The Fastest Slow Guy You Know: GREAT PARK SYSTEM IS CITY'S HOPE - The San Francisco Examiner - 15 Apr 1917, Sun

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

GREAT PARK SYSTEM IS CITY'S HOPE - The San Francisco Examiner - 15 Apr 1917, Sun - Page 10

Sun, Apr 15, 1917 – 10 · The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America) · Newspapers.com

GREAT PARK SYSTEM IS CITY'S HOPE

With The Hights as a Beginning, Oakland Is Planning to Acquire Chain of Public Grounds

FORESTS, STREAMS, GLENS

Voters to Be Asked at October Election to Support Bond Issue to Acquire Valuable Tracts

The nucleus of a park projected by the city of Oakland, a park greater in area than Golden Gate Park, of greater natural beauty, and commanding unsurpassed views, has been secured through the acquisition of The Hights, the home of Joaquin Miller.

The new park, If the bond issue for it be approved by the voters in next October's election, will consist of a chain of parks so closely connected that the distance between certain links will be merely negligible. The chain of parks will include Trestle Glen, a long stretch of the Havens property, Dimond Canyon, The Hights, another tract of the Havens property beyond The Hights, and Redwood Peak. [see clipping at end of post for the above-linked article about Sequoia Park - MF]

Trestle Glen is almost in the heart of Oakland. A year's lease has been secured on the glen and during the summer the municipal band concerts will be held in one of its many beautiful glades. The one chosen for the concerts is a natural amphitheatre, a charming setting for outdoor music.

An excellent natural road winds through the glen and beyond, around lofty hills clothed to their summits with trees typical of California. All thousands upon thousands of them, were planted by Frank C. Havens. [see Ubiquitous Eucalyptus, Street Trees, The Changing Nature of Joaquin Miller Park and Resisting the Revisionist History of Bay Area Forests - MF]

Dimond Canyon has long been one of the famous picnicking spots of the east bay region. Wild and picturesque, it is a fitting gateway to The Hights, the most interesting spot in the whole chain of parks.

Aside from its attraction as the home of the poet, its wild beauty and magnificent views draw many visitors to it. When Joaquin Miller took up his homestead the hills were bare of trees. He planted 75,000, of many varieties, and his problem was to secure water for them. He did this by sinking wells, and it was a common saying with him that he "brought up his trees on the bottle."

[Read more at JOAQUIN MILLER, SHRINE BUILDER - MF]

Here and there among the trees, and high up on the hills, are monuments built by the poet's own hands to commemorate certain heroes of his. One, a pyramid, not so large but apparently as substantial as that of Cheops, is in honor of Moses, the lawgiver. Another, a square tower, marks the spot where Fremont first beheld the strait which he then and there named the Golden Gate, while a found tower of massive proportions was the tribute to Browning.

The Abbey, a small frame building, was also the work of Miller's hands. Here he spent much of his time, for this was his mental workshop. His aged mother's house, where she spent her last years, adjoins the Abbey.

In the tiny cabin where the poet lived and died are preserved his most intimate possessions, and these will become the property of the city of Oakland, through the gift of the widow, Mrs. Abbie Miller.

A quarter acre of the homestead has been reserved by Juanita Miller, the daughter. On this small piece of land stand the cabin and a "sanctuary to memory." which Miss Miller erected. No one has entered it except the owner. There she writes, draws and composes the music for her songs.