WATER SUPPLY. 
REPORT 
MADE TO THE 
SPECIAL CMIMITTEEOHHE COMMON COUNCIL 
OF THE 
CITY OF GRAND HAVEN, 
BY 
PETER HOGAN, Consulting Engineer, 
January 23, 1875. 
GRAND HAVEN, MICH. 
1875. REPORT. 
Hon. JOHN A. LEGG AT, 
J. W. HOPKINS, 
J. De VOS, 
JOHN DONKER, 
Committee. 
Gentlemen - At your request, in pursuance of a resolution 
ot the common council, I have made an examination of the terri- 
tory in the immediate vicinity of Grand Haven, with the view 
of recommending a plan for furnishing your city with an abun- 
dant supply of pure water for domestic use, manufacturing 
purposes and the extinguishment of fires. The examination 
and survey being completed, I have the pleasure of submitting 
the accompanying report, together with maps and plans in 
detail connected therewith. 
Quantity of Water Required. 
It is customary in providing for a water supply to make a 
careful estimate of the quantity required, based on the general 
characteristics of the city or village to be supplied, having 
reference to the present and prospective growth of the place. 
The following table exhibits the number of gallons of water 
furnished daily to each inhabitant of the several places named, 
being American and European cities: 
London 30 
Liverpool 30 
Edinburgh 30 
Paris 25 
Manchester 50 
Marseilles 41 
Genoa 31 
Glasgow 22 4 
Geneva ' 16 
Madrid 16 
New York 70 
Boston 80 
Philadelphia 50 
Plymouth 10 
St. Louis 40 
Hoboken 51 
Detroit 35 
Albany 50 
Buffalo 47 
The valuable quantities exhibited in the foregoing table are 
due to the location and peculiarities of the several cities 
named. As a general rule, as cities increase in population 
there is more than a corresponding increase in the quantity of 
water required. This is owing, in part, to the introduction of 
modern improvements in dwellings, but mainly in the use 
of water for manufacturing and mechanical purposes. Recent 
examination in some of the older cities has also demonstrated 
the fact that the extraordinary increased demand for water is 
due in many instances to improper construction, especially in 
piping. Reference to this subject will be made hereafter under 
the proper head in this report. 
After a careful estimate of the present requirement, with 
due reference to future demands, the general average of fifty 
gallons per day for each inhabitant has been deemed to be the 
maximum allowance to be provided for. But in the compu- 
tations for the machinery required to elevate the same, and in 
the piping required for distribution, a capacity of one million 
gallons, with an equivalent head of two hundred feet for each 
twelve hours, has been decided upon. 
Source of Supply. 
In selecting a source of supply the quality as well as the 
quantity of the water should be carefully considered. It is 
not sufficient in the construction of water works to simply guard 
against a Chicago or Boston disaster. It is of the greatest 5 
importance that the water selected shall bear a favorable analysis 
for domestic use and manufacturing purposes. This subject 
involving as it does not only the pecuniary bnt the sanitary 
conditions of a community is one which should receive the 
highest degree of attention from the best order of talent and 
the impartial, unbiased approval of municipal authorities. 
For your city two sources of supply are presented ; Grand 
river and Lake Michigan. As the water from each of these 
sources of supply requires elevating; in this particular a slight 
advantage might be claimed in favor of the river which also 
has the additional advantage of location. In an economical 
point of view for fire protection only, this source of supply is 
undoubtedly the most desirable, but for the varied require- 
ments, incidental to a water supply for a city, its merits should 
be carefully considered before adopting the same. 
Careful scientific researches has finally determined thecause 
of typhoid fever and other similar prevalent diseases, at places 
entirely removed from poisonous miasmic influences, tracing 
the same to the well and river waters in use. 
In a published communication upon this subject, Dr. 
Stephen Smith, Health Commissioner of New York city, says : 
"The causation of typhoid fever though long enveloped in 
obscurity is now well known. It is one of the so-called filth 
diseases of modern sanitary writers, its most ordinary exciting 
cause is the air, or drinking water, befouled with excremental 
matter." 
The facts illustrating the origin of typhoid fever from excre- 
mental matter in drinking water are now quite numerous and 
very instructive. The following examples illustrating the 
method of communicating the fever are presented by Dr. 
Smith. 
" In a small German settlement in the upper part of the 
city there was a severe outbreak of dysentery and typhoid fever. 
A physician called to attend to some of the cases, set to work 
to find out the cause. On inquiring as to the water supply, he 
was directed to a spring on low ground in the midst of the set- 
tlement so situated as to receive the surface drainage. The 
water was pure and sparkling to the sight and taste and "was 6 
loudly praised by the owner of the spring. A quantity put 
into a bottle and allowed to stand a few hours threw down a 
thick sediment of most offensive matter. The people ceased 
to use the water and the epidemic ceased at once. "In a 
neighboring village, typhoid fever broke out and prevailed 
with great violence in a given locality, search was made for the 
cause by the attending physician, but in vain. He appealed 
for aid to the health authorities of New York, and an expert 
officer examined the history of the outbreak and the locality 
and predicted that a certain hydrant which supplied the vic- 
tims with drinking water communicated at some point with 
house drains or the sewer. The ■water pipe was examined and 
at a distance from the hydrant a house drain was found to 
communicate with the same. The necessary repairs were made 
and the epidemic ceased." 
The medical department of the London Local Government 
Board have recently issued an important report on the cause 
of typhoid or enteric fever in London ; of the various ways in 
which water may be made the vehicle for distributing the 
fever. The report gives the following as illustrations : 
At Terling Place ten persons were attacked with enteric 
fever, al] of these persons, and these only of a large family, 
drank water from a particular well into which it was discovered 
that a cesspool leaked. 
At Dickens Bonnet, in Essex, a certain well was polluted 
and out of eighty-eight drinkers from the well, forty two per- 
sons were attacked, while only one other person out of a popu- 
lation of two hundred and six in the village was attacked. 
At Nunnery, a village in Somersetshire, having a popula- 
tion of eight hundred and thirty-two, Dr. Ballard records 
seventy-six cases of enteric fever as occurring in four months. 
The cases were limited in a remarkable way to families who 
obtained their water supply from asmall rivulet which received 
the sewage of several houses up stream. 
At Hawksbury Upton, in Gloucestershire, a village of six 
hundred and forty-seven inhabitants, within a short period, 
ninety-five cases and fourteen deaths occurred in groups follow- 
ing the successive pollution of different wells in the village. 
