26 REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS 



autumn of a sufficient quantity of water to keep the meadows, 

 lawns and gardens alive was wholly beyond the revenue at 

 the disposal of the Board. To obtain something like an ade- 

 quate supply, wells were sunk in the valley at the southeasterly 

 base of Strawberry Hill, and a supply of five hundred thousand 

 gallons per day at a cost of six cents per 1000 gallons was 

 obtained. It should be noted here that the price of six cents 

 per 1000 gallons was nominated in a contract with W. B. 

 Bradbury. At the expiration of the contract the Park Superin- 

 tendent enlarged the wells, securing a much larger flow of 

 water, and also reduced the cost of pumping so that the water 

 is now supplied for 1^4 cents per 1000 gallons. The water 

 is pumped from the valley into a reservoir on Strawberry Hill, 

 and by gravitation affords the volume which makes Hunting- 

 ton Falls and Stow Lake such alluring features of the Park, 

 and which irrigates the park section adjacent thereto. 



The development of this source of supply and its enlarge- 

 ment under the direction of Superintendent John McLaren, 

 was gratifying to the public, and the Commissioners, but was 

 only a partial solution of the problem of irrigation. Later on 

 Commissioners A. B. Spreckels, who was for many years 

 President of the Board, and the late Reuben H. Lloyd, a mem- 

 ber of the Commission, resolved to test the capacity of the 

 subterranean streams flowing from Strawberry Valley into 

 the Pacific Ocean. An ample supply of water was found, 

 and a windmill with a capacity of 30,000 gallons per hour 

 was placed near the Ocean. Through a twelve-inch pipe two 

 miles in length to a reservoir 200 feet above ocean level the 

 fresh water was pumped at an expense approximating one 

 cent per 1000 gallons. The experiment was so highly suc- 

 cessful that another system of wells and a second windmill at 

 the southwestern corner of the Park were recommended. 

 Samuel G. Murphy provided from his own means the sum of 

 $20,000 to erect the windmill. The Murphy Windmill, the 

 largest in the world, lifts 40,000 gallons of water per hour. 

 Hence the central and western divisions of Golden Gate Park 



