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Tag Archives: Montebello

Swimming Bathing Drowning

06 Thursday Jul 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, HISTORY, water history

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Baltimore, engineering, FILTRATION, Health, HISTORY, Jones Falls, Lake Montebello, Loch Raven, Montebello, POLITICS, Public Works, Swimming, water history

For your summer reading pleasure:

1916: A 16,000 gallon swimming pool was being built next to Lake Roland. July 19, 1917 letter from Water Engineer Walter Lee to the Baltimore County Commissioners asking that they police the area around Lake Roland as it has been reported that 10-15 persons bathe there every day. They reply that the city should get their own men to do it. June 9, 1923 letter requesting permission for the L’Hirondelle Club to be allowed to swim in Lake Roland. March 1924 newspaper clipping on drowning of boy, thirteen, in Lake Roland. The city investigation tried to place blame on the Pennsylvania Rail Road, who they say had some timbers floating about, which the boy fell off of as he used them as a raft. The PRR said it was a contractors fault, who used the timbers for some work they were doing. They also note that the boys were trespassing at the time of the incident. October 10, 1917 letter from Walter Lee to Mayor Preston notifying him of the intent of two ladies from Hampden, asking that a swimming pool be constructed on the property of the Hampden reservoir. They were also soliciting for his honor to pass a city ordinance in which they were to propose. Lee asks that if this happens, would the mayor turn the property over to Park Board? June 20, 1922 letter from Megraw to Christhilf Construction and other contractors, asking that they put in a modest bid (For charities sake) for the construction of a swimming pool at West Park (New name of Hampden Reservoir area) March 22, 1923 memo concerning the creation of a swimming pool between the upper and lower dams complete with toilet, shower facilities and a snack shack. June 20, 1924 letter from Armstrong to Siems concerning the swimming in the waters between the dams. He says it is prohibited. June 20, 1926 letter from the Baltimore Federation of Labor to Bernard Siems concerning the city using non-union workers to build the Druid Park Swimming Pool. On the bottom of this memo is a union logo: Specify UNION LABOR, have the job done Right!

Druid Park Swimming Pool

July 11, 1927 letter from Wolman to Wieghardt, “…when the pool was inspected by us a couple years ago we were informed that the Hampden Reservoir contained filtered water…the Hampden reservoir obtains all its water from the Jones Falls. In other words, the pool has been obtaining a completely untreated water from a relatively dangerous source, which has been abandoned for all municipal purposes for over 10 years…” July 14, 1927 letter refers to the Hampden Reservoir area as Roosevelt Park instead of West Park. June 24, 1930 memo from Rost to the Police Commissioner asking that the police stop the boys from climbing over the fence and swimming in the Montebello Plant II filtered water reservoir. 1932 Pools listed are: Druid Hill Colored Pool, Druid Hill White Pool, Gwynns Falls Park Pool, Carroll Park Wading Pool, Riverside Park Pool, Patterson Park Pool, and Clifton Park Pool.

