St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-02
INTERESTING LETTER FROM C.
Nj. L0RING REGARDING THAT
CLASSIC RETREAT.
WAS WEARY OF THE WORLD.
SWAN SWENSON, AN OLD MAN
MAKES A FAILURE OF
3JICIDE.
LUGGER,s WORK IN THE WEST.
Fake Yarn of a Sensational Even
ing Paper Regarding Census
Exposed.

c. NJ. Loring, father of the Mime
apolis park system, has written a
letter to the press in regard to Min
nehaha park. Mr.. Loring has the
future Of the park very much at.
heart, and takes a correspondent to
task for criticising the park board
for its rules governing the picking
OF flowers, etc. He says:
When every one was allowed to
pick wild flowers and ferns at Min
nehaha, there were comparatively
few who visited it, and the few
flowers and ferns they picked did no
harm. l and my family were fire.
quent visitors to the lovely glens in
which grew great quantities of sew
eral varieties of ferns, of which we
gathered all We wished There are
few, if any, growing there now, eX-
cept Of the coarser varieties. The
/ beautiful maiden hair ferns have al
most entirely disappeared, and why?
Before Ninnehaha was purchased
five, perhaps ten thousand people in
year. Now there are frequently
as large a number in a single day
1t is estimated that fully 20O, 900 per-
sons visited it last year.
In tina good old times when your cor
respondent and I reveled in the charms
of this beautiful spot, there were no
steamers bringing crowds of people
from one large city and unloading
| them at one end, and "electrics'' bring
ing them from another to be unloaded
at the other. These crowds march
/ through the beautiful glen devastating
it of everything it of everything that
can be pulled up by the roots-even to
the ferns planted by the park board
in its endeavors to restore the rocks
70 a semblance of their primitive pic
turesque beauty.
WOULD SOON BE BARREN.
1t is easily to be seen that if every
visitor who now visits the park We're
permitted TO roam round and pick
flowers" at will, it would be denuded
Of every vestige Of green. There are
not five acres OF the 123, where visitors
are requested to keep off the grass, -
and this small area. has been filled and
seeded, and must be protected, or there
will be no grass.
When the property was taken pos
session of by the park board, this and
a much larger area was a barren sand
waste on which grass would not grow
There were several disreputable houses
on the tract and a lot of old sheds and
out-buildings, and the place had such
an unsavory reputation that few OF
our citizens cared to visit it Let US
not forget this when criticising the
park board.
1 most heartily agree with your cor
respondent in regard to the walls that
have been built about the falls. and I
have preached and pleaded to have a
portion of them removed, and as far
as possible under the changed condi
ton Of the requirements of the place
TO let nature alone and not to have any
more artificial structures than are alb
solutely necessary I agree with your
correspondent in saying, The wilder
the scenery the more attractive it will
be-
The park board had a problem to
deal with in regard to such resorts
Lake Harriet and Minnehaha have be-
come that is not easy to solve. 1t
wishes to give the people all the liber-
~ possible, and at the same time to
preserve the natural features. but. /
regret to say, the majority of the vis-
ltorS TO such places, either through ig-
norance or thoughtlessness do not
seem TO appreciate such sentiments.
The park commissioners of New
York recently opened the lawns of
Central park, and gave the people full
liberty to roam over them. The ex-
9eta- tod
owing largely to the area not being
large enough to accommodate the i'm
mense crowd wishing to take advan-
tage Of it, and largely to the rough
element, who committed acts of the
worst KIND of vandalism. They de-
stroyed shrubbery, kicked up the sod
with their heels, and covered the grass
with rubbish. This small element,
which is to be found in all cities, make
it necessary to make rules for the
government Of parks that are onerous
to the true lovers of nature, who visit
them for rest and recreation.
superintendent Berry, of the Mime
apolis park board, has had large ex-
perience in Chicago, as well as in Min
neapolis, and he feels obliged TO en-
force rules which, in the kindness OF
! his heart, he wishes it were not neces-
| sary to the board to make.
L can say with your correspondent.
Minnehaha used to be my ideal.
have enjoyed many happy hours in its
beautiful glens, but it can never be
/ the same to me as it was when there
were but few visitors, and one could
roam about in the solitude of its for
! ests. But I rejoice that the people
| own 1t, and that the large crowds who
! now visit it have such a beautiful re-
| sort as IT even now is, and ever will be.
The park board have undoubtedly
made one serious mistake, which will
| some day be rectified. It grew out of
/ the fact that for years a wood plat
form was used by photographer when
| romantic visitors, and lovers, wished
| their pictures taken, with the falls for
! background. The public little real
lze how near we came to have the
! beautiful crescent destroyed by a build
ing, which was to be let to the said
| photographer.
Minnehaha will always be an attract
i've place, and some day the falls and
the crescent below them will be re-
| stored to their natural condition. Every
stone that has been built into the
walls and steps will be removed. and
! until this is done, I co not wish IN
visit the spot again. The sight of that
last wall cost me a sleepless night. and
! the thought of it now gives me IN