Rocky Ford enterprise., 1911-02-24

cles from Mr.. VanBuskirk and Mr..
w. B. Goblin under the above cap
ton, which appeared in the Feb. 10th
issue OF the Enterprise. and as Mr..
Goblin has used my report to. the
Pearl SPRINGS Water Co. in his arti-
Gle, | would like to add a little more
information for the benefit of the peo-
pie and taxpaycrs of Rocky Ford.
am not financially interested in
any water project or scheme, and my
views are based upon an investiga-
ton and study of the water subject
covering a period of several years.
and also from the standpoint OF a tax
payer and citizen OF Rocky Ford.
We are all aware that water sup
ply from the Dakota sandstones,
which is the source of our artesian
water, is out OF the question. Next
comes the river water system. ! III
system as described by Mr.. VanBus
kirk, might do for irrigation and fire
protection ii no better system wa
available, but for domestic purposes
the river system is also ont of tn,
question, for several reasons. When
the river gets very low. there is nc
water passing Rocky Ford except
seepage water, then this would be the
source of supply at such time. lhis
secpage water contains so much al
kali to be of any use for domestic
purposes. Anyone doubling this can
go to the river and see the white al
kali on the soil wherever the seepagc
comes to the surface. or he can have
an analysis of the. water made. and
he will be surprised at the amount OF
a.. sha nj le
valley contains.
The water that flows down the riv-
cr from the Royal Gorge would also
be bad for domestic purposes even il
filtered. for all the sewage from Lead
vile, Salida. Canon City. Pueblo and
several other towns and cities ar.
emptied into the FLYER. and even the
best of liter beds cannot purify the
water as il should be.
To substantiate this, ] have before
me Water Supply Paper No. - OF the
U. s. Geological Survey written by
Geo. w. Raftcr. an expert on water
Supplies and sewers He says in his
discussion OF the dangers OF typhoid
fever from sewer coptamipaion.nf nf do.
rnestic water Supplies: THE city OF
I.orain. Ohio. is located at the mouth
of Black river. which receives the
taut. Lake Erie was closed with ice
at Lorain during the months OF Jan
uary. February and March, IS93 In
March and April there was serious
epidemic of typhoid fever. 8 deaths
occurring in a population OF about
five thousand. In 1905 the lake was
again closed with ice during the
months of February and March. and
typhoid fever again became epidemic.
there being three deaths in Febru-
ary. two in March. and four in April
In February. 1896. typhoid fever DC
came epidemic at Windsor, Ontario.
\ town on the Detroit river Just opno-
site the city of Detroit. During the
previous month of December. 1905
the total number of cases was nine.
for January the total was eighteen.
for February cighty-two and for
March thirteen. making a total for til"
four months of ono hundred twenty
two. The cause of the outbreak l.
ascribed to the presence of the sew
a~c of Walkerville, in the Windso
water supply"
As Mr.. VanBuskirk mentions Chi
cago's water system as ideal. | will
quote what Mr.. Raftcr has to say or
the subject. He says, AT Chicago
the barbarous practice of TURNING
the sewage of a great city into the
body of water from which the public
water supply is taken has resulted SC
disastrously as to lead to the con-
>tructior nf what is known as the Chi
cago drainage canal. by which it Is
cxnccted to deliver the Greater par
OF the Chicago sewage into the head
| waters OF the Illinois river. and 50 fin
ally into the Mississippi" Mr.. Raft
er gives a report of the Chicago De
| -artmcnt of Health wherein there are
-io4 deaths. resulting from typhoid
fever in Chicago in three years. and
in the discussion of the report. he
saws. ."All these outbreaks as well a
the general high typhoid death rate.
must be attributed entirely to the
| polluted water supply" From the cx-
pcricncc of the best engineering att
| thoritics In the country. it will be
seen that Rocky Ford cannot get =
nurc water supply from the Arkansas
| river.
The Apishapa River undcrflow pro-
| icct uDon inve estigation was found to
| be a farce. Then we have the sew
| craI projects from the Horse Creek
| undcrhow I believe that I have Civ
| en- more time and labor in the inveSti-
| CATION OF this source Of supply than
any other one in the valley. and ] will
saw that the water supply of the Ar
kansas Valley will eventually be dcriv-
| ed from this source. There is no
| other place to get water for domestic
PURPOSES that will ba a benefit to the
valley. A water system once cstab-
Iished from the Horse Crcekt under
flow would be CHEAP system to main
tain. as there would be no pumping
| expenses. it being Gravity system.
We all know the quality OF the water
is good. The water entering Dor-
ous sandstone formation on the divide
| cast of Palmer Lake flows southeast
| erly. through the sandstone. In the