The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1888-02-22
WATER AND LIGHT.
Fort Bemton's Water and Electric
Light Plant.
An InstiSa-tiOnsof Which Our City Mag .Uust
1y Be Proud--A Detailed Account of
the New Enterprise.

Tuesday afternoon River PRESS re-
porter in quest of information stralled
through tine upper end of town, and
doubtless Gbeying the law Of gravita6ion
soon found his steps directed toward the
city water works plant 1t is neat come
ly brick building that attracts the atten-
.tion Of the visitor, and it's thirty-ine
smokestack that towers seventy feet Id
air is suggestive of a manufacturing
industry. Such, in fact, ut is, for not only
does it handle water IN wholesale guam
Titles, but manufactures light. Strange,
isn't it, what MANS ingenality and inven-
tive genius has accomplished in the mod
ern days in which we are living. On in
veshigation it was found that the struc-
ture is 3Ox60 feet ia dimensions, and pro
tected from the assaults of the elements
by an iron shingle roof. Inside the build
ing all was hustle and confusion, resulting
from the labor of busy workmen who
we're placing in position
THE PoNDEROUs MACHINERY
which Will soon be put in motion. Inside
of two weeks all will be completed and a
food Of crystal water from the Missouri
turned into the city mains, while our
avenues and promenades at night will be
brilliantly Illuminated. The machinery
used by the water plant consists Of two
compound Blake duplex condensing
pumps, of capacity every twenty-four
hours of 100000 gallons each, which
very simple arithmetical calculation shows
will enable Fort Benton to command one
million gallons daily, enough in all con-
science to slake the thirst and thoroughly
purify the entire county Of Choteau. The
steam required to operate the pumps is
supplied by two steel fange boilers of
tifty-horse power each, which rest on brick
settings with iron fronts. The mains that
will conduct the water through the city
are from four to six inches in diameter
and measure between four and five miles.
The piping was manufactured at the Ma
tional Tube works and are tested at the
manufactory before shipment to pres
sure of four hundred pounds to the square
inch. The hydrants which are distributed
throughout the town we're made by the |
Hydrant & Valve Co. They are double
nozzle drip hydrants, and of the latest
and best patients. Domestic or ordinary
pressure will be forty pounds to the square
inch, and for fire pressure about eighty |
pounds will be required. Should a con-
fagration occur in the city the engineer
in charge of the works, on hearing the |
the alarm bell, can in the period of ten
seconds turn on water head that will |
peel the shingles of any building in Fort |
Benton.
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT PLANT
is from the mandatory of the Western
Electric Light Co., of Chicago, and con-
sists of a dinamo that furnishes both arc
and incandescent light. It is operated by
a sixty horse power automatic engine
made by Russell & Co. The arc lamps are
of guaranteed 1000 candle light power
and the incandescent of 16 candle power
In very few days all the mechanism men
toned above will be placed in position
and steam turned on. Then will we have
water in abundance and night will rival
day in its brightness Truly "the world
do move"