HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1973-06-28, Page 114HONOR RETIRING CHAIRMAN — L. J. Penhale, PUC Chairman and Commissioner from 1935 to 1961 was
honored for his service to the town at a retirement dinner in 1962, With Mr. Penhale, seated are former
heads of council who served on the PUC. From left is A. J. Sweitzer, reeve from 1949-1950; B. W. Tuckey,
reeve from 1940-1948; W. G. Cochrane, mayor from 1952.1954; R. E. Pooley, mayor from 1955-1961; and
W. E. Simmons, Mayor in 1962.
Section 1, Page 26 TIE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE JUNE 28, 1973
PUC came into being 55 years ago
The following was compiled by
J.L.VVooden on the occasion of
their 50th anniversary in 1967.
January 1967 marks the fiftieth
anniversary of the establishment
of a Commission in Exeter to
provide and administer the
essential services of electricity
and water to the community. On
January 1st, 1917 two by-laws
were "presented to the Electors"
of the Village of Exeter for their
approval. By-law number 8, 1916
was a by-law which provided for
the establishment of a com-
mission to assume responsibility
for administering water and
electric power services in
Exeter. This responsibility had
previously been part of the
Village Council's duties. The by-
law was approved by the voters
140 to 7. By-law number 9, 1916
was a by-law to provide for the
construction of the works
necessary to give full twenty-four
hour a day service to the village.
This was approved by the voters
129 to 9.
Consequently, Council
following the wishes of the
electors gave third reading to
these two by-laws and delegated
to a commission the respon-
sibilities of providing the services
of water and electricity, The first
commissioners were in office as
of January 1, 1917; they were in
office by acclamation, a practice
that was to become customary
for the Commission since in the
fifty years of its existence the
number of elections has been
very small,perhaps two or three.
The first commissioners were H.
E. Huston, an insurance agent by
profession and S. M, (Sam)
Sanders one of the founders of the
Exeter Canning and Preserving
Company. B. W. F. Beavers, by
virtue of his office as Reeve was
the third member of the Com-
mission.
The Old Days
The existence of a water works
in Exeter dates from August,
1900. At that time a water works
system "on a small scale was
inaugurated for street watering
purposes"; when it was tested it
"worked admirably". The
system consisted of a six horse
power gasoline engine which was
located at the river, This engine
drove the pump which forced
water through the main which
had been installed along Main
Street. The water was forced into
two tanks "about sixty feet high"
at the Town Hal]. The pressure
was "so strong that the two large
tanks could be filled in less than
an hour". The engine, pump, and
pipes cost $2000. In addition to
watering the Main Street, which
was still unpaved the Council
planned to sell water to people for
lawn watering and to mill owners
along the way.
There is no record of any
significant additions to this
system until 1909. In that year
Council passed a by-law
authorizing the borrowing of
$22,000 for the purpose of building
water works. Council negotiated
the purchase of "that part of the
river bed and banks of the Aux
Sable River, known as the Mill
property" from James N.
Howard. Howard had operated a
small power plant in the old grist
mill which had formerly stood on
this property.The price paid was
$1700. This property is now
Riverview Park. In 1910 Water
Commissioners were provided
for in by-law Number 8 and in
1911 Council passed a by-law
setting up the procedure for the
management and regulation of
the water works. There was a
pumping station at the river and
the water was forced to the water
tower located behind the Town
Hall. The purchase of the mill
property had included a dam
which required considerable
repair and the dam was for all
intents rebuilt at this time, This
storage supplied the water for the
system. All of the water in the
system came from the river and
was not, therefore, suitable for
drinking. The primary reason for
installing the system was of
course to provide fire protection
for the Village. Mains were
constructed along Main Street
and the principal streets in the
core of the Village. Gradually
pipes were extended to the
periphery of the village; for
example, in 1915, 1060 feet of four
inch main was built along Huron
Street from Carling Street to the
railroad. The project cost $800
and was designed to give fire
protection to fifteen frame houses
in the area.
