"Dam
Rascals" Narrator I: Our Hillsborough
River has been the source of controversy this year. Our group, Friends
of the River, was formed this February because we believe a River must
have a constant flow of freshwater, or it ceases to exist as a River.
And no one has the right to kill a River. This controversy continues.
Narrator II: It was the end of the 19th Century, the "Gay Nineties". The West was won, and was no longer wild. The only wild state left in America was down south in Florida. Here, cattle still ranged freely, and pioneers were just beginning to settle many areas. In the southeastern edge of Florida, a fishing village of two dozen souls was incorporated as the City of Miami. Railroads had come to Florida, bringing the first tourists. This was in the period when Tampa was first paving its sand streets and laying sidewalks. Teddy Roosevelt and his 30,000 Rough Riders filled Tampa's streets in 1898 with cowboys and Indians looking for the next great adventure. While waiting to ship out to Cuba, they found plenty of high times in Tampa, and made sport of shooting out the city's new electric lights. This was the stage for a conflict that rocked the little port city, as the 19th century frontier spirit of Hillsborough County cattlemen clashed with the new inventions heralding the 20th Century. Freedom vs. Progress, the sacred concept of the Free Range vs. the magic of Edison's electricity. This conflict played out here where we are today, at a River that in those days was not used as a source of drinking water, but rather as a source of electrical power. The question was, who would hold the power in Tampa; which side would win, the past or the future? Narrator I: The original dam was constructed by the Consumers Electric Light and Street Railway Company, which built it for $150,000. It was finished in late 1897. Consumers built it to generate hydroelectric power, having acquired the City's street lighting contract in 1894. The dam was a popular attraction, and people came from all around to see 'where the electricity was made'. The dam consisted of a solid wall of masonry 30 feet wide at the base and 12 feet at the top. One of Consumers street car lines made the 5 mile run from 22nd Street to the hydro plant. When the dam filled up, the water covered hundreds of acres formerly used by cattlemen as grazing lands. Cattle Baron: I'm Francis M. Robles, rancher. That Consumers company has no right to flood my pasture land. And all these other boys round here feel the same way. We warned 'em when they started talking about building it. Yes, I know you heard they paid us high prices for that land. It was a right fair price, but that's besides the point. You cannot take away a man's right to graze his cattle anywhere on God's green Earth. It ain't natural. Those Consumers fellas are committing a dastardly infringement of our God-given right to graze our cows anywhere they care to roam. And by God, this dam shall not stand. One way or another, it shall not stand! Narrator II: The cattlemen were true to their word. They tried three times to blow it up, the first on January 8, 1897, shortly after construction was completed. " [reads newspaper account from January 9, 1897] Narrator I: Two more times the cattle barons would try and fail to get back their grazing lands. But finally, on the night of December 13, 1898 … Newsboy: EXTRA! EXTRA! Dam Across Hillsborough River Blown To Pieces With Dynamite! Most Cowardly Crime Ever Committed in City or County! Explosion Causes Most Intense Excitement! Night Watchman: I'm J. A. Tucker, one of the 2 night watchmen here last night. I was sittin here by the fire on this here end, the west side. It was dark, along about 7:00. He musta snuck by me - I don't rightly see how he coulda done it. Both me and the other fella over on the east side yonder can see pert near anybody or anything up on this dam, the way Consumers has got it all lit up. He musta throwed the dynamite into the flood gate and took off, or he'd be a goner. Yeah, he knew what he was doing, all right. Ain't nothing left. Soon as it blew, we skeddadaled and got the word out, got right on the telephone and told every body down river to look out. Narrator I: The water rushed through with such a force it took everything in its wake. The explosion was heard miles upstream, and nearby residents said they feared an earthquake had occurred. Workmen and electricians in the generating plant scrambled and swam for their lives as the wave of floodwater swept through the structure. Consumers Executive: My name is Peter O. Knight. I organized the Consumers Electric Light and Street Railway Company. No sir, I do not believe the villains responsible for this dastardly act are the people