History Pub: From Forest to Faucet

About this event

By the 1890s, Portlanders had fouled their own water supply with sewage. Typhoid followed. Their audacious solution was to reach into the forests below Mount Hood, capture the cold, clear water of Bull Run, and carry it 24 miles into town. Bull Run water helped drive out typhoid and made Portland's explosive growth possible. Yet pipes and public health are only half the story. Bull Run became Portland's forbidden forest: closed, fiercely protected, and wrapped in mystery and civic pride. This is the story of...