ALBANY — City water department employees were about five feet beneath the asphalt on Broadway when they came across something they weren't expecting: a log.

"As soon as we saw it, I thought, 'Well, that can't be an old telephone pole,'" said Joseph Coffey, the department's commissioner.

They pulled out the log, which was about six feet long and hollowed out, only to learn that it was a piece of Albany's history as well as a testament to how far we've come in water infrastructure over the past three centuries. It was a wood water main, likely from the 1700s.

"Wood water mains go way back," Coffey said. "It reminds us that Albany was an older urban settlement."

The colonial-era main was found Friday morning as crews worked to connect the former Argus building, 412 Broadway, to the city sewer system.

The work being done there is a result of an investigation that last month revealed that the building was never hooked into the city's sewer system that was installed in 1913. Instead, the building's sewage was being discharged directly into the Hudson River.

While the exact age of the wood water main is not known, Coffey said he estimates it was installed in the mid- to late 1700s, when wood was still used. The city switched to the use of cast iron in the early 1800s.

The water department's website notes that at one point all of the city's water mains were hollowed-out tree trunks. "Although unlikely, there is a very remote outside chance that somewhere beneath some of the oldest parts of our City, a functioning wooden water main remains," the site reads.

This is not the first time that part of a wood water main has been excavated, Coffey said. Workers have also found parts in the Green Street area.

One of the wood pipes found on Green Street dated back to 1797. That specific piece was in such good condition that the water department kept it and placed it on display in its office.

Coffey said the piece found on Broadway had likely been disturbed during construction in years past. It was "not in the best of shape," and they probably wouldn't keep it.

But despite this, Coffey said the discovery was still an exciting one.

"You never know what you're going to find when you're digging holes in Albany," Coffey said. "As I tell people, the magic here is underground."