Clifton Park Pool

June 10, 1933 police report on a ten year old who went swimming with three other youths and he drowned. The others left him and told no one. July 18, 1935 request from the National Guard for a shooting range at Loch Raven. Small does not want this. August 15, 1935 Brigadier General Washington Bowie writes Small back stating, “I note what you state in regard to the interference with the recreational purposes. If you had been with me last Sunday…when I saw three negroes in bathing suits swimming back and forth near where I wish to locate the range, or on a previous occasion when I found a half-dozen white boys swimming…I think you would find a rifle range more desirable than such recreational use…the portion outlined on your print is constantly used by both negroes and whites for swimming. The rifle range would at least make this unpopular.”  Bowie then goes over Small’s head to Crozier. Crozier agrees with Small. A few months later, the Mayor agrees with Small and Crozier. June 14, 1938 list of names of swimmers at Loch Raven. Officer Goetz is to arrest these people and take them to Towson jail if they are caught again swimming in the reservoir. June 14, 1945 memo from A. Bailey to L. Small concerning kids swimming in the waste lake, “The boys in the Northwood neighborhood…are using it as a swimming pool…groups up to about thirty…during the daylight and night hours, sometimes as late as 12pm. They have been warned a number of times by various employees of this division only to be cursed for their troubles…radio police have been summoned but made no attempt to stop this practice…I talked with two patrolmen while eight to ten boys were in the lake and asked that they talk to the boys…they promised they would but walked to the opposite side of the lake and blew their whistles instead. Yesterday, June 13, there were even a greater number of swimmers than any time previous, so I contacted these boys personally and told them that it was my orders to have them arrested…they paid little attention to what I said…placed twelve ‘No Trespassing’ signs up. By 9pm all signs but one were removed and destroyed. At 10pm, a great commotion was heard, a group of three boys were in swimming and one had gotten into trouble and was so far gone when they rescued him, that it was necessary to apply artificial respiration…police called and all three were taken to Sydenham Hospital. The police, at least the patrolmen, do not seem to want to cooperate with us and make no attempt to put a stop to the practice of swimming. (We) could drain the lake and keep it drained in the summer months…parents may then be willing to stop their kids, but judging from what I have seen of these people, I do not believe they have enough control over their children to prevent them from doing anything that they wish to do. Child delinquency for this section is bad, if not worse than the average for Baltimore City. August 23, 1945 memo from Bailey to Strohmeyer about unwanted visitors to the plant. Young men swimming in the waste lake, one almost drowned. Two, three year olds, alone, swimming in waste lake. One threw a fit and refused to leave. The police were called. Two teenagers running through Plant II and when told to leave, went and got their father who dared anyone to stop them from coming into the plant. An undated memorandum: “Yesterday afternoon … three young men found swimming in the Balancing Reservoir at Loch Raven in their birthday clothes.”

Gwynn’s Falls Pool – the overflow goes right into the stream, adding more pollution.

The largest of the pools back then.

Tunnel Inspection Part 2

30 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, engineering, water history

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Baltimore, bricks, engineering, FILTRATION, Gunpowder Falls, HISTORY, Lake Montebello, Loch Raven, Montebello, nature, Public Works, water, water history

Over a year ago I was asked to be part of an inspection team, to walk/boat through the 12′ tunnel that connects the Loch Raven Reservoir to the Montebello Filters. This tunnel was built between 1875 and 1881. In the early years it was inspected quite often. In the 1960s it was decided, after a parallel tunnel was built in the late 1930s, to reverse the flow in this old tunnel to supply drinking water to Towson via the Cromwell Pumping Station. The old tunnel was last inspected in 1984. For that info you can see my post linked here:  https://rep5355.com/2016/04/06/tunnel-inspection/

In preparation for the inspection, I did all the necessary training – Red Cross/CPR, Confined Space, etc. Then we were told that it was too unsafe to send anyone in the tunnel. Totally bummed!

So now they have finally gotten around to inspecting the tunnel with a remote operated vehicle. It has been a long week starting last Friday. First order of business was to clear the site for the contractor to bring in his equipment.

Area cleared and the phragmites sprayed.

Next, construction mats were placed across the phrag roots – which is very soft. (And the equipment very heavy) These boards did the trick.

The equipment was unloaded. This is the inspection vehicle. It is about 14′ long and weighs 1500 pounds.

This is the tether. The sub is connected to this. It is 7 miles long, but only needs to go 5-1/2 miles.

The sub will enter at the top right. This is looking down the shaft towards the tunnel.

Here she goes.

Because this is a pipe that is in use, with drinking water, everything that enters the water was sprayed with a chlorine solution.

The control center. All this information on all these screens will be made into a report for the City to decide if the tunnel is still usable. The interesting one is bottom center. If you watch that and there is a change in the circle, say a rise in the bottom, that means the sub is going over a rock fall. You then look at the camera display and you can actually see it.

In my previous tunnel inspection post is a photo where the balancing shaft enters the tunnel at Cromwell. It is mostly smooth. Unlike this entry point – it looks like someone busted thru the top of the tunnel with a sledge hammer.

The sub was moving at a nice pace – looked like the Enterprise going at warp speed! Not sure what those particulates are just yet. Probably just some stirred up lime deposits.

And when I got bored, I went looking for nature. There are 3 young bucks…

A couple babies.

An Eastern-eyed Click Beetle

Bunches of other bugs.

And our night time visitor looking for food.

