USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 119
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THE WATER.WORKS.
March 6, 1854, a charter was granted by the State Legislature to Thomas E. Wilson, Bland Ballard, John R. Hamilton, Charles J. Clarke, Andrew Graham, Curran Pope, and their as- sociates, to form the Louisville Water Company in the city of Louisville. During the two genera- tions, and more, of the town before that, the supply had been altogether from the old-fashioned pumps and wells, of which many still remain within the city limits, and under public care.
InSeptember, 1856, the organization of a com- pany for the supply of water to the city was com- pleted. Stock subscriptions were made as fol- low: By the city, October 22, 1856, $550,000, to which $220,000 were added July 8, 1859; by private subscriptions, September 9, 1856, $5, 100; making a total of $775,100. This, although seemingly a large sum, was deemed quite insuf- ficient for the erection and maintenance of works for a water supply to a city so large as Louisville had become. It was nevertheless determined to make a beginning of the enterprise, and carry it so far as the means would allow. An engine- house, with chimneys and stand-pipe of ample dimensions (four feet diameter) for all supplies likely to be needed for many years, was con- structed on the bank of the Ohio, about a mile and a quarter above the present city limits, where it is still in use. A reservoir of rather small capacity, only 10,000,000 gallons, was completed on higher ground a little way in the interior, and a single pump main was laid to it, with a supply main thence to the heart of the city. The minimum head given by this reservoir, when full, is eighty-one feet and a half above the highest curbstone in the city west of the Bear- grass. A second engine and duplicate of other machinery were provided against the possible
derangement and disability of the apparatus kept in use.
In October, 1860, the works were so far completed that water was turned into the mains and service-pipes, and the supply of the city began. Additional funds were secured after a time by the issue and sale of $200,000 in bonds of $1,000 denomination, secured by mortgage upon the company's property and by the net in- come of the works. The system was rapidly developed, so that, by the close of 1866 there were forty-four miles of the different sizes of pipe laid, and the aggregate consumption of the city amounted to 2,000,000 of gallons per day.
In 1868 tenement houses for the employees at the works were erected by the city. They are plain, yet comfortable and durable, and add much to the attractiveness of the grounds about the old reservoir. A flight of stone steps was also erected at the entrance to the reservoir. The city, August 1, 1867, had subscribed $500,- ooo more in bonds to the capital stock, and an additional main-pipe (thirty-inch) was thus en- abled to be laid in 1868-69. At the beginning of 1868 there were forty-seven miles of pipe down. The number of attachments, apart from those used by the Fire Department, was 2,414, supplying 2,783 premises and 28,000 consumers.
In November, 1869, the great work. of laying the additional thirty-inch main-pipe was com- pleted, at a cost of $357,077.14 to the end of that year, which was nearly $100,000 below the estimate, a remarkably unique fact in connection with public expenditures. Pipe extensions were made this year to the amount of 3.416 miles. Service attachments, 3,683 ; running expenses, $26,247.79.
The receipts for 1870 showed a satisfactory in- crease, being $104,279.21, besides $10,223 due from the city for water-supply. A new three- story building for store-house, workshop, and stable, was put up on the rear of the company's premises on Third street. Extensions, 4. 166 miles ; discontinued, 404 feet. Running ex- penses, $29,827.08 ; repairs, $10,319.96.
During 1873 the company laid 12.4 miles of pipe, including the extension on Portland ave- nue and the distributing pipes in the Portland district of the city. It was the first water service of this kind to reach that old region, and the ex- tension was not remunerative. The company
74
586
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
now had in use eighty miles of pipe. Its net receipts for the year were $154, 160.03, being 6.47 per cent. upon the cash cost of the works, including expenses of running and maintenance. The $200,000 mortgage debt, by the aid of the sinking fund, had been reduced to three-fourths of that sum.
November 19, 1874, surveys were begun for the extension of the works, by the building of a new and much larger distributing reservoir, which had become an imperative necessity to the adequate supply of the city, especially in the upper stories of buildings, where the water often failed, through inadequate head. There were two total interruptions of the supply during the year-one of five hours June 10th and 11th, and one of three hours August 29th, caused in each case by breaks in the second supply main. Pipe was laid this year to the amount of 9.358 miles, and five hundred and twenty feet were taken up. The revenue of the year, above cost of maintenance, was $36,719.87, and the total receipts were 7.19 per cent. upon the cost of the works and expenses for the year.