Residential properties were
serviced by the system if the
owner wished to install plumbing
but as was mentioned the water
was not drinkable. Many houses
did use the service for washing,
toilets if they had one, lawn
watering and so on. Signs in the
wash room of the Central Hotel
which was the first of Exeter's
hotels to have washrooms
warned patrons not to drink the
water. For drinking water each-
property owner, business, hotel
etc., had to reply on their own
well. It was not until the mid
1930's that potable water was
available to the villagers from
the municipal system.
Much of this early water
system still exists in that some of
the old cast iron mains such as
the one on Main Street still exist
and of course the water tower in
the centre of town provides a
major land mark.
The provision of electricity to
the village also predates the
establishment of a commission.
James N. "Cap" Howard had
established a power plant of
modest proportions in the old
grist mill that James Pickard
had operated on the south bank of
the Ausable River. This power
plant had been established some
time before 1896, probably in the
early 1890's; ft was a wood
burning steamplant and its small
genera tor produced enough
electricity to light a few' lamps
along Main Street and possibly to
sell to a few individuals. The
details of this plant of Howard's
are obscure but it seems to have
operated until 1897.
The next phase in electric
power development in Exeter
came in 1897 with the establish-
ment of the "Exeter Electric
Light and Power Company
Limited", This company was
incorporated in August or late
July of 1897 with a capitalization
of $10,000.
The Board of Directors of the
Company included Dr. C. Lutz,
who operated what seems to have
been veterinary drug supply
store, and who was elected
President of the Company. The
other Directors were E. J. Spark-
man, merchant; B. S. O'Neil,
Frank Wood, a local butcher; and
R. C. C, Tremaine B. A. Sc. from
Toronto. Tremaine seems to have
been the driving force behind the
venture and judging from his
degree he must have been an
engineer; he was to he the plant
manager. The other stockholders
included D. Johns, tailor; W,
Bawden, contractor; R. S. Lang,
H. Bishop, merchant; and R. H.
Collins, Most of the shareholders
were local people and they
bought up the shares of the
company very quickly since the
stock was sold out by September
1897 a month or so after the
company's formation. The
company bought the Verity
Plough Works building which
stood at the corner of Main and
Wellington Streets.
This plant was installed in
either late August or September
after the company had been
"fortunate enough in securing an
excellent spring of water at the
Verity building".
The company had already been
givei a franchise to erect poles
and string wires along the
streets. The Council had also
given the company a contract to
provide lighting for the streets of
the Village.
So during the summer of
1897 "Exeterites" watched two
hundred poles erected and wired.
This acitivity no doubt stimulated
householders and businesses to
also contract with the company.
One of the first houses wired was'
the Pickard residence on John
Street.
Electricity was lighting about
350 incandescent lights by the
late fall of 1897 and "a staff of
workmen were busily engaged in
wiring an 'additional 900 lights."
The service was limited, as it was
in most towns with steam plants,
to the following hours; in the
summer light was available from
8 p.m. to 1 a.m. and in the winter
from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m, and in the
evening from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m,
although there is some evidence
that a late service to midnight
was also available. The boiler
was the key and it had to be kept
fired; wood was used whenever it
was available but it was not as
plentiful as the company had
hoped; railroad ties, rails from
old fences and so on were used.
The Exeter Electric Light and
Power Company had a very
successful first year of operation
and in the summer of 1898
declared a dividend of 5 percent,
The 1898 Board remained the
same except for the addition of
John Sweitzer in place of Frank
Wood. In late 1898 Tremaine and
Snell bought the controlling in-
terest in the plant and operated it
until 1915 or early 1916.
In 1915 the contract between
the municipality was to expire
and it was in late 1914 and the
first half of 1915 that considerable
agitation developed in Exeter
and area to have the Ontario
Hydro Electric Power Com-
mission bring service to Exeter.
This, of course, is what happened
and Snell and Tremaine's
company ceased to operate. They
sold the building after the first
world war to S. Cann who
operated a cider mill there for
some years.
In any case the supply of
electricity to Exeter moved into
its third period of development in
1914 when the Council was in
touch with Ontario Hydro. There
were no developments in 1914 and
in 1915 the Village Council wrote
Sir Adam Beck to "lay before
him the matter of hydro-
electricity for the municipality".
