The Ronan pioneer., 1917-11-23

Mrs. "Sallie'' Bickford is the
only woman of color in the
United States to control a public
utility. She owns outright the
water system of Virginia City.
1t came to her by inheritance
from her husband, who made a
fortune in the placer mines of
Alder g.tlch many years ago, and
who invested his competency in
the water system, and thereafter
Just let the water run down hill
and collected the toll every
month. When he died his wife
took over the management of the
property, and has controlled it
for 20 years, without untoWard
incident.
But the other day Mrs. Bickford .e-
cided that she was not getting enough
revenue from her property. So she
notified her customers that the water
rates that had obtained for 40 years
would be increased 10 per cent. 1t
stirred up municipal tempest.
The Town Protests.
"This is tough" said Frank Nc
Keen, who had sold good liquor over
the bar of the best saloon since the
days when the plain whisky called for
25 cents in gold dust. "Here the state
of Montana goes dry, and Sallie
Bickford boosts the price of water.
1t is getting to be hard world in
which to live"
Things do not move as rapidly in
Virginia City as they did in '63, when
in the course of twelve short months
the town made enough history to last
the state for century, so the Bick
ford boost of water rates excited con-
siderable comment, just as they
would have in any other town where
one had been paying the same rate
for 40 years. Groups collected on the
corners and talked about it. Finally
it was decided to call special meet
raise. A committee was appointed
to confer with the owner of the water
plant There the matter rests.
A Unique Plant.
The Virginia City water plant is
most unique institution. 1t was built
by A. M. Hotter, half century ago,
and was the first of many achieve
ments of that remarkable man. HOl-
ter was worker in wood and gem
ius. He brought the first saw mill
to the state, and when Alder gulch
was in it's swaddling clothes was the
lumber magnate of the territory.
When he had sold the FOCAL market
stale with lumber at $40 per thou
sand, he conceived the idea of INSTALL
ing a wooden pipe water system for
the robust young town. He got the
necessary authority from the city
council, located some sweet water
springs a few hundred yards above
the town, sharpened up big auger,
and hooked and aguered up so that
he could bore out nice six-foot
lengths of wooden pipe. One end OF
these pipes would be sharpened and
the other end followed out like the
mouth of a funnel, and when he had
made sufficient supply of piping,
dug his mains, wiped his joints of
wooden pipe with tar of his own maxi
ing, and in few months had one of
the niftiest water plants in the coun-
try operating successfully.
Like the wells of Lebanon.
There were plenty of wise individ-
uals who prophesied that the under
taking would be losing venture,
that the pipes would rot, and the
whole plant 60 to pot in few years.
But would you believe it? These same
pipes that Hotter made half century
ago are still conveying the water
to the thirsty of Virginia City, and
are as sound as they were when they
were installed. The water has sheath
ed the inside of the bore with thin
lining of limestone, and comes out
of the faucet as sweet as the wells
of Lebanon 1t has been pronounced
the best water in the United States,
and this is one of the reasons why
Mrs. Bickford thinks she should have
more money for her product than she
is now receiving.