The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1879-07-15
FHOTECT1ON AGAIN0T FIRE N
oomsthing Accomplished ~ LAat-.Nilsby
Steamer Ordered.--The nragade
to Inoorporate...City wa.
teF.Worka, Etc, Etc.

~ @yfI
ser-Workss Etc., c.
AT the firemen's meeting last Wednesday
evening, Secretary McMurphey submitted his
report, from which It appears that the funds
now on hand in the Brigade treasury amount
to $1,176. He also submitted the terms of the
Silsby Company, which in the matter Of time
were somewhat more favorable than those
mentioned some weeks ago, and requested
the Brigade to take action OH both reports.
After some debate this action was expressed
in q unanimous vote ~instructing the Secretary
Immediately to ordera No. s Silsby steam fire
engine, with hose and all other apparatus re-
quired. The question of meeting the pay
ments then came up. The steamer, hose, etc.
will cost $4,225, to be paid for as follows
One thousand down upon receipt and accept
ance Of apparatus /; balance in three or five
nnual instalments, as may be more conven-
lent with interest at Z per cent per annum,
a chattel mortgage on the steamer securing
the payment of the notes for such instalment.
As the most convenient and satisfactory man
ner Of giving those notes it was decided that
the Brigade should incorporate under the
laws of Montana. Its paper will be ample
security for the payment of the balance due
the Silsby Co., since the fire tax levied annu-
ally upon town property in Butte will alone
be nearly sufficient to meet the annual pay
ments. The proposition to incorporate was
favorably received, and a special meeting to
make the necessary arrangements, called for
the evening Of Wednesday, the 10th inst.
On that occasion the subject of providing
an engine house will also come before the
meeting. The steamer, for which the order
was sent out by last Thursdays mail, may be
expected to arrive within the next six weeks,
and it Is very desirable that a suitable place
be provided for its safe keeping. If the Brig
ade had a lot properly situated the members
could easily "rustle" for a stone building
with iron roof; one that would protect our
engine itself RON being consumed in some
sudden confagration, and this is a fate that
has befallen the fire apparatus of more than
one Western city. To provide both house and
lot might overtax their energies SO it is to be
hoped tLe lot will be supplied free. Mr.. B.
F. White, The commission merchant at the
terminus, merely because he transacts a heavy
~freighting business for our town, feels so
deeply interested in its welfare that he is
ready to forward our fire apparatus on his
fastest train free from the terminus to Butte.
This assistance, estimated at ruling freight
charge, amounts to a very much larger sum
than any resident of Butte has ever subscribed
towards the fire fund. Since a gentleman
who is only indirectly interested in the pros
perity of our town manifests so much gener-
GUS public spirit in advancing its interests, it
is not too much to expect that some of our
resident property holders may feel moved by
the spirit of generosity to enrich the Brigade
with q suitable building lot. Should any one
be disposed to take the hint he need have no
fears Of giving offence by offering a suitable
piece of ground, say at the head of Main
street, whence the steamer could be rapidly
transported to any part of town.
At the last meeting the matter of providing
water for fire purposes was also discussed, but
finally dismissed as something outside the
proper sphere Of action of a fire company.
The Brigade has toiled slowly along for years.
Beginning with a handful of members it has
been kept in existence only by the c~onstancy
and faithfulness of the few who have mus
tered at every monthly meeting, a ~corporal's
guard on the great waste Of empty benches in
their hall. With no very decided encourage
ment, but rather in face of o little quiet ridi-
Guile now and then, the Brigade has persevered
until the aim constantly in view is on the
point of accomplishment, and Butte is to be
provided with costly and seryicable apparatus.
But here the fremen propose to stop. We
now enjoy a city government in a own whose
charter, as far as the right of suffrage is con-
cerned, has been made unobjectionable by re-
cent amendment. The unfair householder
! clause in the charter has been done away
with. Those who pay the taxes now vote on
the subject Of imposing o special tax, SO there
is no longer the excuse that such y tax would
be unfair. Among the powers conferred by
the charter upon the City Council is enulnera-
ted the power "to provide the city with wa
ter, erect hydrants and pumps, build ~cisterns
and dig. wells In the streets for the supply OF
engines and buckets" Here the cisterns VIZ
require are specifically mentioned as among
the things which may be provided by the
Council. To bnild those cisterns will require
a light special tax upon city property. The
ordinance imposing the special tax must first
be properly advertised, then submitted to the
people in a special election called for the pnr.
pose. II two-thirds Of all the votes cast in
the special election are "for the ordinance