The Early History of Water, Woodstock and Kingston

The obvious focus of the report, and the others that would periodically follow, was to prevent water-borne diseases. Long before the advancement of filtering technology, the installation of a pipe from Cooper Lake to Zena and, certainly, indoor plumbing, such diseases as typhoid were of serious concern (in fact, the record notes some typhoid cases reported during these early years in the Woodstock area). That said, a 1912 report filed by an inspector for the state noted that, in 1910, “59 sources of pollution” were reported in Woodstock. And yet, two years later, 38 of the 59 properties originally cited “were found still in existence.” A number of the names cited in the 1912 report reads like a list of Woodstock’s founding families, including: Risely, Bovee, Lasher, Wolven, Van de Bogart, Lapo, Shultis, and Reynolds. Ironically, even the city of Kingston was cited for maintaining a hog pen on its Cooper Lake property. (The pigsty was dismantled just days prior to a site inspection conducted by Kingston officials, including the mayor.) Most notable among those named in the 1912 report was one Ralph Whitehead. Though a mile or so from the Sawkill, Byrdcliffe’s “sewage disposal,” which accommodated between 60-80 people at times, was cited because, during periods of heavy rains, “the unpurified sewage would be carried into the water supply by surface wash and wet weather streams on the steep hillside” and, eventually, enter tributaries to the Sawkill.

What was at stake if charges were brought against a violator was a lesson learned by Larry Elwyn, Woodstock’s barber and, at the time, town clerk. Elwyn, it seems, simply asked his son one day to empty the “contents” of their “vault.” Boys being boys, the younger Elwyn accomplished the task by merely dumping the box out the back door and into Tannery Brook. Upon notification of the transgression, the superintendent of Kingston’s water works undertook an investigation. “Photographs were taken and evidence was gathered,” and, eventually, a date was set to present the charges against Elwyn. As can only happen in a small town, however, Woodstock’s “board of health met in Elwyn’s barbershop and adjourned to another room,” away from public scrutiny. When they emerged, Elwyn had pled guilty as an “accessory before the fact” and had been fined $25, avoiding a potential $200 fine and possible imprisonment.

Concern by Kingstonians for the purity of their water would rise to even greater heights a few years later as Woodstockers — including artists — continued to enjoy “immersing” themselves in the waters of the Sawkill; the very water that would eventually flow from Kingston faucets. Visitors to Woodstock from Kingston were horrified. Complaints were made. Signs were posted on properties that had granted water rights to the city. The matter was referred to the District Attorney and an injunction was issued against swimming or bathing in posted areas.

Such actions, of course, especially during the heat of summer, proved too enticing for Woodstockers to avoid challenging. Thus, the great “Swim-In” of 1922 was organized. Meetings were held and, in typical Woodstock fashion, charges against the city were leveled. Receiving special notice were the remarks of Woodstock’s health officer, Dr. Downer, who accused the city of Kingston of “stealing the rights of the people,” and attempting to “get control of the entire watershed.”

So it was that on a Saturday morning in June, 100 Woodstockers marched to a swimming hole near the golf course bridge where, according to the Freeman, “they swam or ‘paddled’ or just ‘washed’ according to temperament, age or degree of cleanliness in the drinking water of the city of Kingston, thereby asserting their ‘rights’ to trespass on the property of the city and pollute the water supply of 27,000 people.”

Once again the city called for an injunction. An attempt was made to ascertain the names of those who had participated in the protest. Meanwhile, the Freeman continued to propel the story forward as its editor proclaimed, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness. It is next, not first. Neither Godliness nor the dictates of humanity would compel men or women to drink the water in which they had taken their bath. The idea is abhorrent…”

Woodstock did not back down. Believing that its citizens had been badly mistreated and mischaracterized, the Woodstock Town Board came to the defense of its citizens. Denouncing the actions of the city, the board accused Kingston of signing leases “deliberately to keep local people away from the banks of their streams.”

Slowly, even as swimmers continued to enjoy the cooling waters of the Sawkill, the tension between Woodstock and New York’s first capital began to ease. Eventually, the construction of a pipeline from Cooper Lake to Zena — bypassing the flowing waters of the Sawkill — abated the concerns of most. That said, the great swim-in, as it capped roughly 25 years of tension between Woodstock and Kingston, continued to serve notice that when it came to its natural resources, Woodstockers were not always in a giving mood.

The current controversy over the proposed bottling plant in the Town of Ulster is but another example of disputes that have flared throughout the years, including ones over logging rights, repairs of retaining walls, flooding, water flow during droughts, ice fishing, access, and so on…

Since William Cooper first opened the “flood gates” to issues that have spanned more than a century, an awareness of environmental issues such as climate change, has come to the fore, raising concern that old agreements, however grudgingly accomplished, may not be adequate to relate to future challenges.

In the interim, the process moves on and the history of Woodstock’s relationship with the city of Kingston over water continues to add new chapters. And, no doubt, a central theme within those yet to be written pages will be the vigilance of Woodstockers when it comes to the town’s natural resources. Maybe it’s in the water.++

Richard Heppner is Woodstock Town Historian.

(Unless otherwise noted, quotes within this story were primarily taken from articles that appeared in the Kingston Freeman between 1903-1922. Quotes from New York State Department of Health are from Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, Volume 19. Quotes from Alf Evers are taken from Woodstock – History of an American Town, Overlook Press, 1987).