Evening star., 1938-07-24
By John CIagen Proctor.

THIS Is the season of the year
when we should expect warm
weather and, though we may
Z Il find it oppressive and hard to
endure, yet we must admit we are a
great deal better of than were our
ancestors, whose facilities and con-
veniences for resisting extreme tenn
peratures were comparatively crude
and quite limited.
Indeed, when the writer was boy
very few people used ice in their
homes, unless some one was taken Ill,
and then, If ice was needed the drug
store was called upon to help Cut.
OF course, there were icehouses in
Washington at very early date and
in l843 We find listed "Devaughn's
. Ice House." south side of E street
Z between Ninth and Tenth streets NV
But just for what purpose this ice
was used We do not know. 1t might
have been fit for cooling water and
for drinking purposes. and, on the
other hand, it might have only been
fit for making ice cream and for keep
ing meats, vegetables, and the like,
from spelling during warm weather.
AS a matter of fact, very little
I bit of pure ice was obtainable here
Hprior to 1850 and the larger part of
the ice made from impure water was
gathered and housed during the pre-
ceding winter, principally by butchers.
Virtually all of them had their own
icehouses where they stored the ice
they took from the streams, ponds
and lakes of the city. The Soldiers
Home lakes furnished much that was
cut by Georgia avenue butchers and
other butchers in that vicinity. The
ice was usually hauled away in carts
and each butcher did his own cut
ting and hauling.
=
IN RECENT years several of these
icehouses have come to light after
having been covered over and forgot
ten for long while One of these
was on Wisconsin avenue near Ten
leytown, another-the Linkin's ice
house-was on Champlain avenue
above Florida avenue, and still another
was the Loeffler icehouse that stood to
the rear of their old residence, located
for many years on Georgia avenue to
"the north Of Rock Creek Church road.
1t was quite an interesting sight
to see the butchers cutting ice and
packing away their summers supply.
They were not particular as to where
they got their ice, so long as it was
fairly clean and of proper thickness.
Though there are many who believe
that the seasons have changed greatly
in the last so years or more, yet, with
the butchers it was waiting game.
When the time came for gathering
the ice the pond was very busy place.
The first water piped into Washing
ton from an outside source, other than
water piped from springs, was the
water introduced into the city on jan
uary 3, 1859, from the Powder Mill
Branch, where the receiving reservoir
was placed by means of small mains or
supply pipes connected with the re-
ceiving reservoir above Georgetown
Then soon followed, on December S,
1868, the introduction of Potomac
water through the aqueduct, by way OF
ACabin John Bridge, which carried the
pipes across Cabin John Creek, the
bridge not being completed until the
following year. But at no time could
the water be called pure. or even
nearly 80, until the present magnifl-
cent system was installed.
BEFORE this the people Of Wash
inpton had to depend entirely upon
springs and wells, and since it took
many years to lay down water sys-
1em, springs and wells-particularly
the latter-were considerably used
down to 1907. when Commissioner H.
B. F. Macfarland issued an order on
May 81 to close all of the 81 public
shallow wells in the District because
of polluted water or water of ques-
tionable quality
However, this order was amended on
July to except eight Of the public
shallow wells because of the absence
of available water mains adjacent to
. five of them and because of the favor
Sable results of analyses of water
samples from the remaining three
wells. two of which, however, were or
dered closed on November 6. And so,
as a result of this order, the closing
of 56 Of the public shallow wells was
begun in 1907.
In 1924 there were only two public
shallow wells with pumps still in use
and II public deep-driven wells with
pumps. 1t is doubtful if any of these
are now in service, though it is pos
sihle there may be one or two.
But prior to 1907 ever so many pub
lie wells with pumps had already been
boarded over or filled up, following the
Introduction into the city of water from
Great Falls. Before this virtually all
of the cool drinking water came from
the corner pumps tcalled by some the
one-armed bartenders), and the pub
lie fountains in the city proper. and in
certain congested sections during the
warm summer months it was frequent
/ ly an interesting sight to see the resi-
\dents with pitchers and buckets wait
Rg in line to get their pals and
Neceptacles filled with the nectar that
Jupiter is said to have slipped.
WHERE many people now have their
recreation rooms in their base
ments, in the early days they had just
plain cellar dug out of the earth,
), with only a dirt floor Here was kept
leftover cabbage and potatoes and
other perishable articles. to keep them
from spelling. Sometimes shallow
wells were dug in the cellars, and
there victuals were often placed to
Keep them from souring Those who
had the old-oaken- bucket style of well
saved many items of food by lower
Ing them deep into the ground where
1t was quite cool. The family of the late
Henry E. Davis. who resided on Ninth
hat Z i ~