Tags
Baltimore, engineering, FILTRATION, Gunpowder Falls, HISTORY, Lake Clifton, Lake Montebello, Montebello, photography, water, water history
The Gunpowder Temporary Supply was in use between 1873 and 1881, as the City required it. Work on the Permanent Supply started in 1875. This new supply would consist of a dam at Loch Raven, a 6-1/2 mile tunnel to Montebello, where a lake would be built with a gatehouse, to connect to another lake at Clifton. The properties at Montebello and Clifton belonged to Garrett and Hopkins.
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- Building the Loch Raven Dam
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- Part of Montebello Lake
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- Under the Montebello Gatehouse
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- Lake Clifton
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- Clifton Gatehouse a couple years ago
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- After removal of Loch Raven Gatehouse
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- Old dam during a storm
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- One of the stones from building the dam
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- Recent Montebello Gatehouse
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- Dignataries getting ready to place the last stone into the dam
On September 29, 1881, Lake Montebello reached its full height elevation of 163′. Lake Clifton would not be completed until late 1887. The water from Montebello flowed thru pipes, to the site of the lake and connected to pipes, to supply the City. Until the lake and gatehouse were completed at Clifton, a temporary shed was built over the pits that housed the gate valves. There was a house built on the property for the Gatekeeper. There was recent talk of leasing the Clifton Gatehouse for a Farmers Market, if the person would restore the building.
Water and Me 
These are fantastic. Look at that arch bridge just upstream of the dam. It is still there, though neglected. I never realized it was so beautiful when originally constructed.