The Coconino weekly sun., 1896-06-25
SAVE THE TOWN.

saved from be. oming howling wilderness. a place of drsolati"n from which mankind will fee inaerror, an adequate supply of water is an abSo- lu,s n, cessity. Already some of our best citizens are leaving the town. forf~i,ing whatever rights and title they had acquired to property here. while others are daily preparing for an exodus. determined DO longer to sink their capital or waste their enc, gies in trying to shake the plums of the trees for lot of lrones to pick up. There has been too much pr0'ras,inati"n and diIly-dali. ing on this matter. Trade is lra>in Us and visitors wh, have been induced tn com. L" the town go away in disgns, and carry with them inpr, r,s>i"ns it will take years to eradicate. This should not be. and our representatives in the council will incur an enormous rrslnn- sihili,; if they d" not quickly d" ava! with the cause.
 We dn not wish to concral the fari that considerable difficulties brsr, tn council m the consideration of this matter. We believe that individual y and collectively the members are .l' . siruus "f evolving some scheme tIs. t would be fnI the best interests "f [, q town. and while we dn not wish |" hurry their deliberations, we must call their attention t" the urgent need ,haI exists for arriving at some speed! conclusi"n. Water must bc had and that speedily. and "f the tw" mai" propositions that confront them--,hr Jack Smita spring and Oak creek one or other should bs selected with out further delay.
 Of these two propositions 1t Is unan- inously conceded Oak creek is far superior of the two. While there Is no question that the supply of water from the mountains would b. ampl, fur all purposes, there would yet b- the ever constant dread that the pipes might burst during the winter season. and then there would be a water famine. The only objection to Oak creek Is that 1t would entail a much heavier expenditure. but what is that to us? If an outside company wishes to undertake the work and desii e only a reasonable guarantee from th. town. Is it not the paramount duty "t the council either to accept the offr, at once or submit the proposition tn N vote of the citiz-usp They should uo, permit unofficial talk as to what the cost of the Oak creek proposition would be nor the probable amount ih. company would ask from the town to iufuonce them. Let them comply xA nearly as they can with Mir. Burns request, giving him the outside fgurr the town could at present afford to pa, for an ample supply of water both f"r domestic. manufacturing and fire pun. poses aud. this would be an answer t" both his propositions. as 1t is imms,,r- ial to us where the water come from as long as it Is pure and wholesome and sufficient in quantity.
 IL must not be thought by this tha, we have any intention of throwing cold water on the projec. of establish. ing . local stock company. We should only be to" glad to know that there was SO much enterprise among our citizens and to see the pr"jcct suc"eed. But what we complain of is that al- ready more ,han two years have been wasted in rrofitless discussion of the water question and we are as far from having water supply now as we were on the day on which we were in. c"rporated. and fear is expressed that this prnject will lapse as SO man, others have done. By all means let those who have the project in hand push it to completion if possible, bu, in the meantime let the council rppor, ts Mir. Burns, and if his compan, wishes to apply for charter let the council award it to whoever comes first. Water we must have, and until we get 1t the very existence of thr {. s,, s,o,.cA,