Saving History, One Piece at a Time

16 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, HISTORY, water history

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Baltimore, Clifton Gate House, Dams, engineering, FILTRATION, Gunpowder Falls, HISTORY, Lake Montebello, Loch Raven, Montebello, POLITICS, Public Works, water history

Anyone that has been following my blog will remember my writing about a few construction projects that are water related. Such as the new buildings at Loch Raven, the contractor busting a hole in the ten foot conduit that supplies water to Baltimore, another contractor digging up the foundation to an old pumping station, the attempts to save the Clifton Gate House, the Roland Tower, the residence at Montebello, etc.

When I first wrote about the work along Loch Raven, I wrote about the house and buildings they were tearing down. After being notified of this project, I went to investigate and saw a bunch of metal signs. Not necessarily ultra historic, but a part of Baltimore’s Water Supply History nonetheless. I was able to retrieve from the contractor, 2 of the 8 that were there. The other six were taken by a company the reuses old building materials.

Here is one of the eight signs. This all happened a few months ago. The other day I received an email. One of those courtesy type ones from the big bosses downtown, trying to keep me in the history loop. Well, I was dumbfounded when I read the email. It just said FYI and had the attached photo along with two other attachments.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! This photo is of the marble plaque that was in the original 1881 gate house to the first Loch Raven Dam!!! i always wondered what happened to this thing.

The third attachment is a quote, only partially shown to protect the parties involved. Two marble plaques? The quote went on to say that the other one was dated 1887!! Holy crap! Only one water works related to Loch Raven was built at that time and that was the Clifton Gate House!! My eyes were playing tricks on me!! This couldn’t be!

But wait! How did this company get these things and were they really trying to sell them back to the City? City property??!! I don’t think I ever cussed in an email to one of the bosses downtown but I just couldn’t contain myself “What the hell! This is City property. How can they charge us for something that is ours?!” I suggested he gets the Environmental Police involved to check this out. If not, tell them I will give them $500 and we won’t press charges. He said he turned it over to the EP. And he did. Today I received a copy of the investigative report stating that these items were picked up by accident and would be returned to the City. And they were this afternoon!!

More on this later so stay tuned! (I want to go into a lengthy bit of comment on what we should learn from this…)

When they were giving out brains, you thought they said trains…

30 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, engineering, water history

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Tags

Baltimore, engineering, FILTRATION, HISTORY, Montebello, POLITICS, Public Works, Research, water history

Contractor on site called me over once again because they hit something unknown.

Turned out to be a set of train tracks from original construction 1913-1915.

As can be seen here, there were a lot of tracks laid for construction. These veer off to the right to hook up with the ones below.

In this photo, lower right is about where the tracks are that the contractor dug up. I told them they would have to suspend their work until I talk with the historical people – these may be the tracks that President Woodrow Wilson’s train was on during his visit when the plant opened in 1915. Not. Montebello Lake is in the background.

Ghost in the Conduit

18 Thursday May 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Dams, engineering, HISTORY, water history

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Baltimore, Dams, engineering, FILTRATION, fishing, Gunpowder Falls, HISTORY, Loch Raven, Montebello, Public Works, water history

Awhile back I had posted some photographs of the construction work at Loch Raven. The contractor hit and poked a hole through the ten foot conduit that supplies water to Baltimore from the Loch Raven Reservoir. Fortunately, another one of the conduits was in service, so the damage did not affect our drinking water supply. This conduit was installed in 1915. It is riveted, welded steel. Some portions are encased in concrete and a good portion is lined with cement.

I would like to thank Pure Technologies for giving me permission to use their photographs.

Pure crew heading into the conduit. This is near Mine Bank Run, heading towards the dam. The water would eventually be at chest level.

This was interesting and took a little research to figure it out. The smaller opening on the right connected to the 1880 rock and brick tunnel. In 1937 they built a parallel pipe line from Loch Raven to Baltimore and that is the conduit on the left. There is a valve in the smaller pipe stopping the flow of water towards Baltimore. Down stream further, the raw water pipeline becomes potable water from Baltimore, to Towson, at Cromwell.

Continuing the inspection of the conduit. Pretty good shape for being over 100 years old.

The fish like the water (Baltimore water finished in the top ten again this year in a national taste test)

Not sure what this is. Looking at the drawings I saw where there is a drainage system under the steel conduit. But didn’t see this in the drawings.

