332 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
I 
USING THE UNEMPLOYED IN THE PARKS 
Hartford, Conn., has recently voted an 
appropriation of $2,500 for trying out the 
plan of providing employment for those 
out of work in the city parks, and has 
placed the matter in the hands of George 
A. Parker, superintendent of parks. 
Mr. Parker has prepared the following 
regulations governing the work : 
1. The superintendent to report to his honor, the 
mayor, and to the president of the board of park 
commissioners each Monday, the number of men em- 
ployed, the number of persons dependent upon them, 
and the amount paid to each, also the park or 
place where the work was done, and the amount ex- 
pended on each park. 
2. No person to be employed under this resolu- 
tion after Saturday, March 27, 1915. 
3. The maximum pay to be twenty-five (25c.) 
per hour. 
4. The skilled workmen who act as leaders may 
be employed eight hours per day, but not more than 
one leader to a crew if less than ten, nor more 
than one leader to ten men if the crew exceeds that 
number. 
5. The maximum time for all other workmen to 
be four hours per day. 
6. The standard of work to be not less than 60 
per cent, of efficiency. If a workman falls below 
that he may be dismissed. 
7. Employment under this resolution to be re- 
stricted to residents of Hartford during the previous 
six months or longer. Applicants must establish 
such residence by the city directory, voting list or 
by acceptable reference from well-known citizens. 
8. Preference will be given to applicants, as 
follows: 
1. To men with dependent families and minor 
children whose means are or will be exhausted 
before April 1, if they do not obtain work. 
2. To men who are usually employed during the 
winter. 
3. To men who have been employed more than 
three-fourths of their time during the present year. 
9. Dismissals may be made for intoxication, 
profane or indecent langauge. 
2. To give place to men who are in greater 
need, or have more people dependent upon them. 
3. For false statements when making application 
for work. 
4. For inefficiency or trouble making. 
10. Applications will only be received at the 
former office of the superintendent of parks in 
West Buslmell park, and will he filed consecutively. 
Appointments will be made in the order of filing, 
subject to the rules of preference as stated above. 
11. Wages will be paid daily, if desired, at the 
office of the city treasurer between 9 and 3 p. m., 
where a continuous payroll will be kept not more 
than one day in arrears. 
12. All records of a personal character to be des- 
troyed on or before April 1. 
13. These rules may be temporarily suspended 
or altered at any time when, in the judgment of his 
honor the mayor or the president of the board of 
park commissioners, a better equity or efficiency 
will result. 
FORM OF APPLICATION. 
Following is the application to be signed: 
Number Date 
1. Name in full Age 
2. Residence, street and number during 1914. 
3. By whom employed and work done during 1914. 
4. flow many days out of work this year. 
5. How long since you had work. 
6. Number in family dependent upon your wages. 
7. Number of children under 16 years old. 
8. Number of children working .... where 
wages 
9. Do you need this work to sustain yourself 
between now and April 1? 
10. Will you seek for, and, if possible, obtain 
other work? 
11. Are you a voter? 
12. References: 
Remarks. 
Answers to all these questions are needed in order 
to determine employment under resolution of city 
council of November 23, 1914. A, failure to answer 
any question will delay decision regarding your ap- 
plication. Any false statements will cause dismis- 
sal. 
All records concerning applications will be con- 
fidential. not given to the public, and destroyed on 
or before April 1, 1915. 
The superintendent of parks will each day be at 
the office in west Bushnell park to receive applicants 
between 10 and 11 a. m. and applications' will not 
be received at any other time or place. None will 
be received at No. 49 Pearl street. 
Applicants must apply in person. 
The project is somewhat in the nature of 
an experiment by the Common Council. If 
a month’s trial proved its value it was 
likely that three other similar appropria- 
tions would be made, the idea being to di- 
vide the total $10,000 during the three 
months. 
The men will be employed in Rocky 
Ridge, Goodwin and Riverside parks. The 
work will consist largely of grading and 
shoveling. 
