126 FIRST COUNTY PARK SYSTEM 
the intention of the commission to extend the lines of the 
reservation south of South Orange avenue. This was the 
view of the first commission, although the subject of the 
southern limit of the proposed park had been left in abey- 
ance. At the board meeting of September 6, 1895, Mr. 
Bramhall was present. The result of the conference was 
that he was authorized to make purchases on behalf of the 
commission of such lands between the mountains or includ- 
ing the crest of the First Mountain south of South Orange 
avenue, as he could acquire and would recommend within 
an expenditure of $20,000, This action was the beginning 
of an acquirement of one of the finest reservations of nat- 
ural scenery in the country, and in comparison with the 
population of Essex County is proportionately one of the 
largest to be found in any of the park systems. In Feb- 
ruary, 1896, the lines of the reservation were still farther 
extended in Millburn, and the closing of several of the land 
options secured through Mr. Bramhall was authorized. 
Later, in August, the lines were extended and purchases 
were authorized for practically the whole length of the val- 
ley and of the First Mountain to the south, and from the 
crest of the First Mountain to the sky line of the Second 
Mountain. The lines of this reservation as agreed upon in 
the official map then, as now, contain about 2,500 acres, and 
the cost has been approximately, within the estimates of 
December, 1896—about $250,000. 
When in August of that year, the announcement was 
made that there was to be “a 2,000-acre mountain park,” the 
project was referred to in some of the papers as “an ideal 
site for a public park,” and Frederick L. Olmsted’s remark 
that “he thought it one of the best locations for a park that 
he had ever seen,” was freely quoted. The reservation is 
about three and three-quarter miles in length north and 
south and has an average width of about one to one and 
one-quarter miles. Its natural beauties are greatly ac- 
centuated by the water effects of the two reservoirs of the 
city of Orange water supply. These reservoirs cover a 
maximum area of about seventy acres, and, being located 
