In Search of The Skipjack Ada Mae

23 Monday Aug 2021

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, boating, Eastern Shore, skipjack

Tags

Ada Mae, Baltimore, bateaus, Beaufort, Duck Creek, florence, HISTORY, John Moll, last skipjacks project, Natty boh, nature, oysters, photography, Sea Scouts, skipjack

Just before heading to North Carolina back in May, I was looking at an old listing I had for the remaining skipjacks, out there floating around somewhere. At the top of the list, in alphabetical order, was the Ada Mae. This particular skipjack has a notation that it called home New Bern, N.C. We would pass through New Bern heading to Indian Beach for vacation.

Being that New Bern is about 30 square miles in size, I figured we should do some research to try and find her exact location before heading there. We had absolutely no luck with that! Of course, you can always count on Google for some crazy information. Like this Ada Mae:

She was the 1940s Snake Dancer from Ringling Brothers Circus. Sorry, wrong Ada Mae.

The Ada Mae we are looking for is a 54-foot skipjack, a specialized vessel designed for dredging oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. The Ada Mae was built in 1915 by Ralph Hodges on the family farm in Hyde County, North Carolina. As Hodges, 33, worked on the bateau, his kid sister, 13-year-old Ada Mae, who inspired the skipjack’s name, whiled away the days keeping him company.

Here is some other background info I was able to find: Skipjacks, or two-sail bateaus, were dredge boats that supported the state’s oyster industry. The Ada Mae is believed to be the only remaining skipjack built in North Carolina. It was found in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1994, by an East Carolina University graduate student who was working on a research project in Maryland. The Ada Mae was moored at Washington, North Carolina, where restoration work was being completed. It was to be used there as a classroom to teach students about the oyster industry in the state.

Well, is it in New Bern or Washington? More research. Everyone we talked to started their answer to my question “Where is the Ada Mae?” with, “The last I heard…” So maybe we need to change her name to “The Last I Heard”!

And here is the best time line I could put together.

1915 – Built

About 1945 – Hodges employed the skipjack for more than 30 years, and the Ada Mae’s home was mostly on the Washington waterfront. The Ada Mae divided her working hours between fishing and oystering on the Pamlico Sound off North Carolina, and transporting watermelons and lumber from the sound to Baltimore during the summer.

1955 – Disappeared. The Ada Mae, according to U.S. Coast Guard enrollment records, was among the few skipjacks working until 1955, when it disappeared from the register. She was abandoned outside of Baltimore in a shallow backwater, as is the custom for retiring obsolete boats.

1965 – The Ada Mae was rescued and put into service as the “Chester Peake,” the centerpiece of an advertising campaign launched by National Brewing Company of Baltimore. The aging skipjack was chosen because it represented one of the symbols of the Chesapeake Bay. She sailed from port to port on the bay, attending festivals and regattas and advertising the brewing company.

Just recently I acquired the below John Moll print at a local auction.

When National Brewing’s ad campaign shifted, the company donated the Chester Peake to the Baltimore Sea Scouts. For several years they used the skipjack as an educational and training vessel on which scouts learned about boating, leadership, and self-reliance. When upkeep became too much for the scouts, she was sold to William Phillips of Baltimore. Phillips had worked with Chesapeake Bay pilots for nearly 30 years and was hopeful that retirement would provide him the time to restore the Ada Mae. When it became obvious how daunting a restoration would be, Phillips set his sights on finding new owners who would be able to fulfill his dream. As it happened, the new owners found him.

1994 – Found by Grad Student in Baltimore. “David Smith, a graduate student in the maritime history and nautical archaeology program at Eastern Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., had heard in 1994 about a North Carolina-built skipjack called the Ada Mae that was moored somewhere in Baltimore” (Daily Press, Va.)

1995 – It took more than a year to pull together funding to move the boat. Soon after the Ada Mae’s arrival in North Carolina, the Institute for International Maritime Research held a welcome-home party. To the surprise of everyone, including the mayor of Washington, about 200 people led by Ada Mae Cowan, (Namesake of the skipjack), showed up for the festivities.

