326 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



that timber thus laid will out-last iron, may be 

 safely regarded. It will occur to any person of 

 practical experience, that a post set say_ three 

 feet deep, will rot off near the surface, while the 

 lower part is comparatively sound. Mr. Dexter 

 has samples of my aqueduct which have laid 

 from eight to thirteen or fourteen years, and I 

 doubt not he will show them to whoever may feel 

 interested to see them, and I will send you sam- 

 ples taken off the logs quite recently that will 

 speak for themselves. 



I followed the injunctions of Mr. Dexter strict 

 ly, and will now say that in eighteen miles length 

 of wooden pipe, which is now laid and used, I 

 have reason to believe that at this moment, 

 nine-tenths of it is as sound as the day it was 

 laid, after having been used from ten to fourteen 

 years. I am in the habit of procuring chips from 

 the logs whenever there is occasion to dig down 

 to them for inserting a new leading pipe or for 

 repairs, and keep them as evidences of the con- 

 dition of the logs. I have samples taken off 

 within three days, from logs laid in the fall of 

 1843, which are as sound as when first bored and 

 laid. My depth in sandy, porous ground is six 

 feet, and in clayey ground, four feet, but in 

 swampy or meadow ground, scarcely three feet. 

 The idea is to put the timber below the changes 

 of temperature. There is another advantage in 

 laying deep, and not a slight one. It keeps the 

 water about as cool as when it is in the spring. 

 and obviates the objection to aqueduct water, that 

 it is insipid for drink. 



I will now give an example in proof of the ad- 

 vantages of deep laying. I furnished pipes for a 

 company in a neighboring town, of about two 

 miles in length, and they chose to dig the ditch, 

 and notwithstanding my remonstrances, they in- 

 sisted on laying them between three and four feet 

 deep in sandy ground. The consequence was, 

 that the principal part of the line decayed within 

 seven years, and it is now totally useless. The 

 logs were the same quality as my own, which, laid 

 at the same time, are sound. This, I think, set- 

 tles the question of advantage of deptli beyond 

 dispute. 



I soon found that my enterprise was popular, 

 especially with the women, as it furnished to 

 them in their houses, at a moderate charge, an 

 abundant supply of pure spring water, and more 

 was called for than my first spring would aff'ord. 

 I, therefore, added by subsequent purchases, five 

 other springs, which altogether aftbrd an abun- 

 dant supply of water for families, for steam en- 

 gines, and for the city reservoirs in case of fires. 

 These last are supplied in such abundance, that 

 there has been no cistern in which the water has 

 been exhausted, when the fixtures for letting on 

 the water are in order, and immense amounts of 

 property have been preserved from destruction, 

 by means of this aqueduct. During the first five 

 years, and while I was sole owner, I had laid 

 more than eleven miles of wooden main pipe, of 

 a calibre from seven inches down to one and one- 

 half inches, and service pipes of lead, measuring 

 perhaps as much more ; these last invariably at 

 the expense of the water takers, and I supplied 

 customers as follows : 



Barbers' Shops and Bathing 



Rooms 5 



Foundries 3 



Offices 6 



Fire Reservoirs 4 



668 



Families 479 



Stores and Shops 84 



Stables and Barns 37 



Livery Stables 8 



Churches 1 



Steam Engines 5 



Hotels 6 



Printing Offices 2 



Machine Shops 3 



Banks 3 



Boarding-Houses 17 



Railroad Depots and Engine 



Houses 3 



Bakers 2 And also for watering streets. 



I was verbally threatened by various individu- 

 als, with prosecutions, at various stages of the 

 progress of my work. The great mass of the 

 people, however, having become satisfied of the 

 indispensable importance of the aqueduct, lent 

 their countenance, and cheered me on. 



I had, however, invested more than was pru- 

 dent in a person of my moderate means, and in 

 order that the full benefits might be enjoyed by 

 all, I proposed to put the property into a joint 

 stock corporation, and gentlemen came forward 

 and subscribed for shares, and an act was granted 

 by the legislature of 1848. All sorts of difficul- 

 ties were throM^n in my way, in procuring a leg- 

 islative charter, but as the usual powers only 

 which had been accorded to other parties were 

 asked, an act finally passed, authorizing a capi- 

 tal of $25,000, with liberty to increase as needed, 

 to $50,000. Extensions have been since made 

 from time to time, until the length of main pipe 

 exceeds 18 miles, and the capital has been in- 

 creaied to $35,600, and the number of customers 

 has steadily increased, and is now increasing. I 

 will now say, without the fear of contradiction, 

 that this work, commenced and carried forward 

 to successful results, is of as much importance to 

 the city of Springfield, and as indispensable at 

 this moment to them, as the Croton is to New 

 York, or the Cochituate to Boston, and as an in- 

 vestment, is as productive as any stock in this 

 place. The net earnings from the first year of 

 its operation to the present time, have averaged 

 ten per cent., and is paid in semi-annual dividends 

 of five per cent., and as the expenses are lessen- 

 ing, and the rents increasing, the stockholders 

 may look forward to a twelve per cent, dividend 

 in a short time. 



I will not extend this account, by stating the 

 difficulties which were thrown in the way of pro- 

 curing a Legislative act of incorporation. It is 

 sufficient to say, that envy, and personal and po- 

 litical grudges moved it, and I doubt not the most 

 active and virulent have long since repented of 

 their course. At any rate, several of the most 

 prominent depend on the water for themselves 

 and their tenants, and some of them are now 

 stockholders in the property. 



I took especial care throughout the construc- 

 tion of this work, to avoid encroachments on in- 

 dividual rights, and the rights of the public. 

 First, by the purchase of the springs and the 

 right of way to a public street ; and second, by 

 procuring the consent of the town authorities, 

 for laying my pipes in the streets, which was du- 

 ly recorded, and when from any cause an individ- 

 ual was injured by my operations, I made satis- 

 faction without litigation. There were individu- 

 als who claimed to be lawyers, who disputed the 

 power of the Selectmen or any other authority, 

 even the Legislature, to grant the right to lay 

 pipes in the streets without the consent of all 

 abuttors. I have before me a notice in the hand- 

 writing of a prominent individual, which I will 

 give as a sample, which was regularly served by 

 a constable. 



