62 
PARK AND CE/AETERY. 
and thirty of other conifers, besides Magnolias, 
Grevileas, Drsecenas, Pittisporums, Palms, Brug- 
mansias, Budleyas, Clianthuses, Chorozemas, Aza- 
leas, and many other shrubs and trees — nine hund- 
red species in all according to the last published 
catalogue. The out-door garden includes Calceo- 
larias, Heliotropes, Passifloras and Tacsonias, Be- 
gonias, and similar plants. The conservatories con- 
tain forty-nine species of Palms, one hundred and 
ten species of ferns, nearly two hundred species of 
orchids, eighteen species of Water-Lilies and five 
hundred species in general collection. Some of the 
older trees, such as Sequoias and Araucarias, begin 
to be impressive; the time will come when Golden 
Gate will be famous for its grand single trees. It 
is expected that the entire western half of the park 
will be planted to forest — an arboretum on a large 
scale, extending to the beach, and this will not only 
shelter the more ornamental portion, but will prove 
an added attraction. Beyond is the great boulevard 
of the ocean beach from Sutro Heights south for 
miles. 
So much for the broader outlines, historical and 
botanical, as they appear to the student of Ameri- 
can Parks. Anyone who has visited the famous 
parks of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Balti- 
more and Chicago, all so interesting and yet so dif- 
ferent, can easily see that Golden Gate has a char- 
acter of its own, and is already one of the note- 
worthy institutions of California. Nowhere is it 
possible to see more readily the characteristics of 
the people of San Francisco and the surrounding 
country that at Golden Gate Park. It has become 
the favorite place for the celebration of anniversar- 
ies, society reunions and similar meetings. Many 
and valuable gifts have been bestowed upon it by 
private citizens and more than one millionaire, it is 
said, expects to remember it in his will. A pecul- 
iarly fortunate management has always kept it near 
to the people, and it has received little or no un- 
friendly criticism. Newspapers of every shade of 
politics have always united in loyalty to the princi- 
ple of maintaining the Park. 
It follows, therefore, that all classes of people 
use Golden Gate to its fullest extent. For at least 
nine months in the year and during a large part of 
the three remaining months, immense numbers of 
people go to the Park daily. One is surprised at 
the number of Chinese who are seen there regularly 
with their children. These oriental childern are a- 
mazingly polite, and enjoy everything, riding in the 
boats, using the swings, patronizing the merry-go- 
rounds and feeding the deer and squirrels. In a 
few weeks the beautiful little Japanese Garden, 
which was one of the most charming parts of the 
Midwinter Fair, will be reopened as a permanent 
part of the Park. On certain holidays the silks and 
satins of sedate Chinese merchants fairly illuminate 
many a winding walk, and harmonize excellently 
with Australian Clianthuses and Asiatic magnolias, 
massed in such rich profusion on the terraces. Es- 
pecially does one see these almond-eyed Orientals 
in the great conservatories which contain the finest, 
flower collection on the Pacific Coast; or in the 
children’s department, watching the sober gambols 
of their olive-hued fac-similes. 
Allusions have been made to the Children’s 
Quarters, and this department deserves a much 
more extended notice. They are said to be larger, 
more complete, and better situated than those of 
any other American park. Sharon House an at- 
tractive building of hewn stone is the head-quarters 
here; the lawns, play-grounds, carousel, riding- 
donkeys and goat carts, and various other attrac- 
tions are grouped near it. The aviary, squirrel- 
house, and the steel-barred dwelling place of Mon- 
arch, the huge Sierra grizzly caught for the Exam- 
iner by Allen Kelly a few years ago, are all within 
a few minutes walk. The park certainly needs a 
more extensive and classified collection of living 
animals, but it already has the nucleus of quite a 
menagerie, and some particularly fine single speci- 
mens. 
The park grows on year after year, the delight 
of many thousands of people, broadening into a 
more perfect charm under the skilled management 
of its superintendent Mr. Me Laren. Year after 
year its trees grow larger, and its blossoming acres 
are more splendid than before. The city creeps 
closer, and blocks of houses must some day wall it 
in on north, south and on east. But the west will 
ever be free, reaching out to the Pacific, and a chain 
of seaside resorts will stretch up and down the 
beach, linking together the various nuclei of the 
present time. Manhattan Beach and half a dozen of 
the Atlantic Coast seaside resorts may be consider- 
ed as prototypes of the summer resorts that are be- 
ginning to thrive in nooks along the western edge 
of the peninsula, outside of the park lands. The 
THE PACIFIC OCEAN FROM GOLDEN GATE PARK. 
ocean beach itself forms the western boundary of the 
Park, and the famous Seal Rocks are full in sight. 
Charles Hoivard Shinn. 
