The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1863-04-07

without such a reminder in its columns as the
| City and Ward nominations, must know that
our municipal election is near, for the proprie-
tor trots out his "Ammy Dardn horse" again,
to wit that of water, Water; this being
| one of the hobbies of that "Independent Jour
nal"
| The Saturdays leader Of that paper was an
appeal to our citizens to keep single eye"
upon candidates who will favor the introduc-
ton of water from Lake Sebago, in which the
proprietor says:
ain the Municipal election that is TO come
off on Tuesday next, we trust that single
eye will be kept by voters upon candidates
who will favor the introduction OF an ample
supply of PURE WATER to the city, from
LAKE SEBAGo-the purest and completest
source of this great boon of Nature, that any
city in the world can command.
Under the late administration of Mayor
| Jewett, an arrangement could have been
made on terms at least ONE HUNDRED THous
AND DOLLARS better to the city, than ever
| again will be offered by any responsible par
ties, having in charge private enterprise,
| and double that sum-viz, TWO HUNDRED
! THOUSAND DOLLARS will not secure the
same result, if the undertaking be conducted
as purely municipal and corporate affair"
Since the member from Westbrook" has be-
come the proprietor of the Advertiser, that
paper has taken occasion to boast of the for
mer generous offer of the late purchasers of
the Oxford and Cumberland Canal, to furnish
our city with water; but we think when the
facts are known to the citizens generally, as
| they were TO the City Council which reported
| against the plan, they will see in this disinter
ested water hobby of certain parties, about
the same generosity that was witnessed in the
early stages Of this war; when certain rich
man offered to be one of five men to lend the
| State nearly one million Of dollars at six
per cent. interest, when such bonds of the
State were and are, worth from ten to fourteen
per cent premium.
The simple facts in relation to this much
boosted offer, as we learn, are these: certain
private parties embracing four or five individ-
4 uals purchased from the Canal Bank of this
| City, who hold a mortgage on the same, the
1 Cumberland and Oxford Canal, which extends
! from Lake Sebago to Portland Harbor. These
| sufficient space on the Western Promenade to
permit them to build reservoir on the same,
which reservoir they proposed to I'll with wa
ter from Sebago Lake, in pipes made of sheet
iron covered with cement
| Desirable as the introduction of water into
our city would be, the first question for the
city authorities TO determine was, have the
parties proposing to furnish it, the legal au-
thority so to do? Now on proposing this
| question to the petitioners, they stated that
the purchasers OF the Cumberland and Oxford
Canal with few other parties proposed to or
ganize company under the general State
Law. relating to Aqueducts, chapter "a Revis-
ed Statutes, and laying their pipes in the tow
path or along the bed of the canal thus intro
duce the water from Sebago Lake to Portland,
distributing it over the city from the above
mentioned reservoir.
Now the merest Tyro in law knows, that
when the land was taken TO construct this
canal the fee still remained in the owners, and
the corporators had only what is called an cas-
went or right Of passage and usance, and
that too only for the purposes named in their
charter, to wit: that of a canal and not that of
an aqueduct
The late Mr. J. o. Bancroft (who had as
much knowledge of the law in relation to wa
ter courses as some of the purchasers of that
canal, who call themselves great lawyersl
stated emphatically TO the Committee of the
City Council that if the corporators of the
| Cumberland and Oxford canal undertook
under that charter, without new legislative
grants, to steal the water from Lake Sebago.
and bring their pipes through land in which
he was interested, as they must; he would cut
off their pipes and turn the water where it be-
| longed, into Presumscott river above his falls
and that said proprietors or their attorney and
forty-two hundred others could not and
should not prevent his so doing. The absurd
| ity of accepting proposition to supply this
| city with water under the aqueduct law, may
be seen from the fact that the 10th section of
that law restricts persons organizing under 1t
to an amount in real estate.not exceeding in
value thirty thousand dollars.
Shortly after the completion of the Atlantic
& st. Lawrence Railroad, quite furore was
created here in our city to introduce water
from Sebago lake, and the City Council chose
large committee, embracing not only its own
members, but citizens outside the Council
The then City Engineer, Mr.. Marshall, went
to Boston, made thorough examination of
the costs and plans Of such works, and the re-
suit Of his labor and that Of the committee, after
several sessions, showed the following facts, to
wit: Sebago lake being about fifteen miles
from Portland, water can be introduced from
there into the city at much less expense than
Boston or New York was subjected TO, TO Sc
cure supply. Lake Sebago being about two
hundred feet above tide level in Our harbor,
costly reservoirs must be built on Munjoy
and Bramhall hills to break this head, of a
body of water some eight or ten miles square.
But the most costly item in the introduce
ton OF water here, is the laying of the pipes in
the streets of city, subject TO a degree of
cold that carries the mercury to and below
zero. The Gas Company found that one win
ter the frost in State Street had extended to
depth Of five feet, thus stopping their flow of
gas. The Water Commissioners of Boston
thought we should sink our pipes here TO
depth of five to six feet below the surface, the
latter to be safe from frost The smallest pipe
they recommended was forty inches in dame