GILFORD - Things were looking up for Gilford and the Lakes Region in general in the 1950s, and large trucks were a common sight along the road to the gravel pits of Liberty Hill.

They came and went regularly in 1952, moving material.

It seemed normal for good economic times. But 50 years later, the trips are raising deep concerns in a residential neighborhood bordering Jewett Brook.

"When I left (for the Korean War) it was a gravel pit," recalls Jerry Lacroix, a lifelong resident. "When I came back, it was a tar pit."

The "it" he refers to is a section of land near his home where trucks deposited large quantities of coal tar and tar-saturated materials. The tar is a byproduct of superheating coal to produce gas, a process no longer used in the area today.

The gooey substance was hauled to Gilford after a manufactured gas plant on Messer Street in Laconia, operated by Gas Service Inc., exploded and burned. The deposits eventually grew into what witnesses described as a black lagoon surrounded by a wasteland.

It is now known how the material got to Gilford - the trucks. Still unknown, though, is what to do about it.

Town residents and community leaders are growing concerned that they are sitting on an environmental time bomb with potentially serious health concerns and profound economic consequences.

Longtime residents fear the real toll may be found in medical problems, including an estimated 18 cases of cancer, among current and former residents of the neighborhood.

Longtime Liberty Hill resident Betty Trask, whose husband died seven years ago from cancer, remembers that it was shortly after the gas plant explosion when a lot of activity began to occur in and around the Gilford gravel pits.

She said she saw many trucks hauling in loads to the gravel pits in 1952.

"At that time, we didn't even know it was dangerous," Trask said.

Lacroix, who lives across the street from the dump site, said his uncle, Sylvio Morin, originally owned the pit. He said he doesn't believe Morin was fully aware of the nature or potential hazards of the dumping.

"I was shocked," he said about what he found upon returning to the area. "But I didn't think too much of it. I figured it didn't belong to me, so keep my mouth shut and go about my business."

Rodger Breton, who grew up at 27 Liberty Hill Road and whose mother still lives at the residence, said he remembers, as a boy of 12, playing with friends around the tar pond without any regard for the potential hazards it posed.

Thinking back, he said he remembered finding dead animals around the pond.

Residents living in the area at the time said the coal tar pond was frequented by curious kids, and Jewett Brook, which wraps around the downward slope of Liberty Hill, was a popular fishing spot.

The pond sat in the open for about 10 years. Lacroix recalled that at some point, the coal tar pond was bulldozed over and filled in with soil. Trask said it wasn't long after that when house lots became available. Families then started moving into homes built over the pit.

Before that there were only a few homes on the Hill, including the Lacroix family farm.

History

The story behind the coal tar, and how it was buried there, can be traced back to the March 5, 1952 fire in neighboring Laconia. The Laconia Evening Citizen reported that the Gas Service Inc. manufactured gas plant on Messer Street exploded in the early morning hours in a blast that could be heard and felt throughout the city.

The blast and fire that followed ripped apart the steel-and-brick building, reducing it to rubble.

Shortly after the explosion, portable gas equipment was brought up from Lowell, Mass. and hitched onto the remaining portions of the Gas Service plant in Laconia so production could go on. While production continued for a short time, a natural gas pipeline brought into the area eventually made it unnecessary to make gas locally.

What resulted from the week-long dumping was an oval-shaped pond of coal tar. Estimates of the size vary, but it was big enough to show up in aerial photographs taken at the time.

Documents prepared for the Department of Environmental Services as part of a Liberty Hill site investigation indicate an unnamed construction firm was hired to secure a location and dispose of coal tar from the Laconia plant in 1952.

As part of a report tracing the history and ownership of the area around 69, 77, and 83 Liberty Hill Road, research found that in March of 1949, Sylvio Morin sold 11 acres of land to the Laconia Sand and Gravel Company.

The Gilford gravel pits, identified in the documents as "Laconia Sand and Gravel Company," became the resting place for the coal tar. Ownership of the Sand and Gravel company is unclear. Documents included with the site report say the corporation was terminated by the Secretary of State in 1951.

But the same documents also indicate Morin signed a release to Gas Service Inc. The release, according to the report, permitted disposal of coal tar on or near what is now 63 and 69 Liberty Hill Road.

The former Sand and Gravel Company property was sold in June of 1960 at a tax auction. In May of 1966, documents filed with the DESindicate Gerald Gilbert sold the property to Christopher Downes Jr., who ultimately developed it into the neighborhood it is today.

It appears the tar was largely forgotten for 20 years as the land was developed and families moved in. But the existence of a possible waste site came up in 2000 during proceedings between KeySpan Energy and Energy North Natural Gas, Inc. KeySpan was taking over EnergyNorth, which was the successor owner of Gas Service Inc. 

Full Story:
http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071104/GJNEWS
02/711030095/-1/CITIZEN