Birbrage, a village of Leicestershire, as recorded by Dr. 7 
Guinne Harris, had an outbreak of enteric fever from the 
same cause last year. No one took the fever in the village 
except persons who certainly or presumedly drank water from 
a particular pump, and every house supplied from this pump 
was subject to infection. 
It has been estimated that upwards of 150,000 people are 
annually affected by typhoid fever in England. 
In speaking of the cholera which visited London in 1848-9 
and 1853-4, a writer upon this subject says: "The influence 
which the purity or impurity of water has upon the health of 
people using it was strikingly shown during the above periods. 
The Lambeth company pumped water from the higher parts 
of the Thames, and the supply was equal to any furnished at 
that time by the other companies. 
" The Southwark and Vauxhall company drew their supply 
from lower down the river, and the water then furnished by 
them has been stated to have been the filthiest stuff ever drank 
by a civilized community." 
The Lambeth company supplied 24,854 houses, containing 
about 165,906 people, and among these the deaths from cholera 
amounted to 611, or were at the rate of -37 per cent of the 
population. The Southwark and Vauxhall company supplied 
39,726 houses, containing 268,171 inhabitants, of whom 3,476 
died from cholera. The death rate being in this case 1.3 per 
cent or about three and one-half times as high as in the 
district supplied with purer water. 
That the difference in the mortality in the two districts men- 
tioned was mainly due to the difference in quality of the water 
supplied to them is curiously corroborated by observations 
made in 1848-9. At that date the water furnished by the 
Lambeth company was worse than that supplied by the South- 
wark and Vauxhall company, and the proportionate death rate 
in the former, was then greater than in the latter district. 
In 1866 cholera carried off at least 10,000 of the population 
of London, while Glasgow, Manchester and Sheffield, supplied 
with pure water, were comparatively exempt from the scourge. 
' Numerous examples of alike character might be given of 
the evil effects of an improper water supply, but space in this 8 
report will only permit a notice of one or two more pertinent 
cases. 
The State board of health of Michigan, with the view of 
determining the cause of numerous cases of typhoid fever at 
Lansing and other cities, have had the water of several wells 
in use at these places analyzed by Dr. R. D. Kedzie, of the 
Agricultural College, with the following results: One impe- 
rial gallon of water from one of these wells contained 
Chloride of calcium 3 ffr. 
Magnesium , 1 " 
Chloride of sodium (common salt) 38 " 
Nitrite of ammonia Traces. 
Nitrate " quantity Sensible. 
Organic matter in solution 3 gr. 
Organic matter, insoluble, a quantity consisting of 
decomposed vegetable tissues, confervas, and three 
forms of microscopic animal life. 
" This water is undoubtedly contaminated with sewage, and 
is not tit for domestic use." It is the opinion of many that 
the majority of wells of cities of 8,000 or 10,000 inhabitants 
are no better than the above analysis would indicate, and that 
wells are an unsafe source of water supply. 
* The sad experience of Mount Desert during the summer 
of 1873 and at Richfield Springs, and Lake Mahopac, N. Y., 
during the past season, are painful examples of neglected sani- 
tary requirements, and the consequent loss of life and pecu- 
niary advantages at these celebrated watering places. 
As your city has gained a famous reputation from the 
development of the healing properties of your celebrated 
mineral spring, and in the liberal expenditure in hotel accom- 
modations, being called the " Saratoga of the west," this sub- 
ject to your citizens must be of more than ordinary interest. 
* Mount Desert, a celebrated summer resort off the coast of Maine, was 
depopulated during the season of 1873, and the hotels at Richfield Springs, 
Lake Mahopac, N. Y., in 1874, were closed on account of a severe out- 
break of typhoid fever, the sources of which were subsequently traced to 
the water supply, which had been contaminated with sewage. 9 
During the summer of 1873 the subscriber was employed 
as consulting engineer to report a plan for an increased water 
supply for the city of Reading, Penn., which report was 
adopted. That city had been visited the year previous with a 
severe and persistent attack of typhoid fever, an epidemic pre- 
viously unknown in that healthy, mountainous district. The 
water of their reservoir was analyzed by Dr. Cressen, of Phila- 
delphia, and the presence of poisonous matter unmistakably 
found. A subsequent examination of the source of supply 
resulted in the discovery that a farm lot through which the 
water passed had been used as a retiring place for cattle. 
Absolutely pure water does not occur in nature. "Its 
powerful solvent properties render it impossible. It constantly 
dissolves both gaseous and solid substances with which it comes 
in contact. The invisible air and the solid rocks each yield to 
it in part of its substance. The quantity of water on the 
globe, remaining always the same, it would soon become satu- 
rated with soluble substances, were there not in operation a 
constant natural process of exchanging one dissolved substance 
for another, or separating itself from them all." Thus, by a 
process of nature, the atmosphere is constantly receiving water 
from the ocean and other large bodies of water, until it becomes 
saturated; the higher the temperature the greater the evapo- 
ration which is constantly taking place over the entire surface 
of the globe. 
Water is the purest when it is first evaporated at mid-ocean ; 
but as the vapory winds are driven over the land, it absorbs the 
gases which it encounters in the air, and when it falls to the 
earth and flows over or beneath it, it takes up in solution 
earthy salts, decaying animal and vegetable matter, and other 
injurious soluble substances. 
The history of all large or densely populated cities which 
are the centers of trade and commerce are identical. Their 
gradual growth from the plain and insignificant hamlet, with 
narrow and contracted streets, into densely populated districts, 
has, of necessity, carried with the same certain improvement, 
prominent among which has been the introduction of pure 
water from points sufficiently removed from the natural sources 
of contamination. 10 
The Assyrians, Phoenicians and Egyptians carried off the 
sewage of their cities by means of drains and canals or open 
sewers to prevent their water from contamination. 
Rome, in her palmy days, constructed immense aqueducts 
for the introduction of pure water. The first of these, Appia 
Claudia, was built B. C. 33 years, conveying water from a 
point 11 miles distant. Subsequently other aqueducts 
were constructed, conveying water 57 miles to the imperial 
city. 
Rome had nine aqueducts, whose aggregate length was 255 
miles, affording a daily supply of 377,000,000 gallons of water. 
Three of these supply modern Rome - Aquae Virgini, con- 
structed 22 years B. C.; Aqua Felice, 146 years B. C., and 
Aqua Paola, A. D. 14. 