2003 – Acquired by Carolina Coastal Classrooms.

2005 – Part of the Floating Classroom. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll18/id/83933

Noted that a 1900 Silver Dollar was kept under the mast for good luck. Also noted: I recently talked to someone who has this Silver Dollar.

2013 – Below photo of the Ada Mae docked near the Persimmons Restaurant in New Bern, N.C. Photo courtesy Watson Brown’s Backroad Photography (Great photos on his site).

2015 – 100th anniversary celebration. From the Halifax Media Service: “The 1915 ship, built to mainly dredge oysters, has been docked in New Bern since she was acquired by Carolina Coastal Classrooms in 2003. She is now used in the CCC’s educational programs. She is the only remaining skipjack in North Carolina and the oldest working ship in the state,” according to Carolina Coastal Classrooms. About 1,000 were built. The festivities will be at 5 p.m. Saturday at 109 Pollock St. The Ada Mae will be docked on the Neuse River behind the Galley Store.

2018 – Hurricane Florence strikes.

2021 – Found her!!

So, back to the story of our search. As I said, I looked at the Last Skipjacks Project website and sent off an email to a woman named Cyndy and she really didn’t have much info on the Ada Mae. Another Google search came up with Watson Brown’s photo. Thru Facebook I contacted him and he said his photo was from 2013 at New Bern. Kathy and I decided we would stop there on our way to Indian Beach. No luck. We did manage to get in touch with the owner of Persimmons Restaurant and he said it was moved just prior to Florence, just didn’t know where.

While on vacation I spent a lot of time doing some research, which included getting in touch with the Maritime Museum in Beaufort. They told me the boat was offered to them but they lacked the funds to restore it. “The last he heard”, it was in Washington, NC. The other “Last I Heards”, were at Fountain Powerboats, on the Pamlico River across from Washington. (Looking at Google Earth, it looked like a ship graveyard) It wasn’t there. McCotters Marina – no. Belhaven area – no. The Coast Guard, who had listed the Ada Mae as having been inspected in 2013 – never got back to me. And a whole lot more. Including Duck Creek Marina, who later gave me all the info I needed!

Four months later, I called Duck Creek Marina and talked to Cathy who said I should call the man who previously ran CCC and he would know where she is. Called and talked to him for a while. He said the Ada Mae is currently at Pacific Sea Craft in Washington, NC. She is alive and well and being restored. Come spring 2022 she may be moved to Beaufort, near Indian Beach, North Carolina. (I was seriously chastised for my mispronunciation of Beaufort! I pronounced it as ‘Buu-fort’ and not ‘Bow-fort’! Apparently there is one in North Carolina and one in South Carolina, each with there own pronunciation!)

Jimmy Sellers FB post, photo from 2018, before Hurricane Florence

I was given additional background on what happened to her: In 2018 when Florence approached she was moved to Duck Creek Marina and placed on low blocks. The water rose and she floated off and was damaged when she became wedged between two other boats. (I was originally told back in May she was lifted off the blocks and crashed to the ground). She was eventually moved to Pacific Sea Craft. They are talking about placing fiberglass on her to help preserve the hull. Various opinions about that.

I talked to Pacific Sea Craft a couple times in the past week to verify that she is there – yes she is. As of this writing I am waiting for them to send me some photos of the damage and the restoration work they are doing. They also said we are free to come down and look at her. Kathy will be heading to North Carolina in mid September and said she will stop by and photograph her.

Thank you Kathy for this and for your patience and willingness to travel around and talk to various people about the Ada Mae!!

Please note: I have removed some of the names of the people I have spoken to because, as of now, they still have not gotten back to me, giving permission to use their names. Some info was taken from various websites, that refer back to other websites, like Our State Magazine, N.C. and the Daily Press, Va.. Also Carolina Coastal Classroom which as far as I can tell, has closed down.

