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 OF 
 
 Fred. Law Olmsted 
 
 ON 
 
 Mount Royal Park. 
 
 
 
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209 West 46th Street, 
 
 New York, 23rd Nov., 1874. 
 
 To THE Honorable the Commissioners of Mount 
 Royal Park, Montreal ; 
 
 Gentlemen, — I herein transcribe the draft of a propo- 
 sition made to yon last Monday, with modifications, as 
 desired by you, and, as I understand, then provisionally 
 accepted. 
 
 Forecasting your undertaking, I judge that the prin- 
 cipal construction work for the next year should be that 
 of a road and of one or more walks by which the moun- 
 tain can be ascended, and as I much prefer, before 
 maturing a design for laying out the top of the mountain, 
 to have an opportunity of more carefully studying its 
 summer conditions, I make the following propositions: 
 
 1st. I will furnish you before the firsi, of May next 
 with a plat showing the changes which I shall recommend 
 to be made in the boundaries of your property, and a 
 plan of approach roads and such other matters as it will, 
 in my judgment, be feasible and desirable for you to 
 operate upon during the working season of 1875 ; together 
 with such general indications of the main features of a 
 plan for the whole, as will be necessary to the intelligent 
 judgment upon the parts of the plan more fully matured 
 and submitted for your adoption, 
 
 2nd. I will subsequently furnish you with a general 
 plan for laying out your whole property on a scale of one 
 hundred feet to the inch ; also, if my recor.Tmendation as 
 to change of boundary are adopted, with a special plan 
 for the proposed little park district on a scale of fifty feet 
 to the inch ; and another lor certain parts of the property 
 which you will be recommended to sell, showing pro- 
 posed streets and lots, 
 
 3rd. I will also give you a general report describing 
 and explaining the plans, giving the reasons for the t>everal 
 
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important features and advice as to the method of carry- 
 ing them out. 
 
 4th. I will deliver all the above plans and the report 
 before the first of May (or before they shall be required 
 with reference to the opening of operations in the spring) 
 of 1876, and until I deliver them, will give you such 
 services as advisory Landscape Architect as I deem to be 
 necessary, without special charge. 
 
 6th. On the presumption that the ground to be covered 
 does not materially exceed five hundred acres (say 530) 
 and that no change or addition to your scheme will be 
 made adding essentially to my responsibility, I will 
 receive as my full compensation for the above specified 
 ■ervices a sum of money equivalent to five Ihousand 
 dollars in United States currency, to be paid to me in 
 New York, as follows : Five hundred dollars on or before 
 the tenth day of January, 1875 ; five hundred dollars 
 within thirty days after the delivery of the first plat and 
 plans; and the remaining sum of four thousand dollars at 
 the completion of this engagement (unless on evidence of 
 progress in the meantime you shall, on my application, 
 deem it just to pay me a part of the same on account). 
 
 I shall also require that you reimburse me for all 
 outlays in necessary travelling expenses or other expenses 
 incurred under your special instructions from time to time, 
 and that all desirable aid and facilities shall be given me 
 whereby my work, when on the ground, shall be better 
 advanced and proceed more advantageously for your 
 interest. 
 
 It will, of course, be a condition of this arrangement 
 that you furnish me with a copy ol the topographical map 
 V ' ir: preparation, as you have agreed to do, in due time, 
 . y, b-jfore the 1st of February next. 
 ^" I am, gentlemen, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 ;^ ' ;' FEED. LAW OLMSTED. 
 
 ■I ■'!) \'.:l 
 
 C*i^;i^^:r, 
 
209, AVEST 46th STREET, 
 
 New York, 21st November, 1874. 
 Tc the Honorable, 
 
 the Commissioners of 
 
 Mount-Royal Park, Montreal. 
 
 G-ENTLEMEN, 
 
 I have the honor to comply with your request, 
 that I would repeat in writing the substance of certain 
 observations verbally made to you last Monday, in regard 
 to your property of Mount Royal. 
 
 As a general rule, rugged and broken ground is the last 
 that should be chosen for a public recreation ground in 
 the immediate vicinity of a large city. It is unnecessary 
 that I should show the objections to it; the simple fact 
 that your property differs so greatly in its topographical 
 characteristics from ground, which would be generally 
 and properly described as " park-like," raises a sufficient 
 presumption that it is unsuitable for a park. 
 
 The question, whether it can, by any means, be econo- 
 mically adapted for the purposes for which you intend it, 
 is, therefore, first in order, and, as it involves a considera- 
 tion of the main features of a general design for dealing 
 with it, it will be the chief object of my present commu- 
 nication to give you the conclusions of my judgment upon 
 this question, and to indicate more or less distinctly the 
 processes by which they have been reached. 
 
