The workmen and horses, hired by local contractor, James M. McGregor, cleared the “basin” for the Mt. Zircon Reservoir. The contractor’s contract with the Board of Trustees required that all work be started by April 1, 1913 and be completed “no later than November 1, 1913.”The contract was signed March 31, 1913 and McGregor’s low bid was for $110,000. However, due to an injury sustained by Mr. McGregor while laying the main 24” pipe, and the onset of the winter of 1913-1914, work was stopped until the spring of 1914.
The crew constructed an approximately 100 ft. long bridge from the top of the dam to the gatehouse. The gatehouse was to be of a circular form with a 10 foot interior diameter. The three gates to maintain water flow were located inside. Special considerations of the impact of winter’s ice on the gatehouse were addressed in the Sawyer & Moulton Report.
The concrete core walls of the dam (4 ft. thick) sit on solid ledge. The dam is 842 ft. above sea level, making it one of the three highest dams in Maine. It is 847 ft. long; is 57 ft. high at its center; and floods 21 acres. When at full capacity, it held 110,000,000 gallons of water.
A small cabin can be seen in the background of the photo which shows the empty reservoir in August, 1914. During World War II, the reservoir was under constant surveillance against possible sabotage of drinking water sources. The patrolman who utilized the cabin was Asa West, who resided with his wife, Alda, at their farm near the confluence of the Mt. Zircon Brook and the Androscoggin River.
His granddaughter, Janette West Blouin, who still resides next to the existing West farm, recalls hearing from her parents that some of the workmen at the Reservoir boarded with Asa and Alda while construction was ongoing. She herself remembers that as a small child she would take a picnic lunch up to the dam cabin to meet her grandfather and patrol the perimeter of the dam with Asa. His attendance to his duties was verified by punching a “time clock” mechanism at periodic locations along the dam’s perimeter.
