The St. Louis Republic., 1904-12-28

street. not far from the present center of
| the city. In is22 however. and for twenty
| years later. no public sewers had been
| built. the north part Of the city was hut
| spEsely inhabited and the water delV-
| cred was comparatively free from 20 lu-
| ton.
But It WAS very limited in quantity. and
| for many years a large. if not the great
or. part Of the drinking supply was taken
! from wells which were uniformly shallow
and easily polluted. In 1852 the first public
sewer was built in Biddle street. its out
let being about l.iOG feet below the wa
| terworks. In ls5S. and again in 1855. the
capacity Of the works was greatly in
creased by the installation of two new
two new reservoirs. and the general use
OF the public supply corTespondingly IN
creased
Contemporaneously with this enlarge
ment OF tine Waterworks. We note very
marked drop in the typhoid rate. which.
with one upward turn in 1859. continued
till 1861. when It reached n.5S per loo. as
compared with 2Ji in lsJl. drop of ~
per cent. Meantime the building of sewers
discharging into the river north OF the
WaterworkS had begun. and the sewage
discharged by Rocky Branch and by Gin
Grass Creek. both in this district. was in
crcaging. At the same time the typhoid
curve takes an upward turn. which con-
tinues without interruptior for five years:
eliminating in 1866. with a rate OF l.i6
Of of 1851 ST. o' ''oie Una" ''''s '''S' '''"'
The fluctuations Of the next four years
are without explanation in the condition
of the water supply. so far as ii can now
be traced. For. though the building of
new Waterworks in a new location was
begun in 1866 and some efforts made in
the meantime to improve the old supply.
there were no changes in the former con-
Gition worthy Of mention. But in May.
ISL, the new works were inaugurated and
the old works abandoned The new in
take was at Bissell's Point. which at
that time was above the mouths Of all
the sewers. The new supply was also al
lowed to remain for twenty-four hours or
more at rest in the new settling basins
before it, distribution to consumers.
something which before then was impOs-
sible
Coincdent with this event the typhoid
rate. which from 1859 to 1870 was rising. a
once began to fall until in 1873. 1t had
reached : rate OF 81 per 90 drop in
eight years of rs per cent. After this the
rate. with some fluctuations. increased
until in 1892 It rose in a single year from
30 TO %. Along with this rise from 1873
10 1892 there was gradual introduction of
sewage into the streams entering the river
within the city limits above RisselTs
Point; notably into the one nearest the in
take pumps. namely. Harlem Creek. which
had become in effect an open sewer. TAat
this the chief II not the only. cause
OF typhoid infection was 40 clear that the
city authorities We're induce.i to place a
puInn at Harlem Creek. by wt.ch the dry
weather flow OF the stream was delivered
into the Ferry street sewer, the mouth of
WnlCn 10 Dc low lIe blSS''i4 fOll'l buIiIp--
Tho immediate drop in the typhoid rate
from .93 in 1892 to ~ in 1899 points clearly
to the relation OF effect to cause.
LOWEST ACTUAL. RATE
The Harlem Creek pump was maintained
until the final abandonment. in 1885. OF
Bisselrs Point as the source of supply. and
the inauguration of the present intake
station at the Chain of Rocks. six and
three-dlIarter miles further up stream, and
above all present or prospective sewage