The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1918-11-19
HOW SOME CANADIANS
BUILT A CITY.


berta some men Of pluck and Wis
ion, stood on a river bank and said
to one another, "Here we can build
city, let us build it right"
They acquired title to the land and
when the plans were made and APP
proved, they put on trench machines
and cut trenches deep and wide. In
these trenches they laid sewer sys-
tenn, with Y'S and plugs at all the
places that a well ordered city
would wish to tap the mains. II is
said also that they laid underground
telephone and telegraph wires. and
then put down the paving and street
car tracks once and for all. When
all these things were made ready
they began to issue building permits,
and there grew up a great city, truly
the queen city of the northwestern
plains.
All of these things cost money, but
only fraction of what they would
have cost if they had been installed
in the usual way, tearing up streets
every little while amidst the busy
traffic. But that was not all the adj
vantage, the money saved, there were
other items to recommend it. Peo-
,ple had the use of them at once in
stead of waiting for them for years,
and installing the fixtures and
plumbing after the buildings were
finished.
The more one thinks of such work
the more 1t appeals to the live and
appreciative person. That plan of
building city appealed to the
world. 1t caught the attention of
the plucky, appreciative people,
around the world, and travellers ev-
erywhere talked about it. Plucky
people from everywhere with mon
ey and brains flocked to this new
town of Edmonton and undertook
big things. Nobody with small,
Shrivelled up ideas would take the
trouble to go to Edmonton and peo-
pie with the big ideas and lofty i'd
eals and aspirations could hardly
stay away. Result: big things done
in a big way, and grand city pre-
Senting picture that challenges the
admiration of the world.
A Contrast.
In the big, broad Snake river val
ley, seventh largest in the world,
shack was built on homestead. A
railroad came through and other
shackS were built by consent of the
first man. Gamblers, robbers, scar
let women and adventures of all
kinds lived in the shacks till
spring and moved on. Some bust
ness developed and man sunk a
well sixty feet and got water. He
walled it up with spruce boards that
made the water taste brackish. and
people got used to drinking it. By
the time the spruce gum was out OF
the boards there was mould in them
and people got used to that. A toll
ct was made near by and when
hotel was built cesspool was dug
near the hotel. The sewage all sunk
through loose gravel and ultimately
reached the water supply in the
loose material, and it affected the
water, but people got used to that.
When anyone raised question about
sanitation, somebody would say that
filtration was going on and the wa.
ter was not polluted.
After this thing had been going on
for twenty years, and there were
few funerals every year due to ty-
phoid fever, due to this queer taste
in the drinking water, a local man,
whose well was in the midst of the
most old rotten toilets, erected a
pumping plant and tank and arrang-
ed system of pipes to carry water
into the houses, and it was a good
move. 1t saved lot of drawing wa
ter hand over hand on rope, and
carrying it to the houses.
About five years later he decided
to get pure water and he drilled a
large well into the lavas and started
to develop larger system but he did
not have enough capital to lay large
pipes and besides, it was an exper-I
iment and nobody knew how many
people would patronize it. Some
times he became discouraged and
wanted to sell out, and ON one occa-
sion he gave an option on the sys-
tenn and the man with the option
arranged for plenty of capital to
build big adequate system for the
town, and applied to the village
council for a franchise for a COM
plete system. The council judged that
there was no particular demand for
more water, and declined to do any
thing for him and he became dis
gusted and discharged his engineer
and the architect and threw the
plans into the stove.
One spring newspaper man pub
lished a good many articles calling
to the need of sewer sys-
tenn and proposed that the worst of
the filth along the streets and ALLEYS
and the tumble-down toilets should
be cleaned up and few acres of
tin cans removed from streets al
leys and vacant lots. He asked the
village council to issue proclama-
ton asking people to set aside their
regular work and business for one
day and devote themselves to the
task of cleaning up the town, and
getting the weeds and brush out Of
the cemetery. The council consisted
Of five members, and only one of
them was willing to allow the news
paper to publish the proclamation
with his name appended.
The proprietor of the water sys.
Inn Sx,A Is