Shannahan Artesian Well Co. Inc.

In the record (3)

1. 1939 · 1939-10-24

   Ocean City contracted for four new artesian wells in October 1939 and deliberately took the cheaper bid without the guarantee

   Bids for drilling new wells at the north pump station were opened on 24 October. M. A. Pentz of Denton bid $3.00 a foot for a 6-inch well and $14.00 for screen. The Artesian Well Drilling Co. of Philadelphia bid $3.25 a foot on the well and $13.00 a foot on screen, guaranteeing 1,000 gallons a minute on four wells. The Shannahan Artesian Well Co. Inc. of St Michaels bid $3.40 a foot with screens at $10.75, on a guarantee of 1,000 gallons a minute - or, alternatively, $2.35 a foot on well and $10.75 on screen 'for each foot not guaranteed'. On C. P. Cropper's motion, seconded by Bounds, 'Contract was awarded Shannahan on non guaranteed Basis'. The specification had gone out on 3 October: four wells to supply 250 gallons a minute each. — 1940 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [confirmed]: The four wells contracted in October 1939 on the cheaper, non-guaranteed bid were not enough. On 15 January 1940 the council unanimously resolved 'that the well contractor drive a fifth well to supply a sufficient quantity of water to the water tank at the south end of the town.' The cost then drove the tax rate: the minute of 8 July 1940 raises the rate to $1.20 partly because 'the cost of the new wells for north Pump Station would have to be carried over for 1940' and notes had been given to pay for them.

   The council took a dollar and five cents a foot off the price by giving up the guarantee that the wells would produce water. In a town whose budget sheet that summer showed three years of uncollected water rent, that is not thrift so much as a bet.

   Clifford P. CropperE. Raymond BoundsWilliam H. Scott

   Source · checked 2026-08-11

2. 1943 · 1943-12-01

   Ocean City spent the back half of 1943 asking whether its wells could be blown clear and what two more would cost — and in January 1944 decided to try flowing them itself and save the money.

   Clifford P. CropperJ. M. Mumford

   Source · checked 2026-08-12

3. 1946 · 1946-11-15

   Ocean City contracted for two artesian wells at its north end in November 1946 and was taking advice on bonds to pay for extending its water mains.

   'Letter from Shannahan Artesian Well Co. Inc. with proposal for driving two wells at [the] North End was read, and on motion by R. Dolle, seconded by Savage, contract was awarded to Shannahan for the work.' No price is entered. Three weeks earlier the clerk had read a letter from Clarke Gardner on bonds for water extensions - the same engineer who drew the zoning map, and the same man who had carried the town's post-war water main extension through 1945 until the council rejected both bids five days before Christmas as too dear. The 1946 answer is not to let the contract but to drill at the north end and think about borrowing. The same meeting had Councilman Savage ask the town to look into making places where the fire trucks could get water from the Bay, and what that would cost.

   Clark GardnerRudolph DolleCranford O. Savage

   Source · checked 2026-08-15