The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-02-08

trees diOnS II. Inc park mere can de-
sirably extend westerly along both
sides of the creek to the o. R. & N.
| railway, widening out as surrounding
property conditions make feasible. so
| that one portion of it will come to the
Washington school, and will only be
separated from it by the width Of
Cherry street. So far as one can Judge
by the character of occupancy of sur
| rounding lands, the price of land here
ought to be no greater than would be
demanded for several other tracts of
land not nearly so susceptible of agree
able landscape improvement, and sit
uated at least four times as far from
the business center of the city. Such
an opportunity for securing a most at
tractive and beautiful park in which
can be playfields and other provisions
for children's exercises and amusement
so near the center of the city, and sur
rounded on three sides by a laboring
population which is evidently sure to
become dense, is certainly q most re-
markable one. The only apparent OBJ
jections to this site for park are the
expense of dealing with floods in Mill
creek and the bad smells from the gas
works. So far as the ugly character
Of these buildings is concerned they
The smells will generally be blown
away from the park by the prevailing
southwesterly breeze. The objection
as to smells can doubtless be greatly
lessened if not remedied, by proper
care in the, management of the gas
works. but even as it is this objection
is far outweighed by the extraordinary
accessibility of the location to- 1 should
say, fully one-third of the population
of the city. Mill creek can be pre-
vented from flooding portion of the
land. as it now does, by a continue ton
of the filling already extended along it
for some distance west of Sixth street
AS bearing upon the improvement of
the creek and the lessening of the dam
age by floods I heartily commend the
| suggestion which has been made that
the city remove the cobble stones
| which have accumulated in the bed of
the creek, and use them for macadam-
| izing the residence streets. For the
foundation layer it would only be nee
essary to break them with hammers in
for the thinner surface layer the
stones could be crushed to the proper
size. For the residence streets where
there is not a heavy traffic, such a
macadamized roadway would be found
to be far the best in proportion to the
cost, that is available. In my opinion
it would neither be necessary nor de-
sirable to bulkhead the sides of Mill
creek in either of the parks In
either of the parks on the convex sides
of curves where the wash during floods
would be greatest a rough riprap of
larger stones than those which are
now found in the bed of the creek, mix
ed with earth and planted with vines
or bushes would be an entirely effect
ual protection to the banks, and at the
same time could be made much more
natural and harmonious with the park
scenery than stone or concrete walls.
Even without improvement of conse-
quence there are considerable areas in
this park site which can be immedi-
ately utilized by boys and girls for field
games, as they are neither unduly un-
dulating nor broken by washOuts caus-
ed by floods, nor encountered by more
cObble stones Or other refuse than can
be easily removed. Next to the reten-
ton of the present city park 1 believe
the acquisition of this west park to be
can make.
Largely Muscovite.
In the southern part of the city is a
large and rapidly increasing popula-
| ton largely Russian, or of Russian de-
scent and mainly of the laboring class.
In a great many cases their compare
tive poverty compels these people to
live on very small lots, and it will be
some time before they can afford the
assessments incident to the proper i'm
provement of streets. I believe it to be
of great Importance if anything is done
in the way of additional parks to pro-
vide playground in this district. APP
parently the most conveniently located,
and owing to the absence of improve
ments. probably the cheapest tract OF
land of adequate size is that between
Chase avenue and Fourth street from
Willard street to the fair grounds. "A
small amount of grading in the way OF
filling up holes would be required to
fit the ground for use, and moderate
expenditure for shade trees to be
planted around its borders. is all that
would be required for some time to
come. When it can be afforded, there
should be in the northerly part of this
playground a shelter house with toilet
| accommodations, tool room for the
foreman in charge of the park, and
possibly rooms for his residence. In
connection with such a shelter there
would be two enclosed yards. one for
very little children with a little lawn
said courts, cups and SO forth, and the
other for larger children, especially
girls, with swings, teeter boards ana