114 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
Aimual reports or extracts from thetn^ historical sketches^ 
descriptive circulars^ photos'raphs of ijnprove7ncnts or dis- 
tinctive featjires are requested for use in this departjne7it. 
The 1906 assessment of the 39 towns in the Metropol- 
itan Park District about Boston for the maintenance of 
the parks, recently publislied, amounts to $996,435, of 
which Boston pa3'-s $608,794. The four towns next in 
order are; Cambridge, $45,797; Brookline, $33,769; Lynn, 
$22,158; Somerville, $21,865. 
* * * 
Few spots have more natural advantages of beautiful 
scenery than Indian Mounds and Riverside Parks, 
Quincy, 111 ., and the city is indebted to those far-sighted, 
public spirited men who have enabled it to hold the 
ground in perpetuity. The Indian mounds were saved 
just in time and so was the noble, precipitous bluff on 
which they stand, from which the river can be seen, un- 
winding like a grand panorama, for 
miles. South Side Park has a fine nat- 
ural spring, filling to the brim a natural 
basin in the solid rock, many towering 
monarches of the old forest and a vast 
variety of shrubs. 
* * * 
Superintendent G. A. Parker, of the 
Hartford, Conn., parks, sends us an ex- 
tract from a contribution to the Boston 
Journal over 44 years old, that exhibits 
some remarkably advanced thought on 
park matters, and a prophetic insight 
into the needs and developments of the 
future, both in regard to Arbor Day 
and the modern public service idea in 
park making. We quote as follows 
from the article which was signed 
“Stevenson,” and appeared May 7, 
1862 : 
“We were pleased on a recent visit to 
the city to notice the progress made in the Garden, the good 
taste evinced in the arrangement of the grounds, the beauty 
of the avenues and winding ways, and the disposition of 
the lake and fountain, and trees, to produce the most har- 
monious and pleasing effects. It is not enough, however, 
that it be made beautiful, or even faultless in its structure 
and adornments. What more than all to be desired is, to 
consecrate it in the affections of the people. As far as 
possible, every rod of ground and every tree should have 
a history of its own; something commemorative of per- 
sons and events, which would endear the spot to all 
classes, and lure them thither in their hours of leisure 
and relaxation. In the towns and cities of the Old World, 
public and private parks are thus consecrated to an extent 
far beyond anything attempted this side of the Atlantic. 
Upon this point, suffer me to make a suggestion. Under 
the direction of the city government, or that of a body of 
men to whom the matter may be committed, let a tree be 
planted in the garden, annually, by some citizen or 
stranger whom the people most delight to honor. For 
this purpose let -m afternoon in April be set apart and 
the public invited to participate in the ceremonies of the 
occasion. Let the tree receive the name of the person 
upon whom the honor is bestowed. While you would 
thus add one more to your days of relaxation, now all 
too few, the compliment which would be paid to dis- 
tinguished worth would be the most delicate which could 
be conferred upon a citizen or guest of the city — -a legacy 
which any man would be proud to bequeath to his pos- 
terity.” 
* * * 
The forestry building, the pride of the late Lewis and 
Clark Exposition at Portland,- Ore., has been secured 
by that city and will be preserved as a park museum. 
This was the unique structure of the exposition. It is a 
gigantic log house, exemplifying in its Gompositon the 
forest wealth of Oregon and Washington. In its con- 
structure two miles of five and six foot fir logs, eight 
miles of poles and tons of stakes and cedar shingles were 
used. The logs have been left in the rough with the bark 
on. The base logs of the building are six feet in diam- 
eter and 52 feet long. The logs above the base are three 
feet through and vary in length. Colonnades of immense 
fir trees 30 feet high and six feet in diameter support 
splendid loggias or galleries over the main entrances. 
Picturesque balconies grace each end of the building. 
The portico over one entrance is supported by giant 
spruce trees and the other shows a colonnade of magnifi- 
cent hemlock. In the interior a colonnade of 52 columns 
of fir and cedar trees 40 feet high supports the roof. In 
the construction of the building no carpentry work was 
employed, the logs being framed together with tree-nails 
and big old-fashioned wooden pins. The forest giants 
used were cut in the forests bordering on the Columbia 
River. They were formed into rafts and floated down the 
Columbia and Willamette rlveV-s into Guild’s Lake, the 
natural grand basin '"of’" the exposition. Prom the lake 
they were ra 5 Sf^ to the site of the building in Centennial 
Park by meaps of a big skidway, 1,500 feet long. 
* * * 
FROM THE ANNUAL REPORTS. 
•The 17th and i8th annual reports of the City Parks 
Association of Philadelphia issued together are both a 
record of noteworthy achievements for park v.'ork and a 
(Continued on p. VIII. I 
FORESTRY BUILDING, PORTLAND EXPOSITION, NOW PERMANENT PARK 
STRUCTURE. 