Update:

In September 2021, during Kathy’s trip to North Carolina to visit her sister at Indian Beach, Kathy stopped at Pacific Seacraft. It was a Saturday, and they were closed. I tried to convince her to climb over the fence and peek in the window…

On May 24, 2022, on our trip home from Nashville, Tennessee, Kathy and I decided to take a chance and stop at Pacific Seacraft, Washington, North Carolina. I soon saw why Kathy would not climb the fence – the place is huge and has barbed wire all around. I called and asked if we could come in and they said OK. We met a fellow named Travis (the owner Steve was busy) and he showed us the Ada Mae. And here she is, after a year of searching, found in a boat builder’s shed, hopefully awaiting some restoration and placing back in the water.

Some Favorites Before I Go

29 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Archives, Baltimore, HISTORY, Writing

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Baltimore, Dams, engineering, glass plate negatives, Gunpowder Falls, HISTORY, Loch Raven, Public Works, Research, Warren, water history, writing

My time is winding down, working for the City of Baltimore, so I thought I would share some favorite photographs from my research and my time here…

This photograph is the one that started my writing. I guess it was sometime in the late 1970s that I started keeping journals of my life. Not sure why, but I did. Some were just in the form of letters that I later copied into an electronic file of my life, that I later turned into my auto-biography. This photo though started my writing on Baltimore’s Water Supply History, which was preceded by Building the Gunpowder Falls – Montebello Tunnel 1935 – 1940.

I have written about this photograph in an earlier blog post on October 20, 2017. Here are the introductory pages from my book that explains it:

Sometime in the late 1980s, renovations began in an old storage section of Plant II at the Montebello Filters on Hillen Road, in Baltimore City. This storage room was to be converted into an office area for the newly hired Water Treatment Engineers. Resident engineers were nothing new to the filtration plant, but somewhere in time, Plant Managers, Maintenance Supervisors and Bureau Chiefs had replaced them. Therefore, the addition of engineers to the staff became a momentous occasion, sparing no expenses to build them a new office and to make them feel welcomed.

It was just by coincidence that the storage area slated for renovation housed a majority of the records from the previous engineers, along with hundreds of glass plate negatives and photographic lanternslides. The maintenance supervisor of that time just saw boxes of junk and gave instructions to throw it all away. Thinking that the information in these boxes looked interesting, I told the laborers working on the project to take all this ‘junk’ and put in a room on the second floor. This second floor storage area actually did house a bunch of junk and a few years later, when I needed extra storage space, I went over and started cleaning out this room.

While sorting through the boxes, trying to decide what was worth keeping, I decided to keep it all, that I would just go ahead and straighten it out, putting it on shelves. It was while going through the material that I realized what a treasure trove of information was there: old blue prints, engineers’ logs, personal journals, water contracts dating back to the early 1900s, deeds to lands obtained by the city through the courts (along with the judge’s personal journal, dating back to the 1880s), early photographs and so much more. After I had sorted it all out the best I could, I left it alone for quite a few years.

In 2005, Richard Vann, one of the newly hired engineers, received instructions to put together a history of the water department; mostly just listing all the water contracts and what work was done for each one. However, Richard, being a very thorough individual, started listing everything, from who the mayor was to what the inspector’s names were on the jobs. He put this information in chronological order but found that there were gaps in his work, that years were missing from the little bit of records that he had. I then showed him the books and information that I had found years earlier and he started to enter this information into his time line.

In 2006, my boss asked me to assist Richard in what he was doing. We were having electrical problems at the time and I was to work with him to put together a diagram showing all the electrical work done over the years. In the 26 plus years that I have worked here, there has always been a construction project going on, but no one has ever put together an ‘as built’ drawing of the electrical system. So I set up shop adjacent to Richard’s office and via email, he sent me the information that he had. While reading the chronology, I remembered that I had seen additional information, even photos, of things Richard had written about, packed away in the second floor storage area. I decided to go back through all those shelves and boxes of history and see what I could match up to what he had listed.

When I came upon the glass plate negatives, I decided to have some of them processed and turned into photos. This became an expensive proposition so I decided to learn how to do this on my own. My boss gave me permission to buy the equipment I needed, which was no more than a scanner capable of scanning 8” x 10” negatives and Lantern Slides, software to invert the negatives into a positive and a good printer.

