Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-01-19
What Custer Needs.


of few things which are particularly
needed to promote the welfare of the
town and it's advancement as a com.
munity. Our needs are many, and al
though there are some things we cannot
have at present, there are some others
that We might have by little concert of
action, and the greatest of these is wa.
ter. Pure water and plenty OF it Is the
crying need Of the hour, and how to oh
tain it is a question which should be,
and believe is uppernost in the minds
Of our people today. In this statemen mt
1 am not prompted alone by the recent
calamity which has befallen us, at which
time seven buildings were swept by the
devouring flame, but we have had others
in our history, and some far more dam
aging than the last. Say what you will
it is reproach to the our citizens that
fire should burst out in our. town and
in one brief hour sweep away the houses
and homes Of the inhabitants, while our
people with willing hands are compelled
to stand idly by and with strained eye
balls watch it burn. We may congratu.
| late ourselves that our latest confagra
tion occurred in. the Oldest portion of
the town, where time and decay had
lessened in some degree the value Of
the buildings. Still the owners Of
those houses who carried no insurance
| ia Of al ,phn on,,ll aRnS1 IN
sustain the loss. If the wind had
blown In a different direction Gtrirg
the last fire, il might have destroyed the
most valuable portion Of the town with
ell its stores and stocks of goods. Shall
it forever remain true, as it is true to-
day, that our merchants and citizens
shall hold title to their property by no
stronger tenure than the caprice Of the
wind? ! hope not j.. ,.
But says one what arc you going to do
about it. Well, as an individual shall
do nothing, because l can do nothing.
Except this, as no one else seems inter
ested enough to mention the matter,
and as it seems to have fallen TO my lot
I to speak Of it, feel called upon to raise
my voice and pen against such criminal
negligence. ! confess that | feel exer.
cised over the matter, and vet perhaps
and for this reason: live in the coun-
try, and within your limits own no
property. mo house nor home do
posses, traveller in this wilderness -
But have lived here long enough (l6
years. to form an attachment to the
pfetty little Town, and / have some
friends who dwell within your gates to
whom ] am also attached. 1t would
afford me no pleasure whatever to see
them with their wives and little ones,
clad in nothing but their night robes,
hitting the frosty road barefooted, seek
| ing shelter in the farm houses in the
country, or the miners cabins in the
hills. All the accumulation OF. years OF
toll, all gone, nothing left, swept away
by the hot swift messenger Of fame.
- Can there he nothing done to prevent
such scene as have here depicted, CT
lat least mitigate its severity, and lessen
it's Wholesale application? | think it
can. What can we do about Z? All
it is wiser TO ask that question now than
to ask it when it is too late But saws
one, suppose We organize hook and
ladder company land you know we car
not equip the town with steam fire en-
gine) the water in our shallow wells
soon gives out, and we are brought to q
stand still This is true and we can not
do exactly all that we would like to Dc
but we can do something. There are
two things we can do in the way Of get
ting water for protection against fire
The first, and perhaps the most desir
able is to bring the water from the &C
cumulated supply which flows from
Buck" Bear" and "Bull' springs
This would insure bounliful supply O.
pure water for all time. 1t can be
brought to a sufficient elevation tc
empty by natural gravity into reser
yoir. at least 900 feet above Custer Ave
1 This would furnish large supply fol
drinking and domestic use, as well as fol
fire and the watering of our gardens
lawns and streets But the Company
who own this water say that they vii
be compelled to pay out SicO,00o 90 t.
bring that water to Custer, build the
reservoir, and lay the mains, put in fire
plugs, and furnish hose and pipe for as
many houses as are desirious Of making
use of the water. They say they cannot
make themselves whole short of &
charge of $1,000 per annum from the
city, and from rs cents to Si.00 extra fol
each private dwellings. The survey has
been made, and it has been found that
it will take II miles of ditch, pipe, and
flume to bring in the water. This per-
haps is more than we can afford to pay
at this time. Our people are hardly ir
condition to stand so onerous tax al
present, although it would not be so ex
pensive as appears at first thought as
the 100000 would be spent in the com
munity and give employment to grea
many laborers. 1t would pay to do this
if we had no other recourse.
But there is another prosposition
which / think we might first consider
1t is based upon the fact that we have
running through different portions o
the city several large and strong wa
ter veins. (All our water runs in verti
cal veins in this formation.) Some o
these veins run northwesterly ant