New-York tribune., 1908-01-17
CITY REHDING.

Unquesti0nably the acme Of sport and recre-
alton is TO be found in city building. 1t is
better than empire building because it requires
less talk and more skill. Anybody can annex Il
continent by dickering or pickering with savages.
but it takes capital, perseverance and dash or
genius to make a city rise out of solitude.
Only world powers and great corporations care
to- indulge in the game. and even in that ultra
smart set city building does not arouse the Ell
thusiasm of bridge whist. Only few bold
ones take il up. Russia created Dalny. the
Steel CORPORATION conillred up Gary on Ind-
ana desert and now the Grand Trunk Pacific
Railroad is promoting the sport on lonely
island of the North Pacific. As in every sports
manlike contest each newcomer strives to go
his predecessors or two better, 50 here :;
the great Canadian corporation is accepting far
greater hazards than either Of its distinguished
rivals cared to assume and. according to the
latest reports. its aims are far more ambitious
than theirs were. Not content with building a
merely successful city in an untrammel1ed
wilderness. the Canadians are going to convert
a desolate hyperborean iset into a City Beauti-
full Prince Rupert will be the city's name and
its site is Kaien Island. some five hundred and
fifty miles north of Vancouver and only fifty
odd miles from the tail of Alaska. The future
metropolis will be the western terminus of the
projected trunk line tapping the measureleSs
wheat lands Of the greater Northwest. This
prospect encourages the city builders to pro-
ceed most magnificently The premonftory con-
fessions of the Boston landscape architects who
are planning the town will make the members
of several thousand civic improvement clubs
hail Prince Rupert as the capital of Utopia.
From scanning the reported plans it may be
quickly learned what an ideal city is. We are
told that it Is situated on q steep coast. which
roducaS thn Street Cleaning DpDa tment TO q
third-rate power. The town is to be divided
into three levels The lowest one will be re-
served for the shipping and wholesale business,
the middle one will contain all retailers shops
and public pdiffces while the uppermOSt one,
which is three hundred feet above tidewater,
will be cOnsecrated to happy home life. Still
higher up several parks will be marked off. and
an island or two in the large harbor will be
set aside as breathing spots for the teeming
multitudes of the next millennium. Thereby the
city Is delivered from KisSena Park artists for
ever OF course. the streets will be at least as
wide as those Winnipeg thcroughfares which
It's said that strong men get lost of a mOOnless
night and starve to death ere rescuing party
arrives. With great regret however, we note
that the landscape architects fai, to provide
for the immediate installation of subways and
all other subterranean street mains. the build
ing and rebuilding of which is source of so
much annoyance and graft" Have the rail
way officials not perused any of the memorials
addressed by sundry reformers to the New
York City aldermen. demonstrating mathemat-
icaly that a great public improvement costing
S25OOO0O0 to-day will, if postponed until
actually needed. cost at least S100,00O.OO0? We
really think the Boston architects should give
ear to our local improvers before going on with
Prince Rupert.