GENESEO, NY — While replacing the lateral water line serving Touch of Grace at 65 Main Street between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, Jan. 18 and 19, the Geneseo DPW crew — Superintendent Jason Frazer, Tim Cylmo, Todd Johnson, and Rick Scoville — uncovered what first seemed to be a wooden log buried parallel to the road. It was under the street at a depth of about three feet, seven feet from the sidewalk.

Closer examination revealed that this was in fact a disconnected section of wooden water pipe, probably part of the village’s original system built before the Civil War.

A similar but less well preserved log had been unearthed in Center Street in 1996 and was put on display in the Livingston County Museum.

Under the ground, in the absence of oxygen, the pine wood had stayed in a remarkable state of preservation. The barkless surface is a little spongy to the touch, but most of the wood has retained its solidity and probably could still transmit water today.

Indeed, this wooden pipe could probably still move water under high pressure. The log itself is just over a foot in diameter, with a one and three-quarter inch diameter bore drilled through its heart. Geneseo’s first water system was fed from a spring now marked by a trough, located by Temple Hill, near the top of Center Street. Main Street and other lower elevations must have had excellent pressures.

The small diameter contrasts with the present day ductile iron pipe with eight inch diameter.

The jointed end of the wooden pipe remained in very good condition, connected to a not-so-well preserved mate. A small lead fitting, flared in the middle, was used to join the sections, each eight feet in length. The fitting was found in place and in perfect condition.

Fittings were driven into the end bores of each wooden pipe, providing a reasonably good seal.

Surprisingly, the pipes were not abutted tightly end-to-end. There is a four inch gap purposely filled with native gray clay.

Saturated and sealed, the wood and clay apparently made for a fairly leakproof joint. Frazer suggests the clay also provided some flexibility when the ground shifted.

Pine wood was used, both for its resistance to rot and to ease the job of boring. A hardwood log would have posed much greater difficulty in boring out the center — back at a time when the work may have been done by hand.

The log was discovered in proximity to a parallel ceramic clay tile running along one side at the same elevation. The purpose of the tile was apparently to transport away any leakage which did occur, thereby avoiding mud pools in the road.

See complete story in our Jan. 28 print edition.

Tagged as: Geneseo-Groveland