The Council was not satisfied
with "the way the hydro com-
mission was working on this
matter." There was some
pressure on the Council which
consisted of Reeve J. Taylor of
the Ross-Taylor Company, B. W.
F. Beavers, Dr. Roulston, a
dentist, J. R. Hind and a Mr,
Harton: the clerk-treasurer was
T, B. Carling who operated a
general store in addition to being
clerk. The pressure referred to
derived from the fact that the
Electric Company's franchise
expired at the end of 1915 and
Council had to either secure
Ontario Hydro power or renew
the Company's franchise, Cer-
tainly this'represented one of the
most important decisions any
council had faced in some time.
Exeter was not alone in
agitating the hydro. The people of
the area from Dashwood and
Crediton east to Kirkton and
Woodham and from Hensall
south to Lucan, where Ontario
Hydro was already providing
service were anxious for the
power lines to reach them, St.
Mary s also had hydro and it was
to St. Marys that the area looked
for leadership. On February 4,
1915 a meeting, chaired by Dr.
Copeland, Mayor of St. Marys,
was held at Kirkton, It was
argued that the area between St.
Marys and Exeter was among the
finest agricultural areas in
Ontario and therefore it was not,
reasonable that it should be.
without the service of Ontario
Hydro. The meeting also
discussed the possibility of an
electrified railroad line from St.
Marys, through Kirkton, to
Exeter and ultimately to the lake.
This was the age of interest in
electrified or radial railways in
Southern Ontario. The London
and Port Stanley Railway and the
Lake Erie and Northern Railway
from Kitchener to Port Dover
were built around this time.
Narcisse Cantin of St. Joseph also
began talking about a Stratford to
St, Joseph Radial Railroad
shortly after World War I as well.
However, the Kirkton meeting
heard an Ontario Hydro Engineer
named Castor explain that a
power line from St. Marys to
Exeter would "be a 13,000 volt
line and carry 500 It would
cost $1,500 per mile; a "step down
station" would have to be built
just south of Exeter at a cost of
$4,000. Castor explained that the
radial railroad would have to be a
separate project; Ontario Hydro
was not in the railroad business.
In February of 1915 the Council
had further correspondence with
Ontario Hydro indicating
progress was being made. The
Council continued to show in-
terest in the St. Marys to Exeter
Railway and agreed to par-
ticipate in an Association
agitating for government sub-
sidies for the construction of such
railways. In March 1915 Coun-
cillors Harton, Hind and Beavers
went to Toronto as part of a
delegation going to see Premier
Hearst seeking a provincial
subsidy of $3,200 per mile for the
construction of radial railroads.
The Exeter Times began a
campaign in the spring of 1915 to
interest Exeter in Hydro. In one
issue it had the following item:
The Times continued its
campaign in June 1915 in support
of the Council's pending
arrangements with Ontario
Hydro. Certainly council sup-
ported the idea, at least every
indication is that B.W.F. Beavers
was strongly in favour of it and he
seemed to be a leading voice in
Council. The Times asked the
people again and again should we
"connect up with hydro for
twenty four hour service, or
grant another franchise to the,
Electric Light Company". It
went on to say "as usual Exeter
has moved slowly and cautiously. it":
Other towns have jumped into the
hydro belt and have not regretted
it. This has brought hydro power
all around us - north, east and
south . . , We want hydro! We
must have it . . .
The Times campaign was being
directed at an apathetic, or at
best, a moderately interested
populace. The Council also tried
to instill some interest among the
people for Hydro by meetings;
one such meeting was held in
July of 1915 at which there was
only "fair attendance". Council
had asked Dr. Copeland of St,
Marys to speak and he extolled
the merits of Hydro. George
Stanley of Lucan had also been
asked to speak and he discussed
the value of hydro to a com-
munity in stimulating com-
mercial activity; he added that '*
"Lucan would laugh in their
boots" if Exeter defeated the
proposed by-law,
The by-law that Council was
bringing before the people for
their opinion was By-Law
number 14, 1915. The purpose of
the by-law was. to provide for a
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