Paris, the pioneer city of modern improvements, in addition 
to her double system of spring water and river supply, has 
recently constructed a second aqueduct over 60 miles in 
length. 
Madrid and Glasgow have followed with similar improve- 
ments. The latter city receives its supply from the celebrated 
Loch Katrine, 35 miles distant. 
The city of New York, in addition to its present storage 
capacity of 4,670,000,000 gallons, is now constructing another 
reservoir with a storage capacity of 5,000,000,000 gallons, 
located 50 miles from the metropolis. 
The city of Rochester, N. Y., has entirely abandoned their 
former works, which have cost over $500,000, and are now 
introducing water for domestic use from Hemlock Lake, which 
is 28 miles distant. 
The following table exhibits the analysis of water supplied 
to the several cities named. 
Table Exhibiting the Grains of Solid Matter per Gal- 
lon in the Waters of European Lakes and Rivers. 
Loch Katrine, Glasgow, Scotland 1.63 
Severn, Wales 2.27 
Lough Vatry, Dublin. Ireland 3. 11 
Spree, Prussia 6. 50 
Clyde, Scotland 6.77 11 
Loire, France 7.86 
Danube, Vienna, Austria 8.46 
Lake Geneva, Switzerland 8.87 
Rhine, Balse 9.88 
Rhone, Lyons 10.73 
Thames, Hampton 12.50 
Rhine, Strassburg 13.52 
Seine, Paris 16.16 
Vecht, Amsterdam 16.59 
Rhine, Emmerick 16.86 
Thames, Lambeth Company 17.00 
Schelde, Belgium 17.15 
Thames, Kew... ».... 18.16 
Thames, London Bridge 28.38 
Maelar, Stockholm 31.50 
Table Exhibiting the Grains of Solid Matter per Gal- 
lon in the Waters of American Lakes and Rivers. 
Fresh pond, Cambridge 2.37 
Cochituate, Boston 3.11 
Jamaica pond, Brooklyn 3.29 
Delaware, Philadelphia 3.48 
Fairmont and Schuylkill, Philadelphia 3.50 
Ridgewood, Brooklyn 3.92 
Croton, New York 4.45 
Potomac, Washington 5.59 
Detroit river, Detroit 5.72 
Hudson, Albany 6.12 
Lake Erie, Cleveland 6.27 
Lake Michigan, Chicago 6.68 
Ohio river, Cincinnati 6.74 
Lake Erie, Buffalo 6.76 
Passaic river, Hudson 7.44 
Mohawk river, Troy 7.88 
Genesee river, Rochester 8.98 
Lake Michigan. 
With the history of other cities before us, and more especially 
the experience of many places in your own State, no argument 
is needed in deciding the proper location for your pumping 
works. 12 
Lake Michigan has an elevation of 587 feet above tide water; 
It has an area of 20,000 square miles, with a mean depth of 
900 feet. 
Properly constructed works receiving the supply from a 
suitable distance from the shore line will furnish water of an 
unexceptional character, and not excelled by the supply from 
the celebrated Loch Katrine. 
For the present works located on the shore line, between 
the river pier and Lake avenue, are recommended. 
In computing the amount of power required, a supply of 
1,000,000 gallons, raised 200 feet high in 12 hours, has been 
deemed a proper basis for an estimate. The amount of power 
required may be estimated by the following formula: 
W. H. per minute. 
Pumping Machinery. 
33,000 
185.6 cub. feet per minute. 
1.396 area of pipe in feet. 
W= 17399.7 weight of water in pipe.* 
H = 133 velocity in feet per minute. 
17399.7 x 133. 
= 70.12 H. P. 
33,000 
A 75 horse-power engine is recommended. 
The power of a steam engine depends upon the size of the 
cylinder, the velocity of the piston, and the pressure of steam 
used. In like manner the capacity of the pump depends upon 
the size and velocity of the piston, the kind of valves used, and 
the'size and curvature of the induction and delivery pipes. 
The result of long experience in the construction and obser- 
vation in the operation of large pumping engines has deter- 
*The U. S. standard gallon lias been used in the computations, contain- 
ing 231 cubic inches = 8.33888 avoirdupois pounds, or 58373 Troy grains, of 
distilled waters at the temperature of its maximum density 39.83°, the 
barometer at 30 inches. The imperial gallon contains 277.266 cubic inches. 
Where this standard of measurement is referred to in the analysis of water, 
it can be reduced by multiplying or dividing by 1.2, as the case may require. 13 
mined the fact that water cannot be moved through the valves, 
chambers and conducting pipes of pumps at a faster speed than 
150 feet per minute without considerable loss of power; and 
whenever it is possible in improved machinery, it is so 
arranged as to move the water at a much less velocity. 
Steam being seventeen hundred times lighter than water, 
and being vapory and elastic, is enabled to change its form 
and shape in performing its functions while passing from the 
boiler in and through the valves and cylinder of the engine 
without much friction ; but water being incompressible requires 
a different arrangement of machinery. The law of resistance 
or friction is the same in both, being as the weight multiplied 
by the square of the velocity; hence, when it is possible in 
the arrangement of pumping machinery, a less velocity should 
be given to the water piston than is given to the steam 
piston.* 
Numerous kinds of cheap pumping machinery, and, in some 
instances, very expensive machinery, of a comparatively worth- 
less character, are forced upon the attention of committees and 
municipal authorities. 
For your requirements the most simple, effective and dura- 
ble kind of machinery is recommended. The common engines 
made for sale are rated at a much higher duty than they are 
able to perform for continuous daily work, for this reason in 
contracting for pumping machinery a stipulated duty should 
be required, and the work warranted for one year from the 
date of acceptance. 
*Tliis principle applies with equal force to the direct acting engines 
where the steam is used a second time to perform its functions in passing 
from one cylinder to another, as applied in the duplex compound system of 
Worthington and Henderson, and also in the celebrated Lynn engine. 14 
The following table compiled from official reports, exhibits 
the cost of pumping water by steam power at the several 
places named : 
Cities Supplied - Steam 
Power. 
Height 
raised, 
feet. 
Total gallons 
pumped dur- 
ing the year. 
Total annu- 
al pumping 
expenses. 
Cost of 
million 
gallons 
raised 100 
feet high. 