While working with one of the lanternslides, I noticed something odd, that in a tunnel, where workers were excavating, there were train tracks that came to a dead end under what looked like a giant boulder. This particular slide came from a box from around 1938, so I asked Richard if he had any information on an event of that year that was of interest. Sure enough, he showed me the Annual Report covering the year 1938 where it was reported that an explosion had occurred in the building of the Gunpowder-Montebello Tunnel.

This notation in the report was only about a half a paragraph long, nothing more than a blurb, so I decided to investigate it further. Searching through all those records that were about to be thrown away 20 years ago, stumbling across filing cabinets that had been stored at the Ashburton Filtration Plant (Home of the Water Engineers in the late 1950s), and researching the archives of the local newspapers, I was able to piece together the story below.

(Note: Upon further research, I found that the picture above was not from the tunnel explosion, but rather a progress photo from 1938 of the heading being loaded and wired for blasting. Unfortunately, the tunnel explosion photos are missing from the collection.)

I would like to take this time to thank Richard Vann, Water Systems Engineer, for pointing me in the direction to find this information. His chronology alone could fill a book.

This next photo, from 1921, inspired me to start writing young adult fiction. When the City was buying up all the properties around the Gunpowder Falls, with the intent to raise the dam from an elevation 188′ to 270′ (settled on el 240′) many families and businesses were displaced. To me this is a sad photograph. The woman and her 3 children, who are renters, being displaced for a damn dam. (Not sure if this house was in the 270′ or 240′ flood lands, in either case, the City would still take to enlarge its watershed).

Here is the opening to a book I have yet to finish. Hopefully some day. Not yet edited for correctness..

The Children of Warren
“Jennifer, wake up. We have to go.”
“No! I don’t wanna!”
“Come on, you know what today is! You don’t want them to flood us out, do you?”
With that, Jennifer sits up in her bed and looks at her mother, eyes wide open and says, “They couldn’t do that! You wouldn’t let them, would you mom?”
Her mom pulls her close, reassuringly, and tells her, “Honey, if I had my way, they wouldn’t be allowed to flood us out at all, but it ain’t up to me. So come on, get up and get yourself dressed.”
With that, Jennifer pulls herself to the side of the bed and when her feet touch the cold dirt floor she shrieks in disgust, “Mom! Why’d they take the floor out? Why couldn’t they wait until we were gone!”
“Honey, we’ve been over this a hundred times” her mother says, trying not to sound irritated at the constant questioning of ‘why’. “You know your father and me had to sell off what we could before the City took it from us.”
“But I loved our floors mommy. Daddy worked so hard making them pretty for us.”
“I know honey” her mom says, reminiscing about better days in Warren…

I showed this initial writing to a friend and explained the story (kids go back to the town before it is flooded and get caught in the flood…) and they told me there was already a movie about this kind of event, called “In Dreams” with Robert Downey Jr. Ha!

One Last Hike Through Cromwell Park

20 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, Hiking

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Baltimore, Cromwell Park, Dams, engineering, Gunpowder Falls, Hiking, Loch Raven, nature, photography, water history

A lot has been going on here lately. Took two days to settle on my house, moved my daughter to Virginia, moved in with Kathy, working on the house in Salisbury and signed my retirement papers today. My last day working for the City of Baltimore will be January 4, 2019.

Thinking about the things I will miss when I retire and move away from Baltimore…not really a lot. With my job I will miss some of the historical research I do and some of the people I work with – some. I really won’t miss my house too much. It was too big and lonely for me and I only bought it to be closer to work and save on rent and gas. My neighbors were a pain in the ass.

One thing I will really miss is our walks at Cromwell Valley Park. They have always held a special place in my heart. Not just because I volunteered there for a year and made new friends, but also because it is where I met Kathy. So, here is what may very well be our last walk…

Something you don’t see every day up at Loch Raven. A guy playing a bagpipe! I did take a video but like me, it is a little shaky!

Always enjoyed our little house. The first time Kathy and I exchanged photographs with each other, it was of the little house.

