977.356 The Story of St76 Lake Springfield. / City Water, Light, and Power Dept . , Springfield, 111. (1940) LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN , ..:. THE STORY ■ K LAKE EPRinHFIELD LAKE SPRINGFIELD CITY WATER, LIGHT and POWER DEPT WILLIS J.SPAULDING, COMMISSIONER PUBLIC PROPERTY 3 11^ I 4 ■? a SCALE IN MILES October 1, 1940 Hon. Mayor, City Commissioners, and People of Springfield: I take pleasure in submitting to you this brief illustrated sketch of Lake Springfield and the condensed annual report for the past fiscal year of your City Water, Light and Power Department : the report is on pages 11 and 12. After the deduction of all charges the electric department earned $86,000.31 during the fiscal year ended February 29, 1940, and the water department earned $32,922.19. These earnings are used for additions, extensions, and betterments so that your plants may keep pace with the growing needs. Besides these earnings the electric department gave to the city treasury its annual contribution of $50,000 to be used by the city government, and paid $25,603.52 to the State of Illinois as 3 per cent sales tax. The water department contributed $65,476 worth of free water service in fire protection and free water to the state fair grounds and various public buildings. The entire cost of Lake Springfield and of its continued main- tenance is being paid for out of water department revenue; not one cent of any kind of taxes has ever been used to pay for any part of the lake. This past fiscal year, for example, the water department retired $135,000 of water supply lake bonds and paid $137,955 inter- est, although the bonds are taxable obligations of the city. Simi- larly, the electric department retired $30,000 on taxable bonds last year and $31,179.67 in interest, entirely from earnings. Respectfully yours, Ti^L^ Commissioner of Public Property • The lake, two Stars, and a stiff breeze. wtinaTLetd The story of Lake Springfield is the story of the efforts of the people of Spring- field to provide for themselves an adequate water supply. The story really begins back in 1818 when Henry Kelley and his family became the first settlers in the com- munity that grew to be the city of Spring- field. Hand pumps, Colburn patent pumps, and chain pumps furnished Springfield's water until 1868 when the pumping station on the Sangamon River north of town was put in operation. The supply from the river was augmented in 1884 by a supply from a large well and in 1888 by a supply from filter galleries. More wells were drilled in 1903, a new river dam was built in 1908, and 30 permanent wells were put down in 1912, all to improve both the quality and the quantity of water for the city. Improvements in the treatment of the water supply and in the service were con- tinually made. In 1918 intermittent chlo- * • * nnation of the water w.is begun; in l l >24 the chlorinatioo waa made continuous. fa 1920 a now water purificatio i and soften- ing plant was built to treat both the nv.-i water and the well water drastically reduc- ing the death-rate from watn borne disease and saving the people of Springfield ap- proximately S60.000 a year in soap alone. But the supply was not adequate for the growing city. In the meantime a report made in 1923 by Myron H. West on a city plan for Springfield suggested the idea of a large lake which "would insure an ample watn supply for the rapidly increasing domestic needs." Late in 1927 W. B. Walraven made a survey of a possible lake site on Sugar Creek at the request of Willis J. Spaulding. commissioner of public prop- erty of the city of Springfield. He reported favorably and advised that a further and more thorough study of the site should be made before deciding on the location of the proposed lake. Accordingly, the city commissioners au- thorized t h e employment o f Pearse, Greeley and Hansen and of the Burns and McDonnell Engineering Company to pre- pare independent reports on the selection of a lake site. From fourteen different studies made by the Burns and McDonnell Engineering Company on six different lake sites. Sugar Creek project 5-C was recom- mended as most desirable since more water could be impounded for less money under this proposal than under any other. The recommendation was made to the people of Springfield and on Jim. 24, l" • i lake bond issue ..i (2 500,000 was passed foi tin- construction oi Lake Springfield as a watei supply foj the city. The sitt- selected was in the vallej oi Sugai Creek and pan way up the valley oi Lick Creek, a tributai v Under tin- direction oi Commissionei Willis J. Spaulding. work on the lake com- menced in 1932; land was bought and chared; i oads were relocated; bridges w< built: dams were constructed; bathing beaches and bath houses were built; miles of roads, of powei lines, of water mains, of sewers were provided to serve the pr* Before and after (1) (2) Sugar Creek Valley, north of Glasser bridge, \ { )M and now: from a tiny trickle to a large lake, from soil ero- sion to soil conservation, from ;i w.