Schuykill 1 
115 
1,590,248,424 
820,383 25 
811 15 
Delaware ?-Phila 
112 
705.442,350 
19,664 25 
24 18 
Germantown ' 
230 
117,104,200 
7,782 80 
19 10 
Cambridge 
72X 
460,432,900 
6,129 00 
18 36 
Brooklyn 
170 
4,503,328,025 
84,234 00 
11 00 
Jersey City 
155 
1,565,160,192 
29 445 69 
12 13 
Cincinnati 
173 
2,868,026,272 
74 440 34 
15 02 
Chicago 
125 
3,165,760,609 
44 452 14 
11 22 
Hartford 
119 
727 650 434 
14 267 45 
16 48 
Cleveland 
157 V 
696 369 375 
16 104 22 
14 68 
Detroit 
77 
1,425,435,230 
24,050 58 
22 67 
Louisville 
150 
674,930,025 
18,234 55 
18 01 
Average from annual aggregate $15.61 per million gallons 
raised 100 feet high * including cost of attendance, oil, fuel, 
labor, etc. 
The cost of raising 1,000,000 gallons 100 feet high at other 
places where direct pressure is used, has greatly exceeded the 
above amount, in some instances reaching the enormous sum 
of $109.56, as at Kalamazoo in your State, and $67.60 at 
Columbus, Ohio. 
For your city, double-acting horizontal piston pumps, with 
extra air and regulating chambers, provided with balance 
valves, constructed with reference to durability and strength, 
are to be preferred to the special patented machinery in use at 
other places. 
Plans and specifications for the pumping engines and other 
machinery will be prepared as soon as a definite location is 
made for the same. The machinery will be so arranged that a 
limited pressure can be maintained on the entire service for 
* The most simple and economical pumping engine in this country, is now in 
operation at Lynn, Mass. The total expense of fuel, attendance, oil, waste, etc.; 
averaging $7.16 for 1,000,000 gallons raised 100 feet high, which is less than one-half 
of the above tabulated average. 15 
domestic purposes, an automatic valve closing the supply to 
the reservoir. 
It may not be out of place to state here that the plan of 
pumping directly into the pipes underpressure has been in use 
upward of 300 years. " In 1581, Peter Morrys, an enter- 
prising Dutchman, conceived the bold idea of forcing the water 
from the Thames, by mechanical pumping power, through 
pipes into the houses of the inhabitants." His proposal was 
favorably received by the corporation of London, and works 
were constructed which remained in existence upward of 200 
years, when they were superseded by the New River Water 
Works, which brought in purer and cheaper water by means 
of a canal. 
" The scheme of Peter Morrys constituted the premier water 
works of London," and we may add, of the world, so far as 
tl)e pressure system is concerned. " He delivered the water into 
the houses, the pitcher no longer went to the fountain, and a 
mighty amount of gossip was abolished at a stroke. The 
power exerted by the machinery was so great that Morrys was 
able to give a public exhibition of his skill by throwing a jet 
of water over the tower of St. Magnus' church, on the occasion 
of the opening of the works, to the no small admiration of the 
wondering citizens, as before that time no such thing as the 
raising of water was known in England." 
Several of the water-works of London have continued the 
practice of pumping directly into the main. 
A writer upon this subject, on speaking of improved machin- 
ery, says: "The Kent and East London Company pump 
directly into their supply mains, by night and day, trusting evi- 
dently to the skill of the engine-drivers to adopt the motive 
power to the variable conditions of the consumption of their 
districts." I have deemed it of sufficient importance to call the 
attention of your committee to the above facts. 
As it is proposed to adopt direct pressure as part of your 
proposed works; in this connection a brief description of this 
system, and also of the much-abused stand-pipe may not be 
uninteresting. 16 
Direct Supply-Pressure System, 
A direct water supply as generally understood among engi- 
neers, is a supply wholly and entirely dependent on the pump- 
ing so arranged that when the pumping ceases the supply 
ceases. 
There are three ways of regulating a direct supply. 1st, by 
the use of a stand-pipe ; 2d, by the use of an air chamber ; 3d, 
without the use of either air chamber or stand-pipe. 
With the use of a stand-pipe, the water from the pumps 
passes through the bottom of the stand-pipe base, which could 
be defined as a section of pipe introduced into the main, to 
prevent too great a head upon the same. This vertical stand- 
pipe is generally from four to five feet in diameter, and is car- 
ried up to any height required, generally a little over 200 feet, 
according to the pressure or head desired. 
It is left open on the top so that there can be no greater 
head on the pipes of a city than that due to the height of 
water in the stand pipe. 
When an air chamber is used in the absence of a stand-pipe 
it is placed in close proximity to, or forms a part of, the pump- 
ing engine. It is so arranged as to receive the water before it 
passes into the mains, being of large dimensions and supplied 
with air in its upper part, it aids in cushioning the valves of 
the engine, and in relieving the mains from the blows and 
shocks due to the changes of velocity of the machinery. 
In the absence of either stand-pipe or air chamber where 
the water is pumped directly into the mains, "relief valves" 
are used in connection with the pumps or these are distributed 
on the mains. These valves are arranged similar to the safety 
valves of a steam boiler, and are designed to open when the 
pressure in the mains exceeds a given standard per square 
inch. 
In the improvements of machinery for a direct water supply 
the great aim of inventors has been to so regulate the same as 
to dispense with reservoirs and stand-pipes. Some of the 
improvements made have resulted in the performance of a 
very high and satisfactory duty, amounting to 60,000,000 lbs. 
of water raised one foot high with one hundred pounds of 
coal. But while this satisfactory result is being obtained, it is 17 
to be regretted that the owmers of certain patents, claiming the 
exclusive right of pumping directly into pipes without 
the use of stand-pipe or reservoir, succeed in introducing 
machinery at very high prices, which performs the lowest rate 
of duty.* 
Stand-pipe. 
There is probably no adjunct connected with the machinery 
of a water-works so little understood as the stand-pipe. This 
subject having been mentioned in connection with your pro- 
posed works, a more definite description of its proper use and 
advantages seems to be necessary. 
Where the ordinary Cornish or other similar engines are 
employed in raising large quantities of water, and more espe- 
cially where engines of the Cornish bull style are in use, as at 
Erie, Penn., and the Cornish at Belleville, N. J., stand-pipe is 
an indispensable adjunct. I have carefully examined the 
workings of the engines at the places named, but prefer to 
give Mr. J. P. Kirkwood's description of the advantages 
obtained by their use at Belleville. 
" The stand-pipe is a great relief to an engine of any size, as 
compared with the dull resistance it would have to encounter 
in pumping into a column of water 2,000 or 3,000 teet or 
more, wThose requirements of delivery might be varying every 
hour. Under such circumstances you cannot cut off short. 
