The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1882-06-17

AS the important question of secur.
ing a steam fire engine fer our town is
now brought directly before the tax
payers of Opelousas, and as we have
taken the trouble to investigate this
subject thoroughly, we propose to give
the public the benefit of whatever in,
formation we have gathered after dill
gent inquiry on this subject SO little
understood by the general public.
The first and most important point
to be considered is our water supply
and let US state right here that with a
steamer the great drawback of a scanty
water supply is at once overcome, as
the wells and cisterns we now have can
be made to furnish an ample supply of
water for almost any emergency simply
by securing an adequate amount of
hose-the capacity Of $4,000 engine
being sufficient to draw it's water from
q depth of 25 feet and at the same time
force it through 5000 feet of discharge
hose, throwing stream from $50 to
200 feet from the nozzle, at the rate of
$50 gallons per minute if necessary.
There need be no waste of water, ne
''wear and tear" Of muscle, no excite
ment and confusion, no loss of time and
temper-and all these "incidentals"
should be taken into consideration.
1t has been urged as an objection to
steamer, that it would require horse
to draw it through our streets. This
comes from ignorance of the fact that
steam Gre engines are now made that
can be easily handled over an ordinary
read by from eight to fifteen men. The
ridiculous assertion that Grained and
skilled practical engineer" only could
manage such an engine, is alse due to
ignorance. We will take the Silsby
engine for instance (which in our opin-
ion is one of the best that is made) and
we find that it's manufacturers claim
that any man of ordinary intelligence
can learn to run it in few hours,
this company always sends an expert
along with the engine to test the same
and faFnish all necessary Information
as to it's management, etc. This COM
pany has been established nearly forty
years, and if there was any danger from
their engines being handled by any but
skilled hAachinists, it is likely that it
weuld have been ascertained before
now,-and yet no accident from that
cause has ever been reported.
Another popular mistake" is the
cost of maintaining steam FIRE engine.
We have heard the opinion expressed
BY some ''smart Aleck" that the ex-
pense would be very great. Without
going into detaila, We might observe
that the expense of maintaining a
steamer necessarily need not be much
more than would be required for the
proper care of a hand engine. The
company handling q steamer might
safely be trusted with it's proper main
tenance.
Taking into consideration the ques-
items of economy and efficiency, we say
the steam FIRE engine fills the bill-and
this impression 10 fast becoming preva-
lent in all progressive communities, old
fogyism to the contrary hotwithstand-
ing.
In our next issue we propose copying
an article which gives seme pertinent
information concerning the steam fire
engine; and will take occasion to re-
mark here that the company manufac-
turing the sngins sells the same under
a full guarantee as to what it will per-
form; and when the engins is tested,
if it does not come fully up to all that
is claimed for it, the purchaser is under
no obligation to accept it.