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Liberty Dam Continued

10 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, engineering, water history

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Baltimore, Dams, engineering, HISTORY, Liberty Dam, nature, Public Works, water, water history

There were another 120 negatives in the Liberty Dam collection. I scanned all of those. The file drawer also contained about 250 negatives, building the Ashburton Filtration Plant. Fortunately I had previously scanned these from photo albums – all but 22 that were missing from those albums. I hope when and if they get someone to take my place doing this archiving, they will be able to put all like albums/negatives/photos together in proper groups. I am not sure I will have the time. As it has been, I just scanned and documented them as I pulled them from shelves, dusted them off, documented and then packed them back up for storage.

Here are some more from Liberty Dam 9/1/1952 – 10/6/1953 (The next drawer has a bunch of negatives from building the bridges across the reservoir).

Another accident. A truck went off the bridge and is being hoisted out by crane.

Man, I wish I was there with my kayak! This is the relief opening so the contractor can start building on the opposite side of the river.

Images 125 through about 180, the negatives all have this overexposed spot on the left hand side. Some I trimmed but others I was not able to.

And then the floods came.

This one was strong enough to wipe out the coffer dam, but the men are steadily working on the right, placing forms for this portion of the dam.

While one crew is placing the foundation to the west, the east gang continues to raise the elevation of the dam.

Still working against the floods and snow.

Meanwhile, upstream a ways, the intake structure is almost done. A couple things about this photo – how tall the structure is and how deep the water will be at this point of the reservoir. Also, I’m not sure why they didn’t grub, remove the plant growth that will eventually be underwater?

After a few months, the base areas of the dam are completed. Not seen here, underwater, is a relief opening (Kayak hole). Another flood has happened and the water has risen.

Wow – kind of looks like Conowingo Dam on a small scale. I wonder how much sediment is in this reservoir, against the face of this dam?? Since 1956??

The water just rages through. eventually the relief opening will be closed and water will either go over the top of the dam or through the intake structure and head to the Ashburton Filters.

Putting the finishing touches on the intake structure.

Almost done. I have posted on another blog (or Facebook) the finished dam and that engineers were wagering on when the reservoir would fill and the dam would crest? The Liberty Reservoir reached the crest point of four hundred and twenty feet on February 6, 1956, approximately nineteen months after the filling of the reservoir began on July 22, 1954

Jackson C Gott – Architect

28 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in engineering, water history

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Architects, Baltimore, engineering, glass plate negatives, HISTORY, Lake Clifton, Public Works, Research, water, water history

I was asked the other day if I knew who the architect of the Clifton Gate House was? I could not find any information after a couple hours of research. Of course, an internet search took me to the Maryland Historical Trust, where it is noted the architect is unknown, so I decided to look through all the Engineers Annual Reports here in my office. I also looked through a lot of drawings.

I found this. Not for the gate house itself, but for the keepers cottage. In very faded print it names the architect for the cottage as Jackson C Gott.

More research revealed a couple interesting photos and prints concerning Gott. He designed two local buildings. The Maryland Penitentiary.

And the Eastern Pumping Station, which I talked about a few weeks ago. Here is a beautiful print I found at the St Croix website.

Below is the Keepers Cottage next to the Clifton Gate House. I do not have time to fix this glass plate negative, unfortunately.

There were two other ramshackle buildings near the gate house, put up by the water engineer to protect the valves, in a pit.

Two drawings of the water mains at the gate house.

Below shows the location of the venturi meter, added later.

Here is the plans for the building. No architect and it comes from the water engineers office. Curran, Martin and Kenly.

With all that said, looking at the three structures: Gate House, Pumping Station and Penitentiary, I would take a long shot guess and say that Jackson C. Gott designed the gate house. Most prints and photos are from the DPW collection except for the recent Pen photo and the EPS print, which is mine.

