The Tupper Lake Pipe Line

Little Simond Pond lays in a basin between Buck Mountain and Mt. Morris in Township 25 in the Town of Tupper Lake. It is a secluded, deep pond which has been privately owned by members of the Read family since being acquired in 1895 by William Read and his cousin Albert Strange.

Most Adirondack lakes were born with the arrival of the Continental Ice Age when tons upon tons of glacial ice finally ceased to move and it lay melting away, the melt water filling the depression formed by the glacier’s massive weight. Someone with more knowledge of geology than this writer would need to confirm this, but it would seem, when viewed from a neighboring height, like Buck Mountain or more dramatically from River Road off Old Wawbeek Road that the Little Simond basin was formed differently. It is probable that it was “gouged” out by valley glaciers. This cycle of erosion would have occurred even before the arrival of the ice sheet and the melting glaciers which would make that extraordinary pond even more unique among Adirondack waters.

At any rate, the size of the pond and its extreme depth which approaches 100 feet of crystal clear water made it an unrivaled source for this community. Thus it was that in 1931, the village took a bold step. They would lay a 12 inch pipe 20,000 feet in length to Little Simond Pond. If by chance you would have observed the difficulties contractors with modern earth moving equipment encountered recently in laying a sewage line along Racquette River Drive, it becomes easier to appreciate the challenge facing our early residents with only the rudimentary equipment, which consisted of mostly picket and shovel, available to them at that time. The pipe line would cross a portion of O.W.D. lands which that firm had acquired in 1915 from Norwood Mfc. Co. (Sisson) for its hardwood which had been left behind by that paper company. The line would then continue beyond the O.W.D./ Read boundry to Little Simond Pond. Here it would extend 150 feet into the Pond with the intake approximately 30 feet below the water’s surface. The project was in charge of village engineer Floyd Hutchins Sr. assisted by Peter La Montagne who was the Superintendent of Water Works. A $65.000 water bond provided the financing and construction started in November and continued thru the next January. Over 150 men were employed on this welcome work project in those depression days. The weekly payroll approached $ 2,500 a week which figures out roughly to about $16 dollars a week for what was probably a 10 hour, six day week but which in those dark days of economic despair and unemployment was probably welcome compensation.

As a youngster in the late 1930's, spending summers at the family camp on Lake Simond, the “pipe line” as it was known, became the” secret trailk” to the fire tower on the summit of Mt. Morris. There were a ½ dozen lively youngsters of the same pre-teen age whose parents either owned or rented summer camps on the lake in those days. That fire tower trip was the highlight of a summer spent exploring, canoeing, swimming, and moonlight picnics on the quiet lake. Without the aid of compass or map or the ability to use either, we would follow the pipe line, often walking on the top of the pipe where it lay above ground for purposes of elevation. We first crossed O.W.D. lands where there was as yet no restricted access (Dr. R.L. Cook of Sunmount and associates would not lease 2400 acres of this land until 1938 and even then hikers were welcome in the summer season). We would soon arrive at a former lumber camp clearing known as Donahues (named after Jack Donahue, a prominent Potsdam lumber jobber who cut timber on Mr. Morris under contract with the Sisson family). Here the pipe line continued across to the Read property and we would turn and leave the pipe line following Donahue Creek up the mountain to the recently abandoned Conservation Dept. observer cabin located next to a wonderful spring near the Read property line. Note: [The cabin had become obsolete when a crew of 25 CCC’s from Camp 15 of S-63 Cross Clearing Station had completed in 1934 a shorter more accessible trail to Mt. Morris from Rte. 3 starting near the Waukesha Hotel at Moody. A new observer cabin was built on what became the official state trail.] From the old cabin we would follow the original trail used by long time observer Andrew Gebo to the fire tower. [Note: The steep waterfall on Donahue Creek which cascades hundreds of feet over ancient moss covered granite is little known but is one of the more outstanding scenic falls in the Adirondacks.]

We were too young in those care-free days to appreciate the rigors and hardships that must have prevailed in laying that pipe line; nor were we even slightly aware of the give and take that would have allowed the village to cross two private parcels and siphon water from a pristine private lake.

In retrospect and this is just speculation on my part,, it is likely that Mr. Hutchins played a large role in the success of the project. As a case in point, Mr. Hutchins had at one time worked for and was highly respected by both owners. He had first arrived in Tupper Lake in 1916 as a construction engineer for the O.W.D. Corporation laying out and supervising the building of their logging railroads in the Kildare section. He had also worked for Read & Strange for two years and in fact, had laid out their access road from Rte. 30. Those connections and his acknowledged skill as an engineer and surveyor, must have enhanced the negotiations between the village and the owners, even as both owners had always been generous and cooperative in matters where this community was involved.

With the need for even more water in the still growing community, in 1950 a new water pumping station was built on the shore of Big Tupper Lake to supplement the Little Simond source. A strip of fill 120 feet long and 60 feet wide extending 70 feet in the lake and rip rapped with stone, was laid on which a brick and stone station was erected in 1951 by Johnson Construction on today’s Maddox Lane. A 14 inch intake was laid 800 feet into the lake at a depth of 43 feet and a new 12 inch line connected with the Little Simond line near Moody Bridge (Simmons, Mostly Spruce and Hemlock). During 2004, 200 million gallons were drawn from Little Simond and 182 million gallons from Tupper Lake.(See “Annual Water Quality Report for 2004 T.L Village Water Dept.”