St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-11-27
OUR NEW WATER SUPPLY
The vadnais System Completed and
Ready for the Peoples Use.
A Brief History Of the Great Work That Has
Been Done.


taking Of the conventional and traditional
turkey on Thanksgiving day the minds Of
the great majority win revert to something
in the recent past or stretch out to some
thing in the sealed book OF the future for
which TO be thankful There is no life so
dismal, no life so devoid OF wished for results
that Il has not, reflective or prospective,
something to bring the glow Of satisfaction
20 the cheek, something to set the heart Of
hope beating faster, something to make them
eager for the conquests Of the tomorrow
which never comes. Possibly the people of
our thriving city who have the most potent
reason for being happy on this Thanksgiving
day Of 1854 are the denizens Of St Anthony
/ hill, who, through the energy Of public
spirited citizens and trusted officials, have at
their disposal for their almost unlimited use
at a nominal cost the new beverage
known as Vadnais ale. Perhaps
when they turn the water on" in that region
they viii not al stop to consider the source,
enormous cost and incalculable benefit OF
this latest innovation, but probably ninety
nine OF every hundred viii not receive the
blessing without liberal expressions of graft
/ hcation and continue 20 appreciate it more
and more as the density Of the city's popula-
ton increases. To be sure, they have water
on ST. Anthony's hill since the memory Of
the oldest inhabitant runneth not 10 the con-
trary, but this locality's contributions to the
cemetery have no doubt been considerably
augmented by the impurity of the oxy-hydro-
/ gen supply obtained from its wells The
good work is completed, there is ample reason
for rejoicing, ana We append a hasty sketch
of the Vsdnais system, the new source Of
water supply to the city.
The projectors of the Lake Phalen system,
although impressed with the belief
that st. Paul was destined TO
become the metropolis Of the north
west, little expected to witness the marvel
Gus growth Of the past few years. From a
triae over 40, 900 in 1850 the city climbed up
to $1,000 in 1881, TO $4,000 in 1ss2, to
10000 in 1888 and ITO, 900 in 1854, and has
ontgrown itself in every direction. Lake
Phalen has fallen in the shade, with half a
hundred other things once deemed adequate
for the wants Of our people, and It is no
longer equal 10 the demands made uDOn H.
1t was ioreseen that our water supply would
not long be sufficient, and proper steps we're
taken TO provide for the future.
After carefully looking the ground over
and making numerous surveys, those having
as the most desirable body Of water, all
things considered, 20 tap for the city's sup
ply. The central reason for selecting Vad-
nais is that the area of water in the chain Of
lakes with WHICH it is connected is very
large, and that they are sufficiently near TO
other larger lakes to be united with
them swhen the present supply proves
| inadequate. Once all these barriers
are removed, IL will take q remarkably long
siege of dry weather, longer than is recorded
in any Of our local histories, to cause any
suffering for water in st. Paul, even should
the boundaries Of the city extend to those Of
Minneapolis and our system be used to carry
water into all the homes at the falls. We
learn from the engineer in charge, Mr.. l..
w. Rundlett, that the lakes which can be
made 10 contribute TO the Vadnais system,
cover q surface Of something over IL 900
acres, divided about as follows: Vadnais,
$50 acres; Wilkinson, 200; Deep, 100;
Charles, 20; Pleasant $50; Lambert, 300;
Otter, 400, and OEasso, $50. Besides these,
when necessity eompels the tapping Of other
lakes, there is a chain which can be made
available, composed of White Bear, 1913
acres; Bald Eagle, 1.2sO; Rice lakes, over
1000; Forest, 2, 352;. The latter lake is
twenty-three and one half miles from St.
Paul, while lake Vadnais is but seven and
One-half miles. The latter Is northeast of
the city on the Rice street road west of Nc
Carron's lake.
One even unacquainted with the nature of
such work can see at a glance that the
amount Of labor TO be done in surveying,
tearing down hills, building up others, con
structing tunnels, turning aside natural
waterways, etc, is enormous, 10 say nothing
Of erecting the conduit Itself. Among the
largest pieces OF work were a tunnel $40 feet
long, the destruction Of a mill pond and the
filing Of portion OF Sandy lake Obstacles
were innumerable, some OF them Of 4 most
perpiexing nature, especially so were the
springs, which were far too thick over most
of the route for rapid progress, and it was all
that the seven steam pumps called into re-
QUESTION could do to keep the water which
thus constantly impeded the workmen out of
| their path. Quick sand was thick in good
many localities, and was a source OF a great
deal Of annoyance. But over all these the
minds at the head Of the enterprise, with the
men and machinery at their command, tri-
umphed, and the completed conduit, be
ginning 240 feet in Lake Vadnais
and ending near St. Paul, over
four and half miles in length, stands as a
monument to their ingenuity and skill.
The conduit is 6x51< feet in size, and
built Of sewer brick. At its inception in the
lake, on a stone foundation resting on loo
I I'll & al A.
water, taken from forty feet beneath the sur
face, is started on its long journey to the
city. The keeper, the police force in one
man, who viii have charge OF the Vadnais
end Of the conduit lives in a small brick
house on the shore OF the lake, and his duties
Will be 10 prevent fishermen, bGthers and
others from meddling with the origin of the
system, and TO see that everything in bis
small but important domain is kept in fine
running order. The conduit is composed of
over 100000 brick and about 1000, 0OO
pounds of cement being laid on plank
floors on solid masonry in places where the
land is ofia boggy nature. The descent from
Vadnais, four and one-haf miles, is one foot
in every 1000 The pump and
terminal houses are located east
the conduit passes through the soft ground
along Phalen creek and through Sandy lake
II is estimated that between $4,000, 900 and
100000 gallons Of water can b
conveyed into st. Paul each twenty-foul
hours, and that but about 5,O00,0 600 gallons
Of it can at present be made use Of, calcu.
lating forty-fve gallons to each person, 8
large part of which, of course, is understood
10 run 10 waste. The surplus water is carried
of by two waste weirs located between Lake
Vadnais and the pump house, the regulation
of the outflow being by gates operated by I