Until 1871 the history of the park was an uneventful one. Most of the commissioners had served on the board since its first year, and, except for family squabbles over the details of management and construction, the improve ments were carried on without interruption practically in the entire charge of Mr. Olmsted. The difficulties which began to interfere with the efficiency of the department after its polit ical organization in 1871 are indicated by the following extract from a pamphlet by Mr. Olmsted, who was subsequently made a commis sioner and president of the board, shortly prior to his dismissal: °As superintendent of the park,° he says, °I once received in six days more than 7,000 letters of advice as to appointments, nearly alt from men in office.° Delegations from various political organizations came to find out °what share of his patronage they could expect° and in order to make him as little trouble as pos sible in its parceling out °they took the liberty to suggest that there could be no more con venient way than thatyou should send us our due quota of tickets, if you please, sir, in this form, leaving us to fill in the name.° Here a pack of printed tickets was produced, which proved to be blank appointments, bearing the signature of Mr. Tweed. "That° continued the spokesman of the delegation, °was the way we arranged it last year, and we don't think there can be anything better.° There seems to have been some misconcep tion, during the early years of the park, as to its real purpose, and considerable jealousy of its regulations. In April 1864, for instance, one of the regiments of the first division of the National Guard, despite the vehement opposi tion of the park keepers, marched through one of the gates and proceeded to drill upon the green. Another regiment subsequently at tempted to do the same thing.
An interesting item in the report for 1863 is the announcement that 14 European sparrows, emoineaux of France,° were let loose in the park in the spring of that year. This original 14, apparently the pilgrim fathers of the pres ent local settlement, must now be represented by several million.
The paving of Fifth avenue up to the park was completed in 1863. Previous to this, espe daily in wet weather, the approaches had been extremely bad, and the completion of the Fifth avenue paving led to an immediate increase in the use of the park for driving. In its early days guards were stationed at each of the park gates, and a part of their duty was to count the number of persons passing in. In 1861 the
result of the count was 1,863,263 pedestrians, 73,547 equestrians and 456,849 carriages, the total number of visitors being estimated at 2,404,659.
°For the purpose of ascertaining the nature of the existing says the first annual report (1857-58), aa botanical survey of the park has been made. First, to learn how far it can be made available in the projected improve ments and to ascertain what plants will prove most flourishing if transplanted to this second to discover what alterations the soil will require in order to admit of an increased variety.° This report details about 70 species of trees, shrubs and vines. Among the trees were in cluded maples, beech, dogwood, chestnut, catalpa, red birch, persimmon, ash, locust, black walnut, red cedar, sweet gum, sycamore, poplar, Ameri can aspen, oak and elm. All told there were about 150,000 trees and shrubs. Regarding the present vegetation there seems to be no available data, no continuous record of the planting hav ing been kept nor any detailed botanical study i of it made during recent years. The soil of the park was never good in quality, nor abundant enough to support the vegetation of a park. For this reason the public had to be excluded from the meadows and lawns, as a single day's trampling of the grass nearly destroyed it. In 1903 a systematic renovation of the soil was undertaken and continued until nearly the whole planted area was covered with loam, carted from Long Island, at an expense of upward of $2,000,000.
Over $30,000,000 have been spent in bringing the park to its present condition. It is 2% miles long, half a mile wide and covers 843 acres, of which 185 are in lakes and reservoirs and 408 in forest containing over half a million trees and shrubs. There are 31 miles of walks, 10% miles of roads and 5% miles of bridle paths. Twenty gates bearing fanciful titles such as Artists, Scholars, Hunters, Strangers, Students, etc., give admittance to the park. Adding greatly to its attractions are zoological and botanical gardens, conservatories, foun tains, free tennis courts, a field for baseball and other games, the tree-lined mall with its fine statues of world-wide celebrities and numerous other monuments, notably the Egyptian obelisk and the Maine monument, gracing different points.