El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-03-20


w guished for the steps it tool
to add to the beauty of Washington
{ already the most beautiful Of tn,
I worlds capitals 1t made an apprOprl-
( alton for the connection of Rock Greek
| park, a large wildwood driving park
with Potomac park, which lies along
1 the western end OF the city river front
I This will give a continuous parkway
] extending from the capitol, past the
! Washington monument, to Rock Greek
! which separates the city proper from
( old Georgetown
! The lower end of this creek runs
/ through a region, once famous for Its
J beauty but now desOlate in its sOrdid
| Ugliness, being used as a dumping
J ground The upper end, which is in
! Guided in the National Geological park
! has had its natural beauty conserved
with the completion OF the Deautlflca-
ton of lower Rock Greek il will then
be possible for one to travel through
! a park that extends from the very
nOrthermOSt confines of the city to the
river front on the south, and thence TO
7 the capitol, which will give to Wash
/ ingtOn park system without su-
! pcrior in any quarter of the world
Memorial to Lincoln.
Congress also voted an appropriation
to erect to the memory of Abraham
Lincoln. in Potomac park, a monument
which will represent the worlds most
costly pile to the memory of any man.
It will be situated at one end of the
Mall, with the capitol at the other,
while between them towers the shaft
that commentaries the life and WOrk
OF Washington, and also the heroic
military monument which bespeaks the
nations veneratiOn of Grant.
Furthermore. congress made the in
itIal appropriation for the construction
OF a bridge, which will span the PO-
tOmac from the vicinity Of the Lincoln
monument to a point below the gates
of Arlington the home of Robert Z.
Lee, and now the cOuntry's most his
tOric and famous national cemetery
This bridge will be memorial In its
character, typifyinE the reunion Of the
north and the south and promises to
be the greatest of its kind in the world.
New Department Building.
Still another step IN the realization
OF the dream or the ultimate W aShlnS-
ton was taken in the authorization Of
a magnificent new department build
ing west of the new National museum
to be a fit companion to that struc-
ture and of the new department OF
agriculture. When these plans and
others previously laid out are COM
pleted there will be a group Of mag
nificent government buildings south Of
Pennsylvania avenue and east of Fiji
teenth street that will be among the
most imposing in the world There IS
a narrow strip OF land south Of Penn
sylvania avenue and extending to the
world famous Mall that connects the
capitol and the Washington monument.
This strip Of land, for the most part, IS
covered with cheap hotels, restaurants
rOOming houses. the City's leading mar
ket, the wholesale provision and lum-
Der districts, and the red light district
Il is the plan Of the government TO re-
move all of this, and to make il the site
of new federal buildings the eNpan-
sion Of the government makes neces-
sary-
Park on Meridian Hill.
In addition to all these things, con-
gress has provided for the creation OF
small park on what IS known as
Meridian hill which marks the hori-
he nf "
house. There the people may come 10
get a glimpse of the city second only
TO that which may be enjoyed from the
dcme Of the capitol or from the top
of the Washington monument.
But even when all these things have
been done the ultimate Washington
still viii lie in the future. Those who
want to see ii a capital commensurate
with the wealth and dignity of the ma
tom representative of the national
ideals of beauty and symmetry; en-
bodying the national aspirations in
landscape gardening, in architecture,
in conservation of natural beauty,
would go even further Between Rock
Creek park and Soldiers Home park,
both situated on the northern side Of
the city, there is now no park cOnnec-
ton. 1t has been proposed that they
shall be Joined together in the years
10 come Plans have been perfected
for park between the union station
Extensive Park System.
ne CO4lplGLAO4 OF THESE TWO pLOJEGlS
would mean a park system around
the four sides of the main part Of the
city, with only one comparatively
short break. 1t would start at the
union station and extend nearly a half Z
mile through the capitol grounds
Then it would turn at right angles and !
extend due west until It reached the J
waterfront, and along that to the con-
nUence of Rock creek with the POtO- {
mac-a total distance of two and a
half miles.
From here it would run north a dis |
lance OF six miles along Rock creek; /
in the event that a connecting link l
between Rock Creek park and Sol I
dlerS' Home park is established, this I
at point about four miles above the /
confluence with the Potomac, and then /
would extend eastward for mile and /
a half to Soldiers home. This, in turn. |
with the municipal filtration plant /
gives a parkway nearly two miles long I
and a half mile or more wide.
The only break in the great parallelO- !
gram. then. would be the residence !
section between the Soldiers Home 4
park and the union station, which is |
about a mile and a half long. In other /
words, in a great line around the best
part of the city some 16 miles long, all /
but about two miles would be a line
Propose National Forest.
It has been suggested that nowhere
Else could a national forest be created |
t. better advantage than between
Washington and Baltimore and along
the Potomac west of Washington. |
Here is a great stretch of country,
worth but little for farming or lum-
bering, where a national forest could /
be established at no unreasonable cost
The west has its Yellowstone park. its
Glacier park, and other great ma
tional reserves, but the east has none.
Why not have one between Washing
ton and Baltimore, within eight hours
ride of perhaps a fourth of the cOun-
try's populatiOn2 This is the question
Of the dreamer of today, but there are
those who believe that in a decade
congress will come to give il that same
attention which, after years of effort,
it gave to the proposed Appalachian
forests.
Opportunity for Builders.
Very few of the worlds great CAPT
tails lend themselves so well to the
builder of the City Beautiful as the
capital of the United States With the
Potomac and its Virgin
ian palisades: with Rock Creek valley
filled with beautiful glens and fine !
drives: with a gently undulating down !
town section; and with high residential
Sc ctions, the general conformation of
the site of the city is more beautiful l
than that of Rome, more attractive !
than that of Paris, far to be preferred
over that of Berlin, not to be COM
pared with that of London, Madrid, St