PARK AND CEMETERY. 
638 
PARK NEWS. 
The Board of Park Commissioners, 
Seattle, Wash., have issued a neat- 
ly illustrated pamphlet for the purpose 
of exploiting the park, playgrounds and 
boulevard systems of the city, which it 
believes will be an important factor in 
making Seattle famous. It gives the 
acreage of all the parks, neighborhood 
parks, playgrounds and boulevards, with 
instructions how to reach them. 
The Board of Park Commissioners 
of Salt Lake, City, Mo., sent an exhibit 
of photographs to the park superin- 
tendents’ convention at Kansas City 
last month. The exhibit bore this 
legend : 
Salt Lake City, Utah, 'has 
The Best Climate in the World 
The Best Land in the World 
The Best City in the World 
The Best People in the World 
excepting the Kansas City (Mo.) peo- 
ple. 
John W. Duncan is ^making good 
progress with his work at Spokane, 
Wash., notwithstanding certain draw- 
backs that are temporarily retarding 
park development. Roses grow at a 
most remarkable rate there and the nu- 
merous native perennials are a joy to 
the gardener. Mr. Duncan promises 
Park and Cemetery readers some in- 
teresting news before long. 
A number of the members of the 
American Association of Park Su- 
perintendents who attended the con- 
vention at Kansas City, last month, 
extended their trip to Colorado 
Springs, Colo., where they were en- 
tertained by the Park Commission of 
that place. 
A new chapter has been opened up 
in the history of Jacksonville, Fla., 
by the adoption of the new city char- 
ter and the approval of the park and 
boulevard system. A great stimulus 
has been given to improvement plans. 
Renssalaer, N. Y., is said to have 
more billboards than any other place 
of its size in the country, and the 
council is contemplating ordinances 
to abolish them. 
Condemnation proceedings have 
been begun by the park commission 
to clear up the title of a number of 
lots bordering on the present south- 
ern boundary of Sinnissippi Park, 
Rockford, 111., which the commission 
sought to purchase some time ago. 
New York has some 22.5 different 
parks, covering more than 12,000 
acres, for which it has expended 
about $50,000,000, and it affords an 
unanswerable argument in favor of 
parks as paying municipal invest- 
ments, for at the ordinary valuation 
of real estate in their neighborhood 
they would now be worth more than 
$3,500,000,000. Central Park, which 
has 813 acres, was bought for $5,028,- 
344 in 1856, and is now worth at 
least $500,000,000 for building sites. 
The cost of maintaining the entire 
series of parks included in the well 
known Essex County Park System 
of New Jersey for 1910 was $186,- 
286.99. This was $441.61 less than the 
receipts of the commission for main- 
tenance. For the construction ac- 
count, including proposed new parks 
and improvements to those previous- 
ly established, there was received 
$618,267.91, but of this only $171,- 
427.60 was spent during the year. 
The State of Wisconsin has made 
the first payment toward the purchase 
of a state park at Devils Lake, near 
Baraboo. A check for $10,000 was 
given to Millie B. Dyke and Ida B. 
Ringling, of Baraboo, for a tract of 
120 acres. 
Two propositions for parks and 
playgrounds in Queens Borough, N. 
Y., Long Island, now have the atten- 
tion of the Queens Committee on 
Parks and Playgrounds which was 
recently organized to look after this 
important proposition in the borough. 
The propositions to be taken up are 
the Seaside Park at Rockaway Beach 
and the laying out of a playground 
under the Queensboro Bridge. 
The Commercial Club of Biloxi, 
Miss., has decided to ask the city 
council to take action against alleged 
squatters on the naval reserve lands, 
given the city by the Federal Gov- 
ernment for park and cemetery pur- 
poses, in order that these lands 
might not be made liable to for- 
feiture. 
Considerable criticism has been 
made on the park board of Atlanta, 
Ga., on account of a recent drowning 
at Piedmont Park, a catastrophe 
which might have been averted had 
the park been supplied with life sav- 
ing facilities. 
Mr. Charles Downing Lay, the suc- 
cessor to Samuel Parsons, Jr., in the 
New York City park system, has been 
placed in charge of the work of re- 
storing Central Park along the lines 
recommended by Gustavus B. May- 
nadier, the soil expert of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. In all $150,000 
will be appropriated for this work, 
$50,000 each year for three years. 
Another job for Mr. Lay is the de- 
velopment as a park of the space to 
the east of Grant’s tomb, for which 
$10,000 has been appropriated. 
The city council of Indianapolis, 
Inch, has been requested to favor a 
bond issue of $500,000 and an increase 
in the general park tax levy of from 
5 cents to 9 cents. This is for the 
further acquisition of park land and 
some improvements which demand 
immediate attention. 
Believing that the levee of Louis- 
ville, Ky., is in dire need of being 
beautified, Mrs. John A. Stratton, 
chairman of the River Front Com- 
mittee of the Woman’s Outdoor Art 
League, has appealed to members of 
the Board of Public Works and Park 
Commission for assistance. Mrs. 
Stratton’s plan is to build a small 
park in the middle of the levee be- 
tween First and Second streets. 
Oakland, Cal., is planning for the 
acquisition of “The Heights,’’ Joaquin 
Miller’s beautiful home above Dia- 
mond. A committee headed by Col. 
John P. Irish has taken the matter 
up, and he was commissioned by 
Mayor Frank K. Mott, under au- 
thorization of the council, to inter- 
view the poet as to the terms upon 
which he would be willing to dispose 
of his land to the city. The site is 
ideal and has great historic value too. 
Senator R. W. Tirrill, of Man- 
chester, la., who recently donated the 
$30,000 Riverside Park to the city, 
has engaged the services of a land- 
scape gardener from Germany to 
beautify the park. In addition to do- 
nating the park. Senator and Mrs. 
Tirrill also provided a permanent im- 
provement fund of about $50,000. The 
park is located on the banks of the 
Maquoketa river, with excellent boat- 
ing facilities. 
In a communication in regard to 
Natchez, Miss., Mr. E. G. Routzahn, 
well known in civic improvement 
work, sends an outline under the head 
of “Survey of Civics,’’ made by one 
of the committees of the tuberculosis 
exhibition, in which is shown what 
has been accomplished in the way of 
outdoor improvement to make Nat- 
chez a more desirable city in which 
to live, and much has been done. 
What is still hoped to be accom- 
plished is: A crematory for the city’s 
waste; more tree planting; more 
street sweepers; playgrounds; abolish- 