December 6, 1875, the work was completed, with slight exceptions, of making the stand-pipe an overflow instead of a single stand-pipe, in order to relieve all pipes whatever belonging to the works, from the stand-pipe out, from the im- pact produced by pump action, which had, in at least one case (October 29, 1870), burst the pipes. By this arrangement all water going into the mains leading to the reservoir or the city rises through the old forty-eight-inch pipe in the middle of the new group of stand-pipes to the level at which four columns of twenty-inch pipe are connected with it, and there overflows and descends through these into the annular pipe under the main floor of the tower, and thence on into the mains. A sixteen-inch dis- tributing main was also laid this year on Jeffer- son street, from Preston to Eleventh street. One interruption occurred November 30th of nine hours' length, during which the reservoir became entirely empty. The extension of lines for the year amounted to 4.859 miles, and 1, 139 feet were taken up. The net revenue was $34,- 688.41, but the total receipts (6.57 per cent. of costs and works) were $8,449.18 less than in 1874, mainly on account of the depression in business caused by the panic.
In 1876 the Legislature and the General Council conferred upon the company all necessary power for the issue of nine hundred $1,000 bonds, first mortgage six per cents, to run thirty years, to take up the $90,000 remaining bonds outstanding from the issue of February 1, 1863, to build the new reservoir at Crescent Hill, and make other improvements connected therewith. On the 2d of October, accordingly, the new issue was made, and was negotiated by Presi- dent Long at ninety-six cents on the dollar, which was regarded as an exceedingly favorable rate, and more than was obtained about that time for any other first-class local securities. The bonds were then worth more than city securities, and at this writing (March, 1882) are worth 114. The contract for the construction of the reser- voir was promptly awarded, and the work begun the next year. The old reservoir was cleared of its accumulated deposits of sediment, aggregat- ing about 11,000 cubic yards, for the first time since its construction sixteen years before. To do this required the labor of forty-one men one hundred and thirty-nine consecutive hours, in the northerly basin, and of fifty-two men one hundred hours in the southerly compartment. The extensions of the year amounted to 2.01 miles ; net revenue, $16,087.78 ; total receipts, $165,659.54, or 5.87 per cent. upon cost and expenses.
The new reservoir had been located upon the north side of the Louisville and Shelbyville turn- pike, in the locality known as Crescent Hill, two and one-fourth miles from the pumping station of the works, and a little more than three miles from the city limits, and four and eighty-seven hun- dredths miles from the City Hall. One hundred and ten acres of land were purchased for it, of Z. M. Sherley and W. C. and C. Atterburn. On the 3d of November, 1876, the contract for con- structing it was made with Mr. R. C. Kerr, of Louisville. Its high-water level was to be one hundred and seventy-five feet above low water in the Ohio, and one hundred and eleven and a half above the highest curbstone west of Bear- grass, giving thirty feet more head than the old reservoir. It was to be in two compartments of fifty million gallons each, making a total capacity of one hundred million gallons, or just ten times that of the old reservoir. The work of con- struction was begun April 11, 1877, and $137,-
587
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
260.12 were expended upon it during that year. The work went on steadily in 1878, and by the close of that year $731,638.33 had been ex- pended. Under the contract, the work was to be completed by the 11th of April, 1879, two years from the beginning ; but the enormous job dragged somewhat, and the water was not pumped into it until December 15, 1879. There had been expended, by the close of that year, upon the reservoir, pipe mains, right of way, and real estate needed by the improvement, the sum of $971,270.66. The new reservoir has since been the source of supply for the city, although the old one is kept full, and held as a reserve.
The principal statistics of 1877 were : Total revenue, $185,203.76 (5.86 per cent. upon cost and expenses); total expense of conducting works, $41,562.70; extensions, 5.04 miles ; taken up, 718 feet. The inlet pipe was cleaned August 22d, 23d, and 24th, by fourteen men, with labor equal to one man working 478 hours.
Statistics of 1878: Receipts, $171,047.88, or 4.77 per cent. upon cost and expenses (same in the three following years) ; running expenses, $42,485; extensions, 4.95 miles ; taken up, 359 feet. The company retired $12,000 of its last issue of bonds, leaving its entire bonded debt $888,000.
