History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

At a town-meeting, held April 21, 1873, the
committee made a partial report; and at another,
held June 20, 1873, tlie committee made
a supplemental report, which was accepted. It
was then decided to accept Chapter 277 of the
Acts of the Legislature of 1873 by a vote of one hun-
dred and twenty in the affirmative to none ii\ the neg-
ative. Tiiis act allowed the town " to collect the
water of and on the territory lying along the easterly
side of the town of "Winchester, being in the towns
of Winchester, Medford, and Stonehara, extending
eiglity rods south of the north line of said town of
Medford and including all tlie natural water-shed
of that territory, by means of dams, aqueducts, pipes,
pumps, reservoirs, or such other structures as may
be necessary and convenient for tlie preservation
and purity of said water, and may convey the said
water from said territory by any convenient route,
and distribute the same in the manner and upon
tlie condition and terms set forth in said act; pro-
vided, that none of the water tributary to Spot
Pond be taken by virtue hereof."
This act embraced the plan recommended by the
committee for the supply of water, and at a town-
meeting, held July 7, 1873, it was accepted and
adopted by the town as the most feasible and
proper method of supplying the town with pure
water. It appeared in the report of the committee
that the North Meadow gathering-ground, where
the reservoir is located, has an area of four hun-
dred and fifty-two acres, which will give a daily
supply of 676,050 gallons of water, or forty gallons
a day to more than 16,000 people, or more than
four times the present number of inhabitants. The
territory includes the westerly slope of the Bear
Hill range, and the whole of Dike's Meadow, so
called. If the time should arrive that more water
would be required, a dam can be built at the outlet
of t!ie South Meadow, which has an area nearly the
same as the North Meadow, and the water added
to that of the North Meadow. The two basins,
when united, would give a supply of 1,363,650
gallons per day, or forty gallons per day to 34,000
people.
At the town-meeting, July 10, 1875, David N.
Skillings, Moses A. Herrick, and James F. Dwinell
were chosen water commissioners.
The first work at the reservoir was done July 15,
1873, by N. Fitzgerald; C. Linehan becajne the con-
tractor, September 6, 1873 ; work began, Septem-
ber 8, 1873 ; began storing water, December 5,
WINCHESTER. 517
1874. Total length of the dam, 675 feet, including
overflow; length of overflow, 34 feet; greatest
height of dam, 30| feet ; area of full reservoir, 60
acres; length, 4,400 feet; greatest width, 1,450
feet ; greatest depth, 23 feet ; total capacity,
259,000,000 gallons. Total length of street mains
laid to March 1, 1878, 74,679 feet.
"Walter H. Sears was the constructing engineer,
and George H. Norman the contractor for furnish-
ing and putting in place all the necessary pipes, hy-
drants, gates, and other appurtenances constituting
the system of distribution. The pipe laid is what
is known as the wrought-iron and cement-lhied
water-pipe. The total cost of construction of works,
pipes, etc., necessary to the introduction of water
to March 1, 1880, is $168,800.72 ; for the main-
tenance of the water-works to the same date,
$8,785.33. The debt incurred on account of the
introduction of water is in water bonds to the
amount of $160,000, held mostly by the state of
Massachusetts, and payable in difTerent sums and
at intervals, from the year 1884 to 1895 inclusive.
The whole number of services, March 1, 1880, is
463; the whole number of water-takers is 571;
amount of water-rates for the year ending March 1,
1880, $7,700.66.
Since its introduction the inhabitants have con-
tinued to receive an abundant supply of water of
an excellent quality, and the system of distribu-
tion has continued to answer its design.
Military. — The town, under the calls of the
president, in 1861 and 1862, furnished for three
years sixty-two men, at an average cost of $43 per
man, town bounty; in 1862, sixty men for nine
months, at an average cost of §82 per man as town
bounty, and an average subscription bounty of $12
per man; in 1863, 1864, and 1865 the town fur-
nished one hundred and ten men for three years
and twelve men for one year, at an average town
bounty of $115.70, and an average subscription
bounty of $58 per man, — the two hundred and
forty-four men costing, in all, $29,497.40, or an
average cost of §120.90 per man.
This sum was raised as follows : by money hired
for a term of years, $7,810.05; by taxation,
$13,891.35; by subscription, $7,796. All was
raised and expended, and tlie men obtained without
any expense to the town, no town officer or other
person having received any pay for the time and
expense incurred in raising the men or performing
any of the work incidental to raising volunteers,
1873. "Water was let into the pipes, September 20, neither did any subscriber ask to have his subscrip-