THE BOROUGH OF BEAVER AND WATER
The need for an adequate water supply was perpetually
a problem of primary importance and urgency for the aforementioned
civilizations. It was the same for the European settlers when
they first came to the shores of this country and eventually found
their way to Western Pennsylvania. It is also with us today!
Indeed, our entire country with only some minor exceptions is
endowed with rich water resources and vegetation. It is one of
the most valuable of all our national resources. Our forefathers
built their small towns and big cities on locations where water
was abundant.
It was not enough to choose the location for the new town. Consideration
had to be given also to the supply of water. The terrain did not
really matter much. It could be hilly or level ground so long
as that precious thing-water existed nearby. Beaver was not an
exception.
It is interesting to study the Acts of the Assembly of Pennsylvania
and the correspondence that was exchanged before and after the
Acts were passed relating to Beaver. The State reserved "three
thousand acres on the Ohio river on both sides of the mouth of
Beaver Creek including Fort McIntosh" March 12, 1783. A second
Act in 1791 appointed three Commissioners to survey this land.
Daniel Leet did the surveying in November 1791 in the absence
of the other two members who were unable to be present. But the
Legislature failed to recognize Leet's work as official because
it was one man's job. Nevertheless, the same Assembly by an Act
of March 6, 1793 confirmed and approved Leet's labors. This being
accomplished, Governor Thomas Mifflin directed the Surveyor-General
on March 11, 1793 to be guided by the Act of 1791 and to proceed
to pinpoint the eight squares provided in the "Beaver Plan"
for the use of the State. That plan was the same one that guided
Daniel Leet in his work. The reader must remember that the entire
land encompassed in the above plan was still the property of the
State until the incorporation of the Borough of Beaver on March
29, 1802. The State put this land up for sale as far back as 1794,
first in Philadelphia, then in Pittsburgh and at the Court House
in Washington County before the sale was transferred to Beaver
on the spot where the land was located. The State reserved unto
itself only the eight parks indicated on the original layout of
the town.
Alexander Addison, President-Judge of Washington County Court,
was given jurisdiction over the newly-created territory that became
Beaver County in 1800. He was assigned the task of the sale of
the land and reporting to the Governor all problems pertaining
to Beaver Territory. As early as February 3, 1796, four years
before the erection of the County and six years before the incorporation
of the Borough of Beaver, Judge Addison wrote to Governor Thomas
Mifflin and State Secretary Dallas calling their attention to
the need for reserving certain tracts of land where springs were
located for the intended inhabitants of the future town of Beaver,
instead of letting them fall into private hands. We print those
letters in their entirety. They reveal the general conditions
existing in the area at that time but at this point we are interested
primarily in those sections that are relevant to the water springs.
Judge Alexander Addison was in charge of the overall sales of
the in-lots and out-lots of the Beaver Plan. That plan extended
to include Bridgewater and the greater part of present-day Rochester.