 The chief elements of value of all recreation grounds 
 for the use of the general public of large towns are : Ist 
 the change of air afforded; 2nd the power of their 
 scenery to counteract conditions which tend to nervous 
 depression or irritability ; 3rd the ease and pleasure with 
 which these advantages may be used. 
 
Of the first two of these elements of value, Mount- 
 iloyal, in its present unimproved condition, offers a larger 
 measure than any other place equally near so large a 
 population of which I have knowledge, and by judicious 
 means, as I shall indicate further on. its advantages of 
 scenery may be heightened, and its disadvantages less- 
 ened. The question, then, is, whether its possible value 
 in these respects can be made available with due ease, 
 comfort and economy ? My doubts on this point were 
 rapidly lessened after I got above the craggy face oi the 
 mountain toward the city, and found myself upon a 
 surface but moderately broken and rugged, and essen- 
 tially an undulating and wooded table-land, from nearly 
 all points of which broad and delightlul distant lands- 
 capes are commanded. 
 
 A survey of this district soon satisiied me that as far as 
 roads, walks, seats and other conveniences of exercise, 
 rest and refreshment are concerned, there is no extraor- 
 dinary difficulty in providing within it all that is essential 
 to your purpose, except as it may arise from the necessity 
 of unusual precautions against the bolting ol' horses and 
 the slipping of heedless persons over the steep declivities, 
 and of establishing not merely security in this respect, 
 but a tranquilizing seiise of security in the minds of all 
 classes of visitors. 
 
 Passing this point as one of detail, it is a more important 
 and difficult branch of the question whether, these advan- 
 tages being provided, the use fof them can be had by 
 the people generally of the city, with moderate ease, 
 comfort and cheapness ? The conditions necessary to be 
 considered before giving an answer will, i3erhaps, be 
 better recognized if the inquiry is made from the point 
 of a physician considering the case of a poor patient, 
 feeble, timid and nervous : or of a convalescent to whom 
 change of air and scene w^ould be highly beneficial, pro- 
 vided it could be had without too much fatigue, disc©m- 
 
fort or exciting anxiety. First, then, the physician has to 
 reflect whether what is likely to be gained througli quiet, 
 pleasurable recreation while moving or resling in the 
 fresh air of the mountain, is likely to be neuti-alized or 
 wovse through the fatiifue, worry and exciiement that 
 will be suHered in the journey to and "rom it : and. occond, 
 he has to consider whether his patient can atfbvd ihe cost 
 of the excursion ? The conclusions which, in course of 
 time, will be reached in thousands of such cases, will be 
 fa\'orable or unfavorable to the chances of recovery, or of 
 rapid or prolonged and tedious convalescence, of the 
 patient, according to the ar]'angements which you will 
 determine to moke. Considering what is practicable, I 
 find < wo possible routes for ascending ^he moantain with- 
 out going to the rear of it: one on Hie nov h and north- 
 west side ; the other on the north-east and east. The first 
 is more invii'ug near >he base, but in the uy»per half of it 
 tolevable grades a ad curves, for a road of desirable breadth, 
 can only be obtained at great expense, and, the ground 
 being valuable ibr another purposo, I am disposed to 
 think, at least for years to come, it will be better to have 
 but a single main approach road, and that on the east 
 side. 
 
 Here, from the top of the mountain as far down, at least, 
 as the McTavish monument, there is no extraordinary 
 difficulty in the way of preparing a road, two rods wide, 
 by which a ca^-riage may be driven up or down at a 
 steady, moderate trot, moving smoothly and quietly, w^hile 
 beauUful distant views are opening to the south and west 
 through j'lames of foliage that shut out any discordant 
 nearer objects. A satisfactory connection might be made, 
 though with more difliculty, between the mountain load 
 at the monument and the nearest streets of the city now 
 in use. But the grades of these streets are so much 
 steeper than those of the roads above need to be, that, 
 whether in ascending or descending, horses would be 
 
6 
 
 brought to a walk, and in passing through them at those 
 periods of the day when the park M'^ould b(» the most 
 attractive and its influence most beneficial, all the annoy- 
 ances and dangers of a blocked street Would often be 
 experienced. 
 
