PHYSICAL ASPECT OF THE GROUNDS.
The extreme length of the Park from north to south is 4,950 feet, or 330 feet less than one mile; and its extreme width is 3,120 feet, or three-fifths of a mile. Roughly estimated, one-third of the land area is covered by heavy forest, one-third by open forest, and the remaining third consists of open meadows and glades. The highest point of land in the Park is the crest of Rocking Stone Hill, the elevation of which is 94.8 feet above sea level.
Topography.—Speaking broadly, the Zoological Park is composed of granite ridges running from north to south. In many places their crests have been denuded of earth by the great glacier which once pushed its edge as far south as New York City. In the valleys lying between these glacier-scraped ridges, great quantities of sandy, micaceous soil have been deposited; but in one spot—the Wild-Fowl Pond—what was once a green, glacial lake fifteen feet deep, presently became a vast rock-walled silo filled with vegetable matter and a trembling bog of peat. Everywhere in the Park glacial boulders of rough granite or smoothly rounded trap-rock, varying in size from a cobble-stone to the thirty-ton Rocking Stone, have been dropped just where the warm southern sun freed them from the ice. The Park contains thousands of them, many of which have been removed from walks and building sites only with great labor.
In three of the four principal valleys of the Park, bogs have been converted into ponds, and in the largest and deepest of all lie Bronx Lake and Lake Agassiz. The bed-rock underlying or cropping out in the Park exhibits pink granite, gray granite, rotten gneiss, and quartz in bewildering variety. Occasionally in trench-digging a ledge is encountered which yields good building-stone for rough work, but usually our rock is so full of mica as to be worthless.
The water-levels in the various portions of the Park are as follows:
| Above Sea Level. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Surface of Bronx Lake | 20.40 | feet |
| Surface of Lake Agassiz | 31.70 | “ |
| Surface of Cope Lake and Duck Ponds | 47.00 | “ |
| Surface of Wild-Fowl Pond | 65.00 | “ |
| Surface of Beaver Pond | 44.00 | “ |
The floor levels of some of the important buildings are as follows:
| Above Sea Level. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Of the Antelope House | 88 | feet |
| Of the Reptile House | 78 | “ |
| Of the Lion House | 64 | “ |
| Of the Aquatic-Bird House | 57 | “ |
Soil.—The soil varies from rich black muck in the valleys, to light and very dry soil, full of mica and sand, on the ridges and meadows. Where not packed hard, the latter is very porous, and the heaviest rainfall is quickly absorbed, or carried away on the surface. As a result, the valleys are always moist and rich in grass, and the slopes and ridges are always dry and warm.
Streams and Ponds.—The Zoological Park contains about 34 acres of still water, of which Bronx Lake comprises 25 acres, Lake Agassiz 5½ acres, Cope Lake, the Wild-Fowl Pond, and Beaver Pond together, about 3½ acres. The two larger lakes are fed by the Bronx River, which drains a valley about 15 miles long. Even in the driest seasons the volume of water carried down by the Bronx River is sufficient to keep the lakes well filled. The areas of still water available for animal collections are very generous for an institution like this, and are highly prized.
The Waterfall.—At the lower end of Lake Agassiz, and about 300 feet above the Boston Road Bridge, is a natural waterfall nearly 12 feet in height, where the Bronx River falls over a rugged ledge of pink granite. In times of high water the foaming flood that thunders over the rocks makes an imposing spectacle, and it constitutes a most unusual feature to be found in a city park. During the year 1901, an improvement was made which added very greatly to the beauty of this feature by extending the rock ledge about 200 feet farther, to the rocky side of Wilson Hill, thereby greatly increasing the water area of Lake Agassiz, and at the same time forming a beautiful island.
Forests.—The crowning glory of the Zoological Park is the magnificent forest growth which covers, thickly or sparsely, about two-thirds of its land area. It consists chiefly of white, scarlet, black, red and pin oaks, tulip, sweet gum, hickory, beech, sassafras, maple, wild cherry, hornbeam, dogwood, tupelo, hemlock and cedar; but there are at least thirty other species of trees and shrubs. Thanks to the wise foresight and broad views of David and Philip Lydig, who for about eighty years were the sole owners of nearly the whole of the Zoological Park site, the virgin forest was not cut down for firewood or lumber, but was carefully preserved for posterity. As the legal custodian of this splendid domain of Nature, the Zoological Society is as rapidly as possible going over the entire forest, to arrest decay and death, and take all needed measures for the preservation of the trees. It is safe to say that nowhere else within fifty miles of New York can there be found any more beautiful forests than those in the central and eastern portions of the Park. Throughout the enclosed grounds, it is absolutely necessary that visitors should be restricted to the walks; for otherwise the feet of our millions of visitors would quickly destroy every ground plant.
The Rocking Stone, No. 45, a colossal cube of pinkish granite, poised on one of its angles on a smooth pedestal of rock, is the Zoological Park’s most interesting souvenir of the glacial epoch. Across the bare face of the rocky hill in which lies the Crocodile Pool, there are several glacial scratches pointing directly toward the famous boulder; and who will say it had no part in making one of them?
The Rocking Stone stands on a smooth table of granite on the southern shoulder of the hill overlooking the Buffalo Range. Its extreme height is 7 feet 6 inches; breadth, 10 feet 1 inch; thickness, 8 feet 1 inch, and its weight, as roughly calculated, is 30 tons. A pressure of about 50 lbs. exerted on the most northern angle of the stone causes its apex to swing north and south about two inches.
WHITE TAILED DEER.