Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-19
EASY REMEDY SUGGESTED.

family named Rice lives. A boy belong
ing to the family stated that the spring II
their lot was yielding more water than whe1
they moved there April /, but he didn'
know the reason.
A lady stated that she noticed that the
flowing water on Madison street was greater
than usual, and she supposed it came from
the reservoir. 1t was also stated that the
stable of man named Harrison, near the
embankment on the north side, was loosed
from its mooring by the water, causing the
earth's epidermis to slip some years ago.
Mr.. Robert Arthurs also said that the
reservoir had been leaking for years, and
that it might be stopped at small cost. He
stated that Captain Williams, the river
man, once had a man In his employ who
could have remedied the matter in a short
time. The plan was to put him in the reser-
Toir in boat and allow him to move slowly
around and at the same time allow the
water to subside gradually. By keeping
the surface unruf1ed the ripple caused by
the escaping water would show when the de-
fects were reached and they could be calked,
so that that portion of the basin would be
better than any other ever afterWard.
THE LEAKS ARE SMALL.
Messrs. Arthurs and Williams made q
study of the matter and came to the conclu-
sion that the removal of the lining and re-
pudding would be entirely unnecessary ex-
cept to make a job. for some hungry CON
tractor.
Around Municipal Hall the leaks are not
deemed important. Superintendent Brown,
of the Water Department, said it was a mis-
take to believe that SO much water
came from the alleged leakage. He
said it bubbled up from springs on
some streets near the reservoir, and
that the old coal mines furnished most of
the water which comes from the upper end
of Minersville. These mines are near the
reservoir. The loss of water is never felt at
the reservoir, Superintendent Brown ex-
planned, and the basin will be found one of
the soundest in the city.
Other officials said they knew small leaks
existed at the reservoir, but there was more
or less leakage from all the reservoirs. It
cannot be helped.
THE OLD COAL MINES.
Many people believe the water that has
been giving trouble comes from the aban-
doned coal pits, and good bit of it does.
BY the way there is some interesting an
cient history connected with these coal pits
with which only old residents are familiar.
Mr.. Robert Arthurs' father owned the mine
that once supplied all old Pittsburg with
coal. He leased it for long term of years
for $500 year, sum which was eventually
insufficient to pay the taxes on the property.
For time the lessee did not more than
make expenses, owing to the badness of the
road leading down to the city. Then Mr.,
Arthurs built pike, and that pike made
the lessee rich. His four-horse teams could
haul 100 bushels at a load, and he sold the
unexplred portion of the lease
for $4,000, tidy sum 80
years ago. Mr.. Arthurs paid $40
an acre for his ground up there in 1870 and
sold the bulk of it at $10O an
acre. He considered that he did well, and
looking at the matter from a common-seuse
standpoint he did, for he was thus enabled
o live comfortably and take good care of
lis children, while some of his cotempor-
Lries lived close, forfeited the respect of
heir children and after death their disem-
'odied spirits, if they had imperishable |
mes, had the modification to know that |
utside of limited circle their earthly |
wners' memories rotted almost as soon as |
heir memories.
BETTER BARGAINS MADE.
The Herrons did rather better on their
oal possessions than did Mr.. Arthurs, for |
heir mines were not exhausted more than
5 years ago, and they got a psrt of the |
roft of coal mining themselves
The Ewarts did still better, as their mines
7ere not wholly abandoned until two years
go, and Mr.. George I. Whitney, who in
ested in that locality some years ago. got
oal for his own use out of his own property
ntil the scent of natural gas made him tip
is nose at zone Of the essential ele-
tents of modern civilization" as il
as regarded hereabouts before the discoy-
~ of @riform-fuid fuel.
The first inclined plane, for the purpose
expediting the handling of coal in
was built to get the coal from the
-rthurs mine. 1t was built by a man
amed Jenkins, and had more honor. in its
ay, as milestone in the path of progress.
ian would an inclined plane built to the
lmmit of Mt. Everest to-day, though an
ovation of 200 feet this torrid weather
light be the next thing in bliss to a man
on in the skies.
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