Time to pose…

One of my favorite spots is the Balancing Reservoir Shaft.

With its corresponding spillway.

Heading now to the sycamore tree. I have taken a lot of photographs of this tree – it just oozes with majesty and yet some…

…loneliness.

Being a favorite spot, another selfie.

Kathy and her sister Gail have this thing about the #26 – lucky #.

Heading for the car, another look at the kilns.

Yes, we will miss our hikes in Cromwell, but look forward to the new adventures that await us. God is good!

Tiffany Reservoir

11 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, engineering, water history

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Baltimore, bridges, Dams, engineering, Gunpowder Falls, HISTORY, Jones Falls, Lake Montebello, Lake Roland, maps, POLITICS, Public Works, Research, water history

Quite an interesting find: A map from 1867. What makes this map so interesting is that in all my research I never came across any references for having the Gunpowder Falls connected to a reservoir called Tiffany. Everything I read said it would flow by gravity to a new reservoir, Lake Montebello.

First off, let my give a little history on how this water supply came about. Starting in 1836: Samuel Smith, Mayor, appoints a committee to hire the services of a Delaware Engineer named John Randall, to study and recommend a plan for the Baltimore Water Supply. In 1837 John Randall proposed that the City of Baltimore gets its water from the Great Gunpowder Falls. Suggested building two dams, one dam on the Gunpowder near Tysons Mill and the second dam on the Western Run near York Road. Water from these dams was to flow by gravity into the valley of Jones Falls to a receiving reservoir at about Elevation 300. Lake Roland is at 300’

In 1850 consulting engineers are hired to look into Randall’s proposal and then in 1852 a water commission is formed.

1854 Mr. John Smith Hollins, Mayor. Mr. Alfred Duval, Civil Engineer of Baltimore and a private citizen, presented a report to the Council recommending the development of a water supply from the Gunpowder Falls. Duval recommended the building of a dam at Raven’s Rock, the closest point on the Gunpowder Falls to the City, and a tunnel to convey the water by gravity from the dam to a receiving reservoir near Montebello. Mr. Sickles recommended to the Council the adoption of a modified version of the Duval proposal. Mr. Sickles had made extensive surveys and reported to the Mayor and City Council a plan for an ‘air-lined tunnel’ to convey the water of the Gunpowder to the City. An ordinance authorizing such a development was passed by the Council in October but was never signed by the Mayor.

1857 Mr. Thomas Swann, Mayor. Mr. James S. Suter, Water Engineer (April 14, 1857). Original plan for the Jones Falls development was modified by an ordinance adopted in July. Ordinance instructed Water Commissioners to procure an increased supply of water from Jones Falls “agreeably to a plan heretofore reported to the Council by James Slade, Civil Engineer”. The Water Board is reorganized on April 14 and the first Water Engineer appointed was James Suter.

1860 Swann Lake, (Lake Roland) is completed on the Jones falls.

1861 both the Hampden and Mt Royal Reservoirs are completed.

1866 Mayor John Lee Chapman realizes the approaching inadequacy of Jones Falls as a continuing source of future water supply.

1867 A map of Tiffany Reservoir is drawn up.

As can be seen in this portion of the map below, the location is on the western side of Hillen Road. On a 2018 map it would be the area of Hillen Rd. and 35th St. Where Mergenthaler school is and the area where the houses are on 35th.

Here is an early photograph of the area where Lake Montebello would be. I am assuming that this is looking east from Hillen Rd to the site of the lake.

And here is an 1880s map showing how the lake and Loch Raven Conduit was (and is) laid out.

Returning to the Tiffany Reservoir map, a couple things of interest: On the Tiffany map you can see it says Tiffany Conduit connected to Tiffany T (tunnel) then to Herring Run Conduit. Looking close you can see that there are two colorings of this conduit; the first and third sections being blue. The middle section (Tiffany T) is black. All the black sections in this conduit are underground. All the blue ones are open channels. I believe this is where the term ‘Air-lined Tunnel’ came from? That there was not enough head pressure to completely fill the underground portions. Following the tunnel north. The Herring Run Conduit becomes the Sater’s Ridge Tunnel.

