Page:Report of the Park Board 1903.djvu/72

 forming the sides of the big ravines or canyons. Considerable parts of these canyons are at present very wild and exceedingly beautiful, and if the matter can be arranged in such a way that the city can afford the expense, these steep slopes ought generally to be preserved as parts of the park system. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that so far as the interest of the citizens at large is concerned, it is far more important to secure the continuous view-commanding hillside parkways, with fringes of woods and strips of land below to ensure control of the views. In other words, the effort and cost of securing the canyons ought not to be incurred until after the proposed hillside drives have been secured, unless it should be found feasible to do both with the available appropriations.

In the case of the hillside parkways, of course the essential thing is to obtain a continuous drive. It cannot be considered absolutely essential nor always desirable to secure all of the steep slope above and below this drive. Moreover, there are undoubtedly little ridges here and there which afford attractive house sites, and which may be made accessible by narrow and presumably curving drives, essentially private drives or private rights-of-way to a few houses, and it may be necessary, owing to the financial limitations, to except these available house sites from the land takings. So, too, in the canyons, there may be widenings of the bottom available for building purposes, and which, being accessible from the highway in the canyon may be left in private ownership. Such breaks in the continuity of the public ownership are likely to prove blemishes, and should be avoided wherever practicable; but if the city, as is altogether probable, has an entirely inadequate sum with which to work, it will practically be obliged to make such exceptions from the takings in order to carry the scheme through with a sufficient degree of continuity and completeness to accomplish the main purpose.

FOREST RESERVATIONS.
Incredible as it may seem to many citizens who have grown up with the idea that after the best timber has been taken out of the woods, all that remains is to destroy the rest by clearing the land for pastures or other agricultural purposes, it might be possible for the city to acquire considerable areas of woodland with a view to future profit. If such land can be obtained at a sufficiently low price, there is little doubt that in due time and with proper organization, a revenue could be obtained from it which would go far toward paying the interest on the cost of the land. Many German towns own such forest reservations, which, by systematic management are made to yield from 2 to 3 per cent, on the cost of the land. This income in some instances is