Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-08-27
TEE WATER WORKS.
WORK PROGRESSING IN ALL DEPARTMENTS
OF TIE WORK.
Prospect Tha! Ons Pump viii Be Started OF
October 1st, the Contract Tims-Ihs Ma
chiHary Nearly All Placed,

Work at the new pumping station OF
the water works has been progressing
rapidly, these dry dusty days, and II no
unforeseen accident or delay occurs, the
contractors are inclined to believe they
will be enabled TO get one OF the big
pumps started on the first day Of Octo-
Der, that being the date fixed upon In
the contract between the City Water
Board and the Holly Manufacturing
Company, the general contractors.
All the machinery is about placed,the
pumps being in position in the bottom
Of the big well, and the engines set
up on their massive foundations, ana
very little work remains TO be done In
thatdepartment, aside from some gen.
eral adjusting. The boilers have been
on hand for some time, and the founda-
tions are now being prepared for them,
and they will soon be In position. Inc
building will soon be under roof, and
the big brick chimney, which Is TO be
one hundred feet high, now towers
about sixty or sixty-fve feet into the
air. 1t will be completed in another
week. or ten days at the outside. All
the machinery seems TO be extremely
heavy, and such gentlemen as ex-Su-
perintendent John w. Cummings, who
knows more about pumping machinery
than any other man In this section OF
the country, pronounce it as trst-class
in every respect and fully competent
10 pump the fifteen million gallons In
twenty-four hours which is expected OF
il.
One OF the most difficult pieces Of
work in connection with the construc-
ton OF the plant is the laying OF the In
take pipes out into the river. Even
with the river as low as il is at present,
there is about nine or ten feet OF water
opposite the site OF the station, and as
the intake pipes are twenty-tour inches
In diameter, and very heavy, 1t will be
seen that planting them in the bed OF
the river with sound water-tight joints
is work required considerable care
and skill. The pipes are fitted with
-and-socket joints, and the sections
are swung between two barges Sc
curely anchored in the river. When two
sections are joined together, the barges
are moved about the length OF one sec
tion 10 the west, and the pipe Is care
fully lowered a proper distance. Then
another section is boisted into place, a
second Joint made, and the barges
moved again and the pipe lowered as
before, great care having TO be eXercls-
ed that the joints, each Of which has
little play, are not injured. In
this manner the work is
slowly proceeding, the two
lines on for each pumping en-
CINE, being laid down short distance
apart. These pipes will project about
ore hundred feet into the river from
the present very low water mark, and
the ends will always be covered by about
eight feet of water, even with the river
as its worst. From the edge OF the
water the intake pipes run through
tunnels about ninety feet long into the
pump well, inside the building, and
this portion OF the pipe lines has long
since been completed.
Tomorrow the work OF laying down
the pipe line 20 the reservoir will be re-
sumed on Seventh street, and Contract
or Hallock will push the job TO COM
pletion In the shortest possible time. 1t
will be a little tough getting these pipe
sections, tAirsy-six inches in diameter,
In position up the steep hillside to the
new reservoir, but the work can easily
be done within the time remaining for
the completion Of the job under the con-
tract. This pipe line would have been
nearly completed by this time had not a
long wait been occasioned through the
trouble about repavng, and second
delay because Of the absence Of special
casting, which is now on hand.
With the new water works in work
ing order on October Ist, four steam
engines and two chemicals, this city
will be in a much better position than
ever before to defy FIRE, while the gen.
eral benefit through more abundant
water supply and stronger pressure will
DO simply incaIculab!e.