The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-05-18
SOME NEEDED REPAIRS
Mayor Collins Makes a Few Per-
tinent Suggestions.
FIRE HALL NEEDS FIXING
Sanitary Condition OF Third Ward Calls
for Special Attention by the
New Administration.
Other Matters,

Great rams, May l7.-Apparently
Mayor Collins has dropped his idea of
erecting shingle palace over the old
fire hall. In a personal conversation
with the Standard representative he
could not be built for his maximum
cost Of $4,000 and that there We're no
funds on hand for that purpose or any
way of getting them. Contractors put
the facts more positively and say that
$4,000 would not begin to build any kind
of an addition. According to the report
of the fire chief, the walls of the old
building are settling badly and this
constitutes another reason for not su-
perimposing additional weight At the
last meeting of the council the mayor
did not refer the matter to any commit
tee, nor did he allude to it in any way.
The second portion of his inaugural
address related to the sanitary condi-
ton of the Third ward and the neces-
sity of devising some scheme for drain
ing 1t. No suggestion as to method was
made. In that condition the second
have stated that the water works sys-
tenn badly needed a filter system, that
the streets of Great Falls with the ex-
ception of Central avenue are in an
execrable condition, or any one of a
thousand disagreeable problems which
the city ha, been meeting slowly just
as 1t could obtain the money for the
purpose. The city engineer has borrow
ed leaf from the book of a former
city engineer, g. B. Worley, and on
Monday night brought forward the sug-
gestion that big ditch be dug on
Ninth avenue south to run the water
under the railway track to the Missouri
river Provided the railway will per-
NIT such an arrangement, this is hard
ly more than a repetition of the ship
canal which Morley dug on Fourth :
avenue south, and which has made that
avenue in wet weather navigable for
boats of light draft and in dry weather
a very good imitation of bread board
with plenty of gumbo on 1t for dough.
AS it's best the Ninth avenue canal
could only carry off such water as
might drain from Prospect hill on the
south and the water which might over
flow from the frog ponds of the south
side. The latter it could never drain.
The trouble seems to lie with the en-
cheering department which is given,
like it's predecessors, to an inordinate
desire to build lasting monuments to
itself at the expense of the city. There
are three solutions to the problem.
The water comes from the north side
as far as about Twenty-seventh or
Twenty-eighth street and Eight or
Ninth avenue north, and it follows a
natural channel running in a south
westerly direction, crossing Central
avenue at about Thirteenth street.
From that point it spreads all over the
south side, filling depressions and Gre
ating frog ponds from the junction of
Central avenue and Ninth street to the
Missouri river. The best solutisn of the
question would be the building of addi-
tional main sewers with surface water
facilities or the extension of the Sixth
street sewer with the same terminals
would also do the work That is the
course which the city engineer desires
to pursue and the plan is all right save
that the city finances will not permit
any additional Indebtedness for that or
any other purpose. 1t would involve an
expenditure of at least $4,000, in bonds
bearing per cent. interest as mini
num- But that sort of thing would
constitute a lasting monument to the
building ability of the city engineering
department.
A second method of relief would be
the grading of Central avenue, First
Second and Third avenues south IN
such a manner as to intercept the water
and carry it by degrees to the Third
street sewer. These would act as
bitches, striking the flood at an angle
of 1870 degrees or thereabouts, and while
the action of the water would tend to
wear away these bitches and fill them
I'D more or less. the expense Of main
tanning them would be comparatively
slight. There is no monument IN tn1s
scheme, however, and it originated with
Alderman Schmidt of the Third ward,
who was thinking at the time OF the
health of his constituents, the prev2n-
ton of typhoid fever, diphtheria ana all
that sort of thing more than any last
ing fame.
The third idea is to extend the Sixth
street sewer and use the extension only
for the conveyance of surface water,
the extension to be constructed cheaply
and with only that end in view. This
was also submitted by the gentleman
from the Third ward and, like It's pre-
decessor, is a practical solution, but
one without glory to the engineer. Inc
latter. when the idea was first proposed,
said that 1t could be done for about
81. 500. Later he crawfished and said
he did not know how much 1t would
cost.
There is one more advantage in this
scheme of temporarily providing for
south side drainage. The same per-
plexity arose on the west side some two
years ago and the city engineer then
Thought there was but one way out OF
it, and that was the building of per-
manent sewer to cost $4,000 or more.
The residents of that portion of the city
thought that cheaper method of drain
age would satisfy them, and after con-
siderable wrangling a plank surface
drain costing about $1.500 was put in
which has given satisfaction. Prior to
its existence, however, one of the west
side residents, exasperated by the mud
pie methods of the engineering depart
ment, brought suit against the city for
damages caused by the innocent amuse-
ment of the engineer. and in the dis
trict court recovered judgment. That |
is the only unsettled suit which the city |
finds against itself to-day. Some time |
ago some of the south side residents |
held little meeting at which the drain |