PARK SITES CHOSEN 123 
part of the Eagle Rock Park” in so far as its being an ob- 
jective mountain park, came up for formal action. F. W. 
Child had already been authorized to obtain options on the 
tract, and on my motion the matter was made a “special 
order” for the meeting of November 11. At that time a 
written report from Mr. Child was presented. It gave a 
list of the land options he had secured from George Spottis- 
woode and others and stated that he could then acquire the 
property—the 121 acres, upon which options had been re- 
quested—for $67,000, or possibly $65,000—“a very low 
figure.” 
On November 23, I wrote Commissioner Shepard, who 
also favored the purchase, that I was “very much im- 
pressed that a reservation for the future, south of South 
Orange avenue, is entirely a secondary consideration to the 
cable tract, in that central location; and that I believed no 
further action should be taken toward acquiring those out- 
side reservation lands until the more important in location, 
convenience, value and other respects are first considered.” 
And the same day I wrote Commissioner Franklin 
Murphy: “Unless I am greatly misinformed, it will be a 
long time before the trolley will overcome in practical use 
the long steep grade of South Orange avenue, and when it 
does that section will still remain entirely at one side and 
out of the reach of the mass of population. Surely, for the 
present, we ought not to have a reservation at the expense 
of a park accessible at once to all the county. 
“As to any commitment regarding the reservation track, 
with the exception of the statements upon which our charter 
was obtained, it is my conviction that we are committed to 
nothing, save the interests of the people, the county and 
the parks.” 
ORANGE MOUNTAIN PROPERTY. 
At the board meeting November 29, I offered a resolution 
“that the property on Orange Mountain at the head of the 
cable road between Northfield avenue and Walker road, be 
acquired, and that F. W. Child be authorized to purchase 
