Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1911-06-03
FOR CITIZENS
INFORMATION
Edmund N. Blake Give. Interest.
ing Information Relative To
Water Pipes.

Water Pipes.
Editor Elmore County Republican,
Mountain Home, Idaho: 1t has oc
curred to me that perhaps many od
your readers would welcome little
information ON the relative merits OF
the three principal kinds Of pipe
used in municipal water works CON
st1Tuction and the reasons leading up
to the selection of wood stave for
use at Mountain Home. Such mat.
ters are generally but little under.
stood by the average tax payer In oua
cities and towns unless by chance
he is ON the Board or Committee In
charge OF the expenditure OF the pub
lic funds or has had actual exper.
ience in the use Of the various mater
ials going to make up complete
water works system. 1t has al.
ways been my belief that the citizens
of town where pub .c money Is
being expended for pubhc
benefit, should be batter
posted on the various steps
leading up to these expenditures
than is usually the case. This Is
wholly aside from any consideration
of the confidence placed by the citi-
zens i'm the men they elect to repre-
sent them ON the Board or Council
Final decisions must rest with such
a Board or Council but public interest
in and intelligent comprehension Of
the problem met by the Board or
Council and the reasons for the final
decisions made by them, is a sign of
progressive development and wide.
awake citizenship OF the true Ameri-
can type.
One of the first and most import.
ant problems confronting board Of
Trustees charged with the expend!.
ture of municipal funds fer H. WAFER
works system is that of the kind Of
pipe to be adopted. The Engineer
has already advised them on the
lengths and sizes of pipe for the sys-
TEN and generally n.ak's his r,com-
mendations as to the kind Of pipe
best adapted to the local conditions.
But the final decision mus, rest with
the Board as to whether wood stave,
wrought iron, or ,ast iron pipe shall
be installed. 70 this problem nj
Mountain Hone the Board gave long
and painstaking consideration. 1t
has never been my practice to be
arbitrary ON this feature Of Il water
works installation, but rather to SO
arrange 1t that every possible argu-
ment ON all sides of the question may
be presented to the Board in orde::
that their final decision may be an
intelligent one. It is much more
gratifying to an engineer to have his
specific recommendations adopted uE.
der these conditions than otherwise.
The representatives OF the wood
stave and wrought iron pipe manu-
facturers were ON the ground to pre-
sent their claims In person and to
explain the particular merits Of the
pipe sold by them, supplm enting
their arguments with lists of towns
where their pipe Is In satisfactory use
together with written opinions of ex--
perts on tests made in the past
The bids were called for and opened
ON May 9Th. The bid OF the Wash
ington Pipe & Foundry Co., of Ia.
coma, on wood stave pipe, that OF
Crane & Co. OF Salt Lake, ON Mathe-
son Joint wrought iron pipe and that
OF the U. s. Cast Iron Pipe Foundry
Co., of Chicago, ON cast iron pipe, are
selected for comparison. These bids
are as follows, for pipe delivered ON
the cars at Mountain Home: i
inch wood stave pipe, IN inch
slaves, 21cts per foot.
4 inch Matheson Joint wrought iron
pipe, 2S5 cts. per foot.
4 inch cast iron pipe 22lb per foot.
4S.9 cts. per foot.
inch wood stave pipe, ~ inch
slaves, 80 cts, per foot.
inch Mathesoa Joint wrought
iron pipe, 4LS cts. pen foot.
Inch cast iron pipe, 80 Lbs. per
foot. III cts. per foot.
inch wood stave pipe, ~ inch
slaves, 43 cts. per foot.
inch Matheson Joint wrought iron
pipe, 67.45 cts. per foot.
inch cast iron pipe, 48 lbs per
foot, $1.04.
Taking into account the relative
costs Of laying this pipe, the followin