Documentary History of American Water-works

Denver

Denver, Colorado

Denver was established in 1859.

The Capitol Hydraulic Company of Arrapahoe County was incorporated in 1860 by A. C. Hunt, Charles H. Gratiot, John A. Clark, Thomas Pollock, Henry Allen, William M. Slaughter, Richard Sopris, A. P. Vasquez, A. Sagendorf, W. N. Byers, H. H. Scovill, Jr., J. A. McDonell, F. Z. Solomon, and John H. Wing "to conduct the water from both said streams by canal or ditch across the plains or intervening lands to the cities of Auraria, Denver and Highland, in the county of Arapahoe, territory of Kansas, and have the exclusive privilege of using and controlling the same for mechanical, agricultural, mining and city purposes."

The Denver City Water Company was organized on October 30, 1870.

The first waterworks were built by the Denver City Water Company and began supplying water on January 10, 1872.

The Denver Union Water Company was bought by the Denver Water Board on November 1, 1918 for $14 million.

The waterworks are currently owned by the Denver Board of Water Commissioners.

References
1860 An act to incorporate the Capitol Hydraulic Company of Arrapahoe County. February 21, 1860.

1867 An act to change the name of the Capitol Hydraulic Company. January 10, 1867. Shareholders authorized to change name to Platte Water Company.

1871 "The Holly Water Works," The Rocky Mountain News, April 8, 1871, Page 1.
Charles Keep, secretary of the Holly Manufacturing company, of Lockport, N.Y.

1871 "'Our Holly,'" The Rocky Mountain News, April 9, 1871, Page 1.
Late in the afternoon, a contract was signed by the Denver water works company and Mr. Charles Keep, of the Holly manufacturing company, for the construction of a set of the Holly machinery. It is stipulated to be the same size as that in use at Indianapolis, Indiana, and will cost, together with the pipe, about $150,000. Mr. Keep at once telegraphed the Holly company to commence immediately the manufacture of the machinery-. A telegram was also sent to the Associated Press that arrangements of the above character have been entered into, and that the works will be ready for operation about the first of November next.

1871 "Water Works," The Rocky Mountain News, April 11, 1871, Page 1.
Details of the Holly Water Works

1872 The Rocky Mountain News, January 4, 1872, Page 1.
Our streets were enlivened yesterday by the first practical working exhibition of the Holly water works. Hose were attached to three hydrants in F street, and water thrown to a distance of about ninety feet, with a pressure of one hundred pounds at the works and one boiler under fire. A stream was thrown at least one hundred and twenty feet into the air at the works. The exhibition attracted large crowds.

1872 "The Holly Water Works," The Rocky Mountain News, January 7, 1872, Page 1.
Yesterday afternoon a grand experimental test was made of the Holly water works system which has just been introduced into our city, and the result was most satisfactory to the thousands of tax payers, and excessively gratifying to the score of stockholders who gathered to see “how the old thing works."

1872 B. Holly's system of fire protection and water supply, for cities and villages, Sixth Edition.
Pages 37-38: Denver, Colorado
The Denver Tribune of January 8, 1872, gives the annexed account of the trial of Holly Water Works in that young and thrifty city :
"The formal trial on the afternoon of Saturday last, demonstrated beyond contradiction the thorough success of the Holly System of Water Works, which have been for many months in process of construction in this city. By universal and spontaneous acclaim our citizens pronounced the verdict of unqualified satisfaction and approval.
"The test of last Saturday--preparatory to turning over the works to the 'Denver City Water Company'--determined, first that the time from the opening of the hydrant, at the corner of F and Larimer streets, to the blowing of the alarm whistle at the engine house, was about fifteen seconds, whereupon the pressure was increased from the ordinary to fire pressure; second, that the rotary engine and rotary pump, (held in reserve for fire purposes) threw four one inch streams over the test pole of one hundred feet in height; (This experiment brought into use only about three-fifths of the entire power of the engines ;) third that the gang pumps and main piston engines (for general domestic purposes) threw six streams 130 feet high, under water pressure of 120 pounds to the square inch; and, fourth, that the rotary pump and main engine threw six streams about 140 feet in height. The full capacity of the engines is 400 horse power, and able to throw twenty streams over the test pole, as readily as the six above referred to. Another fact was satisfactorily demonstrating, that, although at the rate of six streams for twenty-four hours, 4,500,000 gallons of water would be used, yet, during these trials, the reservoir showed no material decrease. The supply of water is considered inexhaustible. The well is thirty-eight feet in width by fifty-eight in length, and will contain about twelve feet of water at all times."

1881 Report of Colorado State Board of Health
Page 63: History of an Epidemic of Typhoid Fever in Denver, Colorado, by H. A. Lemen

1881 Denver, Engineering News, 8:469 (November 19, 1881)

1882 James K. Archer (10 June 1824 - 26 Aug 1882) monument in Denver, grave in St. Louis with obituary

1882 Denver from "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D.

1885 "Denver Water Works," Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the American Water Works Association 6:119-120 (June, 1886)
A description of the Denver Water Works as published by the Company April 15, 1885.

1888 "The Denver Water-Works," by S. Fortier, Engineering News 20:222-224 (September 22, 1888)

1888 "Denver," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 1.

1890 "Denver," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 2.

1890 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Denver, Denver County, Colorado, Volume 1 (1890)
Plate 23: Denver Water Works Pumping Station

1891 "The Denver City Water Works Company," Commercial and Financial Chronicle 52:975-976 (June 27, 1891)

1891 "Denver," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 3.

1892 "The Water System of Denver," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, 74(1894):387+ (January 2, 1892)

1893 Wooden stave pipe for high water pressure : the great Colorado invention, by Charles P. Allen

1894 "The Water Works of Denver, Colorado," by James D. Schuyler, Read September 20, 1893, Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers 31:135-173 (February, 1894)

1897 "The Denver Union Water Company," Fire and Water Engineering 22:233 (July 10, 1897) | Also here |

1897 "Denver," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.

1898 "The Denver Union Water Company," Fire and Water Engineering 23:68 (February 26, 1898) | Also here |

1901 History of Denver, With Outlines of the Earlier History of the Rocky Mountain Country, edited by Jerome Smiley | also here |
Page 455: Holly Water Works

1904 "Lake Cheeseman Dam and Reservoir," by Charles L. Harrison and Silas H. Woodward, Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers 53:89-209 (December 1904)

1911 The History of the Government of Denver: With Special Reference to Its Relations with Public Service Corporations, by Clyde Lyndon King
Page 82: Holly Water Works

1918 City and County of Denver v. Denver Union Water Co., 246 U.S. 178, March 4, 1918, United States Supreme Court

1962 "Denver," from Public Water Supplies of the 100 Largest Cities in the United States, 1962, US Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 1812, by Charles Norman Durfor and Edith Becker

2012 A ditch in time : the city, the west, and water, by Patricia Nelson Limerick

2022 "Denver's 'Oldest Working Thing' Has Been Flowing for 155 Years," by Brian K. Trembath, January 24, 2022
Construction on the Ditch resumed in the fall of 1864 under the leadership of John Wesley Smith, who was hired by the Colorado Hydraulic Company to oversee the project. Smith employed giant canal digging machines that were described by the Rocky Mountain News as being pulled by 16-20 cattle and could "do the work of a hundred men per day."
Under Smith's leadership the Ditch, which quickly became known as Smith's Ditch, snaked its way towards Denver.

2023 "The Water Supply Infrastructure of Early Denver," by Michael J. Kolb and Gene Wheaton, Journal of Urban History 51(2):268-287 (March 2025)