The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-15

| the Burlingame Club is one of the most
enthusiastic hackers of the project.
at would make San Mateo County ac-
| cesslble as a suburban region instead of
being shut out from the city except by
! traln,' he said in discussing it yesterday.
''Why, way back in the sos it used to be
the thing to drive down TO CANDLES resort
at San Mateo and go out spearing fish.
1t was rough trip-rougher than it is
now-but people don't go that way now
| on pleasure drives. Everybody seems to
| be In favor OF the scheme and the only
/ question about it is the burden it viii place
on the county. But ii would be no burden.
1t has been roughly estimated that the
| boulevard could be built clear through
! San Mateo County, past COlma and by
new route to the ocean at the
county line for $175, 900. That would not
cost the county as much, counting interest
and the amounts necessary for a sinking
, fund Tor twenty years, as 1t costs now to
keep up bad roads. Last year San Mateo
County spent $4,000 in keeping up its
roads, and the amount was mainly spent
on the county road, which is no better
now than it was last year. To bond the
county and build magnificent boulevard
would cost about SIS 900 a year for twenty
years. That is about one-fourth of what
| the county now spends on its roads. The
bicycle organizations viii quickly take up
the enterprise when they are approached
and in fact all classes of people will favor
1t. Nothing else would bring so many peo-
pie into the county,"
What magnificent opportunity for
coaching such a boulevard would afford!
Henry }. Croker, president OF the Horse
Show Association, wants the boulevard.
He says that everybody who drives a
buggy or rides bicycle Will want it,
such a boulevard would stimulate
coaching here at once" he said, but the
dudes would not be the only ones to ex-
Joy it. Everybody who could take a
buggy ride would glory in it and it would
keep stream of visitors going into the
country to the south, besides stimulating
residence there.
81 think the three counties ought to unite
at once in constructing the boulevard. 1t
would be like streetcar line. Not every
body would ride the whole length, but
plenty of people would be constantly en-
loylng every portion of it. Out OF Chicago,
New York and many other Eastern cities
| there are fine driveways, but we have none
here"
Willis Polk has for some years had his
eye on the artistic possibilities of the
region in question and he would have a
boulevard tomorrow if he could. His idea
is that it should run through the foothills.
1T is exactly what l have had in mind
for several years" he said yesterday. 1T
is really matter of the greatest incon-
venience that so many desirable country
railroad, which, skirting tidewater as it
does, leaves the prettiest and healthiest
villa sites too remote to be occupied except
as farms and ranches.
"a boulevard constructed on the plan Of
the celebrated turnpikes of Kentucky, if
laid out from two to three miles west of
the railroad, would at once render many
magnificent places accessible for country
residences. This form of living is rapidly
coming into vogue on this coast. Indeed,
no other section of this country is so well
adapted to country life. and no other form
of living so pleasant.
The celebrated colonial homes of Ken
lucky, Virginia and New England are
more than likely to be idealized here, with
all the pleasant surroundings that rendered
them so enticing to the danes Of early
days.
ALREADY Burlingame is assuming pro-
portions that absolutely demand the con-
struction of a boulevard. Redwood, Menlo
and Palo Alto would complete the connec-
ton between the city and San Jose. The
proposition could not receive enough en-
couragement, and as financial investment
the increase in real estate values would
pay for 1t many times over
The future of the boulevard mainly
awaits the pushing enterprise OF san Mateo
County.