Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-08-21
A cI1Ns WATER c-.:lY IN TANKS.
Novel Scheme to Convey Mater fron
Lake Ontario to Rochester.

Novel scheme to Convey Water from
Lake Ontario to Rochester.
By far the most novel suggestion thai
has yet been Offered for supplying
Rochester with additional water is the
following:
The propos,,, a, :: lrief, to bring tht
water from Lake Ontario by means o.
tank cars running on a railroad.
In explaining the proposal the pro
jector said: ''Since the idea first oc
Cured To me have looked at it from
all points, and the more think of il
Tho - nleases me. But whether
it WI - I'D practical or not re
mains to be seen. The engineers can
no doubt easily calculate the cost, and
that is the only feature that l am in
fear about AS it is, after a rough cal
culation l estimate that this plan viii
give this city and other places pure wa
ter at low price and in unlimited guam
tity. The whole plan is to bring the
water in a vessel made for the purpose
from a point in the lake so far from
shore that there will be no chance of IT
containing impurities.
1.-The vessel would be somewhat on
the plan of the floats used in New
York for carrying garbage out to sea
and dropping it in the ocean through
the bottom of the vessel. In the case
of my ship the cargo, instead of being
taken to sea, would be brought from
sea to shore, and in place of entering
the hold through the matches would
come in through trap in the bottom
When we had our vessel full of the pure
and sparkling water we would tow it to
the harbor by n tug, and pump the
water into tank cars specially made for
the purpose and running like ordinary
freight cars on the common track. The
cars could be provided with trap dooS
or valves through which to discharge
their liquid contents into reservoir
over which the train would run, Just as
a coal or wheat car runs and drops its
load. This plan, of course, would only
be adopted where the system was to be
applied on large scale. Where the
idea was to be adopted as a temporary
expedient the water could be pumped
from the cars directly into tie mains
of the town.
Now for some figures i'll regard t. the
scheme. The railroads; carry freight ut
a profit for half a cent a ton per mile.
A ton of water contains 2S5 gallons, so
that, allowing so gallons of water to each
person, the railroad would carry sup
ply for a family of five the distance of
a mile for half a cent. 1t would cost
3 1-2 cents as freight from tl:" Lake TO
Rochester, assuming that the distance
is seven miles. Thirty tons is an orli-
nary load of Goals on gondola car,
and a locomotive would Lave no dill
Guilty in drawing train of twenty ears,
or 600 tons, holding III 900 gallons If
one train made twelve trips Il day-a
moderate estimate for IA run of seven
miles-we get 2, O52, 600 gallons of wa
ter. You see there is virtually no limit
to the amount of water you can bring
to town in that way, and the plant re
quired is neither expensive nor difficult
to make
Two or three steam pumps of n kind
that can be found ready made, the ship
for carrying the water and the tank
cars are the principal novel features of
the whole, and any good mechanic can
rig them all up in short time. The
plan, 1 tell you, is entirely practical,
and when l have had chance to con
suit with some ship carpenter as to the
cost of the vessel and with the railroad
managers as to the best rates they can
give on freight, may give you more in
relation to it.
''Just fancy" continued the pro-
jector, chow easy it would be to estab-
lish a reservoir in the vicinity of Burke
park, and keep it full of water by
train of tank cars running TO and from
Charlotte.
eff the cost of carrying the water by
rail should prove too great" the pro-
jector added, as though he had caught
another idea, then L shall figure on
the expediency of bringing the water
from Lake Erie in canal boats. All we
want in that case is feet of boats that
we can run into the lake, fill with pure
water, tow down here and pump the
contents into the reservoir. / intend to
call the attention of the Chicago people
to the plan of bringing water in ships
from beyond the sewage line. "-ROch-
ester Post Express.