Saturday, July 1, 1905
With but one thought uppermost in her mind, that of preserving for the benefit and enjoyment of the people of Chico and whoever also may come here, the most beautiful natural scenery of Bidwell Rancho, Mrs. Annie E. K. Bidwell will within a few days deed 1900 acres of land to this City for a public park. The full meaning of that gift is not measured in acres or units of value nor has Mrs. Bidwell, in determining how much of her estate should be given to this cause, considered the value of the land involved.
The land embodied in this proposed property has been a part of the Bidwell estate since the early days, is a part of the original grant, and some of it is as fertile as the valley of the Nile. The sentiment that prompted General and Mrs. Bidwell to preserve the natural beauty of this immense tract along Chico Creek; to spend thousands of dollars in the protection of the young oaks and vines and the building of roadways and pathways over the hundreds of acres, which others would have cleared and farmed for profit, is the same sentiment that prompts Mrs. Bidwell to welcome the time when she can execute a deed to this property to the City of Chico and feel assured that this beautiful hand work of nature will be preserved for the enjoyment and betterment of humanity,
In offering this magnificant park to Chico no selfish condition has been suggested nor any restriction named that should not properly be enforced by any city maintaining such a park….
Mrs. Bidwell’s one idea, to preserve this beautiful natural park for the benefit it will work to humanity, believing that such grand scenery embodying as it does valley and mountains, creek and canyon, trees and vines, cannot but tend to make people more appreciative of nature and therefore better men and women. Given in such a spirit of unselfishness, even a gift of such immense value is not to be prized for its intrinsic worth, but for its beauty and the grand spirit in which given.