Building Montebello Filters and Loch Raven Dam

12 Thursday Oct 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Archives, HISTORY, water history

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

I am now in the process of documenting Water Board minutes from 1912-1919, Baltimore City. Over the course of blogging water history, some readers had asked information concerning relatives that may have worked on the New Dam at Loch Raven and/or constructing the Filtration Plant at Montebello. These ledgers have list of employees and their addresses and in some cases, their titles and pay rates. If you think this may be you, send me their names and I will try to look up that info. Keep in mind this is for the above dates. Once I am finished documenting, these books are going into the archives…

Always a Favorite

25 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in kayaking, Photography

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kayaking, nature, photography, water

With a lot that needs taking care of this week, we were still able to find the time to go kayaking. We decided on somewhere close. It was a beautiful day to be out on the water. We have been to Dundee creek many times and each time we take a different path.

Today’s trip kept us mostly along the shoreline, checking out the hidden coves. A little over 3 miles and two hours on the water. Beautiful.

The water was really calm and smooth – like butter. This is the first small cove heading north from the launch area.

Moving on, Kathy stops to look at a couple Isis. The one on the post, all the way near shore, did not move for quite a while. We could not get close enough to them for a good photo shot.

Moving on to the next little cove. I don’t believe a lot of people venture into here. Lots of spider webs.

Not only spiders but tree obstacles as well. But worth the silence and seclusion once inside.

A whatchamacallit hanging from an abandoned dock.

The one cove, upper left had these invasive guys growing. Kathy said her goldfish love eating these things.

My sun-goddess oblivious to the paddle boarders. We went early and it was getting really hot out by 11am.

Decided to go over to the osprey nest. I guess these guys moved on to Argentina? I did wave to the Marshy Point Osprey Cam.

The Marshy Point Nature Center, which is a very nice place, is just beyond the woods.

Another great day to be kayaking.

Days Cove Serenity

22 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, kayaking, nature, Photography

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Bay, GOD, Gunpowder Falls, Hiking, kayaking, nature, photography, Serenity, water

With all this hate spewing forth here lately on FaceBook (and life), I am so glad that I have found two ways that I can bring a sense of calm and peace into my life. 1) The Serenity Prayer 2) Kayaking. You just can’t beat those two together! Next would be hiking. Did all three Sunday.

There are three areas where the Gunpowder Rivers converge before heading to the bay. The Little Gunpowder, the Big Gunpowder and the Gunpowder River. We have explored 2 of them so far. Both times we entered through Mariners Point. A couple weeks ago I mentioned about parking and the lack of it for kayakers. (The boaters get preferential treatment for their trailers). I even wrote a letter to the County Rec and Parks, cc to the County Executive about it. I was more or less told that if I didn’t like it, go elsewhere! Fortunately, we lucked out in getting a fairly close spot to park. But, something odd did happen as we were leaving – the Coast Guard was there checking kayaks! Lots of rules I was unaware of. Check out their website to get the low-down.

“This is my path; here I shall find peace. I will pursue this path, come what may.” (Anyone remember what book this comes from?)

And here is our path. 4.67 miles in about 3 hours. The landfill is to the left. It was surprising that the water was clearer in the cove. The little white dot on land near the shore is the Days Cove Nature Center, which I believe is now closed down. I remember taking my daughter to a Halloween Party there years ago. Nice center.

Us pointing at the point sign.

Watch out for the jets.

Purple flowers around.

The grasses seemed a lot thicker this trip.

Heading into the cove from the Big Gunpowder.

We saw as many herons on this trip as we did osprey on our last trip. This guy has something on his nose.

And what do we have here?

Time to park it and get out to investigate.

A chimney and a reluctant model!

A mixture of various stones.

This path will take you to the Nature Center.

Some formstone and building debris.

Blue-eyed lady.

Back into the water. Took a bit to figure out what this is – it’s a drain plug to drain the cove!

Saw this guy at the far end of the cove. Went over to explore because there was an eagle here also, fighting with another bird. We couldn’t find him though.

A bunch of these blinds around.

Heading back to port. These three must have long legs, or the water is very shallow.

This water will put a hurting (and a good workout) on your arms!

Abandoned water front property.

The only time during the trip that I thought about what is going on in the world. Why can’t we occupy the same place (planet) without all the hateful words and actions? This gull is getting along fine with these guys (Cormorants?)

But then again, there is always that one guy that wants to be different.