And that turns into the Mine Bank Conduit, to the dam at Loch Raven. Another symbol on this map I like is that all the roads pass over the river and streams as regular bridges. On the one below you can see where the road passes over the Gunpowder, below the dam and around the corner, it is colored in, which shows that back in 1867 there was a covered bridge at Cub Hill and Cromwell Bridge roads.

A couple more items of interest on this map – The location of Glenn Ellen Castle.

Swann Lake (Lake Roland). The title of the Tiffany Map is somewhat wrong. It states “In connection with the Swann Lake Aqueduct.” I believe it should say “In relation to”. On this map I do not see it connected.

The Hampden (Noted as Hampton on map) and Mt. Royal Reservoirs.

And this map portion that shows the Johns Hopkins property before it became Lake Clifton, and a race track in the lower right corner. In a few years from this map’s date, a Baltimore County water filtration plant will be built near the track; using ozone filtering technology. (I forget off hand what the date was – maybe 1907?)

And finally, on the map title is HMF v Stamp as the Chief Engineer. I could not find anything about this person until 1873 where he is listed as the contractor to build the Temporary Water Supply, from the Gunpowder to Roland Run, which fed Lake Roland. It consisted of a couple pumps near Meredith Bridge, running some pipes to dump into Roland Run.

The Tiffany Run Reservoir was never built. Lake Montebello was. Many droughts, flooding of the Jones Falls and finally and over polluted Jones Falls required the new, permanent Gunpowder Works to be built – and is still in service today.

Note: This map is too brittle and too large for my scanner.

An August Weekend In Baltimore

20 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in art, Baltimore, Photography

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Baltimore, engineering, Farmers Market, food, HISTORY, Monuments, Mt Vernon, Museum, music, photography, Washington Monument

Living in Baltimore most of my life, there are but a few things that I have never done while living here: Visited the Peabody Library, climbed to the top of the Washington Monument and gone to the downtown Farmers Market. So, time to check those off my “To-Do” list.

First stop on Saturday morning was the Peabody. They are only opened a few hours on Saturday. 10a-1p.

Before going in we took a shot of the Washington Monument. A lot of these photos Kathy took.

Heading towards the library.

What a wonderful sight!

All these books! Old books!

And the architecture is amazing.

Of course, since you are not allowed to roam around the upper shelves, the next best thing to do is to look through the card catalogue. My name is there – but no listing of my books!

Kathy also has a listing.

After a while of gazing in amazement at the library, we decided to roam around other parts of the building. The Peabody Music School is here also.

Looking up from the bottom…

And then down from the top. Helter Skelter.

Kathy took this next photo. One of my favorites.

Up and down the halls. I was surprised at all the areas we could venture to.

A history of one of many violin makers.

Random artwork.

Time to leave the Peabody and head outside. Looking at the Washington Monument I noticed that the gate was open! My heart started beating faster! I have always wanted to go in and climb to the top!

Yes! The steps are open! $6 is a small price to pay, to be able to go to the top! And I am off! (Kathy did not want to go, but she said she would take a photo of me looking out the window)

Holy crap! Am I going to make it??!!

Halfway there! Time to stop and catch my breath!!

I knew aliens built this thing!

So close!

Wow! What a view. (I did take lots of pics, but seriously, you should try to make this trip yourself)!

Another view. I wonder how much longer this steeple will last?

Where’s Kathy? Oh, there she is!

And her photo of me, waving through the window! I tried to enhance but there was just too much sun glare.

One happy camper!

Another view of the monument.

And still another, as I REFLECT on my trip up the steps and catch my breath!

And Kathy’s reflections.

Worked up quite an appetite, so here is where we went. Great food. Highlandtown on Gough St.

That was all on Saturday. Sunday we headed to the Farmer’s Market.

A preacher preaching under the overpass.

Lots of food and art work.

Murals everywhere. I liked both of these. It looks like it says “Horny, Angry Man”?

Lots of fruits and veggies.

Shrooms!!

