The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-06-26
WAS A LONG FIGHT
EVER SINCE 1T WAS BORN THE YEARS
OF THE GREAT FALLS WATER CON-
PANY HAVE BEEN FULL OF TROUBLE

The Great Falls Water company was
organized in the winter and soring Il
1889 by T. E. Collins. Ira Myers and
f. G. Maclay. 1t obtained a franchise
March 26. 1889. and the plant was COM
pleted by August of that year. the
company doing work before the grant,
ing OF the franchise. Capital stock
Sl50.00o. held chiefly by local parties.
Bonded Indebtedness in 1892 was s15O.-
600, same amount as the capital stock.
In the fall of 1892 l.. G.. Phelps. owner
OF part of the stock. obtained control
nrst. OF a majority and later of the
Whoie or the stock. Early in 1893 the
company was r~eorganized, the name
being changed from The Great Falls
water company" to "The Great Falls
water Works" The capital stock was
increased from original amount to
sooo,OO0 and bonds for a like amount,
$500, 600. were issued. These were placed
on the market and strenuous efforts
were made to sell them, it being the
purpose of the company since it's in
ception to float as large a bonded debt
as possible. One hundred and ffty-hve
thousand dollars of the new issue If
ponds were sold, making the total of
bonds outstanding then and at the
present time $780,, 900. According to the
hgures given by the OF
the company only $50, 900 has been ex-
pended in improvements since the re-
organization.
The History of the Controversy.
Discussion by citizens looking toward
municipal ownership of water works
began early in 1898. a citizens ma IS
meeting was held in April of that year
at which nothing definite was done
save the dnRln ra tinn fhnf ~ No. IL
sense of the meeting that the city
should and control it's water sup
ply. l think 1t was about that time
that the populists adopted a resolu-
ton declaring to hat effect, but this
Is not of record.
1t first came up in the city council
the following spring, 1894. when a num-
Der of petitions were presented to that
body by citizens asking for needed ex-
tensions of the water mains to afford
IRE protection n a supply for domes-
tic use. The council appointed a spe-
cial committee to wait on the water
company If possible to secure a reduc-
ton in the amount Of rental to be paid
for the proposed hydrants. The reduc-
ton was refused
In July, 1894. the council ordered re-
l~uctantly the most needed of the ex-
tensions. The water refused
to make the extensions, alleging that
the city had exceeded its legal limit o:
indebtedness and therefore could not
legally make any further contracts.
The council commended that notwith-
standing that fact. the franchise of the
water company provided for extensions
whenever the same were ordered by
that body and that in refusing to obey
the order the company was violating
the provisions of its franchise and con-
tract. The mayor on the advice of the
council and other city officials ordered
the city engineer august. 1890 to
make a careful estimate of the cost of
erecting a duplicate plant.
During November, 1894. a meeting of
the members of the city council and
business men was called by Paris Glib
son to devise means of acquiring the
existing plant. CNote. As a side light
on one motive for this meeting, it is a
fact that L. G. Phelps. the heat of the
on the capital question not
having yet subsidized in him.. declared a
boycott on all those who had worked N
the interests of Anaconda, and his first
overt act' was the withdrawal of his
from the Gibson agency in
which Paris Gibson was both a stock
and a creditor. This is positive
~ true, and ii was mentioned at the
and talked of on the street
afterward.) This meeting decided
unanimously that the first step to he
amen was q test III the courts OF the
of the franchise and the con-
tract. 1t was also decided that not
more than 5000 900 ought to be paid for
plant. The council acting upon the
of that meeting obtained a
opinion from Attorneys Veazey
and Shores, submitted Feb. II. One
paragraph in that opinion contains the
gist of the whole and reads as follows:
IF the city council in the exercise Of
is legislative discretion should deter
nine that the public interests require
he city to own and operate a suitable
for the furnishing of the neces-