Pure finally reached their destination. The damage is a little more than we thought. The cement lining has been knocked off.

It is about a 3’x4′ section of damage.

This is the hole that the excavator punched through. There are also about 5-6 dents in the pipe.

When the inspection crew climbed out, I think they brought something with them…

Clifton Gate House – Update

19 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, Gate House, water history

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Tags

art, Baltimore, engineering, FILTRATION, Lake Clifton, Lake Montebello, Montebello, photography, POLITICS, Public Works, water history

Back in July 2016 I wrote about the renewed interest in doing something with the Lake Clifton Gate House. A farmers market, a cafe, a historical showcase for the water department, etc. The other day I received an email to attend a meeting on another proposal, submitted by Civic Works and their vision for the Valve House (Note: Valve House and Gate House are interchangeable when talking about this structure – Pump House is not – it never had pumps in it). Attached to the proposal was this photograph:

I thought to myself, how the heck did I miss this driving back and forth to City Lights?? Well, this didn’t happen. It is a piece of art. “This is an animation of a specific artist’s winning proposal to mount this public art installation. BOPA is hoping that the installation will be able to move forward under the watchful eye of Civic Works.”

Here is an excerpt from John, at Civic Works, on their proposal for the Gate House:

When the Valve House is renovated and attractively landscaped, it will attract people who pause for pastry, coffee, ultra-local freshly harvested foods and flowers, art and stories of Baltimore. Stories from our past, presented here, will be outshined by news of the structured opportunities, offered “next door” for careers in the expanding green business sectors.

As the renovations to the Valve House are fully realized, the adjacent Lake Clifton campus will become the operational base for Baltimore Center for Green Careers, Civic Works Food and Farm programs and other pathways to prosperity. In the coming decades, these two work in harmony – the information packed social hub and the sustainable-jobs work preparation center.

I personally think this is a great idea! And I really hope it happens.

Here is a 1927 aerial of Lake Clifton and its relation to Lake Montebello. Clifton being the one at the bottom. Water flowed from the dam at the Gunpowder Falls, via a 7 mile tunnel to Montebello, then by conduit to Clifton, at which point it was dispersed to the city.

From the 1970s showing the interior of the Gate House with the water chambers covered over with wood.

The reverse of the above photo, from the Sunpaper files showing that back in 1970 there was an interest in restoring the Gate House.

Another 1970s Sunpaper photo showing the stained glass windows nearly intact. Most have since been broken out. (Note:Photos from my personal collection)

Roundhouse

05 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, engineering, water history

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Baltimore, engineering, FILTRATION, glass plate negatives, Gunpowder Falls, HISTORY, Lake Montebello, Loch Raven, Montebello, Public Works, Research, water history

A couple weeks ago the contractor called me over to the site because they struck something that is not on the drawings. This was about the 12th time in 10 days they hit something buried, not on the drawings. i go over and this is what I saw:

At first glance, it looks like an electrical ductbank, enclosed in concrete. I told the contractor I would go look in my drawings to see what I could come up with. When I retuned, unable to find anything, the contractor had cleared some more dirt from the concrete.

Am I hallucinating or does that thing have a curve to it?? Holy crap, that looks like the foundation to the old roundhouse, which was the Montebello Pumping Station, built in 1914-1915. More research to do.

This hole was dug and goes about 75 feet down at which point they busted through the 1881 tunnel from Loch Raven. The pumping station was to be used to pump water from Loch Raven, into the filtration plant. This was due to the city not getting permission to raise the new dam above an elevation of 188′ (The new dam is now at 240′)

This photo shows the foundation for the pumps and the piping waiting to be placed.

Looking at the top tier here it can be seen the structure matches the first photo above. The hole in the center is the suction well.

View from the outside of the roundhouse. This is facing south towards the filtration building.

This is looking north from the the head house. The roundhouse foundation is flush with the ground level.

Nearing completion.

The pumps.

From the time this was built until about 1957, this pumping station had more than its fair share of problems – wrong size pumps, electrical problems, building being struck by lightening a few times, power surge from Holtwood Electric, water hammers that raised and cracked the foundation, etc. In 1963 the building was demolished but, the foundation remains. And now the problem is, what’s down there? Will this area support the weight of a generator and fuel tanks? And is that hole still open (there is an air vent coming out of dead center)? The tunnel underneath originally supplied water to Montebello from Loch Raven. Now this tunnel supplies drinking water to Towson, via the Cromwell Pumping Station.

