Untitled Document

THE WATERWORKS.

There was a good deal of talk during the summer of 1886 about the need of waterworks in Monmouth, but the difficulty always was about the water supply. There was no running river near by, shallow wells were uncertain and the water not always the best, and the question of where to get the water was a puzzle. An engineer was brought, who made various preliminary borings ac different points, but nothing satisfactory was learned. Along in August it was proposed that an artesian well be sunk, and the Monmouth Artesian Well Company was incorporated with about 100 stockholders, including nearly every business man of the city. They met to organize August 28, and chose nine directors, who elected the officers of the company as follows: President, H. H. Pattee; secretary, Dr. S. M. Hamilton; treasurer, Fred E. Harding; executive committee, H. H. Pattee, N. A. Scott, W. K. Johnson. Soon afterward the company purchased part of Block 17 in Quinby & Lawrence's addition on North Sixth street, and drilling soon commenced.

The objective point was the St. Peter's sandstone, and this was reached in due time, an unlimited supply of purest water being found at a depth of 1,230 feet in March, 1887. Then matters rested until July 12, 1888, when the city council instructed the fire and water committee to purchase the artesian well if the price was satisfactory, and soon afterward the purchase was made for $3,000. The council outlined the route of the first mains to be laid, and let the contract to the Roekforci Construction Co. for the construction of the plant complete except the engine house, pumps and boilers. The company laid a. total of three and one-half miles of mains, which with the rest 'of the plant then put in cost the city about $33,000. The first test of the works was made March 11. 1889, under the direction oi' the fire and water committee consisting of W. W. ilc- Cullough, W. B. Wolf and D. C. Gowdy, with Fire Marshal H. A. Webster and Engineer W. A. Child. Streams of water were thrown over three-story buildings, and as high as the cross on the spire of the Catholic church, about 150 feet.

Large additions to the mains have since been made, a second deep well was put in in 1893, and still a third in 1900, so that at the present time the city is well covered with mains and there is a supply of water sufficient for all demands for years to come, in 1900-1901 the three wells were connected by tunnels with a ten-foot shaft 175 feet aeep, which, with the tunnels, was nearly a year in construction, owing to unforseen difficulties. At the bottom of the shaft was installed a huge pump with a capacity of one million gallons per day, and by this the water is pumped from the three deep wells to the reservoir, or through the mains to the stand tower erected also in 1900 on a lot owned by the city just north of the Burlington Railway tracks and between South Main and South First streets.

These improvements were made after plans prepared by Engineer D. W. Mead of Chicago and adopted by the council February 5, 1900, ana cost the city $36,000. R. G. Young was the first superintendent of the waterworks, and C. L. Eby is now in charge. The waterworks furnishes about 1,400 consumers, and produces an annual revenue of about $9,000. Eighty-three million gallons of water were pumped and consumed during the year ending April 30, 1902.

The city's first public water supply was furnished by two wells, dug by Joshua Boyle by order of the town board early in 1839, the year after the incorporation of the town, at a cost of $60. One was in the northeast angle of the public square and the other in the northwest angle. One was in the northeast angle of the public square and the other in the northwest angle. Each was eighteen feet deep and three feet in diameter inside the stone wall, and fitted with a windlass and two buckets. Several years later a windmill was placed at one of the wells.

History of Warren County

Submitted by the Webmaster

Illinois Ancestors

011006