126 FIEST COUNTY PAEK 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 



