Gaskill Hydrant

Gaskill Hydrant. Lake City Water Works, 1890. , Rapid expansion occurred in Lake City on the heels of the arrival of Denver and Rio Grande Railroad on July 20, 1889. , Even prior to the railroad's long-anticipated arrival, Trustees for the Town of Lake City began plans for the town's first piped water system to replace pioneer-era wells and pumps. City Engineer J.J. Abbott investigated suitable sources for municipal water at Lake San Cristobal, Crystal Lake, and Wade's Gulch; the best source, Abbott reported in December, 1888, was in fact at Crooke Falls located on the Lake Fork River ¾-mile south of Lake City. Abbott recommended constructing a 15'-high spruce log-dam across the river to create a 2,000'-long impoundment. , Piped water would then drop 87' down from the impoundment into downtown Lake City, resulting in 43-pound pressure per square inch at delivery which Abbott felt suitable for domestic, business, and fire fighting purposes. , At a special election in September, 1889, Lake City voters approved issuing up to $25,000 in bonds for construction of the Lake City Water Works. S.T. Wicks was awarded the contract to install a total of 14,670' of steel pipe buried 5' deep and ranging in circumference from 10" to 4", together with 17 double and single-delivery cast iron hydrants with protective “frost cases”. , Wicks began work on the new water system in fall, 1889, and completed the project in 1890. One of the first large excavations was along Second Street to connect water pipes to the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad water tank. , A sampling of water rates charged by the Town of Lake City in 1898 includes the following annual fees: $6 per year for a family occupying a home with five rooms or less; hotels and boarding houses with eight rooms or less, $12, plus $5 for bath tubs and $1 per water closet per seat; stores, $6 per year: saloons, $12; laundries employing one laundryman, $12; railroad water tank, $300; ice cream saloons, $10; restaurants, $9. , Lake City Water Works remained in operation until the flood of 1921 when the reservoir dam at Crooke Falls washed out. Thereafter, Lake City residents relied on individual water wells until creation of Lake City Water and Sanitation District in 1966. , Displayed is an original 1890 Lake City Water Works' Gaskill Hydrant, Holly Mfg. Co., Lockport. New York. Donated by Burton Smith.