Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1903-10-09
NO CHANGE in CONTRACT
Amount to be Advanced to II. v.
Gates on City WaterwOrks Is
$4,000.

seven miles at total Of abou
$4,000. Dallas is now building
similar system, deriving its waite
from Canyon Greek, piping it
distance of six miles. The cost o
the works is to be about $4,000
H. V. Gates is the contractor, anc
the city puts $4,000 in as its shar'
of the works, having free use Of th'
water for a certain number Of years
as a result of the Investment Tht
balance of the money Mr.. Gates
supplies. At one time Mr. Gates
offered to build the system if The
city would put in $4,000, but The
city sed.-Corvallis Times.
The Times has been misinformed
and its item is slightly misleading
in that it conveys the impression
that Dallas is paying Mr.. Gates
$4,000 for the city's share of the
plant. The contract under which
Mr.. Gates is now putting in the
waterworks provides that upon the
payment to him Of $4,000, the
title to the plant is to pass to the
city. For the use of the $4,000
advanced, the city is to receive
water for fire protection and other
public uses free of charge for a
period of 20 years. For the use of
the money expended by him, Mr..
Gates is to operate the plant and
receive all revenue from private
consumers for like period of time.
At the end of 20 years, or there
after, at the option Of the city, the
value of the plant is to be appraised,
and the city is to pay Mr.. Gates
the amount of this valuation, less
the $4,000 already advanced. Mr..
Gates then steps down and out and
the plant is turned over to the city
for operation. The extra $4,000
voted at a recent election is to be
used in paying for the necessary
rights of-way and water rights.
At the time when the project was
first taken under advisenent, the
city council asked the people for
only $4,000, as it was then be-
lieved that the rights-of-way could
be secured for nominal consider
alton, and that the amount to be
paid to Mr.. Gates would constitute
the entire amount for which it
would be necessary to issue bonds.
But certain owners of land along
the route to Canyon Greek made
unexpected demands for damages
which they claimed would be
caused by the pipeline crossing
their respective premises and the
of water from Can
yon Creek. Under these conditions,
the council was obliged to place the
matter before the taxpayers second
time and ask for an additional
83, which amount was voted.
Even then the demands Of Judge
R. P. Boise and Mrs. M. E. Hallock
were SO heavy that the council
found itself face 10 face with the
alternative of paying a sum of
money which it considered to be
excessive beyond reason, or OF sub
the matter of damages to a |
Jury. The latter course was pur-
sued, and Judge Boise and Mrs.
Hallock were awarded damages in
N the sums of $500 and $51, re-
lpectively-about one-twentieth of
he amount demanded by them.
The OBSERVER makes this ex-
olanation merely that the people
,f our neighbor town may under
stand why Dallas voted $4,000 for
instead of $4,000, as
1t first contemplated. Every mem
Der of the Dallas council deeply re-
,retted to see this additional and
lnlooked-for expense heaped upon
he taxpayers of the city, and
ought in every honorable way to
void it. But the fight was forced
lpon the city by the little handful
# people who were opposed to the
improvement, and no
course was left open to the council
,ut to carry it through to finish,
II abandon the project altogether.
There are only two causes for re-
ret in the whole matter. One is,
hat the city should have been
orced to pay any landowner one
,ent more than he was actually
damaged; and the other, that any
itizen of Dallas should have aided
SICK HEADACHE ABSOLUTELY and