The times., 1899-06-25

In the pump room is an Edison recording
gauge which indicates upon piece of pa
per tape the pressure upon the delivery
main.
record compiled from the readings OF
the tape and indicators on the pumps is
taken every hour and by turning to the
books it is possible to find out the exact
amount OF water sent out by the pumps
at any hour on any day for years back
Thursday afternoon when the reporter Wis
tied the pump station, the indicator show
ed that 3O4,500 gallons of water were sent
out during the hour between 3 and 4
o'clock. AT about 4 o'clock the demand
for water became greater and during the
hour between 4 and O'Clock, the output
had increased about 1000 gallons. The
engineer stated that by 10 O'Clock that
night it would amount to about 375. 600
gallons an hour From that time on until
early the next morning the demand is at
its lowest stage.
Down in the basement beneath the pump
room is a network of huge mains, some
leading in from the distributing reservoir
and others leading to the middle service
and the high reservoir at Fort Reno. Each
main is provided with a stopcock enabling
the men in charge to stop the flow of water
into any main along which there may be
trouble The solid masonry foundations
on which the heavy pumps rest fill large
part of the basement and extend down
into the ground to bed rock.
The plant is equipped with dynamo
which furnishes light for the pump station
and the repair shop, and the stables ad-
joining on the west. The pump station is
in charge of James T. Fink, who is the
chief engineer. The three other engineers
are NJ. F. Boyle, Thomas H. Jones, and
Loudoun Campbell
The headquarters of the repair depart
ment are located on the same ground
WITH the pump station, and like it are no-
tceable for their extreme neatness. The
stables in which are housed the horses
of the ''hurry-up" wagon are ceiled and
oiled, lighted by electricity, and are kept
as clean as a kitchen. The hurry up
wagon stands loaded with all the tools
necessary for repairing break in a main.
As soon as message is received that a
break has occurred, or after a second
alarm of fire. the wagon is sent as fast
as two stout horses can draw it to the
scene OF the trouble. In a yard Forth OF
the stables are kept old pipe, new pipe
stop cocks, and everything that could Eos
s1biy be needed A systematic arrange
ment OF the contents in the yard has been
made, so that an employe at all familiar
with the place can lay his hand on any
thing that may be desired at seconds
notice. John Fitzgerald is at the head
of the department and has charge of fif-
teen men. There are 1S0 men engaged in
the entire waterworks system.
The water supply of the lower part of
the city-that part of it at an altitude of
less than 100 feet above the river-is car
ried through the mains by the force OF
gravity alone. The entire Southeast South
West and the lower parts of the Northwest
are included in this system, known as the
low pressure service. Both the low and
high pressure services are well supplied
with water. but the middle service does
not always fare so well. The full capacity
OF the mains in the middle system have
about been reached and they will not carry
very much larger supply.
In order to meet the requirements of
the middle service another reservoir is
being constructed Immediately south Of the
Soldiers Home grounds. This will be con-
nected with the distributing reservoir by
the Lydecker tunnel, which is in course
of construction at the present time. The
tunnel viii not be completed for two or
three years yet Another reservoir Lear
the driving park at Brightwood is being
constructed it being designed to supple
ment the high service.
The present high state of efficiency of
the city water service is due to the active
and intelligent management of Walter A.
Mcfarland. who has held the superintend-
ency of the water works for the past two
years. The greater portion of the improve
ments have been made under his admins
tration, and he is the promoter of many of
the ideas for the improvement Of the SER
vice which are now being carried out