St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-10-11
DRAINS AND DRAINAGE.
Important Problems Awaiting Solutio

Important Problems Awaiting Solution
Mr.. Editor: The Caledonian has re-
: peatedly called attention to the results
OF penny-wise economy in village ex-
pendIture as they appear in the condi-
tion of our streets. But these do not
yet endanger our lives.
Il The treatment of sewerage is more
serious evil. The bottom of the val
ley between Hastings street and the
cemetery held a green Shiny pool III
the early summer which has grown up
to rank weeds, showing that the drain
water from the large number of houses
that is discharged there spreads over
many square rods. Two or three more
houses were connected to this poison
breeding system this year, one more
last week, apparently to save the ex-
pense of digging little deeper and
reaching the sewer that discharges be-
low the dam at Paddock's village. Fol
several weeks man has been lying
most dangerously sick of typhoid fever
at Mr.. Jerry Deming's on Hastings
street, one of the houses nearest to this
open sink of corruption. The village
trustees carried the drainage from this
house into this valley some years ago,
and it joins the fostering refuse which
the water of recent rains is carrying
into the river above the pump house
and on the side where it is most sure
to be drawn in by the pumps.
Some people drink the water from
the village aqueduct. We may escape
a severe scourge of typhoid fever, but
other villages have suffered fearfully
where it was more difficult to under
stand the cause than it would be here
if we were stricken.
Would it not be at least safe to re-
quire that all house dl aims from Main,
Mt. Pleasant and Green streets should
be carried east, and toward the river
sewer, and those from the houses on
Hastings street should be carefully
provided for in separate, deep cess
pools, we'll covered? CITIZEN.
Mr.. Editor: Yellow fever fills the
Vermonter on one side with dread, on
the other with sympathy. Shall Yer
mont place her inhabitants in jeopardy
by that disease, which an eminent
physician says is more extended and
fatal than yellow fever, typhoid fever ?
Jacksonville too day suffers from a vio-
lation of her sanitary laws. st. Johns
bury will soon suffer from violation
of her sanitary laws, if radical improve
ment in this direction is not soon made.
Is there doubter in this town If so,
let him take stroll from the Railroad
depot, following the railroad track to
the Portland street crossing, and his
doubts will vanish as quickly as they
came. Why do not the trustees of the
village of St. JOhnsbury continue that
generator of contagious germs, the
sewer which emits its filth on the east
side of the St. j. & L. G. division OF
the B. s. NJ. r. R., to the current OF
the river beyond, so as not to run, as
it now does, for rods on the surface OF
the ground Why do they not devise
some means to carry off the surface
} water which collects back of the series
of buildings on the east side of Rail
road street, Is it not their duty? II
is we'll to think of safety, it is equally
we'll to be on the lookout for danger
II.
The above correspondents have an
ticipated in some measure plan on
} the part of the Caledonian to write up
the drains and drainage of st. Johns
: bury. What has been so we'll said by
them need not be repeated, though we
+ wish to add something to these notes
of warning.
So far as we have been able to as
certain the sensational reports o1
a very large number of serious cases Of
J.. sickness in this place that are in circu.
lation are without foundation in fact
There are, however, severe cases Of
sickness in certain localities like the
one noted in "Citizen's" letter, that de-
, mand immediate attention from the
, citizens of St. Johnsbury and from the
authorities. Now is the time to apply
the ounce of prevention that will effec
the pound of cure.
The condition of affairs on Hastings
street has attracted good deal of at
tention and the attention of the trus
tees has been repeatedly called to il
on the river referred to by "H." at
tracts a good deal of attention when
ever the river is low. The number o
drains and the amount of sewerage
j., that goes into the Passumpsic above
the dam between here and the bridg,
at the Centre nobody knows. The
drainage from the houses in Paddock
= village on the rivers edge can hardl,
go elsewhere than into the river. A
Hastings slaughter house there ha
y stood for long time a large pool o
Shiny water within rod of the river
At the Centre there are number o
drains that empty directly into TIN
river because "there is nowhere else t,
= drain too" and MOOre's slaughte
house is too well known as a contribu
tor of offal to the brook over which
stands and which in it's turn emptie
directly into the river, to need that at
i, tentiOn be called to it now. 1t is sai'
that the efficient manager of the pum
g house, Waterworks Donaghy, some
time ago, plucked from the screen tina
: is supposed to keep out all impuritie
II of water from the pump house, a jun
= of pork that presumably sailed dow
o the river from the aforesaid slaughte