Title: [top] A Topographic Map Of The Swann Lake And Aqueduct of the Baltimore City Water Works, 1862.

Surveyed and drawn by: A. Faul, Asst. Engineer under the direction of Chas. P. Manning, Chief Engineer.

Date: [1863].

Scale: Bar scale indicates 1000 feet.

Lithographer: [A. Hoen and Company].

Publisher: [Baltimore, City of Baltimore].

Printer: [Baltimore], A. Hoen and Company

Dimensions: Sheet and image 37 x 94.5 cm. Lithograph.

Issued in conjunction with: Baltimore, Office of the City Water Works, Special Report, June 2d, 1862, Charles P. Manning, Chief of New Works, in Ordinances of the Major and City Council of Baltimore, passed at the Sessions of 1862 and 1863; to which is annexed the Mayor's Communication, Reports of City Officers, and a list of the Members of the City Council, and officers of the Corporation, Baltimore, 1863.

A Topographic Map of the Swann Lake and Aqueduct of the Baltimore City Water Works, 1863

As early as 1787, Baltimore recognized the need for an adequate water supply for its populace. In 1799 the City Council recommended that pipe be laid from Carroll Run. Five years later the city announced it was receiving proposals for "introducing a copious and permanent supply of water into the city of Baltimore". The Baltimore Water Company was created in 1804; by 1807 a water works was established on the Jones Falls.

The water supply system continued to be expanded and improved upon for the next fifty years. However, by 1850, only fifty-seven miles of pipe had been laid, an amount from three to five times less than in other major cities. The city realized that something needed to be done with the water works and water supply. A Water Commission was formed and, in 1852, consulting engineers were hired to produce a detailed survey of all sources of water within the vicinity of Baltimore. The resulting Report upon a Supply of Water for the City of Baltimore by T. Sickles (1854) pointed to the Gunpowder River as the best source. In 1855 the city bought the water works from the Baltimore Water Company for $1,350,000. Although they had the suggested new system as outlined in the Sickles report, the Commissioners decided to re-work the already inefficient Jones Falls system. The Gunpowder produced 131,000 gallons per day, as opposed to the Jones Falls' 15,000 gallons.

The water works, as depicted in the map of 1862 (published in 1863) shows the completion of the plan drawn up by James Slade, a consulting engineer from Boston. The plan involved the construction of 1) Swann Lake (now Lake Roland), 2) Swann Lake Dam, 3) a conduit from Swann Lake to Hampden Reservoir, 4) Hampden Reservoir, 5) a pipeline from Hampden Reservoir to Mt. Royal Reservoir, 6) Mt. Royal Reservoir, and 7) the distribution network to the populace (see C. Manning's Special Report, June 2d, 1862, cited above). Construction began in 1858 and was completed in 1862. Considerable celebration attended the system's opening and, according to Garr, "Baltimore somehow had been transformed into a civilized city, ranking with the ancients, and symbolized by the classical temples that served as gate houses and waste weirs."

The map contains detailed views of not only the water system as completed in 1862, but of the villages and factories along the Jones Falls. The map, prepared to "aid the written description of the natural features of the country occupied by the lake and traversed by the aqueduct...," (Manning's Special Report, p. 311, cited above), actually represents one of the major boondoggles of 19th-century urban planning. Within two years of the completion of the system, questions were being raised as to its adequacy. The lack of a filtration system at Swann Lake resulted in a contaminated water supply; typhoid outbreaks were widespread. And with constant public sewage system failures, the water supply system often was called into double duty. By 1865 a new water works was in the planning stage: Druid Lake was completed in 1871 and the water system, one of the most advanced and extensive in the country upon its completion, opened in 1881. It is ironic to note that the Gunpowder was the water source tapped for the new supply many suggestions offered in 1854 were utilized (Garr, p. 11).

Reference:
L. Garr, 1976.

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