who own the land nearby. Actually, sir, the Consumers Electric Light and Street Railway Company now holds title to all property along the dam. We have acquired this property in the past two years from the previous owners. We stood the grumbling from these people just as long as we could, and then paid them almost their own price for the land, which in some cases was exorbitant. I can't conceive what would prompt them to do such a thing at this time, when we took nearly all their land at big prices, and have done everything reasonable to adjust all differences. They might have caused the explosion, but I can hardly believe it. The entire plant is ruined. Our company has suffered a loss of property of $150,000. This is a terrible loss to the City as well, right here before Christmas. We'll have to let go anywhere from 150 to 200 men. I don't know how we can make the street cars run again. We are bringing a generator up here to restore some power, but we're all going to have to be careful with the lights, and not tax the present power of the plant more than is necessary. Or everybody in town is going to have go back to kerosene lamps and candles, including all the cigar factories in Ybor City. Just when we finished replacing all the street lights those Rough Riders shot out, God Bless 'Em! Narrator II: People that lived nearby said they thought it was an earthquake. The next day, people came from all over the county to see the damage and pick up the hundreds of fish left on the now dry ground. Children: Look, Poppa, they blew up the dam! Momma,
look at all the fish, can we go get some? Children: $2,500! I could buy me a mansion with that! I'm gonna catch me those dam rascals! Narrator II: Almost everyone knew who was guilty
- but no arrests were made. The cattle barons were still too powerful.
5 men were arrested on December 31 and charged with the 1st attempt. Peter
O. Knight represented the prosecution. On the second day of the trial
the judge instructed the jury to bring in a verdict of not guilty. The
judge had the state's witness, J. A. Tucker, the night watchman who let
the bomber get past him, arrested and charged with perjury and complicity,
but Tucker was never convicted. Narrator I: Water was supplied in Tampa's early days by private wells, cisterns and tanks. Tampa's first water plant went into operation on April 20, 1899, operated by the private Tampa Waterworks Company. It pumped well water to supply the City until March 6, 1923, when the people voted to purchase the Waterworks plant for the City. Instead of expanding the well system, the City decided to build a new water plant on the Upper Hillsborough River, above the Tampa Electric Dam. In later years, when steam power made the hydro plant obsolete, it was used as an auxiliary power source. The old plant continued in this role until September 1933, when the dam was washed away and never rebuilt. What was left of the dam was given to the city in 1944, and was rebuilt in 1948 to become part of Tampa's water reservoir system. Today, you can see the remains of the original dam: those brick foundations below the current dam. Narrator II: The bricks sit exposed in the low salty water that trickles upriver with the tides from Tampa Bay, as no fresh water is now allowed to flow over the dam into the Lower Hillsborough River except during for a few weeks during the rainy season. A 5 year scientific study will soon begin to determine whether the Lower River's ecosystem would benefit from a regular release of a minimal amount of freshwater year-round. The City of Tampa and the Southwest Florida Water Management District agreed to perform this study after Friends of the River, Inc., challenged Swiftmud's establishment of a minimum flow rule which would never require that the Lower River receive any freshwater. The City is planning to reroute Sulphur Springs water 2 miles upstream and release it right below the dam beginning this spring, at times when the City does not pump the Springs water into the reservoir to supplement the water supply. The Springs water is several times too salty to be considered fresh, but it will make the 2 mile stretch from the dam to the Springs a little less salty than it is now. Narrator I: A century ago, Tampa was the fastest
growing city in America. It tapped the power of the Hillsborough River
to supply the electricity that its new industry and homes needed. The
battle of the dam was won by the Cattle Barons, but they would lose the
war. Their pasture lands would remain flooded until 1933. By this time
the cattle were long gone from this part of Hillsborough County, and the
Free Range was a part of history. << Return to River History >>
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