No, I do not!

Nor these!

Time for breakfast. Crepes.

And a piece of art.

It was a great weekend in Baltimore. Thanks God and Kathy!!

Water Labs

31 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, filtration, New York, water history

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Baltimore, FILTRATION, glass plate negatives, Health, Montebello, Public Works, water history

I was told that I could no longer link this WordPress account with my Facebook page because of new FB Policies – Let’s see what happens!

A New York City Water Quality Lab, August 1907 (Photo NYC Water Website)

Baltimore Md. Water Quality Lab August 1915.

Box of Blues

20 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Archives, Baltimore, water history

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Baltimore, bridges, Cromwell Park, Dams, engineering, glass plate negatives, Gunpowder Falls, HISTORY, Loch Raven, photography, Public Works, Research, water history

This box has been sitting in my office for years now and as I slowly pack my office up, the box has been making its presence known more and more. This is one of those task that I didn’t want to undertake, but knew eventually I would have to. I’ve referred to it before as the Jigsaw Puzzle Box. It contains a lot of broken glass plate negatives.

They were originally laying one on top another. No boxes or protective sleeves. I sat them on their side to try to stop some of the damage. These plates are heavy and the weight of being stacked is enough to crush themselves.

So let’s get started on cleaning and scanning. I pulled out the more intact ones first, but already there was a problem – not only were most of these suffering from severe silvering, from being improperly stored, this one was yellow (Under or over exposed when taken maybe?)

I scanned it anyway because there is something about this photo – The second Loch Raven Dam being built, showing an arched walkway through the base of the dam. A couple years ago I was told that I would be able to go on an inspection tour of the inside of the dam – I guess they forgot me…

A couple more intact plates, not found in previous collections of building the 1915 dam. I like this one, below, looking downstream of the Gunpowder River. A locomotive riding the spur track in the distance and a person on the trestle.

A view looking upstream from the cofferdam.

Although there was a lot of silvering, after some work in Photoshop Elements, I was fortunate enough to make them worth saving. Another view downstream. The old 1880s gatehouse in background. Notice the wood pedestal for the valve operator.

I wish I would have found this one years ago. This photo is signed by the engineer, Walter Lee and the plate itself is signed by the photographer – Waldeck.

With this next one, the puzzle pieces start falling apart. The photographer would take photographs and drawings, mount them on a board and then photograph the photographs. Thank God for the digital age!

Inside the photographers studio – more like an onsite shed at the construction site – 1920s.

Some of the shed photo plates were not only broken, but were over exposed.

Using my software I was able to enhance the above photo enough, using the ‘Equalize’ button, to bring out the drawing. In this case it is the Balancing Reservoir at Cromwell Park.

Next up more photos being photographed. Two of my favorites on this plate – The original photo of the town of Warren before flooding (A lot of historical societies use this photo and don’t give credit to the City for using it. I guess because it has been used so many times in various newsletters and publications, they consider it public domain) And I like the Paper Mill Bridge with the covered bridge underneath.

This next one threw me for a loop! A Cathedral to Water? Not sure what this is of?

I finally hit the bottom of the box, nothing but pieces. Some large ones and then many small pieces.

I scanned them just in case some day, some one can use modern technology to put the pieces together, where they belong! (I know, the tech exists, maybe something for someone to do later!)

So I am wrapping up the history and placing in it storage. Hopefully it will be around in 100 more years. Who knows. I have done about as much as I could with what I have been given.

Back River 100+ Years

11 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Archives, Baltimore, HISTORY, Sewage History

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Tags

Back River, Baltimore, engineering, FILTRATION, Public Works, Research, sewage, Sewage History

I went to the Back River Waste Water Treatment Plant the other day. I was looking for some surplus bricks and also to turn in a security gate swipe card that was given to me many years ago. Since I had not been there in a few years, I thought I would give myself a tour. It sure has changed with all the new construction. A lot of the older buildings are gone, replaced by new Clean Water Regulations. Last I heard it was over a billion dollars in upgrades!