DEVELOPING DENVER’S UNIQUE MOUNTAIN PARKS 
In many respects the park system of Den- 
ver is unique in its scenic attractions and 
unusual problems of development. There 
are thirty parks with a total acreage of 
1,238.91 within the city iimits of Denver. 
Outside the city are the mountain parks. 
The entire Park Department, under com-, 
mission form of government, which pre- 
vails in Denver, is under the Commissioner 
of Property, who appoints the five mem- 
bers of the Board of Park Commissioners 
having direct charge of the department. 
The board has complete supervision of 
the parks and playgrounds, not only within 
the corporate limits of the city, but also of 
the mountain parks. In 1913 the special 
levy was 1.9 mills for general park pur- 
poses, amounting to $256,096.87. The levy 
for mountain parks purposes was L> mill, 
amounting to $63,252.29. The total valua- 
tion of parks, exclusive of improvements, 
as given by the auditor, is $5,598,000. 
Contrary to general belief, the Denver 
mountain parks system is not confined ex- 
clusively to the lands owned for park pur- 
poses, for road construction forms a very 
important factor in the general term 
“mountain parks.” Roads built by the park 
commissioners pass between privately 
owned and government owned properties, 
as well as the lands owned by the city. In 
1910 a committee of the Chamber of Com- 
merce began work on the monntain park 
idea. For a year the committee worked, 
outlining the plans, for it was necessary for 
the taxpayers of the city to vote a mill 
levy for acquiring the parks and building 
roads, and to establish a tax that meant a 
sum of money coming in annually, exclu- 
sively for the mountain parks. It was also 
necessary for the state legislature to au- 
thorize the city to acquire lands outside the 
corporate limits for park purposes. 
Frederick Law Olmstead was engaged to 
go over the mountains and to make such 
suggestions as he deemed necessary, and 
after he had made a thorough investiga- 
tion he recommended certain roads, the 
purchase of certain tracts to insure the 
freedom of the people for picnic grounds, 
the opening of bits of forest for the vistas 
and the purchase of certain tracts for the 
view afforded or for some special bit of 
scenery. 
The central part of Mr. Olmsted’s plan, 
however, was the construction of roads of 
easy grades over and around the moun- 
tains and into the valleys, connecting the 
various scenic points and thereby affording 
an easy means of reaching the then inac- 
cessible parts of the mountains lying twelve 
miles from the city limits. Mr. Olmsted 
recommended the purchase of Genesee 
Mountain, comprising 840 acres, which was 
done at a cost of $10,250, while L. M. 
Ralston donated 45 acres and J. N. Hess 
donated 15 acres. 
The park commissioners have under con- 
sideration several tracts that will add to 
the system, while it is expected that the 
government will grant to the city approxi- 
mately 7,160 acres of land at $1.25 per acre 
that will form one of the most gorgeous 
and rugged playgrounds in the world, to be 
connected with high-class roads, easy of 
grade and therefore easy for the lightest 
automobile to negotiate. The 7,160 acres 
mentioned lies scattered over a wide area 
of country and embraces forests, valleys, 
rugged rocks, peaks, canyons and gorges, all 
of which will be opened by the commission- 
ers by the construction of roads. 
The road construction forms, perhaps, 
the most important factor in the mountain 
parks. The construction is left to Freder- 
ick C. Steinhauer, general superintendent 
of the Park Department, and all construc- 
tion, while done by contract, is under his 
direct supervision. Jefferson County, in 
which the parks are located, contributed 
$7,500 in 1913 toward the roads, the com- 
missioners $7,500, and the State Highway 
Commission $17,500, making a total of $32,- 
500 for road work in 1913. 
Two separate grading camps were estab- 
lished and working from two ends a mag- 
nificent twenty-foot highway was built in 
1913, traversing Lookout Mountain, imme- 
diately back of Golden, and extending to 
■Genesee Mountain, which is owned by the 
city. Practically all of the road from the 
valley to the summit of Lookout Mountain 
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