Documentary History of American Water-works

Calais

Calais, Maine

Calais was first settled in 1779..

The Milltown Aqueduct Company was incorporated in 1850 by R. O. Stickney, John Stickney, C. C. P. Peabody, David Pineo, James Kimball, Tinker Twitchell, William Kelley, William Sherman and Benjamin Stoddard "for the purpose of keeping in repair, rebuilding and regulating the use of the aqueduct already built in said Milltown in the town of Calais, so as to make the same the most useful for the purpose of supplying with water for domestic use, those interested therein." No other information on this company has been found. Another company of this name was incorporated in New Brunswick in 1854, but it is not known if these two systems were interconnected.

The Calais Aqueduct Company was incorporated in 1862 by Samuel Kelley, C H. Kelley, Cyrus Baker, Charles H. Whitney, Albert H. Sawyer, George W. Wilder, Joseph Granger, Lewis C. Kelley and Seth W. Smith. No other information on this company has been found.

The Calais Water Company was incorporated on March 18, 1886 and built a system pumping water from the St. Croix river. The system also served the St. Croix Electric Light and Water Company, which supplied St. Stephen in New Brunswick.

The Calais Water and Power Company was incorporated in 1917 by Samuel C. Manley of Augusta, Josiah S. Maxcy and Weston Lewis of Gardiner "for the purpose of supplying the city of Calais and any adjoining municipalities and the inhabitants thereof with water for domestic, sanitary, and municipal purposes including the extinguishment of fires." This company bought the Calais Water Company and operated the system for many years, eventually buying water from St. Stephen in New Brunswick.

The St. Croix Water Company was incorporated in 1917 by Josiah S. Maxcy, Weston Lewis, and Samuel C. Manley "to distribute and supply water for domestic and municipal uses in the city of Calais, Maine, and also in the towns of Milltown and St. Stephen, New Brunswick, so far as authorized." No further information on this company has been found and it is unclear if it ever operated.

The City of Calais acquired the Calais Water and Power Company in the 1980s and terminated the water contract with St. Stephen in 2003.

Water is provided by the City of Calais.

References
1850 An act to incorporate the Milltown Aqueduct Company. August 28, 1850.

1854 An act to incorporate the Milltown Aqueduct Company, in the Parish of St. Stephen. May 1, 1854.

1862 An act to incorporate the Calais Aqueduct Company. February 4, 1862.

1886 Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, October 16, 1886, Page 1.
The Calais water works are rapidly approaching completion.

1886 An act to incorporate the Saint Croix Electric Light and Water Company. April 2, 1886.

1887 An act relative to the Calais Water Company. January 27, 1887.

1887 "Recent Water-Works Construction, Calais, Maine," The Engineering and Building Record, 16:519 (October 8, 1887)

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

1889 An act to incorporate the Maine Water Company. February 8, 1889.

1889 An act to amend an An act to incorporate the Saint Croix Electric Light and Water Company. April 17, 1889.

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

1891 An act to ratify and authorize the issue of bonds by the Calais Water Company. January 27, 1891

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

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

1901 An act in amendment of "An act to incorporate the Saint Croix Electric Light and Water Company." April 3, 1901.

1917 An act to incorporate the Calais Water and Power Company. April 7, 1917.

1917 An act to incorporate the St. Croix Water Company. April 7, 1917.

1919 Fire and Water Engineering, 65:397 (February 19, 1919)
The city of Calais, Me., is endeavoring to settle the difficulties that beset it in the matter of water supply by buying the Calais Water and Power Company's plant. Mayor Miner and a committee of citizens recently went to Augusta to consult the owners on price of purchase but could get no figure at that time. If no arrangement for purchase can be made it is expected that a new rate schedule will be put in force by April 1st.

1921 "Calais Water and Power Company; proposed advance in rates," June 1, 1921, State of Maine Public Utilities Commission 7:139

1927 "Public Water Supplies of Maine," by Elmer W. Campbell. Revised for publication April 10, 1927, Journal of the New England Water Works Association, 41(2):103 (June, 1927)
Calais Water and Power Company. Supplies a population of 6,084. System installed in 1886. Water is taken from a well owned by the St. Stephens Water Company located about five miles on the Canadian side of the border with the St. Croix River as an auxiliary supply. Water is pumped by electric power to a storage reservoir, capacity 2,500,000 gal. A rapid sand filter and chlorinator (the latter installed in January, 1922) are used to purify the auxiliary supply. Twenty-six miles of mains are used.

1934 "Towns under Two Flags Like One Family," New York Times, August 24, 1934, Page SM18.
The water used by both St. Stephen and Calais comes from the Canadian side and is piped across the International Bridge, purchaed, sold and controlled by the Calais Water and Power Company at Calais. Calais is said to be the only city in the world that uses water from a foreign county.

1952 "International Spring," The Ottawa Journal, November 29, 1952, Page 6.

1961 City of Calais v. Calais Water & Power Co., et al., 157 Me. 467, September 28, 1961, Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, Kennebec (1961)

2010 "A Century of Sharing Water Supplies between Canadian and American Borderland Communities," By Patrick Forest, Munk School Briefings (October 2010)
Page 24: St. Stephen, New Brunswick and Calais, Maine. The City of Calais took over the system in the 1980s as the company was no longer profitable, and did so until
2003, when both communities parted ways. [This document states that the cross-border supply began in 1903, but it was actually 1886.]

2016 Engaging the Line: How the Great War Shaped the Canada–US Border, Brandon R. Dimmel
Page 80: In the mid-nineteenth century, a central water system was established by the Calais Water Company.