SOURCE: A River Runs Through It: A 100-Year History of the Columbus Water Works. Editors: Beth Bickerstaff, Jim Patterson, and Bob Tant, 2002.
Before there was Columbus Water Works, there was water here. In fact, scientists tell us the water cycle has been going on since the first clouds formed and the first rains fell, transferring water again and again from the surface of the land and water to the sky and back. ("The Water Sourcebook," a series of classroom activities produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Tennessee Valley Authority Environmental Education Section, the Georgia Water Wise Council, Sci-trek, and the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service College of Agriculture.)
The Chattahoochee River Valley, which has been inhabited by people since prehistoric times, was home to a few hundred permanent settlers by around 1819, mostly because it was situated at a good, briskly flowing body of water that had served Native Americans long before their arrival.
"Besides serving as a boating thoroughfare, the Chattahoochee beckoned swimmers to enjoy its coolness on a midsummer's day. Part recreation site, part food source, part transportation artery, part trail marker, part spirit, the Chattahoochee was more important to Native Americans than modern man can ever appreciate." ("Flowing Through Time: A History of the Lower Chattahoochee River," by Lynn Willoughby, The University of Alabama Press, 1999.)
Water, "which all Southeastern Indians regarded with superstitious awe, was especially important to the Creeks. Not only did they bathe ritually in water every morning, but they also associated many strange creatures and spirits - "masters of the waters' - with the creeks, lakes, rivers, and sinkholes of the area," wrote local historian and retired journalist Billy Winn. ("The Old Beloved Path: Daily Life Among the Indians of the Chattahoochee River Valley", copyright 1992 by The Historic Chattahoochee Commission, Eufaula, Alabama, and The Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia.)
Georgia lawmakers encouraged settlement of the former Native American lands between the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers by holding a land lottery. Georgia residents drew lots for free homesteads in the Creeks' former homeland. Naturally, land along the rivers was most prized, and that at the head of the Chattahoochee was so valuable it was not included in the giveaway.
Although water was used before and since the town's formal inception in 1828, the first official source of water was Leonard Spring (also called Garrard located close to what are now Country Club Apartments in Columbus (on Country Club Road, east of Cherokee Avenue).
At the time, the spring was about three miles from Columbus. From this spring, a series of pine log pipes of three to four inches in diameter carried water to Broad Street, by way of Randolph Street, which is now 12th Street. At several intersections, riser pipes with faucets were installed, and people would come with pitchers and buckets, paying five cents per vessel, or the then-existing rate of $25 per thousand gallons undelivered. Those were the days when the weekly bath was a real luxury, and it's likely one tub of water sufficed for the whole family.
A historic marker placed at Leonard Spring in 1989 reads: "In 1839, the citizens first called for the development of a waterworks system. On this site is located the original source of water for drinking and general household use for Columbus. Beginning in 1844, Leonard Spring, with a discharge of 200,000 gallons a day, provided water to the city through a series of wooden pipes. Water was piped to Broad Street by way of Randolph Street, now known as 12th Street. In the 1880's city water was obtained from Lee County, Alabama. The present water plant on River Road was built in 1916. Since 1844, an ample supply of water has been one of Columbus' greatest assets and a vital fuel for its growth."
Before that, the city relied on a water system that amounted to nothing more than cisterns (open underground artificial reservoirs or tanks for storing water, especially rainwater) in the streets. Rain was caught and diverted in them, and pumps raised the water to desired levels. But, with the growth of the city, fires became widespread, and before long, the cisterns and pumps did not provide enough volume or pressure to keep the fires under control.
On March 15, 1842, the "Big Fire of 1842" broke out on Broad Street. It originated in a frame building on the west side of the street, occupied by Rufus and Choate as a grocery/dry goods store. As there was no fire department, stores were blown up to keep the fire from spreading, but it didn't help. There was a total loss of $100,000, a considerable amount in those days. The "Columbus Hook and Ladder Company," the first organized fire department with a fire engine was formed in 1843. (This came from a history by Etta Blanchard Worsley, "Columbus on the Chattahoochee," published in 1951 by Columbus Office Supply.)
The City signed a contract in 1844 with Col. John H. Watson to bring water into the city by means of aqueducts, for 40 years, "but not to the prevention of similar works by city authorities or other persons." ("A History of Columbus" by John H. Martin, published in 1874, by Gilbert Printing Company, Columbus, Georgia.) Fortunately, or unfortunately, this system was never built.
The need for water grew with the city, which was narrowly defined at first. The first suburbs at the edges of town were Wynnton, Wildwood, Linwood, Beallwood, and Rose Hill. The mansion Dinglewood, built on 30 acres, had a water-works system for the house and a private gas-works—rare in those antebellum days!
The "system" of getting water apparently was not working well for many people, at least according to a November 8, 1852, editorial in the "Columbus Times": "We do not know of a community that is so poorly supplied with this first necessity for health, comfort, and cleanliness (water) as Columbus. There are many families in the city which have no regular and certain sources from which to derive their daily supplies of this precious element, and whose servants are actually obliged, at every turn of the water bucket, to go forth on a foraging expedition in search of it. The water works are as good as used up. No attention is paid to the pipes furnishing the supply, and it is only occasionally that some half a dozen hydrants in very low localities run. Those in more elevated positions are as dry as the miraculous rock before Moses touched it with his rod."
In 1860, Columbus Council submitted a vote to the people, on the question of subscribing no more than $150,000 for the introduction of water into the city. The vote was 187 nays to 38 yeas. Georgia withdrew from the Union on January 19, 1861, and the last battle of the Civil War was fought on April 16, 1865, at the Fourteenth Street covered bridge.
