292 
PARK AND CEMRTERY. 
Park Notes ■ 
The Park Commissioners of Omaha, Neb., have expended 
over $33,000 in improvements in the eleven parks and boule- 
vards of that city during the year 1901, exclusive of the 
month of December. The most important w'ork was done 
in Kountze Park, and included the building of roadways, 
planting of trees, constructing of two pools, and seeding the 
entire park with grass. 
^ ^ 
The various patriotic and historical societies are united in 
strongly urging the passage of the bill now before Congress 
granting an appropriation of $200,000 for the purchase of the 
territory occupied by Washington’s army in Valley Forge 
for a National military park. A similar bill was introduced 
during the last session, but was not passed, owing to the 
large number of appropriations for military purposes. A 
portion of the field is already in the possession of the state 
of Pennsylvania, and the bill provides for the purchase of 
all the rest. 
Congressman Pearre, of Maryland, has introduced a bill 
into Congress providing for the establishment of a military 
park at Fort Frederick, 17 miles from Hagerstown, Md, 
In 1898 a bill was introduced providing for the purchase of 
the fort and 150 acres of land surrounding it for $10,000, but 
failed to pass. The fort was built in 1756 during the French 
and Indian war, and occupies an acre and a half of ground. 
It is on an elevated tract, commanding a fine view of the 
Potomac river, and is reached by the Potomac Valley divi- 
sion of the Western Maryland railroad. 
* * * 
Congressman Shafroth, of Colorado, has introduced into 
Congress a bill creating the Colorado Cliff Dwellings Na- 
tional Park in the southern part of the state near the 
Southern Ute reservation. The bill provides that the tract 
shall be under the control of the Secretary of the Interior, 
who shall preserve from injury the ruins and relics of primi- 
tive man, and facilitate the collection of objects of interest 
to museums, universities and other scientific bodies. Senator 
Lewis has introduced into the Senate a joint memorial 
authorizing the surveying of the tract. 
>i< * * 
Cedar Rapids, la., has recently elected its first Board of 
Park Commissioners, composed of Messrs, William M. 
Krebs, John M. Redmond, and William G. Haskell. The 
city has 150 acres of parks, and has recently acquired a new 
tract, known as Ellis Park. The land lies along the river 
front and is admirably adapted to park purposes, having ap- 
proaches by water, a carriage drive, and a “good roads’’ 
bicycle path. 
^ ^ 
A bill, having the approval of Secretary of War Root, has 
been introduced into Congress by a Minnesota member, 
providing for the establishing of one general commission to 
have charge of all the National Parks now in existence or 
hereafter acquired, thus doing away with present separate 
commissioners for each park. The new commission will be 
composed of five members, and will constitute an individual 
bureau of the War Department. 
if. if. if. 
The Park Commission of Nashville, Tenn., is taking steps 
toward the inauguration of an extensive system of park 
building to include four large parks in different sections of 
the city. Seven tracts, aggregating 685 acres, are under 
consideration as sites. The Board has advertised for other 
bids, and will secure options at an early date, when the 
question will be submitted to a popular vote. The grounds 
of the former Centennial Exposition are included in one of 
the proposed sites. 
^ 
Property owners along Michigan avenue, Chicago, are to 
improve a desolate strip of the lake front and transform it 
into a park at their own expense. Permission for the work 
has been secured from the City Council, $ic,cco has been 
subscribed by prominent business men, and the work of 
improvement begun on plans prepared by landscape gardener 
Thomas Hawkes. The tract is a strip of land extending 
from the Art institute to the temporary postoffice, and the 
plans call for the planting of 1,200 shrubs and about 2CO trees, 
embracing elm, oak, poplar, fir. and box elder. Winding 
w'alks and drives, a fountain, and a statue are also provided 
for. * * 
The Agricultural Committees of both the Senate and the 
House have favorably passed upon the bill providing for the 
establishment of a national forest reserve in the Southern 
Appalachian Mountains and the measure is now expected to 
come before both bodies at an early date. Several important 
changes were made in the bill. The appropriation asked for 
was increased from five million to ten million dollars, and a 
clause was added defining the status of mountain forest land 
owners who might not desire to sell to the government, allow- 
ing them to retain their lands so long as forestry operations 
were carried out as endorsed by the Forestry Department. 
FROM THE PARK REPORTS. 
The park board of St. Paul, Minn., presents its usual 
attractively printed and illustrated annual report, showing 
large advances for the past year in the acquisition of valuable 
park areas. Under a law passed last winter, authorizing 
park boards to contract for the purchase of lands, the board 
has purchased 35 acres of additional land for Indian Mounds 
Park, and instituted proceedings for the condemnation of 
8^ acres more, making 43F2 acres, at a cost of $40,000. A 
tract of 43 acres w'as added to Phalen Park, making its total 
area 178 acres, and an addition of 8 acres made to Como 
Park. Four acres of ground were planted with nursery 
stock, raised from seeds and cuttings, including 2,000 elms. 
1,000 shrubs, 1.500 Carolina poplars, 500 ash and a large 
number of other varieties. The number of trees and shrubs 
planted was 1,652, 500 of which were purchased, and the 
remainder supplied from the park nurseries. About 112,000 
trees were planted in the natural woodland groves to replace 
decayed native growth, or to secure more mixed forest planta- 
tion and pleasing woodland effects. 
The tenth annual report of the park board of Providence. 
R. I., gives an interesting historical account of the parks of 
that city, now numbering fourteen. Two substantial legacies 
for Roger Williams Park were received, one from Miss Anna 
H. Man, the income of an estate valued at $192,000, and 
another from Charles H. Smith comprising funds for the 
purchase of trees and shrubs, and additions to the flora of 
the park. The grading, seeding, and planting of trees and 
shrubs, and the building of walks in Hopkins Park, and the 
installing of electric lights along the lakes and drives of 
Roger Williams Park are some of the improvements men- 
tioned. 
The ninth annual report of Superintendent England, of 
the Winnipeg, Man., parks, reports the construction of over 
ten miles of boulevard, making a total of 27 miles of grass 
under the control of the board, and the planting of an avenue 
of trees five miles long, which have shown satisfactory 
growth. He recommends that the spraying of all public trees 
be taken in charge by the park board. 