This shows where the roundhouse use to be, north of Filter building.

Montebellephant

24 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in art, Baltimore

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

art, Baltimore, boats, elephant, Lake Montebello, Montebello, Public Works, water, water history

I have been working at Montebello Filters for over 35 years and have never seen it allowed to use the Montebello Lake for anything other than what its purpose is – an overflow catchment for the smaller waste lake up on the property of the filters. I have seen it requested to be used for paddle boats, canoeing, kayaking (I’m not even allowed to kayak on it!), fishing, ice skating, model boat racing, etc. The answer has always been “NO”.

But next week – there will be an inflatable elephant floating on the lake! Yes, you heard me – an inflatable Lighted elephant! History will be made next weekend.

But seriously – I think it looks pretty cool and I can’t wait to see it!

See lightcity.org for a list of other events around Baltimore.

Research, Photos and Copyrights part 2

03 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, Photography, water history

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Tags

Baltimore, engineering, glass plate negatives, Montebello, photography, Public Works, Research, Sewage History, water, water history

Over the past two weeks I have been asked to research information for a couple of projects going on in the water department. Not really my job but I love doing it. Mostly it is looking up contract drawings and old photos, such as this one:

This was sent to me by an architect that is going to rebuild this old pumping station and she wanted some background information. The building no longer looks like this – the roof is missing. By the caption on it, this photo belongs to the Maryland Historical Society, but how is it that I have the original photograph?

Below is an example of a photo that is in another collection, copyrighted to them, but I have the original Glass Plate Negative

I found this one in the Hughes Collection at the University of Baltimore. Interesting about this is the original writing is missing, as will be seen later.

Another Hughes Collection

mh006

And then there are the photographs that people have in their private collection/scrapbooks. The writing on these match the handwriting of the photographer who took the photo and marked it. It is different than those in the Hughes collection.

All this is to say that history is history and should be shared. I just get pissed when people try to charge for these photos. I recently talked with someone who mentioned he has Baltimore Sun photos. I also have quite a few, but was curious about their continued sales on both Ebay and various websites. The Sun sold their collection to the Tribune who sold it to another company who apparently sold to a place called Digital Fortress. I went on their site and saw that they had photos of ones that I had, that the Tribune told me, mine were originals and would never be reproduced again?? I wrote them and asked and this new company says they sure enough sell reproductions that I could even buy on canvas all the way up to 20″ x 30″ !!! WTF – I might as well just take mine and go to Walmart!

Who really owns these pics??!!

1881 Tunnel Inspection, Again?

27 Friday Jan 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, engineering, water history

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Tags

Baltimore, engineering, FILTRATION, Gunpowder Falls, HISTORY, Lake Montebello, Montebello, Public Works, water, water history

Last year in another post I wrote about my excitement to go on an inspection of the old Loch Raven – Montebello Tunnel, which was built between 1875 and 1881. This tunnel, being 7 miles long was built mostly through solid rock. A lot of which is collapsing. Which is bad because potable water has been flowing thru it since the late 1950s, from Montebello to Towson. When it was built, the raw water from Loch Raven flowed to Montebello Lake. The inspection for last year was cancelled, saying it was unsafe? (Last inspected in 1984). Last night I get an email telling me that the consultants want to see where the exit point will be if the inspection does happen…

010-996b

This is where we would exit. At the waste lake, Montebello Filters. If you look back at my post from a few months ago on the waste lake dredging, you can see that it no longer looks like this. It is grown over with phragmites. This photo from 1948 shows them dewatering the tunnel so a new surge shaft could be built.

001-982b

The new surge shaft is connected to the 1938 Loch Raven Tunnel (steel, not rock) which is connected to the old rock tunnel, soon to be connected to the just being built Patapsco Tunnel. (Confused yet? You should work here!)

002-984b

As with most construction projects with the city, there are always problems. This one being a storm washing away some of the work already completed.

013-1c

The almost finished surge shaft. Wrap it in brick and put a Spanish tile roof on and you are done. I hope we can actually do an inspection of the tunnel.

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