The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-05-31

Publication OF the Pawtuxet and
Death to All Bacteria.

II
equally important with the other, and
Z without either the human being dies.
The purity OF these elements, then, must
be OF the first consequence TO everybody.
Hold brilliant glass OF clear, sparkling
water between your eyes and the light and
eulogize its beauty and its superlative
quality. Little do we know the danger
that may lurk within il. No human eye
can see nor any human sense detect the
infinitesimal creation. Nevertheless, 1t
may be there. And il there and taken into
the human body, it performs at once, and
with absolute certainty, its deadly mis-
sion. The human body dies.
The people of Providence are obliged to
depend upon the Pawtuxet River for
their supply of water, without which they
4 could not exist a single day. The condi-
y tion Of this water, then, becomes of the
utmost consequence to the people. Their
very lives will come some day TO hang
upon its purity. Let US examine the con-
ditions which surround us.
A quarter OF century or more ago, the
people of Providence were forced To seek,
as all great cities always have to do, a
supply OF water outside the town. The
ablest men then living among them, were
selected for the business; and in the most
honest OF ways, entered upon 1t. After
mature consideration, the waters of
the Pawtuxet were selected. Whether
this were wise, or not, is not now
the question. The condition exists. In
the then state OF scientific knowledge,
these waters were at least as good, and in
some respects better than other waters
around us; and the supply was abundant,
cxhaustiess. The economical element, or
what was looked upon as the economical
element, settled the question, and the
pumping station at Pettaconsett, with its
ncighboring mill, Sockanosset was fixed
upon as the spot where we should take
. 4Lxn. .x.~ot .s.1 l.,x~ salr A
that time no living man, it matters not
how learned he was, had the slightest
knowledge OF what we call the "germ
Theory" of disease. Your mother sick
Bned, typhoid developed and she
Joined the vast procession. Who sus-
pected that in the cup OF clear, sparkling
water which you SO gently placed upon
her parched lips, there lay the deadly ere
ation that killed her? So, nevertheless, it
was! In very truth, however honest
these men We're In their opinions concern
ing polluted waters and the methods Of
rendering them safe, in the light of
modern science they knew absolutely
nothing whatever about them.
The Polluted Pawtuxet.
= Look moment at this water which we
drink. 1t came this morning from Petta-
consett, which Is only one and one half
miles below the vast bleaching works at
Pontiac, point at which the Provi-
dence Journal says "the increase in the
amount Of work done may have aug
mented the quantity of poisonous color
thrown into the river,n and this
point too, is only another mile and n half
below the vast mills at Natick where 1000
men labor six days in every week. Clearl!
and Sparkling!!! just as it comes from
these mills you quaff the delightful"
L@x<< rfox ~
necessary to your existence, and possibly
the vehicle OF your determination. Would
tho most abject inhabitant along the
banks of this river do as much? |
Never. The Pawtuxet river has
two branches, the north and south; these |
branches unite at River Point; wherever |
on either branch exists natural fall, in |
the stream, there power exists, and men |
have seized upon these spots for the plant |
ing Of mills and print works, and bleach |
cries, and foundries, and machine shops, |
and hotels, and livery stables, all sur |
rounded by innumerable human dwell |
1ngs. From all these sources the filth flows |
into these waters, and the people of |
Providence drink it.
Conditions Not Theories.
From Pontiac for twenty miles up the
stream on both branches, villages border /
the banks in two unbroken lines, forming |
at once the most industrious. and the |
most densely peopled portion of Rhode
Island, and ever increasing both in in |
dustry, and in numbers. Let us make the |
journey together along these banks, aud
note the variety and extent of the sources
OF pollution, places where poison TO us |
may enter, in spite OF every effort on the
part OF the dwellers there to exclude it.
Let us take them as they come, along the
north branch first, just as Mr.. Butter
worth placed them in his report to Mr..
Smith, the commissioner OF public works,
In City Document No. Q, OF the series for
1872: The Hope Manufacturing Company
81 Hope village, and the village itself: the
jackson Mill, the Fiskville Mill, the Ark
wright Mill, the Interlaken Dye Works,
the Harris Manufacturing Company, the
Village OF Phcnix, the Mills OF the Phe-
nix Company, the Lippitt Mills, the |
Clyde Print Works, the Clyde Village
itself, known as River Point; the Brayton
Iron Foundry, the River Point Mills, the
Royal Mills, the Artic Mill, the Artic
villge1tseif, the brewery at Artic Centre,
The North Centerville Village, the village
of Jericho, the Kent Wooden Mills, the
cotton mill at Centerville, the village of
Centerville itself, the Crompton Mills. the
village OF Crompton, the Quidnick Mills,
the village OF Quidnick, the Peckham
Manufacturing Company at Coventry
Centre, the Anthony village, the mills OF
I
Woolen Mill at Washington Village.
the Spring Lake Woolen Mill above
Washington Village, Washington Village
Itself; then as we come back, below the
union OF the streams--C -Chepatsick, the In
dian must have called the place, for the
word means the "branching, OF the
stream, we come to the Natick Mills; the
village OF Natick (snother Indian word
which means my house or at my house).
and stiil further down the Pontiac mill
and bleachery.
Besides this vast list we stiI have the
outlying sources The Richmond Mill at
6cituate, the Bobbin Factory at Kent
Brook, the Rockland Mill at Scituate. the
Clnyville Mill, the Ponagansett Mil, the
Mil, the Village OF North
6cituate, the Remington Mills, on The
game stream below; the Mosyausicut
Manufacturing Company, and the Village
Of Rocklsnd, the Hopkins Mill at Moose
neck, and the Lord only knows how many
mere
BY this enumeration Il must not be in
lerred that ell these mills are, in them
selves, poiIuters of the waters; on the
contrary, many, II not all, OF the owners
have done what they could 10 clean the
waters, or at least TO discontinue poison-
Iux than Huf arrnrA nvor.. ...ttt