 

Water and the United Nations

11 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, POLITICS, water

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Baltimore, food&water, POLITICS, Public Works, Research, United Nations, water

August 9th I attended a meeting at Red Emma’s Bookstore in Baltimore. For some reason I thought they were going to try and start another “Free Water Movement”, which has happened in Baltimore before. But this was not the case. They talked about water being a human right and that the U.N. says so:

As can be seen in this flyer, the UN notes that water and sanitation services should not exceed 3% of a families income.

Here is the panel that spoke and the accompanying info from their FB page: Last night more than 160 Baltimoreans came to the Water for All: A Panel on Baltimore’s Water Affordability Crisis. Thank you to everyone who came, to our coalition partners and panelists who made this event so powerful and to Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse for hosting!
We look forward to working with everyone to ensure that everyone in our city has access to safe, affordable water!
Panelists will include:
-Delegate Mary Washington, 43rd District
-Eddie Conway, Producer, The Real News Network
-Komal Vaidya, Clinical Teaching Fellow with the Community Development Clinic, University of Baltimore
-Yvonne Wenger, Baltimore City and Social Services Reporter, The Baltimore Sun
-Zafar Shah, Attorney, Public Justice Center

And below is me in the crowd

Because I did not know a lot of the information presented, I went to the UN website and looked it up. It is a lot to read and decipher:  “The United Nations General Assembly passed and adopted the resolution on the human rights to water and sanitation on 17th December 2015.
• Everyone is entitled “to have access to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use”
• Everyone is entitled “to have physical and affordable access to sanitation, in all spheres of life, that is safe, hygienic, secure, and socially and culturally acceptable and that provides privacy and ensures dignity.” I also found other resolutions from 2002 and 2012.

The panelist talked about how people are losing their homes because they cannot afford their water bills (tax liens/sales) Rent, food and medication comes first. In Baltimore 2015 there were 5,301 water shut-offs. in 2016 there were 1,149. They did not explain the decrease in those numbers. One panelist brought up race and the affect this has on the Black Community. This affects everyone, not just blacks. These disproportionate numbers may come from their being more blacks in Baltimore? Population of Baltimore is 620,961 with 63% being black/African Americans. Which to me, brings up another point I was hoping to address but we ran out of time: If Baltimore’s Water Dept supplies water to 1.8 million people and only 600 thousand plus people live here – why aren’t the other peoples/counties carrying the brunt of these water bills? And the big corporations here should be paying more without those big tax write-offs!

So as not to only express problems, they offered a couple solutions. The one I wasn’t sure what they meant so I won’t bring it up, the other is a fairly good idea: Baltimore should create an income-based billing program. And along with that, no one should lose there home over their inability to pay a water bill.

The UN’s Universal Declaration of Human rights with Preamble and 30 Articles is a good read also.

Tunnel Inspection Part 2

30 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, engineering, water history

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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.

Loch Raven Property Part 2

14 Wednesday Jun 2017

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

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Baltimore, Dams, FILTRATION, glass plate negatives, Gunpowder Falls, HISTORY, Loch Raven, nature, Public Works, water, water history

Back in December I posted information about a house that was being torn down to make way for a new Loch Raven Reservoir Maintenance building(s). Some questions came up as to who owned the house originally and how long had it been there. Just recently my blog had been read and I have been in communication with two brothers that lived there. Their grandfather was the superintendent of the property from the fifties to the eighties.

I found this photo and the accompanying info sheet on the property.

Back in 1932 a handyman lived there named William Butcher. The brother’s names are Joe and Jim Greenwood. Their grandfather’s name was William Farrell. They are going to try and find some photographs of when they lived there.

In my records is this house, occupied by Howard Finnerty.

As can be seen, this house was 1500 feet south of the dam, which puts it just north of the Butcher property.

Enlarging this photo from about 1914, you can see both houses to the left.

Another interesting house adjacent to the property was occupied by John Chenowith.

According to this record, the house was 2200 feet from the dam which kind of puts it just south of Shanghai Run, on the hill. I did find a photo that LOOKS like this house from 1914 but I am not sure.

