The New York herald., 1871-12-02
TIE Water Choked by Ice at
Chestnut HILL
Thc Supply Completely Cut OF, and Hotels,
Factories, Newspapers, Machinery,
Railroad Engines and Domestic
Apparatus Entirely at
Standstill.
Great Excitement and a General
"Hub "-bub.


-seen very fruitful OF serious as well as ludcrous
incidents. When the three or four hundred thou
sand inhabitants arose from their sumOers thAs
morning all fuu Of pleasing memories OF the happy
THANKSGIVING festival OF the day BEFORE tney found
chat natures liquid had ceased to now, and that
scarcely drop OF water was TO be found anywhere.
The pipes were dumb, and the terrible visions Of o
water famine were too painfully foreshadowed TO
admit OF much levIty. Cochituate had actually
failed, and the whole community believed that the
supply Of aqueous fuid, 80 necessary for all pur.
poses OF life. had given out for an indefinite period
AZ may he expected, the excitement aud alarm
which followed was well calculated to
CREATE A SERIOUS AND GENERAL PANIC
among the people, and when the fact became uni.
vcrsaly known that the water had failed there was
such an excitement and commotiOn as AeAr--a
peen witnessed since that memorable day In April,
1861, when the rebels fired upon Fort Sumter. The
manufacturing establishments, the hotels, the
households and everything and everybody were at
an alarming standsiill The publication Of some OF
the newspapers was delayed, the morning trains
could not get away, old topers had to take their
'eye-openers' straight, and everywhere there was
universal scare and hullabaoo at the absence or
nuid which had never before been properly appre-
ciated, even In the renowned antrum town Of
Boston.
BY Daylight the city was full Of all sorts Of stories
cold immediately suggested to everybody the prooa-
bility that sack Frost' had put his icy fingers In
the water supply at our houses and sealed up the
pipes. Hot water LETT in boilers and teaketles was
Immediately brought into use and vigorous thaw-
iDg OF the frozen pipes began, continued ana ended
IN msapprehension OF the real canse OF the trou-
ble One of our eX mayors worked about TWO hours
on his COchituate pipes with
HOT WATER AND TLANNELs
and other warming appliances. and finally gave up
In despair and rushed to the City Hall find out the
real reason All over the city 1t was the same; and
when was found that the water was not kept back
by the cold that the pipes frozen the mat
Ter began to assume q serious look. Visions of
water famine appeared with their dlsagreeable as.
s0cia!lons on the scene The housewife saw that
her kitchen fire must soon be put out II q boiler
was connected with the range, or trouble would en-.
sue very soon; manufactures consuming immense
amounts OF water In their business every
day could not start their engines and
she wheels Of their machinery were
idle. Ofhces were cold and cherries without steam
which could not be had, because there was no
water TO make IT; stable keepers. with scores Of
tuate were ut their wits ends ior supply; every.
body and everth ing was demoralized for few
ably occur
II TIE WATER FAMINE WAS TO CONTINUE
stories OF laIe OF the scarcity OF water in Lake
Cochtuate and the resers olrs, was not strange
That the water pipes IN their houses or
iieved that the supply OF waler ior the city had
nnally given ont and that Lake Cochtuate had
s Of % pano s
point OF thought and inquiry was the water ofice In
,ne cy H m wcn WI s,u was s literally literally beseced % with
In life, and with all sorts or questions, came and
went from the time the oilice was open until the
"a fA ntn w 40 mt l1v fr.
be feared. The information obained there was
very limited, and was substantially summed up In
the laconic statement, printed on brown paper,
SCREENS FROZEN AT CHESTNUT HILL RESERVOIRS.
.'When will they be opened ~ was common inquiry
PROBABLY in o lew hours" was the equally COM
All was uncertainty, however, and decidedly un
satisfactory. No business man could tell when mis-
shop would start up, how soon the boiler in his
Kitchen range would be out OF danger. Reports
was ali moonshine, and That the rea, iact was that
the main between tne city and the reservoir had
burst The real trouble, however as stated by the
IN the Chestnut Hill reservoir; that the mouth Of
the main through which all the water we have IN
Boston proper passes had been clogged up with Ice
30 that It had entirely stopped the water passing
into 1t This unpleasant state Of things was ans
covered at an early hour TINS morning.
HOW IT HAPPENED
II happened In this way. The water as 1t passes
screens, for the purpose preventing the fish.
leaves and rubbish generally from entering the
weather especially, when the current Of the water en-.
iering the main Is not strong Ice is apt 10 coect at
Constantly employed there Thursday s they Were
away for thanksgiving pleasures, and the ice
Hncn eo@pesey @ SOekea wa " so'ia soon mass
tnis was discovered this morning the men went
intense cold, so that the work OF clearing It was
found diflicult one, and at one time there were
letting supply Of water into the main and OF taxing
thochances OI the rubbish going Shortly after
eight O'Clock however, the screens were cleared SO
IN ms N oda
lie appearance IN the outskirts OF the Highlands and
South Boston, and gradually TO the city. Directly
UPON THE DISCOVERY OF THE TROUBLE
members OF the Water Board went out TO the reser.
yoir and superlntended the work, and upon their
following Official statement
CooRiIuATy WATER BOARD OFFICE
Ice formed during the ggh. At chcstnu, Hin reservoir 10
have s a 20 ne ma an s. The
70 he city large gang Of nen have been employed and
At az early hour in the forenoon the Chief OF
Police directed the sevcra! captains TO order the
pairolmen TO notify every ismiy and business place
~ a supply u water, and caution them 10 Keep
sharp iookoa, FOR oserheatlng steam boilers,
Che case, /. appeared TO everybody who
moognt and talked over The matter--as nearly
every one ~ the streets and indoors did-was the
CONDITION OF afars should a fre occur and not a
drop 9r water IN nydrant in the whole city. A
good fresh wind was blowing over the CITY, and
The POSSIBILITY OF FIRE
furnished sugRestlye TODD for re6ecion. talk
NiisNi LnkiuctI DdIleI Oil aDUut ulue O'CLOCK,
showed ihat he had well calculated the emergency
and was as ready possible 20 meet It. He mad
male up ms mind should IRE break out AT any
boIt " Sound the general alarm, Turn out the
whoie department and depend upon Dle reservoirs
anu puhlping rom The sea for The wmer which he
s;,sn' Ss.uen' AS precautionary measure he nnme.
nialely ordered several OF the steamers our FOR the
Yurpue ol ming all tie reservoirs from lhc docks
was pernaps fortunate that a fire which caused
ne alarm aDput Twelve O'Clock diu not peppen
carrier IN the forenoon. NV "'PPSi
1890 sStNLs AND INCIDENTS,
.nere re Vele many anghable Incidents connected
with me silalr. one man, VINO manages tne Sits,
ness detsis Of prominent evening neaspaper
vusDed Wildly 10 ana IT0 for an hour after ,e bad
Gn made aware tlat the supply OF water was ex |
Mied fearful lest there should be Suspension !
pelay IN lhe publication OF his sheet. Afier re. |
et endeayors he succeeded IA cnlstInQ the eer.
~ ~ proprefOy OF water carts ana draws
~ ~ ssropnetor) agreeing 10 furnish eight wagons
- ~ ~ &sheads upon them 10 ply between Boston