The herald., 1897-03-18
WILL BE A NATIVE MONUMENT
The Beautiful Boulevard and the Toll
OF 1.-The 400"
How the Work at Elysian Park Is Progress
Jing-Side Lights on the Character
Of the ToiIers

The unwritten history Of the boule-
ward now being constructed by the vast
army of men known as ''the unem-
ployed" is full of sacrifice, of pathos
and even of heroism. Tt the ordinary
observer, this is simply body Of men
working on the hillside, with pick, ak,
shovel, barrow-building walls, grading,
blasting; but to one who knows the in
mel side, the men are heroes-the work
a monument.
The Elysian park boulevard was COM
menced two weeks ago. When the work
for the unemployed was first discussed
Judge Chas. Silent suggested the max
ing of this boulevard as giving work of
long time, and of value both to the men
and the city. Many thought the idea
chimerical already its success is pro-
ncunced, both in its object and its effect.
The work was commenced with force
of fifty men, which force has been in
creased to four hundred; men of all
classes and in all walks of life; college
bred men, professional men, men Of
culture, brains and ability; men young
old, middle-aged; men with artistic
tastes and fine instincts side by side with
digger. These men are not working Tor
wages, they are working for the life Of
some one they love-some wife, sister,
mother, child; some one suffering actu-
ally for food, and for whom the dollar
paid every night means another day pro
vided for. There is not the usual ldle
talk, the loafing, neither do you see din
ner pals and evidences of luncheon in
all the lines of the roadway.
I1,t orco cfnra1lv vOu do see a man
stop and look afar at the cloud effects
upon the mountain and foothill upon
the shining snow-capped peak OF old
Baldy," or the distant stretch of valley,
green and beautiful in the sunlight. And
then, as If refreshed with the deep
draughts of natures inspiration, ne
turns again to the earth and his shovel.
But two weeks work on the boulevard
has been done, yet how much has been
accomplished. The drive commences
1000 feet this SIDE of the Buena Vista
street bridge. Here 700 feet of stone
wall is being put in. The walk at this
point will be twenty feet wide, and the
entrance to the park of stone Will be
a once harmonious and imposing. Three
terraces riEe here from the hillside, the
driveway, forty feet wide, winds in
easy grades up the ascent. There Will
be three miles of driveway, and the
winding of the road is perfect in Its
engineering device.
The committee in charge of the engi-
reering department Is composed OF Fred
Eaton, H. Hawgood and Gervais's Pur-
cell. These gentlemen have given their
service freely and fully to the work
which is to be of lasting and permanent
benefit to the city.
Upon the 4th of March, when the park
commissioners. the engineers and some
of the prominent business men went out
to lay out the work they christened tie
highest point Mount Mckinley. Thus
far this is the only point named, though
the succession Of beautiful views that
unfold Themselves to the delighted eye,
the pretty dells the wooded slopes.and
the graceful curves of the boulevard
Will one day all be named, with perhaps
appropriate ard poetic ceremony.
Judge Silent thinks that broad spaces
Will be given to wild flowers. to fields
of poppies lupines or the cluster lily.
He wants the terraces to- blaze with
color and the hillsides to dazzle the
tourist with the flowers of every season
in turn. If this idea is carried out, and
the idea means but little expense, 1t
will add greatly to the beauty of the
boulevard.
On the other side Of the boulevard the
prospect opens upon Griffith park, and
there are miles of valley beyond, with
foothill and mountain to feast the sense
and rest the eye with landscape that is
only seen in California.
All these long miles Of boulevard are
forty feet wide, and the work Is prom
ised completion in six weeks and then
Los Angeles will have a monument of
strength, of beauty. a delight to the
eye, an attraction to stranger and tour
ist and citizen, made by the hands of
many men, born perhaps in the purple,
but men who have met misfortune
bravely, and have been kept out of
deep waters by the earnest work of
many business men and the contribu-
tions of those who know the blessing Of
sacrifice for noble purpose.