 Those who have given little cons' deration to the subject 
 wnll probcibly think that Montreal will hardly ever sup- 
 ply such a stream of travel to the mountain as I seem to 
 imagme. I will remark, therefore, that no experience of 
 Montreal under existing circumstances will much aid a 
 judgment of what will result from a perfection ol proper 
 arrangements for pleasure driving, as a few facts will in- 
 dicate. For instance, since the opening of the park drives 
 in New York, the number of persons keeping private car- 
 riages is estimated to have increased fully ten fold ; the 
 number and value of public carriages adapted to pleasure 
 driving having also, in the same period, increased at a rate 
 far beyond that of population and wealth. In Brooklyn the 
 number of private carriages was thought to have doul)led 
 in two years after the opening of the park. A similar, 
 though less marked experience, has been had in Buffalo, 
 Chicago, and other American towns. The value of a 
 pleasure carriage is, in fact, found to have been unknown 
 as long as its use was limited to ordinary streets and roads. 
 
 Montreal is a prosperous city and rapidly enlarging its 
 borders ; the number of people able to keep carriages will 
 in time be much greater than at present ; the number able 
 to employ public carriages will increase even more rapidly. 
 The views commanded from the Mountain — surpassing in 
 expanse, beauty and variety those of any of the common 
 resorts of tourists on the continent — will, when they can 
 be enjoyed with such ease and comfort as it will be prac- 
 ticable for you to secure, add largely to the number of 
 visitors staying in the city who will supply another ele- 
 ment in the throng to be accommodated. 
 
 A reasonable consideration of these conditions and 
 
probabilities will satisfy you that if the future travel to 
 the mountain is to be all or mainly dirocted into any one 
 of the existing' streets by which the vicinity of the Mc- 
 Tavish monument is approached I'rom th(^ lower ground, 
 it would be wholly inadequate to carry it except, in a way 
 which w^ould be extremely tedious, provoking and often 
 alarining. 
 
 Here, then, the physician would hesitate because here a 
 hundred yards of movement would be liable to cause more 
 fatigue and undesirable excitement to the patient than a 
 mile beyond. 
 
 Here, then, also, the difficulty of cost would be largely 
 augmented for, to ascend a grade like that of Peel, or worse, 
 of McTavish Street, tw^o horses would be required tomoA^e 
 a load such as one would tak^i with equal ease above, and 
 the rate of wear and tear not oniy of horses, but of harness, 
 carriage and road way, would be fully doubled. 
 
 Under such an arrangement the dividends to be obtained 
 from the capital you shall invest in all your park arrange- 
 ments, will be seriously less than they will be if you make 
 such other approaches as I trust to be practicable. What 
 ought to be hoped for in respect to the cost of a drive will 
 be evident iVom what is accomplished elsewhere. For 
 instance, the ordinary charge for carriage hire in the 
 streets of New York is nearly double what it is in Montreal 
 but the Park Commissioners of New York have had no 
 diificulty in causing a dozen or more carriages to be pro- 
 vided, comfortable low-hun«r covered vehicles suitable for 
 weakly persons in which passengers are taken at a rate 
 of fare oi' four cents a mile for a course of five miles, or of 
 five cents a mile for a course ol 2| miies. In Brooklyn 
 and Philadelphia, the Park Ccmmissioners have done still 
 better than this and the diificulty of doing- better in your 
 case lies less in the to])ography of the mountain than in. 
 the way your city has ihus far been laid out and built up. 
 
 My present object is rather to show what should be the 
 
8 
 
 line of study to be pursued in planning- your proposed 
 improvements than to offer you even a suggestion of a plan 
 for them but, to illustrate what I should hope to be pi'ac- 
 ticable in respect to the a}>proaehes below the mountain, 
 I will sav that it niic^ht be somethinu: like this : To extend 
 the road which I have suggested would be led spirally 
 down 1 he mountain-side I'roin Ihe southward with a regular 
 moderate descent along the rear of Sir Hu^'h Allan's 
 grounds and afterwards by a more devious coui se across 
 the steep and broken slopes to tlje northward, until, in 
 the rear of the Hotel Dieu, existing streets are reached 
 running with an easy giade, in one direction, to the heart 
 of the city, in the other, skirting its* present advanced build- 
 ing line parallel to and on the side opposite the river front. 
 It might then be further extended in the laUer direciion 
 in the I'orm of a broad boulevard or park-way exclusively 
 for the use of pleasure carriages, crossing all the streets 
 running from the river. 
 