You can get but little benefit from expansion, but the applica- 
tion of the stand-pipe changes all that; and this load being 
changed to a short column, the engine controls it with com- 
parative ease, and can venture on a high or at least a profitable 
expansion with freedom. This tells on the economy of coal. 
But it tells in a more palpable way on the economy of capital. 
For instance, at Belleville (the pumping station of the Jersey 
City water-works), before the stand-pipe was built, the Cornish 
engines there (see trial by Copeland & Worthen) made in the 
first trial 4.8 strokes per minute. After the erection of the 
stand-pipe the same engine made seven strokes per minute. 
*It is fortunate that the patent laws do not cover such broad claims, and 
that the system having been in use for upwards of 300 years these claims 
are untenable. 18 
They are now making eight easily. The stand-pipe increased 
the pumping capacity of the engine, besides enabling it to do 
its own work more economically. In this case two engines 
with a stand-pipe would do more than three engines without a 
stand-pipe. Undoubtedly at Belleville the stand-pipe, in this 
sense, has more than paid for itself. I mean that two engines 
would cost less than three engines without stand-pipe, and do 
more work. This will be more or less the effect of a stand- 
pipe anywhere, but we have generally dwelt upon it more as 
as a measure of relief and safety to an engine than as an 
economizer of capital." 
The advantages of a stand-pipe are more strikingly apparent 
at Erie than at Belleville, for while the works at the latter 
place are supplied with a comparatively short forcing main 
which discharges directly into a reservoir, the pumps at Erie 
are worked directly on the mains and distribution. They are 
of the kind known as the Cornish bull pattern.* The steam 
cylinders are sixty inches in diameter and are placed inverted 
directly over the pumps, the piston rod connecting directly 
with the pump plunger, which is twenty-one inches in diame- 
ter and has a stroke of ten feet. A full stroke discharges 180 
gallons of water. The pumps make an average of twelve 
strokes per minute, and at times runs as high as sixteen per 
minute. A stand-pipe is very properly used here and is placed 
in close proximity to the engines, to receive and pass off the 
pulsations of the pumps, to secure and maintain a uniform 
pressure on the distributing mains, and thus to equalize the 
flow of water through the same. 
It seems to be unnecessary to add that with the use of this 
or similar kinds of pumping machinery the stand-pipe is indis- 
pensable. There is one other advantage to be derived from 
* The Cornish engines derived their name from being first used at Corn- 
wall, England. They are divided by engineers into two classes, viz., 
" Beam " and " Bull " engines. The beam engines are constructed with a 
heavy beam which works above, on the side of, or below the cylinder, and 
is connected at one end with the piston rod and at the other with the 
pump plunger In the bull engine the beam is omitted, the cylinder is 
inverted and placed immediately over the pump, the piston rod connect- 
ing directly with the pump plunger. 19 
the use of a stand-pipe which unfortunately is greatly over- 
rated. It acts in a very slight measure as a reservoir, but as 
the quantity of water stored in a pipe of this kind only 4 or 
5 feet in diameter is very small, their value in this particular 
should not be too highly estimated.* 
As an illustration of the absence of proper information on 
this subject it may not be out of place to mention the result of 
a visit recently made to a certain western city, in company 
with a committee who were investigating the subject of pump- 
ing machinery. The stand-pipe at this place is pointed to as 
a monument of success in their water supply, but as the inves- 
tigating committee were representing a city which had already 
decided to have a reservoir, their particular attention was 
directed to the pumping machinery, and the request made that 
the water in the stand-pipe should be drawn down to a head 
equal to a pressure of 70 lbs. per square inch which would cor- 
respond with the height of their proposed reservoir. The 
pumps were set in motion, hydrants were opened, and half a 
dozen fire streams were thrown over the highest buildings in 
the place. The local press in large caption announced the 
result as " Another Grand Exhibition of the Stand-pipe." 
During the display, as indicated by the water and pressure 
gauges, not another drop of water was raised in the stand-pipe 
or descended therefrom, the entire result being produced by 
the action of the improved horizontal double-acting piston 
pumps, and these pumps (the Vergennes) were driven by water 
power without the advantages of steam expansion which has 
given the Worthington, Henderson and other similar engines 
such great notoriety. 
Now it must appear clear to your committee that where 
single acting engines of the Cornish bull style are used a 
stand-pipe for safety and economy is indispensable, but where 
improved machinery is introduced as above, especially for small 
works the stand-pipe is not a necessary adjunct. At the risk 
* A stand-pipe five feet in diameter and two hundred feet high will hold 
29,375 gallons. A one inch nozzle under a 200 feet head will discharge 260 
gallons per minute, and six fire streams would exhaust the contents of the 
stand pipe in less than 20 minutes under our proposed head of 200 feet. 20 
of wearying your patience, I desire to add a few more words 
upon this subject. Mr. Birkinbine, the celebrated hydraulic 
engineer, who first introduced stand-pipes in this country, 
says, " A reservoir, where it is possible, is a valuable adjunct to 
any system of water supply, keeping in store surplus water, in 
case of emergency, and delivering water at a uniform pressure. 
Stand-pipes are often used as substitutes for reservoirs where 
the latter are impracticable either from the want of necessary 
elevated ground, or the requisite funds for their construction 
* * * of course the quantity of water in a stand-pipe 
will not allow of the stopping of the machinery for any length 
of time, but long enough to attend to any trifling repairs and 
packing." 
The expense of erecting a stand-pipe with out side protec- 
tion and the necessary foundations, vary from $20,000 to 
$50,000, whieh would be sufficient to provide for a reserve 
engine for small works so that no stoppage of machinery 
would be required. 
RESERVOIR. 
Frequent attempts have been made during the past few 
years to dispense with reservoirs in the construction of works 
of this character; but the results have proved any thing but 
satisfactory, and in some instances disastershave resulted there- 
from. 
One of the main objects in locating storing reservoirs near 
the center of distribution is to provide against accidents. 
When pumping machinery has to be introduced for the pur- 
pose of elevating the water, it is neither safe nor profitable to 
dispense with a reservoir, be it ever so small. 
As a practical illustration of the importance of this subject 
the following extract from the recent report of the engineer of 
the Brooklyn water-works, is presented herewith. 
