The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-07-22
EXAMINING THE
BIG RESERVOIRS
ICcicluded frcm Page S.l

ment and impurities that go to the bot
tom of the reservoir are carried off.
When It is desired to clean the reeer-
voir this large pipe Is opened and the
suction draws off the sediment. etc.
Soon after leaving Elmhurst for
the Williams Bridge reservoir the
party entered the system of roads
that the Gas and Water company has
for several years been constructing
through it's mountain lands. Up to
date fourteen miles of the finest maca-
damized driveways have been made
and about four miles more will be
constructed before the system is conf
pleted. A large force of men is kept
constantly at work constructing these
roads. They are progressing at the
rate Of 800 feet a day.
Near the Williams reservoir is a
large, stone crushing plant where the
broken stone for the macadem is OBJ
tained. When Superintendent Reeves
was asked yesterday why the company
had built this extensive and expen-
sive system of drives he replied:
GIFT TO SCRANTON.
well, the company owns this land
and we have to drive through 1t
great deal. w. w. Scranton. the presi-
dent of the company. saw that we
must have roads and decided that
they should be good ones and be
free gift to the people of Scranton. In
cidentally,I might say that the fact
that Scranton has had practically no
nice drives had something to do with
inducing Mr.. Scranton to build these
roads In the shape you now see them"
Whatever the incentive Scranton has
been supplied with fourteen miles of
the finest drives in the country through
mountains Of unrivalled picturesque
ness.
The Williams Bridge reservoir IS "n
the Stafford Nef COW brook aud can
store three k:n' ~ed and f,rty million
gallons of water. The water that does
not go through the pipes to the high
service reservoir at Dunmore passes
down the natural channel to the reser-
voir which supplies South Scranton.
On De Stafford Meadow brook a
mile south of Williams bridge is the
site of the Dagen farm reservoir which
will be the largest owned by the COM
pany. 1t will have a capacity for stor-
llS lWeHlN-HNe nunuItu Sdl-
Ions. There is a depression of the land
on the Dagen farm which makes it
natural reservoir. The water will
cover two hundred and twenty .fiJe
acres of land and will be 6S feet deep
at the dam and have an average depth
1f thirty feet.
The lake that will be formed will
be one of the lal sest in Pennsylvania
and although somewhat semi-circular
in shape will admit mile and one-half
straightaway course for boat race.
DRIVEWAY AROUND LAKE
All around the edge of this reservoir
a driveway is already constructed. 1t
is five and one-half miles in length.
Some idea of the immense dam that
is required to hold this vast body of
water in check may be obtained from
the following facts: 1t is the largest
dam in Pennsylvania; it has upwards
of forty thousand square yards of ma
sonry in it; it was begun three years
ago by Burke Brothers and will not
be completed until next November, al
though work has been prosecuted on 1t
as rapidly as possible during the eight
months of the open season each year.
The dam is about five hundred feet
long. Three hundred of this is of
solid masonry fifty-six feet thick at
the bottom and II feet at the top.
Two hundred feet Of the dam consists
of a core wall eighteen feet at the
bottom and four feet at the top. This
wall is f1anked on either side by great
banks of earth which will be rip-rip-
ped.
The boulevard around the reservoir
will pass over the top of this dam on
a series of ornate arches.
The spillway from this reservoir is
some distance east of the dam and
the water will be discharged into the
basin of a stream long dry. Over
this spillway the company has con-
structed an iron bridge at a cost Of
$4,000. 1t is expected that this reser-
vor will be filled with water by next
spring. Pipes in the filters at the dam
will admit of water being discharged
into the Stafford Meadow brook from
the top, center or bottom of the dam.
This water will pass down to the reser-
voir lower down in the stream which
supplies the South Side.
TUNNEL BEING BUILT.
At the opposite end of the reser-
voir from the dam is the end of
tunnel $500 feet long through which
large pipes will carry the water to
the No. reservoir. Work on it is now
in progress. 1t will thus be seen that
the water can be diverted in two diff
ferent directions, to the South Side
or No. 7. This reservoir was planned
and is being constructed under the di-
section of w. II. Marble, the engineer
of the company.
After the inspection of the site of
the new reservoir the party lunched
nearby in pretty grove which at the
suggestion of one of the members OF
the board o. health was christened
Reeves grove, in honor of Robert
Reeves.
Mr.. Horn made a short speech In
which he SAID the water company was
deserving of every credit for the enter
prise and thoughtfulness shown in
planning for the future and for the
alacrity with which it co-operates with
the board of health in guarding the
purity of the supply.
On the way home the party stopped
at the distributing reservoir on the
Stafford Meadow brook which supplies
a great portion OF the South Side.
JuSfulls of water were taken from
each of the reservoirs and they will
he sent to Philadelphia for a chemical
analysis.