The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-09-18
A clrY's WATER SUPPLY IN TANKS,
Novel Scheme to Convey Water from
Lake Ontario to Rochester.

Novel Scheme to Convey Water from
Lake Ontario to Rochester.
BY far the most novel suggestion that
has yet been offered for supplying
| Rochester with additional water il the
following:
The proposal is in brief to bring the
water from Lake Ontario by means Uf
tank cars running on a railroad.
In explaining the proposal the pro
jector said: HSince the idea first oc-
Cured to Inc have looked at & from
all points, and the more | think of it
the better it pleases me. But whether
it will be found practical or not re
mains to be seen. The engineers can
no doubt easily calculate the cost, and
Chat is the only feature that | am in
fear about. As it is, after Il rough cal
culation | estimate that this plan will
give this city and other. places pure wa
ter at low price and in unlimited guam
dty. The whole plan is to bring the
*ater 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.
'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 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 doors
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 De
applied on a large scale. Where the
idea was to be adopted us a temporary
expedient the water could be pumped
from the cars directly into the maiA
of the town.
"Now for some figures in regard to the
scheme. The railroads carry freight at
profit for half Il cent ton per mile
A ton of water contains 2S5 gallons SC
that, allowing so gallons of water to EACH
person, the railroad would carry sup
ply for family of five the distance OF
q mile for half cent. 1t would co6s
3 1-2 cents as freight from the lake tc
Rochester, assuming that the distance
Is seven miles. Thirty tons is an ordj.
nary load of Goals on a gondola car.
and a locomotive would have no diff
Guilty in drawing train of twenty cars
or 600 tons, holding III, 600 gallons. l.
one train made twelve trips day
moderate estimate for run of seven
miles-we get 2,052, 900 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
auired is neither expensive nor difficult
70 make.
"Two or three steam pumps of 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 a short time. The
plan, | 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 ia
relation to it.
"Just fancy" continued the pro
jector, chow easy it would be to estab
lish q reservoir in the vicinity of Burke
park, and keep it full of water by
train of tank cars running to and from
Charlotte.
IF the cost of carrying the water by
rail should prove too great, the pro
jector added, Us though he had caught
another idea, then l shall figure OH
the expediency of bringing the water
from Lake Erie in canal boats. All we
want in that case is fleet Of boats that
we can run into the lake, fill with pure
water tow down here and pump the
contents into the reservoir. l 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.