For 1879: Revenue from all sources, $176,- 097.45 ; net expenses, $40,056.61, nearly $2,500 less than the year before; increase of service connections, 294 ; total connections, 7,225; ex- tensions, 1.4 miles ; reduction of bonded in- debtedness, $12,000. In July two Blake duplex steam-pumps were put in at the pumping-station, capable jointly of pumping 6,000,000 gallons in twenty-four hours.
For 1880: Revenue, $189,621.13, being an increase against 1879 of $13,523.68; net ex- penses, $48,901.28; service connections, 7,458 ; increase for the year, 234; extensions, 2,455 miles ; pipe taken up, 39 feet. The total amount paid on the new reservoir and allied improve- ments to the end of this year was $1,058, 220. 10.
The south basin was disabled for several months by slides in the side walls, which were repaired at a cost of $6,956.72. The total num- ber of gallons pumped this year was 2,364, 171,- 073, or 6,567, 141 gallons per day, a trifle more than ten times the pumpage of 1861, the first full year of the works.
The net revenue for 1881 was $214,360.09; number of service attachments, 7,907.
The questions with which the company is grap- pling, as we close this account, is that of filtra- tion of the water supply and the early introduc- tion of additional pumping machinery. Careful experiments upon the former are proceeding, and it is hoped a solution of the problem will soon and satisfactorily be reached.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The following statistics of the Department, from the time it was reorganized as a paid service June 1, 1858, to the first year for which we have been able to get full reports, have been preserved :
Other
Loss over
Year. Fires. Alarms. Total.
Loss.
Insurance. Insurance.
1858
47
15
62 $
55.605
$ 29,275 $ 25.330
1859
49
2
51
175.035.50
149,995
25,940
1860
63
5
68
94.852
62,938
31,914
1861
30
6
36
16,885
11,260
5,625
1862
47
10
57
59.985
27,710
31,275
1863
42
I
43
17,172
9,972
7,200
1864
51
I
52 1,226,800
143.725 1,083,075
1865
71
4
75
823,985
467.460 356,525
In May, 1865, the Fire Alarm Telegraph was put in operation, and the next report of the De- partment represented it as "a complete success, its working having convinced the most skeptical of the great benefits it affords." There were at the close of 1866 in the Department six steam engines, each manned by eight men, and one hook and ladder truck and equipments, with ten men, making a total force of fifty-eight men and thirty-two horses. One of the engines and the truck, with four thousand feet of leather hose, were bought during 1866. The Department was called out one hundred and twenty-nine times during the year, which was twice as often as in 1865. There were one hundred and sixteen fires, with losses aggregating $345,045, and in- surance to the amount of $290,230. More fires were caused by incendiarism than in all the years together during which the Department had been organized.
In 1867 the fires and losses noticeably fell off. The former were twenty-seven less than in 1866, and the losses aggregated only $150,415, or con- siderably less than one-half those of the year before, which was considered a great testimonial of the efficiency of the Department. Insurance covered $121,315 of the losses. Twenty-seven new boxes were erected for the fire alarm tele-
588
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
graph, but the apparatus of the Department was not otherwise noticeably increased. The alarm was now regarded as "the rival of that of any city in the Union, and may well be the pride and boast of her [Louisville's] citizens." It em- ployed three operators and one repairer. The losses the next year were still less, by $48,763. 30, but there were nine more fires.
In 1869 there were one hundred and fourteen alarms and one hundred and eleven fires; losses, $116,554, fully covered by insurance.
In 1870 the capacity of all the engines in the Department was increased from one stream to two streams. Previously but one engine forced two streams; and now, instead of seven, twelve streams were played by the six engines upon a fire. The expenditures of the Department this year amounted to $83,707.51. Repairs to the value of $2,500 (though costing but $600) were put upon the John G. Baxter Hook and Ladder House, on Market street; and the engine-houses were thoroughly overhauled and repainted by the men belonging to them. Fires this year, 125; losses, $237,464.54; insurance, $168,- 003.06.
One engine, with full equipment and company, was added in 1871. The new machine (Louis- ville, No. 7), was very heavy, requiring four horses to haul it. The alarm telegraph was be- ginning to give way, and improvements were called for. There were thirty more fires this year than in the year before ; but the net losses were several thousand dollars less-$246,802 total loss ; insurance, $183,247.
