PARK AND CEMETERY 
201 
PLANTING PLAN, BIG SPRING PARK, NEOSHO, MO. 
from the court house. The cemetery is a new tract of 
12 acres to be laid out on the lawn plan as an addi- 
tion to the I. O. O. F. Cemetery. 
The park has been named Big Spring Park in honor 
of a big spring of clear water that is one of its chief 
landscape features. Some of the other natural beau- 
ties of the tract which have been utilized in tbe plans 
for improvement are 
a grotto, a 
amphitheater 
outcropping 
ledges forming 
natural 
with 
rock 
nat- 
ural seats, an unmo- 
lested forest of oak, 
ash, elm, hickory, su- 
gar maple, walnut, 
willow, redbud, red 
and black haw, syca- 
more, crab apple, lo- 
cust, linden, wild 
roses, elderberries, 
gooseberries, red-ber- 
ried Symphoricarpus, 
dog- wood, blackber- 
ries, and many others. 
The site has a 
variation of one hun- 
dred feet in elevation, 
giving an endless 
variety of vistas and 
view points, from that 
of a well planted, shaded ravine to the well-lit hilltops 
looking out over the city stretching away for a mile in 
either direction, and lying in a valley of farm land. 
Nearly one-third of the park ground is a level val- 
ley, with only a variation of ten feet, the south and 
west thirds rising rapidly eighty feet or more. These 
two-thirds are divided by a valley, and where this joins 
the level section will stand a combined pavilion, band 
stand and pagoda. An attractive feature of this loca- 
tion is the natural amphitheater that rises to the south 
and to the west. On its naturai rock seats the people 
may assemble and hear the music of the band, or the 
speakers, for the acoustic properties of the spot are re- 
markable. The pergola surrounding the amphitheater 
will be covered with vines, to partially conceal this arti- 
ficial feature of the park. 
Within the park ground is found material for con- 
struction of walks and drives. It is a cherty gravel of 
great binding quality and very hard. 
A grotto of considerable size with ceiling covered 
with stalactites of rare beauty was known in early days 
by the older inhabitants ; this has been closed for years, 
and only one citizen remained who could relocate the 
old entrance. Many large stalactites and large quanti- 
ties of an onyx-like deposit were removed in finding 
the opening. 
The picture shown herewith is the outlet of Big 
Spring from which the park gets its name. It is 
clear as crystal, cold, and rapidly flowing in a stream 
six feet wide and once ran a mill. It has a fall of about 
ten feet before it passes out through a culvert. 
OUTLET OF RIG SPRING. RIG STRING PARK. NEOSHO. MO. 
