PARK AND CEMETERY. 
614 
^E\KK NEWS. 
00 
3 
j4 
Much disappointment was felt in 
the city of Madison, Wis., over the 
defeat in the assembly of the joint 
constitutional amendment resolution 
which provided that the state might 
bond itself to the extent of 1 per cent 
of its assessed valuation for internal 
improvements. It had already passed 
one legislature, and had it passed this 
it would, in November, 1912, have 
been submitted at the general elec- 
tion for a referendum vote of the 
people. A great capitol park was to 
result from this fund to extend from 
Lake Mendota to Lake Monona. 
The lack of public comfort stations, 
and the neglect in the care and main- 
tenance of certain of the parks of 
Syracuse, N. Y., is developing con- 
siderable complaint on the part of 
the public in that city. 
The authorities of the Worcester 
Art Museum, Worcester, Mass., have 
offered to give to the city three tracts 
of land, on condition that they shall 
be used for park purposes only, un- 
der the direction of the park com- 
mission, that no buildings shall be 
erected on any portion of the tracts 
unless they are for public purposes, 
that certain land of the museum shall 
forever be free from betterment as- 
sessments. Other minor stipulations 
are also named, but the offer has 
been taken under advisement. 
The approval of the Senate com- 
mittee on public buildings and 
grounds of the Wetmore bill for the 
purchase of the valley of Rock creek 
as an addition to the park system of 
the National Capital has been report- 
ed to the Senate. Several urgent 
reasons for the purchase of the land 
were set forth in the committee re- 
port made by Senator Wetmore. He 
pointed out that it will prevent the 
further pollution of Rock creek, will 
afford proper facilities for the Botanic 
Garden in place of the present absurd- 
ly “inadequate” facilities, and is im- 
portant in connecting Potomac and 
Rock Creek parks. 
The District Commissioners of 
Washington, D. C., recently trans- 
mitted to the Senate the draft of a 
bill authorizing the condemnation of 
Klingle Ford Valley. This is the 
largest piece of ground to be asked 
for park purposes since the acquisition 
of Rock Creek Park. 
At Grant, Mich., the proposition to 
bond Grant for the purpose of buy- 
ing Blanch-Lake park carried by 10 
to 1. 
Battle Creek, Mich., is to have a 
fifty acre public park, which will in- 
clude a donation of some 12 acres. 
Chickasha, Okla., is preparing to 
acquire a city park system. 
Consul General David F. Wilber 
reports that Park Commissioners 
Owen, Eldon, and Nelson, of Van- 
couver, British Columbia, have been 
appointed a committee for the local 
park board to look into the general 
question of oiling and watering the 
roads through Vancouver’s large na- 
tural park, Stanley Park, which has 
man3" miles of roadways through its 
scenic extent. 
After a long delay, extending over 
some 6 months, the Commission at 
San Francisco has at last selected 
the site for the Panama-Pacific-Inter- 
national exposition to be held in 1915. 
The larger part of the exposition 
grounds will be included in the west- 
ern part of Golden Gate Park. The 
most of the large, permanent build- 
ings are also to be constructed in the 
Park grounds. The site is a beauti- 
ful one. 
The Women’s Co-operative Civic 
League of Baraboo, Wis., has been, 
after much effort on the part of its 
devotees, successfully launched. It is 
expressly an organization to create 
a beautiful Baraboo, and from the 
enthusiasm evident in its inauguration 
incidents, if it follows in the wake 
of other real working oganizations in 
the good cause, it will unquestionably 
be successful. Baraboo is a beauti- 
ful little city to begin with, which 
is quite a part of the battle. We note 
that the credit for the successful issue 
of this effort is accorded to Mrs. Al- 
fred T. Ringling. The first field of 
activity to be cared for is that of the 
cemeteries, which adjoin, and the 
street leading to them, and the 
League proposes to lose no time in 
settling down to work. 
A report favoring the purchase of 
the Rockaway beach site for a pub- 
lic park was presented last month to 
the Board of Estimate of New York 
City, by a committee of the Parks 
and Playgrounds association through 
Jacob A. Riis. The committee calls 
attention to the fact that the city 
has to pay at the rate of $1,000,000 a 
block for playgrounds in congested 
districts and warns the board that 
the present opportunities for seaside 
parks are about the last. 
A city park Commission is in 
course of organization for Richmond, 
Calif. 
The first steps for the purchase of 
tlie lake front property for park pur- 
poses, the piece of land recently ac- 
quired by Frederick Osius, at a 
rumored price of $15,000, were made 
recently by the city council of Racine, 
Wis., when the park board was al- 
lowed $10,000 on such purchase, with 
the understanding that it raise the 
necessary complement. 
The new sylvan playground of 
Kalispell, Mont., has been officially 
christened “Woodland Park.” Much 
progress has been made in improv- 
ing its forty acres. 
At a recent meeting of the city 
council of Walla Walla, Wash., it was 
decided that the city should take over 
Dreamland park for $9,500, comply- 
ing with requests of the Woman’s 
Park club. The club purchased it 
and paid $500, but was unable to con- 
tinue payments. 
Chattanooga, Tenn., has begun the 
task of enlarging and bettering its 
park system, and an improvement era 
is in evidence. 
Final steps are being taken by the 
chamber of commerce in Amarillo, 
Texas, joined by practically the en- 
tire Panhandle, to present to con- 
gress photographs and data setting 
forth the fitness of the Palo Duro 
Canyon for a national park. 
According to a report recently 
made to the Los Angeles, Calif., park 
commission by Commissioner J. B. 
Lippincott, recently returned from an 
Eastern trip for the study of park 
matters, Los Angeles is suffering 
from inadequate laws governing the 
maintenance and extension of its park 
system. He says Los Angeles 
has the poorest park laws and 
the least improved parks of any 
known American city of equal size, 
and she has no boulevards at all. 
William P. Bancroft, president of 
the Park Commission of Wilmington, 
Del., who has made frequent dona- 
tions in the past for various public 
purposes has donated to the city 
$1,000 to be deposited in the fund for 
the purchase and improvement of 
park lands. 
After several protests from the 
residents in the vicinity of Degollado 
Plaza, Monterey,Mexico, against the 
proposed establishment of a market on 
the square it has been decided to turn 
the place into a public park with a 
