Evening star., 1901-07-23
THE POTOMAC PARK
Progress Of Reclaiming the Flats
Described.
ANNUAL REPORT OF COL. c. ]. ALLEN
DesirabiIity of the Adoption of a
Plan.
WORK OF ROW E NJ Z n T

WORK OF IMPROV MT
| The Improvement of Potomac Park is the
| subject of an interesting chapter of the
| nua1 report of Col. Charles ]. Allen, the
| engineer officer in charge of the Potomac
| river improvements, submitted to Gen. Gill
| lespie, chief of engineers, today.
| Congress, by act of March 3, 1897, and
| in the following words, declared the flats
now being reclaimed a public park
BE it enacted by the Senate and House
| of Representatives of the United States Of
! America In Congress assembled, That the
| entire area formerly known the Poto-
| mac flats, and now being reclaimed, to-
gether with the tidal reservoirs, be, and
| the same are hereby, made and declared
| public park, under the name of Potomac
/ Park, and to be forever held and used as a
park for the recreation and pleasure of the
people"
The land areas of these reclaimed flats"
says Col. Allen, amount to 621 acres,
| while the areas of the constructed tidal
| reservoirs aggregate us acres. These flats
| are capable of being transformed into one
| of the finest parks in the country. The
greater part of the park area is composed
| of rich alluvial soil. dredged from the bed
| of the river, upon which luxuriant growth
| rapidly appears. The dredging operations
will continue to afford material of the
| same character.
| 1t is necessary that the greater part
| of the area be, for the present, reserved
| for the deposit of material dredged from
| the river channels and tidal reservoir in
connection with the Improvement of Poto-
mac river, and that sufficient space be tenn
pOrariy reserved for construction pur-
poses near the sites of the Memorial, Long
| and new highway bridges, and of the inlet
| gates, and, though it will probably be some
| years before the reclaimed area can be de-
| voted exclusively to park purposes, stiH 1t
| appears desirable that a commencement be
| made upon the park improvement to
| render the park accessible TO the public at
| the earliest practicable day.
DesirabiIfty of IA known Plan.
- the location of driveways. lakes, in
| equalities of surface, etc, for the COM
| pleted park be known in advance, much
| of the dredged material can be so deposited
! as to avoid rehandling; also, If the inlet
| gates for the regulation of the flow of wa
| ter into the tidal reservoir be combined in
one structure with the bridge for CARRYING
| the driveway across the same, a marked
| increase of economy and effect will result
! 1t is generally understood that COM
| prehensive plans for the Improvement of
| the park system of Washington, to be sub
| mitted to Congress are to be prepared by
| commission composed of distinguished
| architects and landscape engineers. The
| utIllllte duOpllOn OF some Such cOnlDTehen
SlVe plans for Potomac Park would he of
| great advantage to the work and to the
community at large, even if no appropria-
| ton for their execution we're immediately
| made.
plans for the DEVELOPMENT of the re-
claimed flats into sort Of rural park have
| been considered by this office, more or less
since the inception. in 1881, of the project
Tor their reclamation, and have been kept
| in view since that time by the several
officers of the corps of engineers in charge
| of the work when considering TIE crossing
| by bridges and other rel1t I'd jects.
| "A map accompanying this report shows
| the condition of the channels at the close
| of the fiscal year 1901, and also suggests
| features of park Improvement as islands,
| vistas, drveways. speedway. commons
&c, that may possibly be regarded as of
| interest.
TreSpass and Deposits.
"A number of unauthorized occupations
of portions of the area were reported, un-
der date of January 3, 1870, to the proper
law officer of the government. All of the
occupants have since then withdrawn, two
excepted, and who still occupy small por-
tions of the area between the northeast
erly shore line of the large tidal reservoir
| and the Washington monument &C.
| grounds, one of the portions of the area
being occupied by an ole and dilapidated
| building and the other by piles Of old lum-
| Der, belonging to the two persons referred
| to. The matter has again and recently
| been reported
! Dumping In Potomac Park
| deposits by citizens at their own ex-
pense in Potomac Park of desirable. clean
earth, free from Objectionable matter, have
| always been permitted by this Office sub
ject to certain restrictiyns, which guard
the interests of the Unted States These
permits are in regular 1oInn and are of
| record
| During the past year this privilege has
| been great convenience to various private
parties and at the same time the Unite ed
| States has obtained in this way and with
| out cost to itself about 5000 cubic yards
| of good material deposit ed and grated free
| OF cost at localities rem1te from The river
| where deposit from dredging is most ex-
| pensive, or thrown up in embankments
| which Will later serve for retaining and
| grading deposited materI1l, thus reducing
the cost of future dredging and deposit
| IF the locations of the drivewayS of Po-
| tomac Park were definitely established much
| of such material which now has to be re-
| jected as unsuitable for park surface could
| be accepted and deposited to the advan-
| tage of the river Improvement. of The park
| Improvement and of the community at
| large.
Maintenance.
| The Improvement has reached a stage
! where the maintenance and preservation of
| the reservation require attention The
| growth of weeds and unie.brush which,
In the summer season especially, renders
| access to the various parts of the work
| difficult, should be cleared up each year
| until the reservation is raady to be laid
| out and graded. Annual repairs will also
! be needed on the wall and .ae reservoir
| gates.
| The proper police supervision of this
| extensive area of G21 acres has also be-
| come a matter of Importance. In order to
| prevent infraction of the law. trespasses,
| &c, the reservation should be patroled
| L.. {yyDs,s tod hat
| quired per annum for maintenance
| 1t is also estimated that the sum of
| S9J.Un can be profitably expended during
| the hscal year ending June 80, 1903, In
! carrying on work under the approved
| project"