Here is an aerial view of the plant. Red numbers correspond to the photographs. I tried to match up some of the older photos I have with what remains, not yet demolished.

This next drawing (thanks engineering) labels the buildings.

Here is a photo of just outside the gate, when the plant was first built, showing homes for sale. I had previously posted another blog back in March 2016 of the Eastern Ave entrance.

And here is an older aerial, showing a race track on the property.

Once through the gate and past the admin building on the right was this building. (#1) This was where I first started collecting and documenting the water and sewerage archives.

This is what is there now.

Across from here was a really smelly tank (#2). The drawing calls them the Primary Clarifiers.

Around the corner use to be this.

This is all that is left of the Trickling Filters.

The Waste Pickle Liquor Facility!?

A close up view (#4)

The sludge Storage lagoon, according to the drawing. A worker there said they were sludge storage tanks that are no longer being used.

Let’s see what is up top (#5). It is covered over.

I tried to do some research in the one building by the smokestack years ago. I even volunteered to clean the mess up and document everything, but after a few years of asking and getting no response, I said forget it. There are a lot of the early sewer contracts on the 3rd floor. (#6)

The building to the left was the Vacuum Filter Building as shown below from the 1930s.

Next was a real lagoon of sorts. Just another dumping ground. (#7)

Then onto this – the Elutriation Tanks (can’t pronounce it, so I can’t explain it!!) It didn’t smell as bad as the first tank though.

I ran into a worker and asked where does all this flow into the river at, so he showed me. (#9) All the years of coming down here, this was the first time I saw this.

The sewage gently cascading down the steps to an opening that dumps into the river (as if sewerage can be called “gently cascading”!)

Past the trees and out into the river. (#10)

If anyone wants to fish near here, believe me, you don’t want to.

Here is what was the plant effluent when the plant was first built. Wooden Pipes.

They moved this discharge point over a bit, replacing the wood with steel.

Here is the view from the side, of the new concrete and steel structure.

With a close up. There were quite a few osprey in the area.

Next was the filtration building. (#11)

And how the original one looked when it was first being built.

Getting ready to head out and saw these stairs!

Ooops wait! Wrong photo (Although I did travel to Mexico and saw the ruins years ago) (#12)

Not sure what these were but it still has water flowing through it.

As can be seen on the above drawing there are a couple notations concerning Bethlehem Steel. With that plant closed down, I wonder where these pipe go and the purpose of the buildings?

Nice day at wastewater. PS – I never did find the bricks I was looking for. Ending up going to the Loading Dock and buying them!

Looking For A House

02 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, Eastern Shore, water history

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Avalon, Baltimore, Gunpowder Falls, Houses, Loch Raven, Montebello, Pretty Boy, Public Works, Realtors, water history

With retirement not too far away, Kathy and I have been looking at houses the past couple of months. Some have been fairly nice, others would take too much work and still others have since been knocked down!

Of course, working for the Water Department for 37 years, why not live on watershed property or any other house owned by the City of Baltimore?

This first house was right here at the Montebello water plant. The only thing left to this house is the BBQ chimney.

Info on the house and its occupants.

Another house on the Montebello Grounds. I had actually met people who lived here. This too was knocked down.

Info on house. Nice house for a labor foreman.

And the final Montebello house.

Info on house. This is a duplicate of the Armstrong house, that the preservation people are holding up construction on a new chlorine building, but where were they when this house was razed? I guess a youth baseball field makes it ok to knock it down, but not a water process building??

Time to ride up to Loch Raven, to look at some houses:

Info on house.

This next one looks nice – also looks familiar.

Info on house.

Another nice one.

Another laborer’s house.

Moving up the Gunpowder River to check out some houses up near Prettyboy Reservoir.

A fixer upper with chickens.

This one looks like a scary place to raise kids.

Doesn’t appear to be a City employee, but still City property.

I doubt if Jimi lived here, but nice. I guess the owner was tired of people asking where the dam was so he put up a sign.

Info on house.

We leave the Gunpowder area and head back to the City, Roland Park. I like this one. A little skinny but nice. Wish the realtor would have posted some interior pics!