Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-12-07
HEARING ON WATER BILL
CONTINUED PROM FIRST PAaEl


The spring Of 1877 the article relotir
To The acceptance of the charter anon,
hent was voted down. Three ar fo,
years later Mr.. Crowell secured \ smo
nqueducl aud bogan.to improve Il I,
MS own use. Gradually people bepn
10 ASK him to supply them with wat,
unu ~ response to this request he bega
70 Jay mains in the village In ISIS
the village asked for hydrants and mi
request necessitated the construetio
oi reservoir which nj that time wa
regarded as large enough and hig
enough To meet all conditions Yen
by year the village made further r,
qniremcnts and in order to meet then
Mr' crowcll was obliged TO expend
large amount of money. Mr.. Fits sai,
that the amount spent before Mr.. Crow
ell secured his charter in 1855 amount
ed TO about 100000. In that year thu
legislature granted Il charter to tn,
Chestnut Hill Reservoir company, III,
charter containing n provision givin,
the county court authority to fix watcI
rates IN case they were considered TO,
hlgh. The company was bonded foi
| SlOO,OOO AT that time and later the de
mand FOR water from the system grew
so rapidly that the supply became in
adequate. In 1899 the village secured
an amendment to its charter and in
two weeks had a special village meet,
ing AT which a committee was appoint.
ed to investigate the various sources
of supply. This committee employed
an engineer and reported to special
meeting held in March, 1893. Stick.
ney brook was recommended as the
most available supply but the committee
recommended that the village nego.
tate with Mr. Crowell in regard to
having him establish n pumping sta.
ton on West river The village unan.
imously adopted the latter recommend.
alton of the committee and Mr.. Crowell
met the conditions imposed by it. At
this meeting the bailiffs were instruct.
ed TO investigate the question Of water
rates and of purchasing the Chestnut
Hill system. In May of that year they
reported that the Chestnut Hill rcser-
voir could be purchased mt "A fair valu-
alton and that there was no just cause
for courirs2ipt in regard TO water rates.
In 1904 Mr. Crowell hired an engineer
To make an investigation in regard TO
the use of the Stickney brook supply,
but the hard times made it impossible
for him to finance the deal. In 1900
Mr.. Fits said he began, at Mr.. Crow
ell S request. to take up the titles of
brook and in 1901 line was
d. b. Wesson of Springfield
agreeing to take further bonds to
make the establishment of an addi-
tional supply possible. On account of
a large advance in the price of steel,
however, Mr.. Wesson withdrew his
offer and the matter was not taken
up again until 1904 when there were in
into the legislature two bills,
,ne increasing the bonding power of
The Chestnut Hill Reservoir company
and the other incorporating the Sunset
Lake water company. Mr.. Crowell fl |
lally decided to act under the latter
md in the winter of 1905 secured an |
option on the water rights of Marlboro |
outh pond. Mr.. Fits then told of the |
Iction taken by the village since that |
"a
people.
J. X. Batchelder of Arlington appear
d as counsel for the water board and
aid that the agreement which the vii
age entered into with Mr.. Crowell last
-une could not be considered as bind
ng and that conditions showed that 1t
i'd not meet with favor with majority
t the voters at the present time. lie
lso said that investigation had shown
hat the Stickney brook was made
uate both in quality and quantity.
here was no feeling on the part Of
nvone, he said, to do Mr.. Crowell an
INJUSTICE, but the water board was
trongly opposed to the idea of beng
Dmpelled to arbitrate. Mr.. Batchel'
err remarks showed that he was
nything but familiar with the Brattle-
ORC water question and his frequent
ference to the "Beech Hill system
as rather amusing. At the close of
is argument the hearing was adjourn
| until after the regular morning sess-
n of the legislature.
The committee re-convened just be-
ire eleven o clock and Mr.. Batchelder
,oke further saying that the joker
the section offered by Mr.. Stickney i
as the clause relating to compulsory !
filtration. eff a municipal corpora
ON cannot provide itself with such
ater it thinks it wants unless it arbi- !
ates.n said Mr.. Batchelder, sit is
, against pretty arbitrary ruling. +
@ then said that the reason for the l
llage resembling the informal vote y
June % was because it has found y
{ about Mr.. Crowell's systems ana I
closed with an argument OF some u
1gth in regard to the injustice of en- ,
reed arbitration. :,
James F. Hooker, chairman of the II
tier board then prepared to state ms II
lie of the ease, but II. Il. Barber got :,
ahead of him. Mr.. Barber said he =
peared as representative of number u
taxpayers including w. II. Vinton, q
Fl. Estey, c. R. Crosby, G. c. Averill, II
L. Durham, C. o. Robbins, II. +.
Gilman. M. Austin, Jr., o. l.. French, 81
c, Rice, J. G. Ullery, E, c. Crosby, u
w. Kuech, A. B. Clapp, c. H. Pratt, a. a,
noressman Haskins, L. H. and Z. W. ID
c6ardson and S. f. Lawton. He OF
1uobt there was grave doubt as to M
, best method of settling the water 1t 1t
1troversy. His clients, he SAID, u
re strongly opposed to having two u
items in Brattleboro, or to backing Pi
. nronosition for competing system, Dc
thought that the industrial Weitare w
the village demanded that 1T nego- 80 80
te for the present systems and be- - -
we'd that this could be done IN two "
VS., by agreement or by arbitration e eJ
= then made several recommenda- ~
MS in regard to amendments to the G fI
i under consideration. He believed II
q ..Ln,.ll no lmPnlpu pN