Here is some of what the brothers said about growing up on Loch Raven:

• Jim Greenwood said: June 12, 2017 at 4:15 pm
According to family history, the home was built in stages sometime before the Civil War. The kitchen section was built first, then the center section, then finally the large section up front, including the porch. It was later bought by the city.
The house was always occupied by the Superintendent up until 1980 when my grandfather retired. Legend has it that General Harry Gilmor spent time in the house during his adventures in the area.
Many, many stories. I remember evacuating the house during Agnes, and ice skating below the lower dam in the winter, and hearing about Chuck Thompson at the fishing center (a celebrity!) In the 60s we’d get trapped in the house as the road became gridlocked with folks cruising in their cars and flat lands below the dam became a big parking lot/beach party every weekend. In the mid-seventies they planted trees below the lower damn and closed the road on the weekends and the hippies were replaced by bicyclists.
Despite the beautiful photos, the area between the dams was usually a mud pit with a stream of water trickling down the middle.
My grandfather kept a close eye on the place, and we always enjoyed him shouting from the front porch at people getting into things they shouldn’t get into.

• Joe Greenwood said: June 13, 2017
I think Chuck Thompson came to one of the crab feasts. Several barrels of steamed crabs from Hale’s for the then crazy sum of $100 each.
Winter was always fun for us with the salt trucks going in and out and never understood why our grandfather hated snow. Greatest sled hill in the world up behind the pumps and the old foundation up on the hill. We somewhat had the run of the place since all the workers knew us and we would despoil Uncle Bill’s penny jar and walk to Sanders’ at the juncture of Cromwell Valley. If nothing else, we could check on the dead cat along the way and occasionally didn’t catch fish off the little dam while the hippies jumped off it. It was always fascinating to talk to Clarence, who tended to come on duty in the evening to patrol and was missing a finger and was always happy to show us his pistol.
We did get in a little trouble like accidentally throwing kerosene on the workers’ wood stove.

So now the question comes up! Should this house have been torn down before doing a thorough investigation? Gilmor??

This is a historic marker up off of Mountain Road, not too far from Loch Raven. Which brings up another question – since a lot of people are so hell bent on erasing history, by removing Confederate statues – should all the Highway Markers also be removed?

Thanks to Joe and Jim Greenwood for your stories. This is what makes my job so interesting.

 

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.

Busted Pipe

17 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in 1972, Baltimore, Dams, water history

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Baltimore, bridges, Cromwell Park, Dams, engineering, Gunpowder Falls, Hiking, HISTORY, Loch Raven, nature, photography, Public Works, water, water history

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the contractor building a new maintenance facility at Loch Raven, busted a hole in the 10′ water pipe.

The site of the new complex, along the west bank of the Gunpowder River. The caution sign is the area where they broke the pipe. It is now covered with steel plates.

Here is what the conduit looked like when it was installed in 1913. It is a steel pipe, welded and riveted together.

As the conduit was installed, they encased some sections of it in concrete, to give it some strength. Loch Raven Drive is directly above this pipe in some areas.

Looking under the steel plate I ask – how the hell do you NOT know that this pipeline is there?? In the photo can be seen above the wood stake, water pouring out of the pipe. Surrounding the stake is the rebar the contractor had to break thru in the cement to strike the steel pipe. The contractor is lucky that the dam has two independent conduits coming out of it.

There was built a parallel pipeline back in 1972. I’m not sure why or even why it is called the Parallel Pipeline. It kind of zig-zags across the river.

The contractors of 1972 had their fair share of problems – like the worksite getting flooded. The lower, smaller dam is in the background.

In order for the present day contractor to fix the hole he made, the City was asked to drain the pipe.

After searching thru some old drawings, we were able to find the location of the drain pipe. This is a 12″ drain connected to a 10′ pipe.

My favorite valve guys came out to try and open it by hand but were unable to. It has been a very long time since this was open. They ended up having the contractor core drill a hole in the vault roof above the valve. They then used their valve truck to turn it.

This is at 8 turns, 20% open. This will take quite a while to drain. The contractor is impatient.

But. as you can see, opening it up too far will erode the stream bank right under this bridge. Today the contractor was given the ok to place steel plates in the stream to divert the flow away from the bank.

Meanwhile, I roamed around some and took some pics – of other than work related stuff. A stone snowman walking his stone snow duck.

Root system.

View across the reservoir. Days like this, I like my job…

 

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