" In connection with these reservoirs, it would not be amiss 
to advert to a fact which is too much lost sight of lately in 
some of our smaller cities, and that is, the danger from fire in 
all cities supplied with water direct from pumping engines. 21 
The late fire in Chicago, with a loss of some $300,000,000, 
and hundreds of human lives, would, in all probability, 
never have happened had the city received its water 
through an elevated reservoir. To illustrate the danger 
in our case, even when the engines are, from their remoteness, 
not themselves exposed to the direct action of a heavy confla- 
gation, but only to the uncertainty in emergencies common to 
all heavy machinery, there have been many occasions, periods of 
hours, when, if a great conflagration had arisen in the city, the 
engines would not have furnished one drop of water, and our 
entire dependence would have been on the water in the reser- 
voir." 
He then states the several occasions on which the pumping 
engines were all disabled at the same time, and the city wholly 
dependent on the resevoir for supply. 
"From December 22d to 28th, 1863, six days; July 10th to 
11th, 1865, one day ; February 27th to March 3d, 1866, five 
days ; February 14th, 1867, eleven hours; February 22d, 1867, 
six hours; April 8th, 1867, six hours, and December 19th, 
1869, nine hours." 
From this statement it will be seen that notwithstanding the 
fact that the city of Brooklyn is supplied with water from sev- 
eral different sources, there were seven occasions in an equal 
number of consecutive years when all of the pumping engines 
were disabled, and no other device than an elevated reservoir 
would have supplied the city with water.* 
The site selected for your reservoir is a point on the high 
ground about midway between the lake and the city, where an 
elevation of 200 feet can be attained. In connection with the 
subject of hydrants you will find a table giving the height to 
which water can be thrown from the pressure due to this head. 
* In a preliminary trial of water-works at Providence, R. I., on the reservoir plan 
20-inch streams were thrown, all at the same time, to heights varying from 70 to 90 
feet, the pressure being equivalent to a head of 175 feet. 
At Salem, Mass., 42 streams were thrown all the same time, over the highest 
buildings in the city, the reservoir at this place is only 115 feet high. 22 
Distribution. 
LOCATION OF PIPING. 
Size. 
No. 
feet. 
Total 
feet. 
From forcing main to reservoir 
16 in. 
400 
u 
Pump Works to Main street 
44 
3,630 
On 
Main street to Lake avenue 
U 
676 
u 
Lake avenue from Main to Howard street 
44 
379 
5,085 
44 
Second street from Howard to Elliott street 
12 in. 
2,310 
2,310 
Franklin from 
Second to 
Seventh street 
8 in. 
2,310 
44 
Seventh " 
Clinton " 
Elliott " 
44 
1,650 
3,960 
41 
Elliott " 
First " 
Seventh " 
6 in. 
2,772 
Fulton " 
First " 
Seventh " 
u 
2,772 
Columbus " 
First " 
Fourth " 
44 
1,386 
Wash'gton " 
Water " 
Seventh " 
44 
3,234 
44 
Franklin " 
Water " 
Seventh " 
U 
3,234 
u 
Clinton " 
Water " 
Seventh " 
44 
3,234 
u 
Howard " 
Second " 
Fifth " 
44 
1,386 
Fulton av. " 
Seventh " 
Beach Tree " 
4,306 
22,324 
u 
Water " 
Clinton " 
Wash'gton " 
4 in. 
660 
44 
First " 
Wash't'n " 
Elliott " 
990 
44 
Fourth " 
Howard " 
Franklin ' 
44 
990 
44 
Fifth 
Howard " 
Franklin " 
44 
990 
3,630 
Total feet of piping 
37,309 
Location of Hydrants. 
On the north-east corner of Elliott and First street. 
" north-west " Elliott and Second street. 
" " " Elliott and Third street. 
" " " Elliott and Fourth street. 
" " " Elliott and Fifth street. 
" " " Elliott and Sixth street. 
" " " Elliott and Seventh street. 
" " " Fulton and First street. 
" " " Fulton and Second street. 
" " " Fulton and Third street. 
" " " Fulton and Fourth street. 
" " " Fulton and Fifth street. 
" " " Fulton and Sixth street. 
" " " Fulton and Seventh street. 
" " " Columbus and First street. 
" " " Columbus and Second street. 
"■ " " Columbus and Third street. 
" " " Columbus and Fourth street. 23 
On the north-east corn or of Washington and Water street. 
" north-west " Washington and First street. 
" " " Washington and Second street. 
" " " Washington and Third street. 
" " " Washington and Fourth street. 
" " " Washington and Fifth street. 
" " " Washington and Sixth street. 
" " " Washington and Seventh street. 
" " . " Franklin and Water street. 
" " " Franklin and First street. 
" " " Franklin and Second street. 
" " " Franklin and Third street. 
" " " Franklin and Fourth street. 
" " " Franklin and Fifth street. 
" ££ ££ Franklin and Sixth street. 
" " ££ Franklin and Seventh street. 
" ££ " Clinton and Water street. 
" " " Clinton and First street. 
" ££ ££ Clinton and Second street. 
" " ££ Clinton and Third street. 
" " " Clinton and Fourth street. 
" ££ ££ Clinton and Fifth street. 
" " " Clinton and Sixth street. 
" " " Clinton and Seventh street. 
" " " Lafayette and Second street. 
" ££ " Lafayette and Fourth street. 
" " " Lafayette and Fifth street. 
" ££ ££ Howard and Fourth street. 
" ££ '£ . Howard and Fifth street. 
Forty-seven hydrants. 
Location and Size of Stop Valves. 
16 inches gate at Pump Works. 
16 ££ ££ on distribution main. 
12 ££ ££ Second st. north side of Franklin street. 
8 ££ ££ Franklin east side of Second street. 
Note. - There maybe some changes in the location of hydrants, owing to local 
peculiarities; but, where practicable, I have adopted the plan of placing all 
hydrants on the north-west corner, giving them the south-eastern exposure in high 
northern latitudes. 24 
8 inch gate at Franklin west side of Seventlrstreet. 
6 " " Elliott west side of Second street. 
6 " " Elliott east side of Second street. 
6 " " Elliott west side of Seventh street. 
6 " " Fulton west side of Second street. 
6 " " Fulton east side of Second street. 
6 " " Fulton west side of Seventh street. 
6 " " Columbus west side of Second street. 
6 " " Columbus east side of Second street. 
6 " " Washington east side of Second street. 
6 " " Washington west side of Second street. 
6 " " Washington east side of Seventh street. 
6 " " Ciinton west side of Second street. 
6 " " Clinton east side of Second street. 
6 " " Clinton west side of Seventh street. 
