In the days following the Great Fire of 1899, the residents of this community considered, for a short time, abandoning the destroyed uptown site and building downtown.
Louis Simmons, in his local history, Mostly Spruce and Hemlock, tells us: “With few exceptions, Tupper residential property had survived as had the Racket Pond House [later the American House, now the vacant lot on Lake Street to the rear of the Day Wholesale building] and also the Hotel Altamont had survived so shelter was not too pressing a problem. Lumber was plentiful and cheap at the local sawmills, business was brisk and the despair of the ‘morning after’ was quickly replaced by optimism. Rebuilding started almost at once, led by the crude and temporary little one-room, unpainted board shack put up by Paul Prespare on the Holland House site [next to today’s movie theater], labeled ‘The Klondike Saloon,’ whose beverages may have helped contribute to the return of optimism and confidence in the future. In any event, photos taken only a couple years after the big fire show Park Street pretty much restored and back in business as usual.”
As has been related previously in this column, the lack of water pressure and the fact that there was no fire department, other than that of a loosely organized group of lumber company employees, contributed in large part to the total destruction that occurred in that 1899 fire.
Our first settlers were well aware of these shortcomings. The minutes of town board meetings show that in 1895, and again in 1896, local businessmen petitioned the town board to organize a fire company and purchase fire-fighting apparatus.
It took the 1899 fire to get effective action, however. The next month in August, following the fire, the board voted to establish a fire district comprising the entire town, and on Oct. 7, 1899, it contracted the Tupper Lake Water Company (more on that company later) to supply water for fire protection. On Dec. 28, 1899, the board voted to spend $600 on fire apparatus and christened the infant fire department the Tupper Lake Fire Hose Company of the Town of Altamont. Hose Company 1 was organized Jan. 20, 1900, and Hose Company 2 followed soon afterward.
The Tupper Lake Fire Department would grow to become one of the best volunteer departments in the state. Hose Company 3 downtown unit was organized Oct. 31, 1902 with 59 members (of whom 23 were “dropped” the first year, apparently for inactivity). The Oct. 19, 1902 fire destruction of the Junction House, a pioneer hotel opposite the railroad station, had apparently jolted the downtown men into forming their own fire-fighting unit.
The need for a water supply was also realized even before the fire. In fact, in 1897 Jim McBride and Will LaFountain, local surveyors, were hired by several prominent local men to survey the Mt. Morris area with the idea to locate a suitable water supply. That project languished, however, until the fire kick-started the idea into action, and a month after that conflagration, the Tupper Lake Water Company was organized.
This was a private stock company, and they decided to go with Cranberry Pond, which they purchased from the A. Sherman Lumber Company (east of hole seven on the golf course) as their water source. (Note: Other sources on Mt. Morris had been located. The surveyors’ recommendation was to “tap” Little Simon Pond, prophetically pointing out, as the town’s population expanded, that Cranberry Pond would be inadequate. However, the cost of laying a line to Little Simon was considered financially out of reach for the stock company.)
The stockholders of that first water company consisted of David Hayes, P.H. McCarthy, Barney Seigal, James Jacobs and local physician Dr. Thissell. Shortly after the forming of that company, Dr. Thissell bought out his partners and became sole proprietor. He then hired a private contractor to build a reservoir located on Manning’s Hill as an auxiliary supply, supplementing the direct flow and feed from Cranberry Pond. As noted in an earlier column, the reservoir had been excavated back into the ridge, thus forming the back (the side furthest from the river below) and parts of two sides: the side nearest the river consisted of nearly all fill material, and then a concrete lining was placed inside. The fill and lining were too thin, and at the first filling of water, the side facing Moody Bridge failed, sending a torrent down the hill that barely missed the McBride home (located near today’s veterinary clinic) and tore up a large section of the highway beyond Moody Bridge.
After an unsuccessful lawsuit for damages against the contractor, Dr. Thissell then arranged with seasonal resident Colonel Barbour to acquire the water company. Colonel Barbour’s association with this village extended back to the 1880s when the Barbours had a camp on Jenkins Pond (now Lake Madeleine on Litchfield Park), and he gradually expanded the system, installing a pumping station by which water was pumped into a standpipe that was constructed in 1908 on Sear’s Hill, improving water pressure for domestic and fire-fighting use.
Colonel Barbour died in March 1917, and his extensive holdings (20,000 acres around the head of the lake alone) were liquidated. In 1918, New York State purchased 13,900 acres, and in 1928 the American Legion Department of New York acquired 1,260 acres of waterfront that included 18 buildings. Colonel Barbour’s camp on Fox Hill Point, built in 1895, became the site of the women’s infirmary, and a camp owned by his son, Senator Warren Barbour on Warren Point, became the men’s infirmary for veterans of WWI and, later, WWII. This estate sale was a golden opportunity for the village to acquire title to the water system that for 20 years had been under private ownership, and they jumped on it.
In 1920, it purchased the system for $100,000. A bond issue at 6 percent was floated, and the village retired it 21 years later in 1941. The resulting local water department has been a well-managed asset over the years. Reasonable service charges (village average rate is $15.40 per month) have prevented it from being a tax burden. Major investments, additions and improvements have kept pace with the needs of our growing community. Water quality standards are closely monitored by well-trained employees and include “treatment through diatomaceous earth filters and additional chlorine contact provided on the Little Simond source.”
Tupper Lake has water quality that is the envy of many of our neighboring communities.
Next Transitions: We build a pipeline.