Two engines were added the next year-the James A. Leech No. 8 and the J. A. Krack No. 9, besides three extra reels, with seven hundred and fifty feet of hose apiece-one reel each for the eastern, western, and southern parts of the city. The Department had now nine steamers and two hook and ladder companies. The older engines were getting unreliable, however. A shop was also added for the manufacture and repair of the hose and harness used in the ser- vice. The new engines were named from the chairmen of the Committees on the Fire De- partment in the Board of Aldermen and the Common Council, respectively, and commemo- rate the valuable services of these gentlemen in that capacity. The expenses of the year were necessarily large-$108,731.20, being $23,458.23
greater than in 1871. The fires of the year numbered 190; losses, $118,893; insurance, $73,978.
In 1873 a new engine-house, on the north side of Washington, between Adams and Web- ster streets, 30 x 115 feet, and two stories high, was completed, at a cost of $12,800. The cor- nice and tower are made of galvanized iron, the latter being seventy feet high. A stone tablet was inserted in the front of the building, with the inscription, "J. M. Letterle No. 10," in honor of the Councilman then serving from the First ward, and chairman of the Fire Com- mittee in the Council. Several of the old engines were thoroughly reconstructed this year. The hose and harness shop proved an excellent investment for the Department, turning out three thousand five hundred feet of hose during the year, and making all new harness required. There were one hundred and eighty-three fires this year, with losses $290,927, and $260,222 in- surance.
In January, 1874, the (Ahrens) steamer pur- chased for the new engine-house in " Butcher- town" arrived, and was housed therein, taking its name accordingly as the "J. M. Letterle No. ~ 10." A Champion chemical fire-engine, the "S. H. Garvin No. 1," was bought and located in Portland. The Department shop manufac- tured thirteen thousand feet of new hose. There were two hundred and one alarms and one hun- dred and sixty-two actual fires, with $130,787 in losses and $123,000 insurance, against more than twice the loss in 1873. During the latter half of the year it was believed that no other city in the country enjoyed so great exemption from fires. Cost of the Department for the year, $125,447.63. It now had ten steamers, one chemical engine, two hook and ladder companies, a hose and har- ness shop, fire telegraph, one hundred and four- teen men, and forty horses. The venerable steamer Copper-blossom had been condemned and passed out of use, but was still in charge of one of the hook and ladder companies. The new office of Assistant Chief Engineer was cre- ated by the Council, and Edward Hughes was appointed by the Chief as Assistant for the East- ern District, and Ben F. Bache for the West- ern. They were unanimously confirmed by the Council.
The alarms for 1875 were 201, of which 165
589
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
were actual fires, giving a total of losses $89, 184, of which $77,082 were covered by insurance. The heaviest loss was by the burning of the Broadway Baptist church December 2, with a loss of $27,500, fully insured.
The net cost of the Department for 1876 was $118,013.98. The fire losses of the year were very heavy, but were mainly caused by one dis- astrous conflagration, at the corner of Eighth and Main streets, on the morning of October 17th, in which over $300,000 were lost at one stroke. The other fires aggregated only $72,590, mak- ing a total of $374,516.85, with insurance of $288,494.85. Those who were present at the great fire of '76 declared it the most remarkable that had ever occurred in the city. The alarms for the year numbered 206; actual fires, 180.
In 1877 there were 225 alarms and 179 fires -- a greater number of alarms than in any pre- vious year in the history of the Department. The losses, however, were but $312, 105, a very favor- able showing against 1876, to the amount of $64,411.85. Insurance, too, covered $303,155, so that the net loss was only $8,950. The heav- iest fire of the year was that of December 8, on Main, between First and Second, by which Cochran & Fulton lost $175,000-more than half the aggregate loss of the year; next was that of November 3, in the block between Main and the river, First and Second, in which $60,- ooo went up. In September the City Brewery, on Green and Preston, burned, with $16,000 loss. A first-class Ahrens steamer was added to the Department this year, at a cost of $4,600. It was called the "Charles D. Jacob, No. 1," from the Mayor of the city, and displaced the old Atwood engine, which was now nearly worth- less, and the company (No. 1) changing 'name accordingly. A new style of fire-cistern was in- troduced, occupying comparatively small space on the side of the street, out of the way of sewers or other pipes, supplying thrice as many engines as the old kind, and requiring less hose at a fire, because six engines could be concentrated about a single cistern. It cost more to build, but less afterward for repairs.
