Morning journal and courier., 1884-12-30
coRREsPoNDENoE.

A Letter From HIfnneapolis-The Poo.
 pie Of Minneapolis And St. Paul
 Finding Ont That They Need Parks
 Plans Real Estate-The Kinks
 Moody Meetings.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Dec. 20.-The people
 of New Haven did one of their most sensible
 acts when they secured the grounds for East
 Rock Park. Coming generations will bless
 those who originated and carried out that
 noble plan. The demand for such public
 parks is obvious But the difficulties, yet
 fresh in memory, of gaining popular consent
 to any scheme that threatens to involve the
 people in expense may give you some idea
 of the obstacles in the way of making simi-
 lar provision in these cities, where the multi
 tude have assembled for the express purpose
 of making money, only portion of them de
 signing to reside permanently. Hence Min
 neapolis and St. Paul, although each now
 considerably larger than New Haven,
 are just waking up to the fact
 that they have left scanty areas amid their mills, stores and dwellings, as breath
 ing places for the people. Within the past
 year, however, Minneapolis has laid out a
 large centrally located park, for which the
 great sum of $250, ,O00 had to be paid; has
 also laid out grand boulevard of two hun
 dred feet wide running from Lake Calhoun to Powderhorn Lake, where it expands into a park enclosing the latter, thence proceeding
 eastward towards St. Paul; and has planned and partly laid out several smaller enclosures designed for the public benefit and enjoy ment.
 The noblest plan of all is now being seri- ously discussed with some probability of 8 favorable issue; namely, the establishment of magnificent park of, say 1000 or 2,00C acres, around the lovely Falls of Minnehaha. As this renowned property happens to be- long to the Lincoln family, who are parish toners of mine, I have it directly from them that they would cheerfully sell the estate at low figure for such purpose, although | they have repeatedly refused to part with | it for milling purposes. These celebrated 1 falls are nearly between Minneapolis and St. Paul; are accessible by steamboat from the latter city and by railroad from both. The l locality is highly picturesque and attracts I thousands of visitors in winter as well as in
 summer When Bayard Taylor saw Mime l haha it was through the mellow light of an autumnal day, and he wrote, 'It is one of the 1 grandest and most beautiful pieces of | natures work I have ever seen. J And he would have said the same had he seen the fringe of spray turned to g | frosty coropet and the tumbling cataract 1 congealed to a sparry grQtto ill January. | Really the least attractive season is in mid ] summer when the drought may cause the | beautiful waterfall to dwindle, as it did last August, to few silvery threads scarcely yelling the rugged rocks beneath.
 ! A deep gorge lies below the falls, fol l half mile to the Mississippi river; and on / the opposite shore is a broad level ex. panse that might very appropriately be util ized for the State fair grounds. And in full 1 sight, only short distance down the river l is old Fort Smelling, which being already or government reservation the United States l might easily and properly set apart forever l as national park. Should these entirely fees | ible plans be carried out there would then ! be broad and extremely beautiful park ! extending from the Falls of Minnehaha to the Meeting of the Waters, where the Minnesota and the Mississippi rivers blend their streams l This would include, besides these main fea- l lures, many bold bluffs and charming dells while the surrounding lands might be artifcislly embelished at whatever outlay might hereafter be desirable l At any rate one of the fairest domains ia ths world, celebrated by the poets, neyelists an6
 sought by tourists, would thus be forever
 taken out of the rough grasp of men who art rstttly u bfahlnc III US cnaTInS, or pernapS Ge spoil them wholly in their greed for money making at any and every sacrifice.
 1 There Is still another scheme, not neces sarily opposed to the above, though favored l by St. Paul rather Ekan pg the citizens ol I Minneapolis, with whom it. hardly gets th' l favor it deserves. And that is to buy the Ramsey farm for use either as an inter-urba1 park, or as g suitable location for the Stat' | fair, The accompanying diagram may serve to make more clear the importance of thii ! project, as it is advocated in the local papers.