Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-01-24
Euet1t.1g Glrat

f1arrlSDurBS present water sup
ply dilemma recalls the experience
of the city in the winter of January
%, 1904, when the great sup
ply pipes that run from the pump
ing station to the Reservoir broke
at Paxton creek. 1t was in winter
time and the creek had been on q
rampage and washed dirt from the
supports of the pipes, allowing them
to sag. The result was a break at
o'clock in the afternoon and for
over twenty-four hours Harrisburg
was without water. The linemen
and repairmen worked all night and
everyone sat up waiting for a fire
which never came or else walked
down to see the break. The result
was that police line had to be es-
tablished to keep people back and
in the course of the excitement a
number of people fell into the creek
while trying to see what was going
on. Vance c. Mccormick, then
mayor, went into six feet of water
himself while trying to keep other
people out. When daylight came
and there was no water in the pipes
all sorts of expedient were tried. The
river was frozen over and the water
was not fit to drink raw anyway so
telephones were worked and by
noon all sorts of Spring water" was
being sold about the streets. One
| enterprising firm mounted barrels
! filled with water from a spring some
where up the county in wagons and
| sold the water at ten cents q pail.
In q short time the wagon was fol-
lowed by crowds of people with all
sorts of containers and the supply
was sold out in short order. 1t tran
spired that the firm had gone to a
liquor store and bought the first
empty barrels that hands could be
put on and there was flavor about
the water taken from the barrels
that seemed to have a "moreish"
taste for many folks. Another part
nership composed of young men sold
the water from a springwater plant
by bugle and there was a Yun on
seltzer, ginger ale and every other
kind of bottled water to say nothing
of what would be called by our en-
gineering friends "a rise to a peak
in the demand for beer. 1t was also
a grand excuse for boys to avoid TAX
ing baths or getting washed up"
for postponing of laundry work and
other things. We were all more or
less apprehensive about what might
happen that waterless day, but we
had lot of a laughing about it when
it was all over.
Talking about that winter, which
| was the time of the great ice flood
that nearly took part of Middle
town off the map and ruined some
islands whose fertile soil had escap-
ed the flood of 1889, the ice in the
| SuSquehanna was two feet thick and
| the cold weather fingered until
| March. No one can forget the time
the ice broke and the way it piled
| up against piers and crowded the
banks. 1t was weeks before the ice
melted and the islands opposite the
city looked as though they had been
gone over with a currycomb. Po-
! lice were on duty for days anu
nights and it was a period of anxiety
for many. Fortunately the river was
high and the ice was carried by the
bridges and made trouble down
around Middletown. The average
railroad man of experience shudders
yet when you recall the memorable
ice flood" and what happened
along the line, especially the Colum-
| bia branch which had to be blasted
out by gangs of men working for
days and days.
Richard w. Williamson, of Hunt
ingdon, who has been put in charge
of the work of the Attorney Gen
erals Department relative to collec-
| ton of costs of maintenance of the
insane persons in state institutions
whose families or estates are able
to care for them, is we'll known to
many Harrisburg people, as he spent
a couple of years here with the La
Dor and Industry Department. The
! work which he will handle is of
great importance and involves mil
lions of dollars.
Edgar A. Wrimer, of Lebanon,
who is a manufacturer, bee raiser,
experimenter, farmer and other
things, told a good story yesterday
lat the meeting of the State Board of
Agriculture meeting. He was tald-
ing about the way people boosted
prices and blamed the war. 'I raise
bees and sell honey; have sold II for
twenty cents or so for years. I went
to market one day and asked a wo-
man the price of the honey on her
stall. She said thirty-five cents. 1t
was not a pound such as L have
been selling at the old price and /
asked her why. Oh, said she.
| Everything else has gone up To
my mind other increases are as un,