On the 11th of January, 1878, Mr. George W. Levi, who had been Chief of the Department and Superintendent of the Fire Alarm Telegraph eight years, was superseded by George W. Frantz. He had the entire alarm service repaired during
the year, with new wires, insulators, and brackets, and one new alarm-box. The cost of the De- partment this year was $104,035.01, or $14,- 912.08 less than in 1877. The city had an un- common exemption from fires and heavy losses this year. The alarms were one hundred and forty-six, of which twenty-seven were second or false alarms. The losses were $78,043.42; in- surance, $64,592.30. The largest fires were those of March 17th, burning Chess, Carley & Co.'s oil-tanks, etc., at the city limits, with a loss of $36,926.50; and the burning of the American White Lead Works February 3d, with $10,000 loss.
In 1879, August 19th, the old and worn-out engine A. Y. Johnson, used by No. 6 Company, was condemned, and was presently displaced by the new Ahrens steamer George W. Frantz, named in honor of the retiring Chief, the Com- pany changing name accordingly. Many sec- tions of leather hose were also condemned, and it was determined to buy in their stead rubber hose, of which 3,750 feet were purchased, at ninety cents per foot. One new reel and seven alarm boxes were added to the equipments of the Department, with three Cleveland, two Silsby, and one Schultz heaters, by which time is shortened in getting water on a fire. The heater last named is the device of Captain Isaac Schultz, of the J. A. Gillis No. 2 Company. The new alarm boxes were the device of W. J. Stephens, chief operator at the Central Station. Most of the engine-houses were overhauled and repaired during the year. Expenses were re- duced $23,229.32, as against 1878. There were one hundred and sixty alarms and one hundred and fourteen fires, with losses $209,281.22, and insurance $150,664.80. The heavy fires of the year were the City Almshouse, January 31st, loss $50,954; at Third, Main, and Water, June 12, about $40,000; at Guthrie, Second, and Third, about $37,000.
Major Edward Hughes, who is now efficiently serving the city as Chief of the Department, be- came such at the beginning of the year 1880. Engines Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5 were condemned this year, and four new steamers were purchased in their stead, with sixteen thousand feet of first- rate rubber hose. No. 5 took the name "Ed. Hughes," from the new Chief.
Two new first-class engine-houses were erected
590
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
and the old ones sold. They were for Company No. 5, which was removed from Jefferson street, between Third and Fourth, to Green, near First, and for the John G. Baxter Hook and Ladder Company, which was changed from Market to Eighth street. The alarm telegraph was reported in very bad order, and the next year steps were taken for a new and improved system. To pre- vent false alarms in a measure, all the old locks were taken off the boxes and patent ones put on. There were two hundred and eighty-nine alarms in 1880, but forty-seven of them were second and false alarms. Losses, $191,668.63; insurance, $114.323.63. None of the fires were heavy except that of Finzer Brothers, September 10, with $125,000 loss; and J. P. Barnum & Co.'s, January 26, costing $22,471.63.
GAS WORKS.
In 1856 temporary ovens were erected outside of the gas-houses, as a measure of necessity in furnishing an adequate supply to the city; and the next year a new retort-house was built for sixty-six additional retorts, and also a new puri- fying house. In 1864 the ovens were rearranged, and the number of retorts in the largest house nearly doubled thereby. Still another retort- house, 72 x 53 feet, built for sixty retorts, was erected in 1866, with an additional purifying house.
In 1863 the company's stock was increased to the full limit allowed by its charter, by the . sale of 2,372 shares. The laying of a new distribut- ing main, twelve-inch, from the works to and down Broadway, was begun-a work not com- pleted until 1866, when it was connected at Fourth street with the ten-inch main on Main street. The distance between the extreme east- ern and western points of the street-mains was now about four and one-half miles, and the mains reached one and one-half miles south of the works, so that a very large portion of the city was now reached by the improved illumina- tion. The president of the company reported :
The works are now in an admirable condition for the future growth of the city. The only additional thing that could possibly be desired would be increased storage space for gas ; but any attempt to construct a large gasholder at this time is quite beyond the means of the present company.
January 30, 1867, provision was made by the Legislature for the expiration of the old charter January 1, 1869. At the beginning of 1867
there were 1,446 street lamps in use, which num- ber was increased by sixty-four during the year.
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