The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-03-17
Stopping the Rush Of Water.

have torn itself 10 pieces. As IL was,
no damage vas done the machinery.
Stopping the Rush Of Water.
The first thing 10 do was 10 close
valves above the break, and the first
thing done was to find a man who
knew where the valves are located
RE was at movie, and 1t was good
comedy, SO that the end OF the reel
came before ne could DE comDuni-
Gated with.
In the meantime the iuginesTs al
the pumping station, the firemen VINO
had discovered no pressure at the
flue FIRE and teIephoned the water
works, and other people were ire
quently hunting Louis Gunbei and
Superintendent Seaman
As soon as they were located, tne
water main valves were closed and
the geyser stopped.
Other Company Helps Out.
Manager J. P. mgle, OF the Keokuk
Electric company, also got very busy
He sent out general alarm TO all his
own men and took them down and
loaned them To superintendent Scan
Ian, who was short OF workmen. These
Reokuk Electric men worked hard al
the actual digging Of which much had
TO be done 10 get at the broken olg
main pipe.
There vas the specter OF no gas
either this forenoon looming up tn
gas works big gasoneters hold 100000
cubic feet OF gas, and the town con-
surnes 10000 cubic feet per day, so
that the stored supply lasts only a
certain number Of hours. Manager
Ingle figured that he had enough TO
barely last through the breakfast
cooking demand OF this morning.
How Gas Supply Was Saved.
F. But he did not stop with doing all
be could to help FIX the leak as soon
ar possible.
He hired the Cameron water wagon
used for street flushing and hauled
water from the river all night, out to
the gas works.
Thus was accumulated enough
water there 10 make steam in the
boilers of that plant and keep it go
ing, so that the gasometeTs did not
get empty and there was no inter
ruption of gas service after all
Fire Chief Anderson devoted an
hour to teIephoning the managers OF
the manufacturing and wholesale
houses the situation, in the very be-
ginning. Some OF them use large
OF water, and all Of them
are dependent upon water to greater
or less extent II being Sunday even
ing. and most Of the managers at
church made this notification quite
JOB.
Dread of Fire Alarm.
The real terror in the minds OF the
people was the dread OF hearing fre
alarm come in. This, however, was
exaggerated fear.
Chief Anderson at once ordered the
West Reokuk station to respond to all
trst alarms with the chemical engine
there instead OF the hose reel and also
had II tested and inspected thorough
w. He has a total OF 145 gallons OF
soda water In the chemical engines,
which would put out considerable
residence fire.
The motor truck has a pump which
has greater capacity and power
than two OF the old steam fire en-
zines. and II ia run by the gasoline
engine on the truck. That motor
truck can throw more water higher
than anything else that was ever In
town.
Old Friends In Need.
The old FIRE cisterns are filed and
located adequately for most parts OF
the city. The entire downtown dis
trict has them not far apart, with a
double one in the Wholesale district,
but the outlying, newer residence sec
ttons do not have cisterns.
They are kept filed az a routine
matter, and most Of them are in good
condition. but some outlying ones
leak. The experiences Of last night
cause people to say that they should
be repaired and kept In perfect con-
dition all TIM time,
There is hose enough 70 reach any
where from some cfstern In the older
part OF Keokuk where the cfgterns