BUILDING OF THE OTIS RESERVOIR, Otis, East Otis Massachusetts Excerpts From: Samuel Watkinson Collins Memorandums (Co-Founder of The Collins Company, Collinsville (Canton), Connecticut) 1865 - Built (with some aid from others) a reservoir at Otis to improve our water power. Build large reservoir at Otis. Description of Reservoir built at Otis: The original pond covered 318 acres. The reservoir when full covers 1,050 acres and is then (when full) 26 feet above the level of the old pond. The average available depth that we can draw down is equal to 17 1/2 feet deep on 1,050 acres. The dam at the outlet is composed of two walls filled with earth between which is used and accepted by the town of Otis as a public highway. The locality of the old highway and bridge being under water when the reservoir is full. The lower wall is 133 feet long on the top, 32 feet 4 inches high from the rock in the natural bed of the stream where the sluices from the reservoir discharge. The bottom or bed of the gully is 60 feet wide and 10 feet deep. That bottom part of the lower wall was laid up with heavy cut stone to the height of 16 feet 9 inches and cemented, the bottom being 13 feet broad and the top 10 feet. Above that a dry wall of rough stone is laid 15 feet 7 inches high 4 1/2 feet thick at the top, which is covered by coping of stone 3 feet wide. One hundred feet of the whole length of the lower wall is either laid in cement or grouted. The upper wall next to the water is 60 feet long, crossing the gully or natural bed of the stream from rock to rock, the banks being of rock as well as the bottom. This upper wall is 19 feet high and 8 feet broad on the bottom, 18 feet of the height being laid with cut stone and grouted. The upper part being rough dry wall 8 feet high and 4 1/2 feet wide at the top. The earth slope from top of the road-way to top of the upper wall is covered with loose stone to prevent the earth from washing off. At each end of the upper main walls there is a wing wall of 20 feet to support the base of the earth embankment at either end and keep it from the gates. There are two sluices from the upper to the lower wall. On the rock at the bottom (illegible at bottom of original page) 2 1/2 feet square inside, laid with heavy cut stone dowelled together with iron bolts. The gates are at the upper end of the sluices. They are of cast iron with rough iron stems, 29 feet long 3 inches diameter. The earth embankment of filling between the walls is 30 feet wide on the top which forms the road-way. The roll-way or waste-way for carrying off the surplus water is 30 feet wide and 4 feet deep, having increased in 1871 the roll-way by raising of the bridge over the roll-way; the bottom being 3 feet below the top of the lower wall of the dam. The water of the roll-way when full being only 12 inches lower than he highest part of the dam, consequently during the high floods when the reservoir is full it will be necessary to raise one of the gates as the roll-way is not adequate to pass all the water at such times, (contrary to our expectations.) That it is adequate has been proved by actual experiment in the Spring of 1867, when it was necessary to raise the gates to prevent the water from running over the road and dam. With both gates raised 15 inches it continued to run over the roll-way by 5 inches deep. One gate raised to full height in flood time will probably carry off all the surplus water without raising the other gate at all. The reservoir is so large that it rises slow and will not therefore be likely to overflow before the gates are raised. There is a plank partition in the earth parallel with the walls and the whole job being done in the best manner, there is no danger of any break or failure. Besides the present reservoir "Farmington River Water Power Co." own the outlet of Great Pond, so called, which now covers a surface of 350 acres. This pond discharges into our reservoir, it being 50 feet higher and only about a quarter of a mile distant it affords good mill privileges by using the water several times. At the outlet owned by The Reservoir Company there is a dilapidated grist-mill and saw-mill neither of which can run without considerable repairs. There is a dwelling house in tolerable repair which is rented. Immediately below ours there is a new saw-mill in good condition and doing a good business. The banks of the upper pond are not high, the present low dam holding back only 3 feet of water on 350 acres. A dam 12 feet high would cover about 1,000 acres making a reservoir as large as the present one, but not so deep. The land damages would be about the same the other expense much less, as the stone quarry is only a mile distant and we had to draw them three miles to build dam to present reservoir. It was our intention when the property was purchased to build a dam 10 or 12 feet at the outlet of each pond but subsequently surveys demonstrated that the banks of the lower pond were so much higher and the outlet so narrow that it would be best to build that first end much higher than our original intention, although it was much further from the stone quarry. There is not probably a better quality of granite in the U. S. but there is very little demand for want of means to transport them. We paid $80.00 for all we can get away in five years. To secure the outlet to the present reservoir we had to buy the farm, some 75 acres of which is not flooded, and has an old house and barn near the gates which can be occupied by the man who has charge of the gates. This outlet and gates are two miles from habitation, but the outlet of Great Pond and the water previliges there are directly in the village of East Otis. At Great Pond near the village of East Otis, our surveyor, Mr. Chamberlin, put an iron bolt onto a large rock (about 20 rods West from the mill pond.) A dam at the outlet 12 feet high would raise the water about 10 feet and the surface of the water will then be 2 feet below the iron bolt. The surplus water must not run off the dam but go over the waste-way. As near as we can estimate the Works of The Collins Company when in full operation, use 12 millions of cubic feet of water in ten hours. The capacity of the Otis reservoir is equal to a discharge of eight millions of cubic feet in twenty-four hours for three months (97 days), which, admitting that half of it runs past us during the night, we believe will enable us to run our works through the draughts of summer without hindrance or delay. The water running at night must first fill out ponds above us that they have been drawn down during the day including our own pond, before it runs past us. The capacity of the reservoir is estimated to be eight hundred millions, four hundred and fifteen thousand cubic feet, sixty percent of which is estimated to be available; equal to 6,255,242,187 gallons. 1867 - The Legislature of Massachusetts at its Annual Session in 1867 granted a Charter to the "Farmington River Water Power Company" with Capital of $100,000. in shares of $100.00 each. The first meeting of the Corporators and Stockholders was held at New Boston, Mass., August 14, 1867. The Stock of the Company was divided to parties as nearly as possible in proportion to their subscriptions toward the building of the reservoir as follows: Wm. J. Canfield, of Caanan …… 125 shares Greenwoods Company ………… 100 " Darius B. Smith ……………….. 25 Shares La Presse & Company ………… 25 " Hartford Carpet Company ……… 50 " Lewis E. Cowles ………………... 50 " Albert Hull ……………………… 8 " Delos Stephens …………………. 3 " L. Brainard & Company ………… 16 " H. S. Sawyer …………………….. 6 " E. D. Parsons ……………………. 3 " Wm. L. Gilbert ………………….. 2 " Springfield Paper Company …….. 8 " Philip E. Chapin …………………. 2 " H. Chapin & Sons ……………….. 1 " S. P. Norton (this subscription being for The Collins Company) 500 shares Total 1000 shares S. P Norton ) Wm. J. Canfield ) Darius B. Smith ) were chosen Directors Lewis E. Cowles ) Albert Hull ) S. P. Norton was chosen President Albert Hull was chosen Clerk and Treasurer
Posted on: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 17:18:43 +0000