Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
WATER DEPARTMENT
WATER DEPARTMENT. Prior to the CIVIL WAR, LEAD miners were frustrated by water seeping into their mine shafts. Various schemes for defeating the spring-fed water were devised, but the most promising called for blasting a tunnel to drain water from the area.
In 1864 a stock company called the Level and Lead Mining Company, was formed by Selah Chamberlain, Newton W. Kimball, Henry W.Clark, Randall J. Giggs, and J.W.Parker to blast a tunnel beneath a hill located between what is now Kaufmann Avenue and an area known as West Dubuque. The tunnel was planned to lower the water level of the region enough to allow increased MINING. The company was to be rewarded with 10 percent of the profits from all mines drained of water. A second company interested in tunneling was also established at this time with such local backers as Peter KIENE, Julius K. GRAVES, William Boyd ALLISON, Joseph A. RHOMBERG, D. N. COOLEY, and Richard A. BABBAGE. This company, however, gave up the project and disbanded on October 29, 1870.
In their unsuccessful attempt to construct the tunnel, the Chamberlain- Kimball company tapped a vein of water that flowed at an estimated daily rate of 500,000 gallons. Since the tunnel was approximately eighty feet above the level of downtown Dubuque the idea developed of operating a water company since, in 1870, Dubuque still had no organized supply.
Early residents of the city depended on private wells or cisterns. The first recorded effort to supply water came in 1838 when city officials ordered the digging of three wells for fire protection. In 1863 two barrels of water cost twenty cents delivered in town and thirty-five cents on the bluffs. A plan to pump river water into the city was stopped when its quality was unfavorably compared to the quality of local beer.
Two years passed before the company finalized the idea of halting the waste of water by converting the torrent into a water works. The City Council, with William J. KNIGHT as MAYOR, signed an ordinance on December 5, 1870, giving the company the franchise to operate under the name of the Dubuque Water Company. The council retained a right to purchase the plant in twenty years at the expiration of the franchise.
The company was required to provide water by gravity pressure until increased consumption required pumping equipment. During 1871 cast-iron mains were laid in the north-south alleys by the waterworks company. A party was held on August 22, 1871, at which many of Dubuque's prominent businessmen journeyed through the tunnel inspecting the water supply. At this time the tunnel ran back under the present BUNKER HILL GOLF COURSE at a depth of one hundred eighty feet.
Demand for water in the hill districts, where gravity pressure failed to reach, expanded by 1880. In an agreement with the Lorimer Hotel at Eighth and Bluff STREETS, a small pump was placed in their basement. A wooden water tank was also constructed at Julien and Wilson avenues. When filled, this served the hill district and the homes below that level with adequate water.
The source of water became an underground lake estimated as having a length of 7,600 feet and a depth ranging from four to six feet. Lying in part beneath Bunker Hill Golf Course, the lake lies approximately 125 feet above the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. Reports were occasionally made that courageous explorers had canoed its length.
In 1898 the original stockholders sold the water works to another group of investors. The same year the City Council decided it was time for municipal ownership of the water works and exercised its right granted by the franchise. The council originally proposed $150,000, an offer rejected by the water company. Believing their offer was justified, the council threatened to enforce the transfer and called in experts to make estimates of the plant. One expert quoted a value of $664,076 while another estimated the value at $799,767.75. The water company placed a value on the system of between $664,076 and $815,000. The city's experts averaged a price of $475,000. The matter was left to Judge Oliver Perry SHIRAS to settle, but he was unable to arbitrate the issue.
The final price was fixed at $545,000. Since the city was already in debt over one million dollars, both men and women in the city were asked to vote whether this additional debt should be incurred. Women voted 275-33 for the purchase while the men voted 3,133 to 459 in favor. The plant was purchased, trustees were given charge of the work, and bonds were prepared. The question of the legality of the issue resulted in no bids for the bonds. Finally local banks and individuals purchased the bonds, but were allowed a mortgage on the plant, a definite funding tax, and payment of 4.5 percent.
In 1905 an investigation of the water works management revealed that the books were in poor condition. There was also a large debt approaching $49,000 for the purchase of all types of supplies. Charges were lodged against the trustees who resigned. The deficit was added to the city's regular bonded debt. This incident has been considered one of Dubuque's worst incidents of official malfeasance.
Starting in 1905, Dubuque began depending less and less on the springs located above LANGWORTHY HOLLOW. Wells were dug, and the EAGLE POINT water station became the focus of the water delivery system. Use of spring water was finally discontinued completely in 1950 when the purity of the water began to vary considerably. Reservoirs off Kaufmann Avenue were maintained for emergency use only. Water continued to gush at a daily rate of approximately 400,000 gallons with excess flowing off through storm sewers.
Dubuque later joined Muscatine as Iowa's only two Mississippi River cities with a population over ten thousand to use well, rather than river, water. Water has been collected from four shallow wells located between the Marina and the Mississippi. Deep-water wells, ranging from 1,500 to 1,800 feet in depth within a 1,500-foot radius of the Eagle Point treatment plant, are capable of supplying millions of gallons daily.
Water from the pumping station was sent into storage tanks through more than 233 miles of mains as of January 1990. A "high" system supplied water to the hill areas, while a "low" system served downtown. In the 1950s an "intermediate" system was built to supply water to Eagle Point and the Windsor Avenue areas. The largest reservoir in Dubuque, with a capacity of over seven million gallons of water, is located at West Third and Birch. Dubuque's wells have been estimated to have the capacity of supplying enough water to supply a population of over one million people.
During fiscal year 1989 the average daily water demand in Dubuque was 7.9 million gallons or approximately 132 gallons per person per day. During the drought of July 1989, demand averaged 11.8 million gallons for a six-day period. The highest monthly average 10.05 million gallons and the maximum daily demand both occurred in June 1958. Residential use accounted, during 1989, for 54 percent of the water pumped in Dubuque. Industrial use equaled 38 percent.
