The Oskaloosa herald., 1903-12-24
THETHIRST OF A CITY.
Oskaloosa Consumes ooo, 900 Gallons
of Water Daily,

While Oskaloosa supports fifteen II
ceHsed. saloons she also takes little
water en- the side. In ether words,
every twenty-four hours 100000 gal
Ions are pumped through the mains
toSsupply the demands Of the people
Of sthis city. And every drop of this
immense volume is taken from the
wells and reservoir, when the river is
not absolutely free from sediment.
As will have been noticed the water
supplied for the past few weeks has
been unusually good, and this. inn
provement has been due to the sue
cess that has attended r. M. Boyer's
efforts in sinking a series of wells on
the north side of the river. The nine
new wells have now all been tested
and have been proven inexhaustible.
They have been connected up with a
parent well, and one Of the finest
supplies of water to be had anywhere
now furnishes Oskaloosa with her
great necessity of life.
In bringing his scheme to success
full issue, Uncle Dick" Boyer has
surmounted great obstacles, and
many that would have made a man of
weaker makeup quail and give in.
After several efforts it was found
that it was utterly impracticable to
get supply wells on this side Of the
river for the reason that the sand
was so fine and the rock so hard that
the supply, while steady, was entirely
too slow to be practical Finally
Mr.. Boyer and Supt. Luscomb per-
suaded the company to try one on
the opposite side of the river. Here
a fine bed of gravel so feet deep was
encountered and by the use of Cooks
we'll strainers the finest supply of
water imaginable was found.
A system of nine wells was then
put in, which, added to the two old
ones, makes eleven in all, The water
is carried from all of the wells by
siphonage to a large well, known as
the parent well, and from this 1t Is
turned into the cistern from whence
it is pumped across the river, and
either into the reservoir or Through
the mains to the city. lfsd h-gs
The supply from the wells is prac-
tically unlimited, but the pipe that
crosses the river. has a capacity of
only 100000 gallons per day. For
this reason it is necessary to take
about l00, ,0005 gallons daily yyfrom the
reservoir.
The company now has in contem-
plation' the CONSTRUCTION tof an i'm
mense well or cistern on this side of
the river, and the building of "a new
and larger pipe connection with the
wells. This done, and the system
would be as near perfect as anything
of the kind could be. This change
would also be OF immense advantage
to the company. In place of operat-
ing an expensive cable and pump on
the opposite side of the river the
whole apparatus would be&done away
with and the water would be lifted
right at the plant. @H
The company is also engaged now
in overhauling it's filters at the stand
pipe in the city. They are being
thoroughly cleaned ana new bed OF
Red Wing, Minnesota, sand is being
placed therein.
Counting in the wells, other i'm
proVements, ,and the second main that
was laid between the pumping sta
ton and the stand pipe, the company
has expended over $4,000 since the
new franchise was granted less than
two years ago. Being four miles
from the river, and over 100 feet
above its level,with a sluggish stream
to draw from, Oskaloosa's water sup
ply has been a hard proposition. 1t
has cost pile of money to solve the
problem, but it now seems entirely
settled and the city and the water
company are each to be congratu-
lated.