JACKSON.

The matter of sewage disposal for the various hotels at Jackson has been the subject, not only of special legislation, but of numerous reports, correspondence, conferences and inspections. First coming to the attention of the State Board of Health some ten years ago as a result of an outbreak of typhoid fever in this mountain resort, the latter was responsible for the enactment, in 1927, of a law directing the local health officers to inspect and regulate the operation of the "cesspools or other systems of sewage" and if necessary to "so alter or construct the same" under the supervision of the State Board of Health, to the end that there be no pollution of the waters of the Ellis or Wildcat Rivers such as to "affect their purity for domestic purposes."

At about this time an agent of the State Board of Health made a preliminary study of the Jackson sewerage situation, finding this to be exceedingly bad, and the installation of septic tanks was advised. Subsequently a more thorough study was conducted by the president of the Board, who made a report of his findings and recommendations to the Governor. At that time the remedy prescribed was septic tanks, a number of which had already been installed, in such a way and in such locations that the results therefrom were very poor.

The matter continued to be the subject of inspection and recommendation. While the development of the septic tank system brought a substantial improvement over conditions as originally existent, yet the situation continued to be far from satisfactory, as it does today.

The accompanying sketch serves to indicate the relative location of the hotels on the Wildcat River. Some understanding of the matter can also be gained from the following, which represents a portion of the text of a report made to the Board under date of November 6, 1924, based upon an inspection October 28th:

SEWAGE DISPOSAL AT JACKSON.

Chapter 126, Laws of 1917, enacted upon the solicitation of citizens of the town of Jackson, provides that "it shall be the duty of local boards of health to inspect the cesspools or other systems of sewage at least once each year, and if any such cesspools or other systems of sewage be deemed by said boards of health to pollute or contaminate the waters of the Ellis or Wildcat Rivers, or their tributaries, in such manner as to affect their purity for domestic purposes, the said boards of health shall cause the owners of such cesspools or other systems of sewage so deemed to pollute or contaminate said waters to alter or construct the same under the supervision and in accordance with the regulations of the state board of health."

Both the Ellis and the Wildcat Rivers flows due south through the town of Jackson, the one off of the east slope of Mt. Washington, the other, to the eastward, from off Carter Dome. Just below Jackson village and a short distance above the Bartlett line these streams meet to form the Glen-Ellis, which latter empties into the Saco a short distance south of the Glen station in Bartlett. Thence the flow of the Saco is southerly down through the west side of the township of Conway, thence due east into the State of Maine at Fryeburg. After leaving Jackson and thence to the state line the flow is largely through uninhabited territory, touching no villages or communities of any size.

The practical application of the statute is to the Wildcat River; the Ellis River, at least so far as concerns the interests of the framers of this law, being involved in but a small way. On the first named there are located five large hotels and at least one good sized boarding house, or small hotel. These are, in the order of their location on the stream, beginning from the most northerly and highest up, also with capacities as listed in a booklet issued by the Boston & Maine Railroad: Eagle Mountain House,

125; Wentworth Hall and cottages, 275; Jackson Falls House, 80; The Hawthorne, 65; Gray's Inn, 250; Iron Mountain House, 125. (See accompanying sketch).

As, with the exception of the Eagle Mountain House, all of these places are practically within Jackson village and the distance from the first to the last is scarcely more than a mile, and as all are more or less closely situated with respect to the Wildcat River, it will appear that during the summer months this stream is exposed to contamination by the discharges from, as well as the frequenting by of upwards of 1,000 persons, to say nothing of employees and the normal village population, as well as farms and campers on the upper reaches and tributaries.

And in this connection it needs to be taken into consideration that these 1,000 persons are not served by the accommodations of normal village life, wherein the individual well and the privy or cesspool are the rule; rather, at every hotel there is a superabundance of running water, unmetered, with scores of bathrooms and toilets and hundreds of spigots, the result being that during the summer months there is a trend toward the river of a very considerable volume of water.

As to the size of the Wildcat with respect to capacity for dilution, it may be said of it that it is one of those streams too large to warrant the designation of "brook," yet rather small to be dignified by the name of "river." Upon all the maps at hand, including that of the U. S. Geological Survey, it is referred to as "Wildcat Brook." At this time it is said to be of about normal size, i. e., larger flow than usually true during midsummer, yet now the volume is only that of a very shallow, rocky stream of but a few inches depth, with width as here involved of as little as one up to perhaps as much as three or four rods. It is reported that usually the volume is sufficient to operate (by means of a flume) a six-foot water wheel for generating current.

With reference to the septic tanks as now in operation at the various hotels, it should be stated that a number of these were installed prior to President Fletcher's first visit to this region and others were located in ways different from that specified by both Professor Fletcher and by the local health officer, Mr. A. C. Harriman. The latter informed the writer that prior to the passage of this law the situation was so bad that it was nothing unusual to see large masses of fecal matter and similar wastes piled up at the water's edge at some of the bends in the lower stream. There was also some typhoid fever, at one time a small-seized epidemic, it being reasonable to believe that this may have in some part at least been contracted from bathing in the stream.

On the whole, the efforts to clean up this situation, to secure such enforcement of the statute as to mean a stream free from appreciable pollution, have apparently failed to receive the whole-hearted co-operation of the hotel managements. In fact there appears to have been indifference and even active opposition, and opposition, particularly, to the expenditure of any substantial sums of money to this end. Actually the proprietor of the large modern type summer hotel, with a hundred or more guests, can well afford and should expect to assign a substantial percentage of his building and maintenance costs to the construction and maintenance of an efficient system of sewage disposal.

This statement has especial application to the hotels in the Jackson region because, as already indicated, these are all virtually massed upon the shores of a comparatively small mountain stream, a somewhat unusual situation thereby being involved. Notwithstanding the advice from health authorities the tendency in constructing the septic tanks appears to have been to locate these with respect to the hotel as far away therefrom as possible, which has usually meant placing them well down to and in some cases almost on the shores of the river, the result being