The log cabin Democrat. [volume] (Conway, Ark.) 1908-current, 1910-07-23
WATFRWORKS
EARLY IN 1911.
PLANS ARE NEARLY READY
SYSTEM TO BE ONE OF BEST
IN STATE-TO USE WOOD
PIPE MAIN.

That the city of Conway will be
able to boast of one of the finest sys-
TENS of waterworks in the state in
actual operation before the beginning
Of another summer is the belief of
G.. w. A. Wilson, secretary of the
board of the waterworks improvement
district of Conway. Except for a
few finishing touches, the plans for
the system, which have been prepared
by Dickinson & Watkins of Little
Rock, are ready for the contractors
to figure on, and bids for the con-
struction will probably be asked for
within a few weeks.
In the meantime, the board is ar
ranging to secure right-of-way con
tracts for the pipe lines from Gleason
10 Conway, a distance of about six
miles. Surveys for two or three pos
sible routes for the mains have been
made, either of which would cost ap-
'..or1 anticipates no difficulty in Sc
curing privileges from the property
owne1S along the route for the laying
of tho pipes. A large number of sam
Piles of the water taken at different
tlr IS and from different portions OF
the Cadron creek are now being an
alyzed by the chemist of the Univers-
ty of Arkansas, and his report is eX-
pected within few days. A Phila-
delphia firm of chemists, to whom
samples of the water were also sent,
have already reported most favorably
on the character of the water but the
analysis. being made at Fayetteville is
to be more thorough.
According to the plans the pump
ing station will be located on the
banks of the stream at Gleason and
will be situated few hundred yards
north of the plant of the Freeman
Lumber Company. The power to op-
crate the pumps will be furnished by
the city light plant and will be con-
veyed by electric wires to motors at
The pumping station. This will re-
suit in a great economy of operation,
as it will be unnecessary to install a
steam plant and keep fireman at the
pumping station.
The water, after being thoroughly
filtered, will be conveyed in ten-inch
main to a reservoir, to be located on
one of the hills between Conway and
the source of supply, the reservoir to
have an elevation of over $50 feet
above the average of the distributing
pipes in the city. This, according to
the engineers, will give ample gravity
pressure for fire protection and all
other purposes in the city.
From the reservoir the water will
be conducted in eight-inch mains to
the city. The distributing mains are
all large and are located on practical
ly every principal street in the city,
so that the service will be available
to about 80 per cent of the houses
located in the city limits. Between
rs and 100 fire hydrants will be dis
tributed on street corners throughout
the city, bringing almost without ex-
ception every building in Conway
within range of adequate protection
from fire.
Wooden pipes will be used to con-
vey the water throughout the system
Mr.. Wilson states that, while the
financial limitations of the district
would have made it impossible to in
stall the system with cast iron pipes,
in many respects the wooden pipe is
superior to iron. The life of cypress
or white pine wood when buried in the
ground and kept saturated with water
is remarkable. In the office of the
districts engineers, Dickinson q Wat
kins. at Little Rock, is a portion oi
wooden pipe recently taken up in the
city of New Orleans. This pipe is
known to have been laid as long age
as 1911, and in all probability was
laid many years before, yet it is per
fectly sound, showing not the least
trace of decay either on the inside OF
outside.
The specimen of the New Orleans
pipe shows that it was simply log
about II inches in diameter, followed
out to bore six inches in diameter
1t is not protected on the outside
in any way. The pipe to be laid in
Conway, instead of being bored from
one log, is constructed of slaves held
| together by steel bands and covered