366 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
rights and improvements up to June, 190?, 
was $543,000. 
These expenditures secured a Palisades 
Interstate Park fourteen miles in extent 
with a rocky shore frontage and fourteen 
miles of towering crags and cliff-topped 
woodland. The park extends from Fort 
Lee bluff northward along the Hudson river 
to Piermont creek. It includes the water 
rights, shore and face to the crest of the 
Palisades. Eleven and two-hundredths 
miles, or 58,285 feet, are in New Jersey, 
and 14,995 feet are in New York. 
It was formerly out of the question for 
a pedestrian to walk along the entire shore 
line of the Palisades owing to the great 
masses of rocks here and there, and also 
by reason of the precipitous formations of 
the rocks themselves, especially along the 
northern stretches. The commission has. 
however, completed a picturesque and con- 
tinuous pathway along the shore for seven 
miles. The path descends and scales the 
many gulches which notch the river bank. 
It twists between great bowlders and skirts 
close to precipices. This pathway pene- 
trates thick forests and also traverses the 
beach. Anybody who is fond of variety 
and also likes walking could do well by 
taking up this path at Fort Lee and fol- 
lowing it clear up to the end. The most 
beautiful scenery in the country would be 
passed. The bold cliffs of the Palisades 
would always be in sight, then the river 
with its wide expanse, and the busy city 
beyond at the start, and which gradually 
fades from view as the enthusiastic pedes- 
trian pushes his way along the path made 
for him by the park builders. 
Many city people are seeking the Pali- 
sade shorefront for camping purposes. 
During the summer months little villages of 
tents dot the river edge. The park authori- 
ties state that there has recently been a 
great increase in the number of permits 
asked for. 
The commission has entire control over 
the park, and during the summer maintains 
a corps of marshals and a police patrol 
boat. All campers are required to secure 
permits from the commission, and the gov- 
ernment of the camps is placed with the 
campers themselves by an ingenious code 
of regulations. Not a single arrest has yet 
been made thus far among the campers. 
Very few people realize the fact that a 
large proportion of the territory included 
in what is now known as the Interstate 
Park is a pristine wilderness, even though 
it is close to the great City of New York. 
Here is virgin nature for you within easy 
reach of a good walker right from the 
heart of Greater New York. In the four- 
teen miles from the old dock at Fort Lee 
to the northern end of the rocks there are 
hardly a score of human habitations, not 
counting the camps of the summer colony 
VIEW FROM THE NEW STATE BOULEVARD ON THE PARK PROPERTY. 
This boulevard skirts the Hudson for miles; St. Anthony’s nose in the distance. 
FOOTPATH WHICH RUNS THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE PALISADES INTER- 
STATE PARK. 
tion being to form a continuous park from 
Fort Lee, N. J., to Piermont, N. Y. Legis- 
lation to this end was approved by Gov- 
ernor Roosevelt March 22, 1900, and a bill 
with similar objects in view was introduced 
into the New Jersey Legislature, but met 
with opposition. The quarry interests made 
efforts to kill the measure, but opposition 
was finally overcome and the bill became 
a law. Thus the Interstate Park Commis- 
sion came into existence. Governor Voor- 
hees of New Jersey appointed Abram S. 
Hewitt, Edwin A. Stevens, Franklin W. 
Hopkins, William A. Linn and Abram 
DeRonde. New York's appointees were 
George W. Perkins, J. DuPratt White, 
Ralph Troutman, McNeely Stauffer and 
Nathan F. Barrett. The commission as 
thus constituted remained intact for nearly 
twelve years, when it became necessary to 
fill the vacancies caused by the deaths of 
Abram S. Hewitt and Ralph Troutman. The 
vacancies were filled by appointing William 
B. Dana and William H. Porter. 
When the Interstate Park Commission 
began operations after organization, the 
Palisades were being removed at the rate 
of 12,000 cubic yards a day, and this at 
one quarry alone. The first serious business 
was to stop this blasting. An option was 
soon obtained from the leading offender. 
The price asked for the property was 
$132,500, and $10,000 was asked to secure 
the option. This amount was paid in De- 
cember, 19C0, and on Christmas eve of that 
year blasting was stopped at this quarry, 
which is considered a red letter day in the 
history of Palisades preservation. The bal- 
ance of $122,500 was contributed by the late 
J. P. Morgan. 
State aid became more generous when it 
really appeared that the Palisades were to 
be saved. New Jersey appropriated $500,- 
(XX) for the purchase of land and New York 
$400,000. By the end of 1903 at least 50 
per cent of the land had been acquired, and 
in 1909 the acquisition had practically been 
completed. The total cost of land, riparian 
