The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-08-14
WHAT MEMBERS SAW
On the Inspection Tour of the City
Water Board.
RHEELINGS PRESENT DEMANDS.
Reserve Machinery of Equal capaci-
!. ty to that in Active Use Needed.
The Crib System in Successful OPP
Grafton at Columbus.

Grafton at Columbus.
As said in the INTEILIaEXcER yester-
day Messrs. Henry Jones and John
II. Hall, members OF the City Water
Board, and Superintendent Cummings
Of the water works, who had been on
tour Of inspection, returned on Wednes-
day evening. A reporter called on Mr..
Hall yesterday and asked him about
the purpose and results of the tour.
Mr.. Hall said the trip was very satisfac-
tory, the only thing the members Of the
party regretted being the inability Of
Mr.. Pollock, the third member, to ac-
company them any part Of the journey.
The object Of the trip was to inspect
the machinery used in the water works
of various cities, and incidentally to in
spect sources and methods Of supply
and the quality OF the water furnished.
Columbus, Ohio, was first visited. In
that city the Holley system is used, the
water being pumped directly into the
pipes. The Hollcy company, however,
manufactures machinery for use in
reservoir or stand pipe systems as well
as for direct pumping work. The
works at Columbus are supplied from
two sources. At one there are two
pumps, with a daily capacity OF
100000 each, or Is, 100000 in all. One
Of these is used and the other remains
idle as reserve in case Of emergency.
At the other intake there is a pumping
capacity OF 100000 gallons day.
One pumping station is east and one
west OF the city, and the water from
both is pumped into the same mains.
A POINTER FOR WHEELING.
AT one point the water is pumped in
immense quantities from well. On
the other side of town the supply is
from the Scioto river. The water is
pumped from chambers, or cribs, built
beneath the bed Of the river. These
are arched over, the roof and upper
walls being impervious to water, while
the bottom is OF porous brick, loosely
laid. BY this plan all the water must
filter through the gravel and sand to
the depth OF these chambers, which in
the aggregate are a mile in length, and
enter through the bottom. The Column
bus water is palatable, clear, and APP
parently pure. The superintendent
could not furnish chemical analysis.
He admitted that the water was little
hard-that is, impregnated with min
erals, especially lime; and when told
that Wheeling manufacturers objected
to hard water because it tended to pro-
duce scale in the boilers, be said:
% the boilersl We consider stom-
achs Of more importance"
Tho water in the Scioto is originally
hard, while that in the Ohio, is soft land
and filtration would doubtless leave the
latter soft. Mr.. Hall seemed to be i'm
pressed fayorably with the crib system,
which was started, but not finished, ON
the Island bar here in 1882, and which
in principle is identical with the Column
bus plan.
The iIolley pumps have been used ex-
clusively at Columbus for twenty years,
which certainly speaks well for them.
From Columbus the party went to
Buffalo, N. Y.
EASTERN WOkkb.
Buffalo gets her water from the
Niagara river, which is pumped into
basins, the system being the same as
here. Both Holley and Worthing,on
pumps are used, and reserve machinery
is kept. From there they went to
Lauckport, n. Y, where the Holley
machinery is manufactured. They in
spected the mandatory and the
machinery, and then went to New
York city, where they spent a day or
two. They had intended TO visit
Philadelphia, but were told that they
had seen similar machinery to that in
use there, and as they did not think the
Schuylkill river would be much superior
to the Ohio as source OF water supply
they skipped that town.
Mr.. Hall did not tell the good stories
which are going around. One is. OF the
robbery OF one Of the tourists in New
York, another Of the picking OF the pock-
ct OF one at Buffalo, and another OF the
mysterious loss OF money on train. In
all the recent travels OF the Electric
Light Commission, II any member lost
any money-by theft-it remains unre-
corded.
Mr.. Hall said the board had not de-
cided upon anything. The members
have been invited to go to Pittsburgh
and examine some machinery in opera
ton, there and one or two OF them may
When asked what the Wheeling
works needed, Mr.. Hall said reserve
machinery was necessary. He thought
two engines of 100000 capacity, one
for active use and the other TO reserve
for an emergency, would be adequate.
while others thought the pumps should
have 10000, 900 capacity each.