History

The Town of York became a fast-growing summer resort by the 1890s and large numbers of hotels and cottages were being constructed in York Harbor, York Beach, and York Cliffs. The need for a reliable supply of pure water became a priority for local businessmen, who realized that future growth would be restricted to those areas where water was available. The large wooden buildings were also fire hazards and hydrants fed by a reliable supply of water were badly needed.

The York Shore Water Company was organized on May 7, 1895 for the purpose of supplying the towns of York and Wells with pure water for domestic and municipal purposes, including fire protection. On January 27, 1896 the directors of the York Shore Water Company voted as follows: That Chase’s Pond and the water rights connected therewith be purchased by this company at a price not exceeding $25,000, to be paid for in the stock of this company at par.

Chase’s Pond offered an excellent and the most readily available source of a water supply at the time the company was organized in 1896. To develop any other source would have involved greater cost because of the expense of either building a dam or a longer pipeline than was required for the Chase’s Pond project. The history of the company showed clearly that the water main extensions were made only after careful considerations, and it is reasonable to assume that when the directors voted to pay $25,000 for the water rights they were satisfied that it was a fair price.

The incorporators of the York Shore Water Company were Josiah Chase, Lindley M. Webb, Will R. Howard, Wilson L. Hawkes, Hartley W. Mason, Jeremiah P. Simpson, John E. Norwood, John H. Varrell, and John L. Chase. Josiah Chase was the first president of the company and, until his death in 1928, was the moving spirit and the controlling factor in its development. He was a lawyer who terminated his duties as Deputy Collector of Customs for the Port of Portland to return to York and devote his energies to the development of the water company. Chase was also an environmentalist who is remembered by Ogunquit residents for his gift of the “marginal way” to the town in 1925. However, in his zeal to protect the watershed of Chase’s Pond, he attempted to take several lots by exercising the right of eminent domain in cases where the courts decided that he was taking the land for private rather then public purposes. In effect, the court ruled that taking timberland as fire protection for the timber on land owned by the water company was a private use, and it ruled against Chase.

The records of the company show that it was a policy of the officers to purchase land bordering Chase’s pond at every reasonable opportunity. Every effort was made to protect the sanitary quality of the water supply. The records also show that extensions were made to the system from time to time. This was an indication of a growing demand for water and the policy of the Directors to supply this demand as soon as possible.

The long awaited water distribution system was fully activated in York Beach in 1900, and the proponents of fire protection were on hand to test the hydrants. Will Hildreth borrowed fifty feet of hose and a nozzle from the Portsmouth fire department because there was no such equipment in York. The demonstration was conducted in the middle of the business district from a hydrant located on the corner by the Goldenrod. Frank H. Ellis held the nozzle while the water was turned on. The results were convincing enough for Will Hildreth and Herbert E. Gordon to begin circulating papers calling for the acquisition of new fire hose for the York Beach Hose Company, which had been organized three years earlier. Carols B. Mosley and Nathaniel H. Shattuck, residents of Concordville, raised enough money to buy the hose.

The Sanborn-Perris maps issued in 1901 and 1913 noted the location of fire hose and hose carts throughout the community. The 1901 maps show a hose cart with 500 feet of 2-1/2 inch hose in a small building behind the Seaview House near the S. P. Huntress livery stable. A second hose car was located behind the Varrell House across from the Lancaster Block in York Harbor. The 1913 maps show 500 feet of 2-1/2 inch hose stored at the Iduna Hotel on Long Beach. In York Beach 150 feet were stored at 117 Main Street, 300 feet at 106 Broadway, 205 feet stored at 111 Broadway, and 250 feet at 207 D. Street. The stable and hose cart near the Seaview House were not shown on the 1913 maps. They may have been lost when the hotel burned.

In 1917 Chase went back to the Legislature, which passed An Act to Authorize the York Shore Water Company to Acquire and Own Certain Local Securities. This unusual piece of legislation authorized the Water Company to acquire and own stock in the Marshall House, which was being rebuilt after being destroyed by fire in 1916. The purchase was subject to the approval of the Public Utilities Commission.

Census reports indicate that the resident population of the Town of York varied from 2,444 in 1890 to 2,802 in 1910 and 2,727 in 1920. Probably not more than three- quarters of this population was supplied with water by the company, but no exact count was available. In October, 1929 the number of services was 1,209. This number included hotels and rooming houses which were on summer lines. A rough estimate would give the population served during July and August between 8,000 and 10,000, with about 2,800 persons using the distribution system during the winter.

The water distribution method was essentially a low pressure gravity system. The pressure in the mains in the centers of York Village, York Harbor, and York Beach, where fire protection was furnished, varied from 30 to 50 pounds per square inch. These pressures varied according to

the topography and with variations in the rates of consumption. In order to reach the pressures necessary to fight larger fires, it was necessary to use a pumper. In 1929 there were pumpers located in York Village and York Beach. The York Beach hose wagon also carried a Barton pumper. Fifty-two of the 118 hydrants had a nozzle for a pumper and all hydrants had connections for 2-1/2 inch hose. All but one of the hydrants was connected to the main by a six-inch line.

A timber crib and earth dam was in place when the system was taken over by the water company. It was rebuilt during the winter and spring of 1906-07. A concrete structure of gravity type with a reinforced concrete intake well and screen chamber replaced the timber crib spillway section. The spillway, as well as the core wall in the earth section, rested on solid ledge rock, which was blasted at the time construction to provide a solid foundation and to prevent seepage through the base of the dam. Considerable work was done on the lands adjoining the reservoir, including tearing down buildings and cleaning up debris, in order to preserve the purity of the water.

The distribution system began at the dam, where water entered a screen chamber through two short intake pipes terminating in 16-inch gate valves in the chamber. Grooves permitted the raising and lowering of screens in the chamber. Water left through two 16-inch mains, one leading to York Beach and one leading to York Corner.

The screen chamber could be emptied through two 4-inch outlets provided with gates leading to a drain that discharged in the brook below the dam. The York Beach supply line, laid in 1896, had a total length of 13,502 feet, and the York Corner line, laid in 1908, was 17,654 feet. On each of the lines there were considerable distances where the pipe was laid above the ground or close to the surface. Two sections of the York Beach line passed through swamps where the pipe was laid on wooden cross pieces supported by two wooden piles. By 1929 some of these cross pieces and the tops of some of the piles had rotted away, but the pipeline remained in place and was in good condition. There was no evidence of trouble caused by freezing in the mains and there had been no breaks since they were built.

The total length of pipe in the distribution system was 43.57 miles. Of this total, 58 percent was composed of cast iron pipe six inches in size or larger. The cast iron pipe laid in 1896 was coated with Dr. Angus Smith’s patented coal-tar varnish, applied hot, and similar material was still being used in 1929.