-illow to a water supply (3) (4) Where Sugar Creek and Lick Creek join, from the area which is now the wild life sand <31 and now "ik *•&-* • Spaulding dam, municipal power plant and pumping station, and water purification plant at north end of Lake Springfield. Handy F About the La Length Greatest width . . Water area Average depth Greatest depth . . Drainage area . . . Storage capacity. Shore line Paved roads in are City-owned margin About the W Purificai Average daily pum Rated capacity per Put in operation . Electrically heated Safe, soft, copious About the Pc and Pun Average daily out] Capacity of geners Capacity of pum 31 m Put in operation . . Cheap, convenier power. • Spaulding dam spillway and bridge: south of it the lake. • Vachel Lindsay Memorial Bridge; Lake Park beach and beach house across the water. 12 miles 2 miles 6.8 square miles 15 feet 40 feet 265 square miles L.4 billion gallons 57 miles 40 miles and . . 4300 acres »r i Plant: ?. 7.5 million gals. . .12 million gals. )ctober 18. 1936 I operated. ?r supply. »r ng Plant: 190.000 kw-hours .40.000 kilowatts n gallons per day . .March. 1936 bundant electric Vachel Lindsay memorial at W9ti <■'< Thouaandl <>l p<-op!r hahad irom the dams, from the parks, from tht- wild lilv area, and Irom other public gro un dt; the State ill Illinois has stocked the lake with hundreds oi thouaandl oi fish. (3) Over 17,000 picnickers made reservations lor tables tins past season and even more came without raaarvatiotu to picnic in one of the seven p Park, Lake Park, Cotton Hill Park. Lincoln Garden, Bridgeview Park, and the east end and waat and "/ the wild lile tan tv ary. <4) Almost 65fiO0 nrimman and batht-rs mad Lake Park beach or Bridgmviaw bam h this past tummar; Red Cross trained life guards are on duty .ill during the season. <5> Five camps lor boys and girls are on the lake: Camp Star-ofthe-Sea, Camp Widjiwagan, Camp Nay-Ati, Lake Springfield ( mbty camp, and the boys camp in the wild lile area. (6} WitmM sports. too, are lun, under supervision. it;*;' ^r ■HBL'fE&M i 7 -:m Pi m Hi. 4M*Bm-U \m\\m\^^k\WSSOammmm\ cnmpmi ttf'iiyfr-wf* Q a skating. Municipal power plant and pumping station. II.. -«• ~"^ ■ •III! ! 1 1 |i in THE ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER DEPARTMENT CONDENSED SUMMARY OF INCOME AND EXPENSE for the year ended February 29. 1940 as reported by Ralph Turnbull & Co., Certified Public Accountants REVENUE $985,010.89 (This was the total amount received by the electric department from all sources.) EXPENSES 667,936.82 (This was the amount paid for salaries and wages, coal, materials and supplies, and other expenses necessary to operate the busi- ness, including the extra cost of operating two power plants, the S50.000 contribution to the corporate fund, the S25.603.52 sales tax to the state, the S3 1.1 79.67 interest payment, and the S42.433.33 on account of the competition with the private utility. The total cost of competition is much more, but it is so com- mingled with various accounts that it is difficult to separate. If the city occupied the field alone without competition, the operat- ing expense per kilowatt hour would be reduced approximately 30 per cent.) NET INCOME BEFORE DEPRECIATION (This was left after paying all expenses.) 317,074.07 DEPRECIATION 231,073.76 (This amount was charged against income to cover wear and tear on plants and machinery.) NET ADDITION TO SURPLUS 86.000.31 (This was the amount left ftftel paying all obligations. It pays tdditioni and extensions to the system. It doei not include the substantial sum saved the people of Springfield by lower electric rates. ) • Municipal water purifi- cation plant. THE WATER DEPARTMENT CONDENSED SUMMARY OF INCOME AND EXPENSE for the year ended February 29, 1940 as reported by Ralph Turnbull & Co., Certified Public Accountants REVENUE $495,831.99 (This was the total amount received by the water department from all sources.) EXPENSES 382,460.58 (This was the amount paid for salaries and wages, materials and supplies, and other expenses necessary to operate the business including expense of operating lake recreation and subdivision of $45,914.20 and interest payment on bond of $137,955.00.) NET INCOME BEFORE DEPRECIATION (This was left after paying all expenses.) DEPRECIATION 113,371.41 80,449.22 (This amount was charged against income to cover wear and tear on plants and machinery.) NET ADDITION TO SURPLUS 32,922.19 (This was the amount left after paying all obligations. It pays for additions and extensions to the system. It does not include S65,476 value of free water service to various city buildings, state fair grounds, fire protection, etc.) • The beach house, at the close of day. (opposite page.) Ir^ H ■ pDBP & a I / ¥ *^t 4 J UNIVERSmr OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 3 0112 072577999