Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1884-10-26
OUR WATER SUPPLY.
Pollution of the Waters of ihs Upper
Chic Affecting the People
Of Wheeling
Ard of All Cities Within the First
Hundred Miles of the
Rivers Course.
An Address by President Reeves
That is of Astounding Inter-
est to All People
Who Draw Their Water Supply
From the Ohio
River.

The following article will be read with
eager interest by all Wheeling people and
with an interest not less eager by those Of
Bellaire and Martins Ferry. All cities
along the Ohio and particularly those within
one hundred miles of Pittsburg, will find
facts Of importance to them. The paper
was read by Dr. J. f. Reeves, Secretary of
the West Va State Board of Health and
President of the American Public Health
Association, at the recent session of the lat
Ter at St. Louis. As a sanitary paper it re-
ceiyed the highest enconiums there.
THE PAPER ITSELF.
The condition of health and probable
duration of life Of people may De cor
rectly measured by the quantity and quality
their watersupply. Indeed health can as
little be supported without pure water as
without pure air. OF all the diversified
and complex relations which man bears TO
surrounding influences there are none so
important as those which relate to the To-
cality and climate in which fortune has
placed him. Considered either in his
physical, moral or political relation,
be subject is OF trauscenlent Importance,
.or il involves the main question of success
"A lie. II he takes up his abode in the
midst Of unSaniiary surroundings, the in
evitable sequence Will be a correspondence
untavOra7le influence upon his deStiny-a
check upon MS prosperity. aud blight,
more or less serious, upon all those attrl-
butes which are usually considered essen
'iai to mis- well being and happiness. As a
CONSEQUENT truth, the community which is
iguorant or regardless of its sanitary sur
rounding and vital history, is but feebly de
tended against ''pesilence that walketh in
darkness, and the destruction that wasteth
at MONDAY for the wholesome lessons Of
domestic and civic hygiene afford to such
people no rules and defenses for.
The person. the domicile the mu-
uicipahtv and the State. nor
encouragement to the general prosperity in
stimulating the practical applications OF
science and art, commercial enterprise
manufactures and popular intelligence. All
these are at low standard, while frequently
recurring endemic and epidemic diseases
and high death rate constitute the most
prominent features of their eulpable history
POLLUTION or THE RIVER.
River pollution from the sewage and
pther supplies OF refuse and corruption in
towns and cities has assumed such fearful
proportions that the question presses itself
1pon wise men and sanitarians-''ls indus
~ free to tumble out whatever horror
" refuse it may have &C
,umulated into the nearest crystal
brook. regardless Of gods and men, AMI lit
lie fishes is free industry free to convert
Ill our creeks and rivers into sewers? at
ours, saws Dr. Gaudner, TO use air and
water aud then pass them on; but woe to
The man or the community that detainS or
nprisons those this) servants of the hour
n their further execution Of Gods endless
work
With these Introductory reflections | now
,ubmit the following statement Of facts con
erning the pollution of TIE upper Ohio, and
ne water supply ofthe city Of Wheeling
Commencing at the head Of the Ohio,
here are two cities Allegheny and Pitts
%urg-whose aggregate population is moi
IS than 100000. Next we come
o Rochester, Pennsylvania, town Of
800 population; next East Liverpool
=, with population Of 5000; next Wells
lie. o., with population of 1000; next
1eubeuville, o., with population OF 1000;
.ext Martins Ferry, O., opposite Wheeling
With a population Of 1000. On the West
Virginia shore between Wheeling and Pitts
rurg, the principal towns are New Cumber
and, with population Of 800; and Wells
arg. with population OF 1900; and dis
ant Is miles from Wheeling
y. An IMMENSE POPULATION.
And this, not including many villages
nd smaller towns which mark every few
allies ofthe Pennsylvania and Ohio shore
md whose varied industries in manutac
res gives employment to thousands Of
.ttorerS, we have three cities and FIVE towns
hose aggregate population amounts to
1890
Res des the refuse representing accumu
ations OF filth of every conceivable charac
erSfrom family dOmiciieS, stable aud barn
ards, privy vaults and other cess pools.
ewageOutlets, aud manufacturing estab.
.ishments, the Ohio river is made the con-
euieut receptice tor the disposal of dis
ssed and worthless carcasses; aud thus
housands of tons of corruptible matter are
ally thrown into the stream which supplies
ne water we drink No wonder then that
jiarrhTaS and typhoid fever are so com
non, and the death rate from these dis
asses so high.
SPECIFIC STATEMENTS.
But let me be more specific in my state
mCnts Passing Rochester, at the mouth
Of Beaver river twenty six miles below
Allegheny and Pittsburg, without further re-
mark than that its water supply is from
wells contaminated with surface putrilage
ard also in many instances. no doubt By
leaks from privy vaults-and that typhoid
fever is frequent disease in that commu
aity-we come to East Liverpool 10 miles
further down stream. Here the population
is supplied with water furnished from the
Ohio, and distributed from reservoir
The supply pipes to the pumps are located
dOOAl -UN ptIus dpOHC TUE CIV duu eAleuu
into the river far enough to take the water
from the current, below loS water mark.
There are but few wells in use, and fewer
cases Of typhoid fever have occurred since
The establishment Of the water works than
before. when the water supply was wholly
drawn from wells. During those years
house and street epidemics of typhoid fever
were not infrequent
EAST LIVERPOOL CRIBS
At Wellsville, four miles below East
Liverpool, well, or crib. as it is called,
was made near the waters edge year or
two ago for the purpose Of securing for
public use sufficient supply of clear water
the town authorities believing clear
water and pure water to be convertible
terms. This crib. l0xl6 feet in the square
aud Il feet deep, was encssed with timber
and tightly covered with the same material.