6 " " Howard east side of Second street. 
6 " " Fulton avenue east side of Seventh street. 
4 " " First st. north side of Washington street. 
4 " " Fourth south side of Franklin street. 
4 " " Fifth south side of Franklin street. 
Heights of Jets of Fike Streams under Different Heads 
AND THROUGH DIFFERENT ORIFICES. 
Head 
in 
Diameter of nozzles in inches. 
M 
% 
M 
1 
IM 
1M 
IM 
2 
FEET. 
Height of streams in feet. 
100 
58 
69 
75 
79 
84 
87 
90 
91 
92 
120 
60 
75 
84 
90 
97 
102 
105 
107 
109 
140 
79 
91 
99 
109 
116 
120 
123 
125 
160 
80 
96 
106 
120 
128 
133 
137 
140 
180 
99 
112 
129 
139 
141 
151 
155 
200 
100 
116 
137 
150 
158 
166 
169 
The above elevations of fire streams would vary according 
to the length of hose used from hydrants. It is advisable to 
provide for a liberal number of hydrants, so located as to 
promptly extinguish fires before they get to be conflagrations. 25 
The necessary piping to connect the same with the distribution 
will cost less in the first instance, as well as in subsequent 
repairs, than the ordinary hose in use. 
Discharge due to Different Size Pipe under Different 
Heads for Domestic Supply, etc. 
Head 
IN 
Diameters of orifices in inches. 
% 
% 
% 
1 
1M 
1% 
2 
EEJJT. 
Gallons discharged per minute. 
20 
11.7 
20.6 
32.2 
46.2 
82.3 
128.4 
184.8 
252.0 
328.8 
40 
16.3 
29.6 
45.5 
65 5 
116.5 
182.4 
261.6 
356.4 
465.6 
60 
20.0 
35.6 
57.7 
80.3 
142.8 
223.2 
320.4 
436.8 
571.2 
80 
23.2 
41.2 
64.3 
92.6 
164.4 
258.0 
370.8 
505.2 
658.8 
100 
25.9 
46.1 
72.0 
103.7 
183.6 
288.0 
415.2 
565.2 
738.0 
120 
28.3 
50.4 
78.8 
113.5 
201.6 
315.6 
453.6 
626.4 
807.6 
140 
30.6 
54.5 
85.2 
122.4 
217.2 
340.8 
490.8 
668.4 
872.4 
150 
31.7 
56.4 
88.2 
127.2 
225.6 
352.8 
507.6 
691.2 
902.4 
175 
34.2 
61.0 
95.3 
136.8 
243.6 
380.4 
548.4 
748.8 
975.6 
200 
36.6 
65 2 
101.8 
146.4 
260.4 
406.8 
588.0 
798.0 
1042.8 
The above table has been prepared to show the amount of 
water which can be delivered 
it different elevations 
in your 
city for general domestic 
use. 
The 
computation being made 
with reference to a reservoir head of 200 feet, or 
pressure from the pumping machinery. 
an equivalent 26 
PROPOSED WATER RATES. 
Dwellings, for each family occupying assessed 
value $1,000 or under . $6 00 
Dwellings, assessed value on $1,000 or under 
$2,000 8 00 
Dwellings, assessed value $2,000 and over.. . 10 00 
Water closets, extra, one closet 3 00 
" " each additional one 2 00 
Bath tubs, one tub 3 00 
" " each additional tub 2 00 
Garden sprinklers, each 3 00 
Street " " 3 00 
Public baths, each 6 00 
Fountains, 1-16 inch, ten hours per day 10 00 
" I " " " .... 25 00 
" i " " " .... 50 00 
Private stables, not over two horses 3 00 
" " each additional horse 1 00 
" " cattle, each 1 00 
Livery and hotel stables, each stall 2 00 
Barber shops, one chair 5 00 
" " each additional chair 2 00 
Smith's shops, one fire 5 00 
" " each additional fire 2 00 
Liquor and drug stores 10 00 
Other stores, each 5 00 
Printing offices, (engines not included) 10 00 
Other offices, each 4 00 
Bakeries, (engines not included)» 10 00 
Photograph galleries 6 00 
Restaurants and saloons' 10 00 to 20 00 
Hotels 50 00 to 150 00 
Steam engines, ten horse power or under. .. 30 00 
" " each additional horse-power. 2 00 
Public boarding houses 20 00 to 40 00 27 
Building Purposes. 
Brick, per 1,000 10 c. 
Stone, per perch 5 c. 
Plastering, per 1,000 yards 40 c. 
Special Rates. 
Breweries, 
Founderi es, 
Machine Shops, 
Bail road Shops, 
Tanneries, 
Currying Houses. 
Gas Works, 
Saw Mills, 
Locomotives, 
Soap Factories, 
Packing Houses, 
Regulations. 
1. No person shall tap any city main or water-pipe without 
a permit signed by the superintendent of the water-works, or 
by the secretary of the board of water commissioners, nor tap 
any pipe laid for the purpose of supplying water to other per- 
sons or other premises, under the penalty of fifty dollars for 
each offense. 
2. All applications for the introduction of water to any 
premises, or for the extension of any pipe for the conveyance 
of such water shall be signed by the applicant, and shall state 
fully and fairly all and several the uses to which the water is to 
be applied; and whenever, thereafter, any other use of the 
water or additional service pipes or plumbing or fixtures is 
required, a further application must be made. 
3. Persons taking water will do so at their own expense, 
and must keep their service pipe and apparatus in good repair, 
and protect them from frost and prevent all unnecessary waste 
of water. Each service pipe must be furnished with a stop- 
cock, at or near the curb-stone or the main, subject at all times 
to the control of the superintendent. 
4. Any applicant who shall use water from the pipes for any 
purposes not embraced in his application or who willfully or 
unreasonably wastes the water, or allows others than himself, 
his family and servants to use the water from said pipes, except 28 
for drinking on the premises, shall be liable to a penalty of 
ten dollars. 
5. Water rents shall be paid semi-annully in advance on the 
first day of June and December, at the office of the superin- 
tendent. Five per cent will be added if the dues are not paid 
within ten days thereafter. 
6. Every person who shall open any street hydrant, except 
by consent of the mayor, chief engineer of the fire depart- 
ment or superintendent of the water-works, or for the 
extinguishment of dangerous fires, shall forfeit twenty dollars 
for each offense, and one-half of the penalty, when collected, 
shall be paid to the informer. 