 This being done, from whatever part of the city north 
 of Victoria Square, carriages should be started to go to the 
 mountain, they would enter the park drive north of the 
 steep foot slopes and, until this drive was reached and 
 they were disengaged from all other street trafiic, they 
 would no where be concentrated or add materially to the 
 ordinary number ol' vehicles in any street, while the aver- 
 age time recjuired for entering itpon a smooth quiet ^'oad 
 with no liability to street obstructions would be less than 
 half as much as it would, if the park drive was first to be 
 south of the reservoir. For the accommodation of those 
 living to the south of Victoria Square, special branch 
 approaches to the same main approach would be required, 
 one of which should be to the norih o!' the Reservoir 
 another to the south of the McTavish monument. An 
 additional sub-route of approach still further south is 
 practicable through land not yet expensively improved, 
 and two others from the Cote des Neiges road. Foot 
 
9 
 
 approaches should closely follow the main carriage 
 approach and its laterals, but it is desirable that there should 
 also be one broad easy walk to the top of the mountain 
 having attractions peculiar to itself, and several minor 
 foot-paths scaling the crags more directly. Whenever 
 street railways shall be laid to the foot of the mountain, 
 an inclined lift or elevator will likewise be desirable to 
 save feeble persons and yound children the hard toil of 
 its ascent. 
 
 Reverting to the matter of the general aspect of the 
 scenery if the mountain, I would observe that the distant 
 prospects in all directions, offer such controlling attrac- 
 tions that some of them, being commanded from nearly 
 all j^arts of the ground, the immediate local landscape 
 conditions are of much less consequence than they usually 
 are in pleasure grounds, and that it is not undesirable that 
 they shoidd be subdued in character. Operations for 
 their improvement should, therefore, not be ambitious, 
 and should be intended, lirst, to relieve the surface of the 
 mountain of the accidental and transient conditions 
 through which it has at present an unnecessarily desolate 
 and melancholy aspect ; next, without destroying the 
 essential picturesqueness of its. natural features, to add a 
 greater beauty oi foliage ; next, to hold attention in direc- 
 tions where the linest views will be seen to the best 
 advantage and to furnish them with more harmonious and 
 better composed foregrounds ; next, to subordi?iate and» 
 as f;ir as may be practicable, obscuve with suitable natural 
 objects the constructions necessary to the convenient use 
 of the ground (as these must in the end, be exte"nsive and 
 more or less too line for hiirmony with its general char- 
 acter) ; and iinally, to avoid in these and all respects au 
 ordiiuiry conventional gardening style of work, as hnical, 
 luiseendy and out of character with the genius of the 
 X)lace, 
 
 1 omit the observations made to you verbally in regard 
 
10 
 
 to the desirableness of a small park proper, in distinction 
 from the larger mountain and forest district of your 
 ground, because of the impossibility of doing justice to 
 the subject without the advantage of demonstration on the 
 site, or over a sufficient topographical map. I will 
 merely observe that you have, in addition to the ground 
 which I have thus far considered, a small area of a diffe- 
 rent character, and that it is fortunately situated to serve as 
 a foil, through its natural amenity and the simple, quiet, 
 secluded and pastoral character Which can be given it, 
 to the grandly local and rugged heights and declivities of 
 the main body. 
 
 Surveying the whole property with due regard for the 
 considerations I have indicated ; assuming that the treat- 
 ment of the mountain top shall^be such as I have advised, 
 and that some such arrangements as I have also suggest- 
 ed, shall be provided by which access to and ascent of 
 the mountain shall be made as rapid, cheap, convenient 
 and comfortable as is practicable, it will be seen that 
 there is no reason to doubt that a public recreation ground 
 can be formed within the limits of your property, which 
 shall compare favorably as a means of health for the 
 people w^ho ar to be invited ^to use it, with that of any 
 other city of the world. 
 
 You are to be congratulated [upon the good judgment 
 which has governed the selection of ^the parcels of land 
 which you have had to purchase and in the good fortune 
 which has allowed you to find so^^large an aggregate body 
 of land on the immediate border of the city which could 
 be acquired without change for costly improvements. 
 Parts of some of the properties which you have obtained, 
 may, I think, be regarded ^s relatively unimportant for 
 your purpose, and with a view to limit the cost of your 
 undertaking, may be otherwise disposed of. There are 
 yet also, on the boundaries of your ground, some small 
 patches, of which, with a view to keeping under your 
 
11 
 
 control the best landscape effects, you should, if possible, 
 obtain possession. I can not at present accurately define 
 the bounds of these fragments but have no doubt that 
 those which I think may be dispensed with, will exceed 
 in market value those which I should recommend to be 
 acquired. 
 
 I beg to express my obligations to Mr. MacQuisten, your 
 city surveyor, Mr. Smith, his deputy, and Mr. McGibbon 
 your superintendent, for their cheerful, zealous and 
 valuable assistance in my examination of the ground. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, 
 
 your obedient servant, 
 
 FRED. LAW OLMSTED. 
 
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