268 History of Hingham. 



agreement to assist in the construction of these works, that they are to 

 have steady employment for many weeks. Mr. Goodhue is a working- 

 man, and he will expect you to do your part faithfully. God speed and 

 bless this good work. 



Mr. Hay ward then removed his coat and closed the exercises 

 with a short but vigorous use of the pick and shovel. 



At night six hundred feet of trench had been dug. The work 

 was rapidly forwarded, and the first pipe was laid on Otis Street 

 on Saturday, Sept. 13, 1879. 



Near the junction of Otis Street and Downer Avenue a ledge 

 was encountered, and at this point occurred the only serious acci- 

 dent which happened during the building of the works, — Dennis 

 Scully, a ledgcman engaged in blasting, being instantly killed by 

 a flying stone. 



Work was commenced at the Pond, Oct. 9, 1879. A temporary 

 dam of earth and wood nearly one hundred feet long was thrown 

 across the little bay at the north end, the water was drawn out 

 through the old mill-flume, and a sixteen-inch conduit laid into the 

 pond some seventy feet from the gate-chamber, which was built 

 just within the old dam. The last pipe was laid, November 25, 

 during a heavy southwest gale which threw the spray over the 

 coffer dam, drenching the workmen and giving rise to serious 

 apprehensions as to the safety of the temporary structure. No 

 accident occurred, however, and the conduit was finished, the 

 temporary dam removed, and the permanent one repaired and 

 strengthened by a core wall of concrete, which was subsequently 

 extended easterly along the base of the ridge five hundred feet to 

 cut off leakage. 



Work was suspended during the winter, and commenced again 

 in April, 1880 ; and on June 23, at eight o'clock in the evening, 

 the main gate in the screen well at Accord Pond was partly 

 opened by the gentleman who had so enthusiastically broken 

 ground for the commencement of the work some nine months 

 before ; and in about two hours the fourteen-inch main was filled 

 as far as the gate opposite Liberty Hall. On the evening of June 

 25 the pipes were filled to the gate opposite the South Meeting- 

 House. Mr. John Gushing was the first customer to receive water 

 from his house faucet, and the first fire stream was thrown from 

 the hydrant near his house about ten o'clock. 



The remainder of the twelve-inch pipe was slowly filled. Sev- 

 eral hydrants proved defective, and one leak was caused by the 

 failure of a plug in the branch for Pleasant Street. These repairs 

 delayed the work of letting on the water until June 30, when at 

 two o'clock in the morning the first stream was thrown from the 

 hvdrant near the Railroad Station. 



On the following Monday, July 5, the hydrant service was tested 

 by the fire department, and seven effective streams were thrown 

 at the same time in the vicinity of Broad Bridge. 



