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Tagona Water & Light Company

Tagona Water & Light Co.

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As a condition of Clergue’s agreement with the town of Sault Ste. Marie in 1894 to purchase its uncompleted power plant, the town granted Clergue a 20 year franchise for the exclusive right to supply the town’s water and electricity. The franchise also stated that the company was to lay down four miles of water pipe in Sault Ste. Marie and supply 100 water hydrants by October 1895. Clergue incorporated a new company, the Tagona Water and Light Company in October 1894 to fulfill the terms of the franchise agreement.

The company proved profitable, however there was dissatisfaction among the citizens of Sault Ste. Marie and Steelton concerning the company’s service. In 1901 the town threatened to cancel the company’s franchise due to the poor quality of the water. Water quality was again an issue during the summer of 1912 when an outbreak of typhoid in the city was traced back to a failure in the Tagona Water and Light’s chlorine plant. Power failures and high electrical rates also added to the public’s dissatisfaction.

Picture of Water and Light Department 1922. Collection of the Sault Ste Marie Public Library Archives

As the termination date of the Tagona Water and Light’s franchise approached the citizens of Sault Ste. Marie launched a petition asking the City Council not to renew the company’s franchise, but to set up a municipally owned and operated water and light system. Council agreed and in 1915 the city purchased the utility.

At first the new public utility operated as the City’s Water and Light Department. In 1916 the Water and Light Committee of City Council presented a report to Council concerning the formation of a public utilities commission to administer the water and light system. A bylaw was put to the citizens of Sault Ste. Marie during the municipal election of 1917 was passed and the Sault Ste. Marie Public Utilities Commission was created.