Ideas Just Don't Last--- Water at the Cemetery

The year was 1898. Greenwood Cemetery was seven years old, and the Association had grand ideas for the future of the burial grounds. An article in the Morning Astorian announced that Mr. James Laws (Civil War veteran, Confederate), had concluded an agreement with the Greenwood Cemetery Association to supply seventeen hundred feet of pipe for a planned water system at the cemetery. The Association already had a contract in place to erect a water tower to serve as an elevated reservoir, and a windmill to keep it filled. There were no Ditchwitches available then, so someone had to use a shovel to dig seventeen hundred feet of trench to cover the pipe. In time, the cemetery had three water towers.

Family graveside photo at the foot of the wooden trestle that supports the westernmost water tower at Greenwood Cemetery. The location later featured an outhouse, and now has an information kiosk instead.

        In an area that averages about ten feet of rain per year, the Association proposed to install a complete water system that would keep the grass and flowers green throughout the season.

        Power poles and wires brought electricity to Greenwood. With lines strung across the grounds and through the brush and trees between the burial grounds and the ravine on the south side of the property where a spring fed a small stream that trickled its way to a swamp at the edge of Young’s Bay. At a narrow point in the ravine, workers built an earthen dam, and the electrical wires powered a motor that powered a small pump that filled the water towers. The windmill vanished.

On the ridge behind the gathering of the Astoria Improved Order of Redmen stands the easternmost water tower. With the highest elevation, it offered the highest water pressure. That site later featured a huge monkey puzzle tree (araucaria araucana), which blew down in 150 mph winds in December, 2007.

With the continued expansion along the shores of Young’s Bay, and the construction of the World War II naval hospital, water from the Astoria water system flowed through new water lines to the hospital and to water districts that purchases supplies of treated water. With the formation of Willow Dale Water District, city water reached Greenwood. It was a serendipitous event. The iron pipe supplied by James Laws was corroded inside and outside, draining the water towers faster than the electric pump could resupply them. To compound the system failure, the wooden structures of the towers had decayed, threatening to topple the tanks. The towers vanished. Later, the dam in the ravine collapsed.

        The failed pipes were replaced with coils of black plastic. In an effort to shave a bit from the expense, they used tees for intersections, but did not use elbows for corners, or protective surrounds where the pipes crossed under the graveled roads. Future failure was built into the initial construction.

The water towers were removed before they collapsed. The monkey puzzle tree that stood where the easternmost water tower was did what the Association did not want the tower to do. When the tree went down, it caused a lot of damage, but no injuries.

The aging plastic fractured, and the underground leaks did not show on the surface. Once again, the water system failed, and is now in need of replacement. The grounds are back to the pre-1898 reliance on rain water to keep the grounds green. Visitors rely on jugs of water they bring from home.

        The systems placed years ago established an expectation that the Association struggles to meet. Discussions look toward a return to something like the historic system that relied on nature and gravity to supply the water, or a revamped system that distributes the city water throughout the grounds. Each has its financial challenges.

        Greenwood Cemetery has grown over the last century and a quarter. Seventeen hundred feet of pipe supplied half of the modern grounds. In designing a new system, spacing of the supply points has to be considered. How far should people have to walk to access the water? History perhaps cannot be part of the consideration. The State of Oregon claims ownership of the water that falls from the clouds.