Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-01-06
OUR MANUFACTURER AND THEIR
WATER SUPPLY.

"AAEn ~ EE1A-
We publish this morning call for q
meeting of citizens 10 be held next
Saturday, for the consideration of the
question of q more efficient and reliable
water supply for the city, and especially
for those industries which depend so
largely upon water for the prosecution
of their business.
THERE'S no class Of citizens or property
holders within the city, whether their
business depends upon the water supply
or not, who are not vitality interested, as
u question of safety, if nothing more, in
a more reliable supply Of water.
But without knowing or attempting
toanticipate the action of this meeting,
il must be accepted as a foregone con-
clusion that the Water Works upon
which the city and our manufactures
now depend, are entirely inadequate for
the demands upon them. The city has
outgrown them, and the policy of patch
ing up, and patching on, and attempt
ing to makemOre out of an institution
than is in il, or than it was originally
intended to perform, will not make it
what il ought to be. We will probably
have new water works before we have
any better or more reliable than we
have now, and we anticipate that this
will be some time in the distant future.
We are at loss to understand why,
in city that abOunds in manufactures,
ms Wheeling does, the attention OfOwn-
els of this kind of property should not
long since have been drawn TO the plan
of obtaining their supply Of water from
driven wells" such rs has recently
been provided by the new sugar manu-
factory on the South Side.
The city water works have always
been weak and unreliable, never being
in condition TO supply these establish
ments with an ample and steady vol
ume of water, beside subjecting them to
a continued risk of being 'shut off ell
tirely, and compelling them at n great
loss Oftime and money to suspend oper-
atiOnS.
In fact, the chief business of this city,
both as regards the amount of the capi-
tai employed and the numbered persons
engaged therein, is content to depend
upon water works VIGOROUSLY inefficient
aud which every year causes them more
Inconvenience and loss than would furn-
ish an independent water supply.
Not only so, but these manufactures
pay an enormous tax for the privilege
of depending upon 50 precariOuS u
source of supply For examples, the
Whitaker Iron Company pays $1,000
per annum; the La Belle Iron Works
pays 81 800 per annum; the Riverside
Iron Works pays 81 800 per annum;
and there are numerous other smaller
establishments, such Is. iOundries, tack
factories, planning mills, dc, which pay
sums that make 4 very large percentage
on their incomes.
The amounts paid in water tax in
single year, by many of these manu-
factories, would, if applied to sinking a
well, give them an an independent sup
ply Of water, always ample, always re-
liable, and which would add that much
to the permanent value of their works,
just ~ would the addition OF a new piece
of machinery. There is no investment
they could make in the way of ma
chineIy that would give them better
return in the course of years
on the money invested, than "driven
well" We go. farther, and say that
there would be no better investment for
the hotels and other establishments
which pay from 800 to $50 annual
wafer Tux, IMAM Il uTtNGi mcll. anu
considering the increased purity and
healthfulueSS of the water obtained from
the well, as compared with that from
the river, there could be no better in
vestment than the driven well for
domestic purposes. Nothing would so
add to the comfort and attractiveneSS
of the citv as u general water supply
from the "bowels of the earth"
So far, we believe, there are but two
Of these wells in Use in this locality,
that by the Reymann Brewing Com
pany and the other recently opened by
Prot. DWIGHT at the sugar manufac-
tory: but these have sufficiently demon
strated the possibility Of getting water
in this locality at a very reasonable
depth by the driven well. So that
there is nothing wanting but apprecia-
ton and'enterprise to give us this very
valuable acquisition to the city.
We have heretofore given ample facts
from other cities to prove the unfailing
character, as well as the surprising
quantities Of water furnished by such
wells. There is, perhaps, no manufac-
tory in this city that could not obtain
more water than it needs from such
source, and neither heat nor cold, wet
weather or dry would ever effect its
flow.
This is an Opportune occasion for our
manufacturers and other persons using
large quantities of water, to consider, if
not to practically adopt this system of
obtaining n reliable water supply,