Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1916-05-10
OUR WATER SYSTEM
A Story Written for the New
corners and Younger Folk.
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS, FINE.
The Whole Being a Few Facts About
KIOndike Spring and Why Our
Plant Has Few Rivals.

in operation for twenty-One years
without a break, and all that time
water has gushed from Klondike
spring and after being sucked under
Grant river, been further forced up
more than 800 feet to the city and shot
through mains to hundreds of dwell
ings and business houses.
Reasons Why and How.
That is all true and everyone knows
it-but how many people actually
know just how all this is done and
as they say in Italy, themodus operan-
di, pertaining thereto. Not everyone
and not even a majority Ed Stephens
engineer in chief at the water plant
says, and certainly the Herald man
had but a vague idea that there was a
walled-in spring, a pumping station,
a pipe line and a standpipe in the
north part of town, and nothing else
much but that Klondike water tasted
mighty good.
Takes Lots of Pumping.
Anyhow last Wednesday afternoon
the Herald man and Lies" Clark got
in the new Buick and sailed down
the big hill that drops 300 feet in
about one mile, to the pumping sta
ton. We found Ed Stephens loafing
on the job-that is after he had COM
pleted several fills" commencing with
midnight the night before, breakfast
time in the morning, at noon and again
just before we arrived. Mr.. Stephens
says that it is necessary to pump each
Ii
later than that to keep the required
level in the standpipe. The water
must be raised 372 feet for that is the
the height of the top of the pipe above
the station, and as a foot drop in the
big pipe means 1000 gallons of aqua
pura gone beyond recall, and the
drop sometimes equals 80 feet, one
can readily see why and how Mr..
Stephens earns his money.
S0-HOrse Power Boilers.
There are two big boilers in the
station and they each carry an eighty
horse power capacity. Between 500
and 600 tons of coal yearly is used
to fire these Same boilers that costs
the city about $3.50 the ton delivered.
Then it is carried from the coal room
to the boiler floor in a large scoop
shovel and deposited in the firebox.
Being all done by hand. We know
Mr.. Stephens lifts 600 tons of coal
in a year and if he did it in one day he
would be the strongest man in the
world.
Pumps That Are "PUmpS."
The pumps-there are two of them
FL are called the Deane Com
pound DOuble-Duplex Pumping En-
gines, and they look the part. Ed
ratified some technical phrases about
14-20-S-1S, and we knew what he
meant, but are not going TO tell. Suf-
flee to say they each can pump $50
gallons of water the minute and do
ii every day in the year. The pumps
work alternately and if cOaXed can
making a high load of 600 gallons.
When 600 gallons each sixty seconds
is going up hill, the spring is held in
suspensiOn-fifty-fif Ed says.
The pumps are six feet above the
spring, and while it is comparatively
easy to pump water 372 feet high,
drawing it any distance is something
quite different.
The Picnicking Grounds.
The entire house equipment is
kept in an immaculate condi-
ton and this same spirit is
in Good Samaritan manner is
bestowed on the grounds closely. Mr..
Stephens keeps the picnic grounds in
splendid shape and only asks that the
bish after lunch is over. Come one;
come ALL
The Water Analysis.
Klondike spring is Klondike spring,
and that is about all there is to it.
The spring is protected from Grant
river by a stone retaining wall that
soon will have to be extended to pre-
vent further encrOachments of the riv-
er. The water is fourteen feet in
depth and a pipe on the south side
carries off the overflow. The spring
house is made of stone with a wood
roof and the door is kept padlocked
at all times to prevent possible de-
ing to the latest analysis, contains no
organic matter of any kind. Its min
eral constituents per gallon, are:
Silica, 30 grain; oxides Gron and al
uminum) 80 grains; calcium carbon
ate 1916 grains; sodium sulphate ST
grains; calcium sulphate 1.SS grains /;
magnesium carbonate 5.43 grains !;
sodium chloride "A grains.
This analysis was made by the Wis
costly Oil COmpany's laboratories in
Chicago and may be regarded as cor
rect. Anyhow the water is pure and
having cleared up this point, one is
safe in drinking all he wants of it.
About the Pipeline.
One thing that hasn't been touched
on in this article is the pipe line. The