It was built upon a granite base fifteen feet square. A pedestal of twenty feet was paneled with two Roman arches in each side, and capped with brown stone. Each side of the tapering shaft was reinforced with two diagonal buttresses, and the top was elaborately designed and ornamented with quatrefoils of brown stone. It rose to a height of one hundred and five feet and was first in use on November 4, 1864.
On September 15 (1920), while removing the debris at the base of the shaft, the workmen came upon a copper box at about fifteen inches from either face at the easterly corner. There was no stone, or indication of its presence. It was simply embedded in the regular brickwork and was 4×4times;9 inches in size, and contained four Boston (morning) papers (of October 1, 1863), three Charlestown papers (weekly) one New York daily, Harper's Weekly, and a New York comic weekly, The Phunny Phellow. Noticeable in the two latter are the cartoons relating to the French occupation of Mexico, and the ‘rebel rams’ built in England, the time being that of the Civil War. The Charlestown directory and city reports of the previous year, with the report on the introduction of water, including a complete map of the system, and an envelope containing a silver half-dollar of 1807, a copper half-cent of 1807, a copper cent, and another (copper) coin so flattened as to defy identification, and two bronze (Indian) cents of 1863, made up the contents, which we were afforded the privilege of examining.
We found no reference to the waterworks in the Boston dailies, and have discovered (as yet) no intimation of any ceremonies attendant upon the depositing of the box, which was probably on October 1 or 2 of 1863.
The Charlestown Enterprise and Bunker Hill Aurora
