Artesian Water Co. Pumphouse and Wells | |
![]() The Artesian Water Co. Pumphouse in 2019 | |
Location | Off ID 21, Boise, Idaho |
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Coordinates | 43°36′16″N116°09′46″W / 43.60444°N 116.16278°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1890 |
NRHP reference No. | 79000763 [1] |
Added to NRHP | July 26, 1979 |
The Artesian Water Co. Pumphouse and Wells in Boise, Idaho, include a rectangular building, 27 feet by 50 feet, with battered walls that conform to the inward slope of two drill derricks which supported the original structure. The building houses two pumps that circulate geothermally heated water from wells installed in 1890. Natural hot water from the pumphouse was piped to residential and commercial customers beginning in the 1890s. [2]
In 1887 dairy owner Frank Davis began drilling artesian wells on a ranch owned by his brother, Tom Davis, at Crane Gulch. [3] The Davis brothers intended to supply water to Boise City, but their plan was not successful. [4] [5]
In 1888 Boise City pioneers Christopher W. Moore, Nathan Falk, and John Broadbent began promoting a plan to fund an artesian water company. [6] The Boise Water Works was organized in 1890 with $200,000 in capital stock, with directors George L. Shoup, William H Ridenbaugh, Christopher W. Moore, Timothy Reagan, Peter Sonna, Alfred Eoff, George Ainslie, Richard Z. Johnson, and Hosea B. Eastman. [7] [8] Also in 1890, the Artesian Water and Land Improvement Company began to provide water for the city. Officers of the company were David Heron, Auren G. Redway, Samuel H. Hays, Nathan Falk, John Case, Lazare Weil, and Frank R. Coffin. [9] After a dispute over city hydrant contracts, the two water works merged in 1891 to form the Artesian Hot and Cold Water Company, with Christopher W. Moore as president. [10] [11] Moore was the first residential customer of the company, and his home, now the Moore-Cunningham House, on Warm Springs Avenue was the first house in the United States to be heated geothermally. The company also provided hot water to Boise's Natatorium (1892-1934). [12]
The two wells covered by the pumphouse were operating by 1891. They were sunk 32 feet apart using 6-inch pipe about 400 feet deep. Water mains were made of iron strapped pine wood from Puget Sound. The wells provided a combined water flow of 1,600,000 gallons per day at a temperature of about 170 °F. [13]
In 1892 the Artesian Hot and Cold Water Company published a list of rules and regulations. The company's public policy was formed before water was metered, and domestic customers were charged by the number of rooms in their houses, and "no person or family shall be permitted to furnish water to stone masons, bricklayers, or plasterers..." Barbers were charged $1.00 per month, and butchers were charged $2.00. [14]
The Boise Warm Springs Water District now manages the pumphouse and wells. [12]
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,684 people residing in the city. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is 41 miles (66 km) east of the Oregon border and 110 miles (177 km) north of the Nevada border. The downtown area's elevation is 2,704 feet (824 m) above sea level.
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma or by circulation through faults to hot rock deep in the Earth's crust. In either case, the ultimate source of the heat is the radioactive decay of naturally occurring radioactive elements in the Earth's mantle, the layer beneath the crust.
Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials. The high temperature and pressure in Earth's interior cause some rock to melt and solid mantle to behave plastically. This results in parts of the mantle convecting upward since it is lighter than the surrounding rock. Temperatures at the core–mantle boundary can reach over 4000 °C (7200 °F).
A spring is a natural exit point at which groundwater emerges out of the aquifer and flows onto the top of the Earth's crust (pedosphere) to become surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere, as well as a part of the water cycle. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fresh water, especially in arid regions which have relatively little annual rainfall.
Geothermal heating is the direct use of geothermal energy for some heating applications. Humans have taken advantage of geothermal heat this way since the Paleolithic era. Approximately seventy countries made direct use of a total of 270 PJ of geothermal heating in 2004. As of 2007, 28 GW of geothermal heating capacity is installed around the world, satisfying 0.07% of global primary energy consumption. Thermal efficiency is high since no energy conversion is needed, but capacity factors tend to be low since the heat is mostly needed in the winter.
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Edgar Wilson was a United States Representative from Idaho.
George Ainslie was a lawyer, mining investor, and Congressional delegate from Idaho Territory.
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C. W. Moore Park is a 0.28-acre (0.11 ha) urban park in Boise, Idaho. The park is managed by the Boise Parks and Recreation Department and includes architectural artifacts from some of Boise's demolished buildings.
The Boise City National Bank building in Boise, Idaho, was designed by architect James King as a 3-story, Richardsonian Romanesque commercial structure, inspired by the Marshall Field's Wholesale Store in Chicago. Construction began in April, 1891, and the building was completed in 1892.
Walter E. Pierce was a prominent real estate speculator in Boise City, Idaho, USA, in the late 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century. Pierce served as mayor of Boise City 1895-97 as it evolved from being a frontier community to being a modern town.
The West Warm Springs Historic District in Boise, Idaho, is a neighborhood of homes of some of Boise's prominent citizens of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Roughly bounded by W Main St, W Idaho St, N 1st St, and N 2nd St, the district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and included 14 properties. Of these original resources, 11 remain in the district.
The Lower Main Street Commercial Historic District in Boise, Idaho, is a collection of 11 masonry buildings, originally 14 buildings, that were constructed 1897-1914 as Boise became a metropolitan community. Hannifin's Cigar Store is the oldest business in the district (1922), and it operates in the oldest building in the district (1897). The only building listed as an intrusion in the district is the Safari Motor Inn (1966), formerly the Hotel Grand (1914).
The Warm Springs Avenue Historic District in Boise, Idaho, is a residential area with 96 contributing houses representing a variety of architectural styles constructed between 1870 and 1940. The district includes Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Bungalow, and other styles representing the work of architects Tourtellotte & Hummel, Wayland & Fennell, Kirtland Cutter, and others. The Children's Home Society of Idaho occupies the largest structure in the district, and its buildings are the only structures that are not houses.
The New York Canal is an irrigation canal in the western United States, located in southwestern Idaho. Sourced from the Boise River, it originates at the Diversion Dam in Ada County and ends after 41 miles (66 km) at Lake Lowell in Canyon County.
James King was an early architect in Idaho. He was the first formally trained architect operating in the state.