Among Columbus enlisted men who rose to leadership were: Samuel Spencer (president of the Southern Railway System); E.A. Banks (Columbus physician); Robert E. Carter (druggist); Charles G. Flournoy (merchant at Chipley, Ga.);John E Flournoy (president of the Columbus Street Railroad Company); Louis F. Garrard (one of the foremost attorneys in Columbus and Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives); Thomas W. Grimes (Congressman from Georgia); G. Gunby Jordan (member of the Railroad Commission and president of the Eagle and Phenix Mills of Columbus).
Columbus had suffered its share along with the rest of the South, but by 1875, had rebuilt cotton mills, refinanced banks, flour mills, and foundries, opened new businesses, and was coming to terms with paying wages for formerly enslaved labor.
During the early 1880s, steamboats were common in Columbus, not only for long-distance trade, but also for short pleasure cruises. In 1882, the city entered a contract with a private corporation known as the Columbus Water Supply Company. The company piped in water from Holland's Creek in southern Lee County, Alabama. "Within a decade, both the quantity and quality of water were suspect," according to a December 3, 1989, retrospective article in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.
The company's contract was to supply the city of Columbus with pure and wholesome water for 30 years, but after several years the company breached its contract by failing to supply the quality of water promised. By 1903, the Columbus Water Supply Company was bankrupt, but bondholders of the company filed a suit in U.S. District Court seeking to prevent the city of Columbus from building its own water system. The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which finally decided in the city's favor in 1910.
It is interesting to note that while the case wound its way through the court system, over seven years, the water system was operated by a receiver, W.S. Greene, under the direction of the court. It is also ironic that one of the attorneys for the bondholder who brought the suit was Frank U. Garrard. His grandson, Gardiner Garrard, later served as chairman of the Board of Water Commissioners.
Lucius H. Chappell had been elected mayor in 1897, an office he held for 12 years, longer than any previous mayor. He retired in 1907 but was drafted by citizens to serve again from 1911 to 1913. According to Worley's history, "during Chappell's tenure, assisted by an able board of aldermen, the first real program of street curbing, paving and parking was done; a full-paid fire department was established; and the movement was inaugurated to build the municipal water works plant. The first reinforced concrete bridge was built across the Chattahoochee; a public library building was erected; along with a city jail, a municipal building, fire stations, and public schools. He has rightly been called the 'Father of Modern Columbus'."
Working with the Georgia General Assembly, Columbus leaders got a bill passed in the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor on December 3, 1902, creating a water commission to manage and control a water system owned by the city of Columbus. The first members of the Board of Water Commissioners were: T.E. Golden, chairman; Mayor L.H. Chappell, John C. Cook, E.F. Roberts, and G.A. Pearce. T.T. Miller was attorney for the board.
The Water Board's first monthly meeting was January 28, 1903, and the minutes offer a rich history, not only of the water system's workings, but also of the development of Columbus. The first board members, and those who followed, showed courage, foresight, financial responsibility, and dedication in making decisions that had to be made often against strong public objections—in order to bring the city a safe, plentiful water supply.
The faithful Water Board devoted approximately its first decade to three basic problems, which included:
•Considering all reasonable sources of water. Citizens were invited to make recommendations, which were thoroughly investigated by the water board's chief engineer. He considered such sources as Barnes Creek, Blue Springs, Upatoi Creek, and Pine Mountain High Gravity System, but all were eliminated when it was decided none would sufficiently supply the city's future demands. Artesian wells were also tried for eight years, with several well contractors, but the well water proved to be contaminated.
•Deciding on the Chattahoochee River as the logical source of supply based on quantity, for both present and future. The brave board resolved January 3, 1912, to use the Chattahoochee, and notified the Board of Aldermen of its choice. Although the decision seems obvious in hindsight, at the time it was bitterly and publicly disputed. A 1904 Columbus newspaper headline read, "People Will Never Accept River Water." The city held an election on October 18, 1913, to issue bonds amounting to $450,000 to build its own water system.
•Agreeing on the price of the part of the private company's holdings the city could use and purchase the necessary land at Factory or Clapp's Hill, and west of Clapp's Hill on the riverbank for the filter plant, reservoirs, and pumping station. During 1914, commissioners purchased from Columbus Water Supply Company the portion of its system within Georgia, for $325,000. The board bought the necessary land from Columbus Power Company for $10,500.
One reason the Chattahoochee proved to be a good source of water is the city's development as a textile mill town. Georgia rivers are markedly free from calcium and magnesium salts, which constitute "hardness," or soap-consuming power. Hard water is said to waste soap and interfere with bleaching and dyeing fabrics. The local soft water was said to benefit the city's mills.
Recall that, "by 1868, the 10,000 spindles in the recently opened five-story Eagle and Phenix Mill were spinning, and a second mill stood on the old Howard Factory site. In 1869, the company built a new dam to more effectively divert water into its canal. At the edge of the canal, the mill's waterwheel turned a shaft that drove all the other wheels and pulleys in the mill on the site of the recently burned-out Palace Mills," wrote Willoughby. "Upon its completion, the Eagle and Phenix became the South's largest textile plant, and Columbus' primary employer," she continued.
All the while, wars were fought, a Great Depression took place, the home of the U.S. Army Infantry – then named Fort Benning – was located adjacent to Columbus, and many native sons became captains of industry. None of this, however, could happen without a dependable supply of water.