, 1881-07-09
A Subterranean River.
u,,, An Ohte City Obtained an tnfsiiihs
supply OF Good Wafer.

During the past twelve years the city
os Akron, Ohio, has been agitated over a
water supply. Unlike this city, the agl-
,a,;..,, has been 10 secure water for domes-
tic u.e and not 10 curb the exactions of
monopoly which controlled 1T The tact
that Akron, city of 10000 population,
must have water, was forced upon its citi-
zens twelve years ago by fire which
came along one day and consumed half
the town After several projects for tax
ing water from adjacent streams and con-
s,ruc,inp works had been broached, half
tried and successfully abandoned, Phi
adelphia capitalist came along and offered
10 construct works on certain conditions
His offer WAS accepted. 1t concluded
a contract that the city was TO take l4o
sre plugs at $40 each, aud buy the works
q, the end Of ten wears if it wanted to.
The capitalist went to work, and here fol-
lows the curious palt of this story, which
Will be Of interest to the people of Walls
walla. A company was formed, with
$3.50, 900 capital, anil a reservoir OF 4,oOO,-
900 gallons commenced, the intention OF
the company being to bring water from a
stream several miles distant. One day
the president of the company, gentle
man named Frost, vas out riding with
citizen of Akron, who drove him across
certain street, in the vicinity OF which
sUMBER OF SPRINGS BUBBLED UP,
And suggested that perhaps water might
be obtained by boring there The idea
struck Mr.. Frost, and he at once made
inquiries among the people, finding that
many cf them had sunk wells and had OBJ
tanned water at uniform depth Of some
thirty feet. Without saying word to
ANYBODY he sunk test well, found the
water at thas depth, and thereupon de-
cided that there must be subterranean
river under the basin He at once aban-
doned the stream and began the work OF
sinking gigantic well at the point first
pointed out. The well was fifty feet in
diameter A large circular " shoe was
put down, and on this was built wall
designed eventually to form the wall OF
the well, it varying in thickness from IL
to 80 inches As the workmen excavated
the "shoe" sunk from its own weight.
In sinking, the men first went through a
stratum of mari, 5l feet deep on one
side and II on the other, indicating dip
to the bed of the basin then through .
feet of sand. then through 81 feet of
pebbly sand then through four feet OF
small powders and into blue sand. Long
before this point had been reached, water
flowed so freely that two steam pumps
failed to keep it out of the hole. Perfor-
ated pipes being sunk into the clay, 1t
was found to be the bed Of the subterra-
mean river which Mr.. Frost thoug hit e1-
ist,d under the basin.
WORK WAS STOPPED
At a depth of twenty eight feet, and then
the water was flowing at the rate of lOO,-
600 gallons an hour, and seems to IN
crease every day. The reservoir, on the
top of an adjacent hill, half mile away,
was then completed, and steam pipes pre-
pared to pump the water into 1T. From
the pumping house l6 inch pipe leads to
the reservoir, which is 250 by 2OJ feet in
diameter, and that the pumps raise 9, 500, :
600 gallons in twenty-four hours. The
company laid twenty-five miles Of pipe III
the city, and the estimated cost of the
whole enterprise was S36O,Oo0. The
estimated cost of the working expenses
is s24, 900 per year, and it cost Sl7 to
raise million gallons of water into the
reservoir, from which its own pressure
sends it all over the city. The estimated
yearly supply is 23O, ,OOO, 900 gallons, and
the estimated daily consumption 800, 600,
which gives 4o gallons to every inhabi-
tant of Akron. The annual income OF
the company will be about 81, 600 The
works were completed and put in opera,
ton on May 18th. Aquantitariye anaIy-
sis of the water shows it to be of the
purest quality, it containing calcium, iron,
magnesium, sulphate, chloride, phosphate
and carbonate in necessary proportions.