The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1906-12-20

of the land being ~ feet above low
! tide The slight undulationS furnish
| shallow, natural reservoirs or fresh
water breeding places for every varie-
ty of mosquito, and the ground tends
| to be lowest in the middle. When the
town was originally built no attempt
was made to fill the low ground, either
| in the streets or on the building sites,
so that the entire surface was prac-
| ticallV uagmire; when the duag-
mire (. ,1me impossible certain of the
strey were crudelv improved by fill
ing especially bad mud holes with soft
rock or other material. In September,
1908. a systematic effort was begun to
formulate general plan for the prop
cr sanitation of the city, in February
last temporary relief measures were
taken, while in July the prosecution of
the work was begun in good earnest.
The results are already visible in the
scwerins. draining, guttering and paw
ing of the streets. Some four months
will be required before the work of
sewerage and street Improvement will
be completed, but the progress already
made is very marked. bitches have
been dug through the town connecting
the salt water on both sides. and into
these the ponds, which have served as
breeding places for the mosquitoes, are
drained. These bitches have answered
their purpose, for they are probably
the chief cause of the astonishing
1iminution of mosquitoes More bitches
" the kind are being constructed.
Colon Water Supply.
1t was not practicable. with the
force at the commissions disposal. and
in view of the need that the force
should be used in the larger town of
Panama, to begin this work before
early last winter. Water mains were
then laid in the town and water was
furnished to the people early in March
from temporary reservoir. This
reservoir proved to be of insufficient
capacity before the end of the dry
season and the shortage was made up
by hauling water over the Panama
railroad. so that there was at all times
nm ample SUNNY Of the very best
water. Since that time the new reser-
yoir back of Mount Hope has been
practically completed. | visited this
reservoir. 1t is a lake over mile
long and half a mile broad. 1t now
carries some 500,O00,000 gallons Of
first class water. | forward herewith
photograph of this lake, together
witt. certain other photographs Of
what / saw while | was on the 18TH
mus. Nothing but a cataclysm will
hereafter render it necessary in the
dry season to haul water for the use
of Colon and Cristobal.
Colon Pavements.
I rode through the streets of Colon,
seeing them at the height of the rainy
season, after two days of almost un-
eXampled downpour, when they were
at their very worst. Taken as a
whole they were undoubtedly very
bad; as bad as Pennsylvania avenue
in Washington before Grants admin
istration. Front street Is already in
thoroughly satisfactory shape, how
ever. Some of the side streets are
also in good condition. In others the
change in the streets Is rapidly going
on. Through three-fourths of the
town it is now possible to walk, even
during the period of tremendous rain,
in low shoes without wetting ones
feet, owing to the rapidty with which
the surface water Is carried away in
the bitches. In the remaining one
fourth of the streets the mud Is very
deep-about as deep as in the ordinary
street of a low-lying prairie river town
of the same size in the United States
during early spring All men to whom
spoke were a unit in saying that the
conditions of the Colon streets were
100 per cent better than q year ago.
The most superficial examination of
the town shows the progress that has
been made and is being made in ma
cadamiZing the streets. Complaint was
made to me by an entirely reputable
man as to the character of some of
the material used for repairing GER
tain streets. On investigation the COM
plant proved well founded, but 1t also
appeared that the use of the material
in question had been abandoned, the
commission after having tried II in one
or two streets finding 1t not appro-
pirate.