The daily morning Alaskan. (Skagway, Alaska) 1899-1904, 1899-04-30
WATER AGAIN FOR
FIRE PROTECTION
One Fire Plug Is Ready for
Business.
AT THIRD AND STATE
superintendent Eastman says He
VIII Have All Fire Plugs I'm the
city Flowing water by the End
of the Present week-Citizens
working on Gross Connections.

The sight Of water running from the fire
hydrant at Sylvester's corner YESTERDAY af-
temoon was a joyful one to the citizens,
and everyone felt that the city water fam
Inc was now practically over, ard while
only this one fire hydrant Is now In work.
Ing order, the rest will be In few DAYS.
and, according TO Mr. Eastman's Ideas,
every plug will be ready for service BY the
end Of another week.
With 1900 feet Of fire hose owned BY the
city stream from the Third street plug
can be used up as far as Fifth avenue.
Mr.. Brownell, the hardware merchant
on Broadway, said YESTERDAY that as soon
as the water was in the main on Broadway
he would start 10 work and thaw out the
plug on his corner.
The members Of Hose Co. No. will
thaw out the fire plug and sersiee pipe at
the corner Of Broadway and Fifth avenue
as soon as the water arrives at that point.
Manager Eastman and his men were at
",rI< all day yesterday and the night be-
fore thawims NJ, the frozen places In the
main on Third avenue, and early yesterday
morning the water forced its way through
the street bed between Main and State
streets. II was thought at first that the
main had broken, but later Investigation
showed II was a plug in the main that had
blown out. The water was running all
dav and at a late hour last night the low
ground in that part Of the city was con-
verted into large lake several inches
deep: The water Is now running in the
Third avenue main up to Main street, but
Mr. Eastman does not think tnat II goes
any further. The main in Third street Is
steel, and II froze quicker in that than In
the others, and will also thaw quicker
than the wooden ones. II tmay have burst.
but Mr. Eastman does not think so. About
the condition Of the main In State street
Mr., Eastman does not know, as he has
no tests, but thinks il is not frozen. The
service pipes leading from the main are
frozen on this street. as they are all over
the city.
The Broadway main |: not frozen and
Mr.. Eastman does not think that It ever
was frozen. When he dug a hole yester'
day and bored into the wooden main he
found tw o inches Of water but no Ice.
Mr.. Eastman thinks that If the cross
piece at the corner Of Third avenue and
Broadway, which leads up the Broadway
main, was cleared Of ice the water would
flow up Broadway. The cross piece Is
iron and iroze solid last winter, while the
water In the wooden main was not frozen.
He was at work Yesterday afternoon setting
up an engine to heat water, and tomorrow
will be at work thawing out this cross
piece.
As soon as II was definitely known YES
terdav that water was running In the main
on Third avenue, the Klondike Trading
Company put a foree Of men at work to
thaw out the iron service pipe leading from
the main to the fire plug on Its corner
The pipe was uncovered and the ground at
a depth Of two feet was found to be froz-
en-. After many applications Of hot water,
about o'clock a stream Of water shot out
the open fire plug, and the property own
ers In that district at least were sure OF
good fire protection, for, with the efficient
hose companies and stream Of water such
as flowed out Of the fire plug, no FIRE could
possibly gain headway.