Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1922-03-08
AN ABSENT CITIZEN WRITES
Concerning Water-Works and Gives
Notes ON Florida,
Mama. Fla, Feb. 81, 1929.

Editor Keowee Courier:
see we are to have water-works,
and i suppose the natural impulse is
to bring the water from the noun
tains, which l hope will not be done,
as the deep drilled wells are abso-
lutely the best and the most sanitary
in every way. A mountain stream
will, sooner or later be subject to
pollution. The land being eventually
cleared, except s owned by the wa
ter authorities. will cause the water
supply to run low during drought
seasons, and sooner or later filter
system will have to be put in. Such
reservoirs are always a receptacle
for filth.
Deep wells, utilizing the electric
power in daytime, with standpipe
on a high elevation-say the old
Wiecking Hill or In front Of r. G.
Carter's place-will give a cheaper
and better sewer plant in the long
run than a gravity plant on the
ter, and the long line of four to five
miles OF pipe Of q large size would
be saved. AN eight-inch pipe,or larg
err, would be necessary.
The power plant is ample to fur
nish all the power needed for pump
ing in the daytime, and the force
from a standpipe one hundred feet
high on the sites mentioned would
give all the pressure required by in
surance companies in order to re-
duce insurance rates.
II water Is brought from the hill
country it will, when the town grows
larger, have to be supplemented by
pumps, forcing 1t from some other
source up to the parent reservoir
the same as Greenville, s. c., Annis-
Ton, Ala, and other cities have had
to do-while deep wells would re-
quire only another motor pump unit
and another location near the stand
pipe-the same as Franklin, N. c.,
Greenwood, S. c., and other cities
have done, securing good water, and
doing away with the necessity for
filters and long pipe lines.
hope the commissioners in charge
of the water system will weigh all
of these facts and keep them In mind
And don't let promoting engineer
ing company put a hereafter costly
plant over on the town, which will
be sure to cause additional burdens
to the ta%-rayers III years % como.
burdens lba: proper foresight can
eliminate III advance.
some Florida Fncrs
Probably you and your readers
may be interested in partial de-
scription Of this part Of Florida,
town on the Mainland-Ho Homestead-- -
which is the most extreme South erl
SO named as once belonging to he
United States government, and the
last large body of land opened for
homestead entry by the Federal gov
ernment.
This is the home Of the early to-
mato, which is shipped from Le;e in
carload lots. The grower Of tomatoes
is the greatest gambler on earth. The
tomatoes are planted usually in De-
cember and are forced to grow by
means Of heavy fertilization as
much as 5000 to 1000 pounds to the
acre. A good yield per acre Is from
900 to 500 crates, and a good NAL
ket Is from three to four dollars per
crate. Frost and rain constitute the
greatest elements that make for ca
tastropho here, and the planter runs
a chance to lose everything he lfs
invested in the short space Of few
hours or so. Too much rain browns
them out, while frost cleans them out
entirely In one night. lf they get by
the full moon in February without
frost the farmer feels safe. The yield
this year is cut heavily. From 200
expected. this decrease in yield be-
ing due to rain. There Is a large
acreage planted this year, which will
produce big crop even at the low
yield per acre. The shipping season
has just started There are lot OF
farmers here who have from thirty
to fifty acres in tomatoes. One man,
Mr.. Peters, at Peters Station, twenty
miles north OF here. has 200 acres,
all in tomatoes He Is the nwner Of