House and Garden 
sewerage, the improvement of streets, and 
the improvement and extension of public 
parks. Mr. Warren H. Manning, of Bos¬ 
ton, was chosen to report on the proposed 
park improvements. 
The plan that is herewith 
reproduced shows the com¬ 
plete system that Mr. Man¬ 
ning urged for greater Har¬ 
risburg. Since his report was 
published two years ago some 
of the ground has been ac¬ 
quired, all the existing parks 
being shown in green on the 
map. Mr. Manning’s rec¬ 
ommendation concerning 
Hargest’s Island in the Sus¬ 
quehanna was that the outer 
edge should be secured in 
order to preserve the view 
toward it from the city side 
of the river; but the city is 
in a fair way to do more than 
that, and has already acquired 
more than one-half of the 
entire island for public pur¬ 
poses. While a portion will 
be used for filter plants, prob¬ 
ably all of the island will ul¬ 
timately be taken for the 
people’s use. 
Harrisburg has an excep¬ 
tional advantage in that its 
river bank has not yet been 
taken by railroads or manu¬ 
factories. Ouick to realize 
the importance of the oppor¬ 
tunity thus presented, the ex¬ 
pert recommended the ac¬ 
quisition of a strip along the 
entire river front. It is char¬ 
acteristic of the park move¬ 
ment throughout the country 
that the water fronts of cities 
are becoming better and bet¬ 
ter appreciated, the general 
idea being to preserve the 
valleys of small streams in 
their entirety and to construct 
continuous drives along the river banks, if 
necessary elevating them so that they will not 
interfere with the business of the quays that 
may run along them. Harrisburg, due to its 
good fortune, will probably be able to use its 
entire river front for public recreation. 
North of the city the acquisition of a 
large tract of ground, which will become the 
country park of Harrisburg, is proposed. 
It is a natural park and will require little de¬ 
velopment and little in the way of main¬ 
tenance. 
185 
