PAEK SITES CHOSEX 



123 



part of the Eagle Eock Park" in so far as its being an ob- 

 jective moimtain 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 $6?,000, or possibly $65,000— "a very low 

 figure." 



On Xovember 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 gTeatly 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." 



ORAivTGE MOUN"TAIN 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 



