are in charge from 
May until October of each year. Four of 
the playgrounds are provided with recrea- 
tion buildings or field houses, making pos- 
sible all year round work. 
Another recreation feature, not pos- 
sessed by many cities, is Alki Point Bath- 
ing Beach, comprising a half mile of salt 
water frontage on the entrance to the 
harbor, the only municipally owned bath- 
ing beach on the Pacific Coast. 
The entire water frontage of Green 
Lake is park property, including a con- 
siderable tract of land at the north end 
of the lake purchased from the electric 
compan}'. Inasmuch as a street railway 
line and public highway follow closely the 
shore line nearly the entire distance around 
the lake, Mr. Olmsted in making his im- 
provement plan provided for a new shore 
line out in the lake a considerable dis- 
tance from the old shore line in many in- 
stances. the area between to be filled and 
used as a park. The result of this plan 
will be to make Green Lake a lake within 
a park, the shore frontage thus created 
amounting to eighty-nine acres. Develop- 
ment work on the project is progressing 
slowly, the dike on the new shore line 
having been completed and a dredger is 
now engaged in pumping mud from the 
lake and filling the area between the dike 
and the old shore line. This is the most 
pretentious improvement which the de- 
partment has in hand, and when finally 
completed Green Lake and Parkway will 
be a unique park feature. 
Seward Park, a magnificent natural 
park extending into Lake Washington 
from the southeastern section of the 
city, is the most extensive and most 
expensive subdivision of the park sys- 
tem. It retains its original growth of 
virgin timber and vegetation, and can 
be converted into a unique and beau- 
tiful natural park. At present it is 
practically inaccessible except by water, 
but the extension of the Lake Washing- 
ton Boulevard, along the lake shore from 
Mt. Baker Park, will overcome this dif- 
ficulty. No improvement work has been 
done aside from the opening up of trails 
so that picnickers and pedestrians may get 
about. An elaborate plan for the improve- 
ment of this park has been prepared by 
Olmsted Brothers, which will call for sub- 
stantial appropriation in a future bond is- 
sue. 
Volunteer Park is considered as the 
downtown park of the system on account 
of being the closest park of any size to the 
hotel and business district. For this rea- 
son it was desired that it should present 
a metropolitan appearance, and very ex- 
tensive formal improvements have been 
made. The park occupies the highest van- 
/ / 
MT. RAINIEll, LAKE WASHINGTON BOHLEVARD, MT. BAKER PARK. 
tage ground in the city, with a magnificent 
panoramic view of Lake Washington and 
the Cascades to the east, the Sound and 
the Olympics to the west, and sectional 
views of the city to the north and south. 
The high service reservoir and standpipe 
of the Water Department are within the 
park, but blend so nicely wdth the park 
improvements as to be an attraction rather 
than a detriment. The standpipe has been 
encased with an outer wall of clinker 
brick, with a winding stairway extending 
to the top, which has been arranged in- 
side as a public observatory, and being the 
highest point in the city, the lake, moun- 
tains, Sound and landscape view is incom- 
parable. Surrounding the reservoir, law'ns. 
slope plantations and formal gardens have 
I'een developed. A series of macadam 
drives 4,750 feet in length have Ijeen com- 
pleted within the park, two lily ponds and 
a large children's wading pool have been 
constructed, also a Children's Shelter and 
Comfort Station and a combination Per- 
gola, Music Pavilion and Comfort Sta- 
tion. 
Lake Washington Boulevard extends 
along the lake shore from Colman Park 
at the foot of Holgate Street to Dodge’s 
Point at Court Street. With the magnifi- 
cent water and mountain view on the one 
side and the wooded slopes of Mt. Baker 
Park on the other side, this is the most 
attractive section of the entire boulevard 
system. A rip-rap sea wall 6,100 feet in 
length extends along the shore line, paral- 
leled by a cement walk for pedestrians, 
then a parking strip and line of trees, then 
a metalled roadway for vehicles extending 
to the wooded slopes, which form a shaded 
retreat for picnickers. 
During lOLJ the lakeshore right-of-way 
from. Mt. Baker to Seward Park was ac- 
quired. A trestle bridge feet in 
length was constructed from the Mt. Baker 
terminus to a connection with a plank 
road that affords a temporary route to 
Seward Park. The permanent boulevard 
will occupy the shore line, but inasmuch 
as the lowering of the lake in connection 
with the construction of the Lake Wash- 
ington Canal changed conditions mate- 
rially, construction was deferred until the 
lake was lowered.. This work will be done 
during 1917. 
Superintendent J. W. Thompson reports 
that no new areas were added to the sys- 
tem during the year, and no new projects 
of any magnitude undertaken, by reason 
of the fact that extension funds from the 
proceeds of park bond issues have been 
expended, with the exception of an ap- 
propriation for the extension of the Lake 
Washington parkway from Mt. Baker to 
Seward Park mentioned above. 
The problem of the year was, there- 
fore, to conserve as much of a margin 
as possible, over and above maintenance 
expense, from the annual income from the 
tax levy, etc., to use for improvement 
work. The revenue for the year from all 
sources aggregated $242,.572.6l>, and by ex- 
ercising every possible economy, without 
decreasing efficiency, maintenance was held 
down to a total of $191,256.54, leaving a 
margin of $51,316.06 for improvements 
over the entire system and for emergency 
surplus. 
Contract for Credit Lot Sale 
Editor P.\RK AND Cemetery: We have 
been interested in the discussion recently 
carried on in “Park and Cemetery” and are 
enclosing a copy of our agreement of sale 
on credit. 
We find that the 8 per cent charge above 
the cash price of lots works out as a very 
reasonable price for the accommodation, 
and we also find that purchasers make an 
effort to anticipate payments in order to 
save this interest charge. 
Our counsel informs us that an agree- 
ment similar to this was upheld by the 
Supreme Court of Massachusetts in Green 
