The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-12-25

enough to build new waterworks W ith s10,-
600, 600 left for railroad to California.
But to me the greatest gain to
this city, by reducing the roadway
and parking the extra ground, will
be in increasing the beauty
of the city, and transforming every street
into boulevard; in better distribution Of
parked lands, providing every family with
a strip of park in front of the door. In
visiting various American cities / have
often marveled at the sort of q precon-
certed plan tc have but one fine street.
The difference between boulevard and q
street is but patch Of grass and in this
alfalfa country grass is cheap. What I
want to lay particular stress upon Is, that
this city should lay down the policy before
1T is too late, that all streets shall be
equally beautiful and there shall be no pick
ed favorites or aristocratic thoroughfares,
except as individuals shall elect to make
them by building palatial homes. As far
as the city is concerned it has inherited
from a generous founder the necessary
ground to make all its streets into boule-
wards.
There is reaction in the great cities of
the east against spending fabulous sums Of
money in creating large parks at incon-
venient distances from the mass Of popula-
ton, and strong feeling favoring small
breathing places distributed over the city,
easily accessible to the great bulk of popu-
lation. With the sides Of all the residence
streets parked, the people of this city could
get along for the present very well without
Liberty park, or even parking the pictur
esque City Creek ca1lon. But all tins public
grounds should be held sacred until
the city is rich enough to spend few NIL
lion dollars on them without interfering
with more urgent improvements. The
public parks might be connected by boule-
wards of more public character than those
which 1 nave suggested for purely resi-
dence streets, connecting one with the
other, forming as grand a drive as can be
seen in Chicago. Liberty park could be
connected with Washington square by q
boulevard on Ninth South, and Second
West and Washington square again con-
nected with the Old Pioneer square by a
boulevard on Fourth West. A boulevard
on Second West would connect Old Pioneer
square with the Deseret university, and q
University square with the Deseret Agricul-
tural grounds on the west, and if extended
east would strike the south end of the Cap
itol grounds. From here drive could be
laid out up City Greek cafion, Gro ssing the
cbasm on Viaduct and following the bench
along the mountain around to Fort Douglas,
and thence to Liberty park. OF all the
handsome streets of the future, none will
equal the one following the contour of the
mountains from City creek to Fort Doug
las.
There is a painful mouotony of right
angles in the city, and the first man to build
a crooked street will make a fortune, and
there is no place in all this land better
adapted for graceful curves than the water
bench 1 have referred to- There is also q
continuation of this same water-bench
to the north, passing the Warm springs and
extending some eighteen miles into Davis
county. from which there is a magnificent
view of this city and valley and the Great
Salt Lake.
The city council would do we'll to author.
ize the city engineer at the public expense
to make preliminary surveys of this great
bench way, which in connection with the
boulevard to the lake, will form an i'm
portaut part Of the system Of boulevards,
An advantage of parked streets that
have omitted TO mention is that the portion
set out in grass will raise no dust. This
will be quite saving in street sprlnkIing
and sweeping. The grass strip can be
watered by irrigating bitches as the trees
are now supplied. 1t might, on certain
streets, be practicable for the street rail
way companies to seed the ground oc-
cupied by their tracks, and which they
will be required to pave, In grass. It
would be much cheaper to maintain lawn
than to put down paving blocks and al
together more pleasant to ride through a
green strip of clean grass than over dirty
stone road. With Lombardy poplsra i'm