PAR.K AND CEME-TE-RY 
121 
The new state capitol at St. Paul, Minn., is to be sur- 
rounded by a park. The Park Board recently passed a reso- 
lution instructing the city engineer to prepare maps and plats 
of the proposed improvement^. 
!(! * * 
Superintendent of Parks Power, of Indianapolis, has been 
engaged to design an extensive system of permanent park 
improvements for Muncie, Ind. The grounds have been 
surveyed and put in shape for the work of the landscape 
gardener. 
* * * 
Director of Public Works Bigelow, Pittsburg, Pa., is to 
build a chain of lakes in Panther Hollow, Schenley Park. 
Plans have been prepared for a chain of six lakes, and the 
work of grading has Ipeen begun. 1 he lakes will be flanked 
on either side by high and barren cliffs ; the plans provide 
that these shall be graded off, and terraced and sodded, or 
planted with shrubbery. 
* * * 
La Crosse, Wis., is to have an island park. Mr. A. W. 
Pettibone, a retired lumberman of that city, is improving a 
small island in the Mississippi river just opposite La Crosse, 
and will turn it over to the city as a park when he has 
beautified it. He has built a driveway around the island, is 
turning the marshes into lagoons and sodding the ground, 
and has just given $50,000 toward further improvements. It 
will take several years to complete the improvements. The 
island is lYz miles long and a mile wide. 
!)! * * 
The president has issued a proclamation reserving 58,000 
acres of land in the Wichita mountains, Indian Territory, for 
a national park. The tract is timber land, useless for agricul- 
tural purposes, and is to be known as the Wichita Forest 
Reserve. Initial action in the matter was aroused by Mr. D. 
C. Burson, who enlisted the aid of the commissioner of for- 
estry, and circulated a petition which was signed by large 
numbers of people in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. 
* 
The Park Board, St. Paul, Minn., has authorized war- 
rants to be drawn on the city treasurer for $65,000 to pay 
for land condemned for the enlargement of the parks. The 
division of the expenditure is as follows : Phalen Park, $ 57 ,- 
000; Como Park, $5,000; Iris Park, $3,000. The board of 
county commissioners is to erect a steel wagon bridge across 
Phalen creek, with a span of not less than 30 feet. The Park 
Board is also negotiating for the purchase of 8 acres of 
land for an addition to Indian Mounds Park. 
* * * 
Cohasset, Mass., is to construct a park to cost $65,000 
about the head of Cohasset harbor. The work will involve 
the moving of about 15 unsightly buildings, the dredging of 
the harbor channel, and the building of a public landing near 
the center of the town. The plan is to raise most of the 
money by public subscription, the toWn appropriating only 
about $12,000. 
♦ * * 
Attorney General Douglas, of Minnesota, has returned 
from an inspection of Itasca state park, at Lake Itasca, Minn., 
and has arranged for the purchase from John S. Pillsbury 
of 250 acres of timber land skirting the east arm of the lake, 
at $2 per acre, and $5.50 per thousands for the timber. This 
will make the cost about $17,000. Arrangements have also 
been made to begin condemnation proceedings for the acquir- 
ing of 160 acres of land at the outlet of the lake. A force 
of men is now at work in the park improving the roads. 
* * * 
Cincinnati is considering the advisability of buying 175 
acres of land in Avondale, one of its suburbs, for a public 
park. The property belongs to the Blachley estate, whose 
attorney has offered it to the city for $1,000 an acre. The 
matter is to be presented to the Board of Public Service, but 
it is thought an act of the legislature will be necessary in 
order to allow the city to purchase it. 
* * ♦ 
The Pennsylvania Forestry Commission is negotiating 
for the purchase of Mont Alto park and adjoining lands to 
be set aside as a reservation. The tract consists of 20,000 
acres of land with much valuable timber. The expenditure 
of the commission is limited to about $7 an acre. The state 
has purchased many thousand acres of land in the effort 
to preserve its watershed, of which this land is a part. 
* * * 
A large collection of outdoor statuary belonging to the 
Hoffner estate, Cincinnati, Ohio, has been presented to the 
city and is to be placed in Eden Park. The late Mr. Hoffner 
was a wealthy and eccentric man who traveled through Eu- 
rope and collected statuary to ornament the grounds about 
his home. Some of the works which will be placed in the 
park are marble statues representing “The Four Seasons,” 
“The Four Continents,” Roman and Greek warriors and many 
smaller figures. Some of the bronze statues are: “Apollo of 
the Capitol,” “Venus de Medici,” the “Dancing Faun,” the 
“Winged Mercury,” and two griffins. 
* * ♦ 
In a paper read before the recent convention of the New 
England Association of Park Superintendents at Hartford, 
Conn., Mr. John C. Olmsted stated that Hartford had a 
larger park acreage in proportion to population than any 
city in the countr}'. That city has an acre of park to every 
68 inhabitants; in .Boston there is one acre to every 224, 
and in Providence one to every 321. Hartford has six parks 
with a total area of 1,014 acres. The annual report of the 
Hartford commissioners for 1901 shows several substan- 
tial additions of territory, by gift, purchase, and action of the 
City Council, and gives the following financial statements: 
Receipts for the year, $106,381.12; expenditures, $104,511.53. 
The expenditures from the bond account was $55,070, leaving 
to that account, $24,918.08. 
* > 1 = * 
The estimate of the Commissioners of Fairmount Park, 
Philadelphia, for the maintenance of the park during the 
next year has been presented to the city controller. The total 
amount asked for is $1,107,940.50, an increase of $494,000 
over last year’s estimate. This increase is largely due to the 
following improvements to be made during the coming year : 
For beginning the construction of a speedway, $210,000; for 
a new bridge over Landsdowne glen, $100,000; for widen- 
ing the Wassahickon drive, $30,000; for a new bridge at Al- 
len’s lane. $35,000. Some of the other items, in the estimate 
are as follows: Maintenance, $150,000; erection of music 
pavilion, $20,000 ; care of Horticultural Hall, $20,000 ; salaries, 
$14,550: works of a permanent character, $150,000; electric 
and other lighting, $40,445 ; maintaining and improving 
Zoological Garden, $17,500, 
