Arizona republican., 1920-12-16
Golden Gate Park
By Frederic J. Haskin

SAN FRANCISCO, Cal. Dec. 10 Solden Gate Park in san Francisco en- JOYS not only the worshipful homage of eLi Caitornians, but world wide fame ss vel. Many Europeans and Asiatics "ho have never heard of the California redwoods or the Yosemite Valley know aH about this rark. and hurry out 70 Francisco. For Golden Gate Park. with all it's haturaF beauty-its lakes and hills anu wooded islands--is a made park. eated entirely by the park commis- loHers or san Francisco since 1870. Be- mat date, the space now contain
 ne park was a mere eXpanse of se dunes stretching desolately down " Nue Pacific ocean. Certainly not an ssS aging prospect for a park, but s io Ciey had It's own reasons for locat-
 At lnere. For one thing the prop stV then was not as valuable as that ln otner sections of the city, and the ~uJus.inent of land titles, it was s. ssiVusht' would be an easy matter. As ! nappened, many greedy land owners exempted to interfere with the enter prise, but the city finally bought .013 SS0O,00O
 Once in possession of the tract. the park commissioners immediately start eu tnelr comprehensive scheme for im7. proving 1t. It was courageous park commission. Hampered like most such institutions by lack of funds, every step or Us work was rendered difficult. The necessary supplies of loam and fertiliz- ing material were obtained only after much agitation, and then an indepen- 1ent water supply had to be fought for. w me the San Franciscans of today lhSist that they always knew the park would turn out to be the handsome thing that 1t "a, and that they were enthusiastic about 1t from the very be- kinnlng, the park records show that popular interest in those early days was very slim. Perhaps this was only nat ural. since what the landscape artist stw m the minds eye was by no means l(spie to the ordinary citizen
 Conquering the Dunes
 According Co Superintendent John AicLaren, who lives in the park. and mas been engaged in developing it for many years. the sand dunes in the be- ginning. stubbornly resisted reclama- tion- Lupin and barley were planted, but these would not hold the sand Grass seed was then imported from France, which proved it's efficiency at once. The seabent grass. which flour ishes so extensively along the European coast, was also used with gratifying success. This Brass requires little moisture and no manure. but it Is a wonderful catcher and holder Of the sand. With its aid, the drifting sands were held in check until the Monterey cypress and other branches of the pine family were able to lend their assist Rnce in holding down the land. In duo time the meadows were sown witt Kentucky blue grass, and on the hill sides madrone, manzanita, laurel ano other native trees took hold
 Today. there Is little evidence of this early struggle. Shrubs, hedges ano trees have been planted with such clev- erness that Nature herself must some times be deceived into thinking that sht put them there. Palm and pepper tree, do not dominate the scene, as they dC In southern California The eucalyptu: tree-that queer independent giant which grows by leaps and bounds anC sheds its leaves whenever it feels like it, instead of waiting for a definite sea son-is, of course, much in evidence but so are huge-leafed sycamores and poplars and silver naples.
 Stretching in an irregular line across the park from northeast to southwest is a chain of lakes, which add marvel ously to the charm of the landscape So gently molded are the shore curves SO irregular tne inlets. and so thiclSly wooded the islands in some of the lakes that no one would dream they had beer first designed on paper and brought Into being by landscape engineers.
 Work on the largest lake" explained