The City of Roses gets its drinking water from the Bull Run watershed. The watershed is an extraordinarily beautiful temperate rainforest where the eponymous river has been damned in two places for reservoirs. The region became a necessary supply due to the poor management of industrial waste in the late 1800s. Formed by a city decree in 1886, the region was beset by a wave of immigrant labor who toiled to create the network of pipelines through mountainous terrain. Valves to the city-laid pipes of that network are under these iron covers which feature a large, sandwiched “W” by two roses. The city is listed below along with an added nod to Portland’s striking flag.