7. Every person who shall willfully do any injury to any 
street hydrant shall forfeit ten dollars, for each offense 
in addition to being liable to respond for the actual 
damages sustained, and half the penalty, when collected, shall 
be paid to the informer. 
Distribution. 
There are three kinds of pipe now in use for water-works ; 
cast-iron, wrought-iron protected with cement or with a prepa- 
ration of asphalt, and wood, banded with iron and covered 
with asphalt. Of these several kinds cast-iron has been and 
probably is at the present time the most extensively used. 
But experience has demonstrated that in the earlier con- 
structed works, sufficient care was not used in the selection of 
ores, or in the general manufacture. In some instances, pipe 
which have been in use less than twenty years have been en- 
tirely disintegrated by oxidation, or the character of the metal 
has otherwise been destroyed so as to make the pipe worthless. 
I have in my possession samples of pipe taken up at Jersey 
City and from other places, showing a complete change in the 
metal after being laid less than eighteen years. In some portions 
of a single pipe the iron had become harder; in other parts it 
had become as soft as graphite, and in many particulars resem- 
bling that substance. These changes were no doubt promoted 
by the character of soil in which the pipe were laid and by the 
water passing through the same. 29 
A large percentage of the leakage and waste in some of the 
older cities may be traced to the rapid oxidation and destruc- 
tion of the cast-iron pipe in use. The oxidation in some of the 
pipe tends to the promotion of tubercles and obstructions 
'which greatly impede the flow of water. 
In a report made by the water board of the city of Boston 
on their distribution system, after three years' use, they state 
that all of the large pipe which have been opened, were partly 
or entirely corroded on their inner surface with detached tuber- 
cles varying from one-half to two and a-half inches base with a 
depth or thickness in the middle of from one-quarter to three- 
quarters of an inch. In one case a four-inch pipe was covered 
to a thickness of about one inch. 
Similar statements are made by the French engineers, and 
extended experiments have been made to determine the cause 
of the difficulty and a remedy therefor. 
A notable example of this character occurred at Torquay, 
England. A long supply main of moderate sized pipe became 
clogged to such an extent as to only yield about 50 per cent 
of the theoretical and practical flow, due from a head of 465 
feet. An ingenious contrivance consisting of a flexible scraper 
was passed through the pipe under pressure which restored the 
flow to within five per cent of its practical capacity, but tons of 
oxidized iron was removed thereby.* 
Heating the pipe to 300 degrees temperature and immersing 
the same in a bath or coating of coal tar, which has been dis- 
tilled for the removal of naphtha and other volatile substances, 
has been adopted as a remedy with some success. 
The destruction of iron and the consequent formation of 
tubercles by which the pipes are reduced in strength and capac- 
ity is produced by the chemical action of the water on the 
internal surface. 
This difficulty would be greatly augmented in your city, 
owing to the peculiar nature of the soil underlying the same; 
being sandy and porous. Not only the inside of the pipes but 
the external surface would be subject to rapid oxidation and 
* Report on the water-works of London. 30 
ruin. To prevent this a thorough and indestructible coating 
of the pipes both inside and outside will be necessary. 
I have prepared specifications, which will be found in the 
appendix, of the necessary requirements in the manufacture 
and preparation of cast-iron pipe should your committee con- 
clude to use the same. 
Wooden Pipe. 
Id the early construction of water-works in this country, 
wooden logs were used almost universally for small works 
under moderate heads. Some of these wooden logs are still in 
use after a service of upwards of one hundred years. A large 
percentage of the distribution at Detroit is laid with wood pipe 
and constant additions are made to the same.* 
For small works in favorably located districts, wooden pipe 
of small caliber as originally used have superior merit, but for 
pipe of larger caliber, over four inches in diameter, they cannot 
bear a favorable competition with the other kinds in use. 
Patented wooden pipe banded with wrought-iron to 
strengthen the same and protected on the outside with a prepa- 
ration of asphalt and other ingredients have been extensively 
used in some of the western cities. During the prevailing 
high prices of iron, this kind of material bore a favorable com- 
parison in competition with cast and wrought-iron pipe, but 
since the great depression, especially in the iron trade, which 
still prevails, iron pipes are offered at a less price than wood. 
There are some serious objections to the patented wooden ]>ipe 
which should not be lost sight of in a comparison of merit. 
It is almost impossible to select pine timber which is suf- 
ficiently free from knots, or other defects. In their manu- 
facture a mere shell of wood bored from the log is used, this 
is banded spirally in a lathe with wrought iron, which is 
forced on with pressure so great as to compress the softer por- 
tions of the fiber and to unseat the hard knots wherever the 
* The additions made to the distribution at Detroit with wood pipes are of the 
smallest caliber, where a light pressure is required. They are prepared by the city 
at a trifling cost compared with any other pipe. 31 
band comes in contact with the same, invariably causing a 
leak ; as it is almost impossible to restore a knot thus disturbed 
to its former position. 
In banding, wrought iron of sufficient size is used to insure 
the proper strength required, but to economize as the banding 
is put on spirally, it must be apparent that any defect causing 
a break at any point would destroy the strength of the pipe 
for its entire length, hence any defect in banding, or defects in 
the coating of the pipe on the outside, might prove disastrous. 
While it might do to adopt untried machinery, which has 
the appearance of superior merit, and which can be replaced 
without a general disturbance of the works, a failure in the 
piping system, which constitutes the largest item of cost, might 
prove disastrous. The total abandonment of former works at 
Rochester, N. W, should be a sufficient argument against the 
adoption of novelties or of untried materials. 
Wrought Iron and Cement-lined Pipe. 
The oldest pipe of which we have any knowledge was used 
by the Romans, some of which is still in use at the Imperial 
city. It is true that this pipe was not subjected to much pres- 
sure. The water supply of the ancients almost invariably being 
introduced by gravitation. But as permanent indestructible 
conductors for the purposes used they have never been excelled. 
Some of the recent bold engineering projects of our country 
have demanded a better material than cement or treacherous 
cast iron for their use. 
" The history of hydrauling mining in California has been 
one of bold engineering feats. We find in many places that 
sheet-iron pipe are employed and succeed under pressures which 
startle engineers of acknowledged ability. The Spring Valley 
water company in San Francisco, convey their city supply of 
water from their reservoir over a distance of seventeen miles in 
two lines of sheet-iron pipe 30 inches in diameter. Their pipe 
are made with circular seams, single riveted and longitudinal 
seams double riveted and with a thickness and pressure as fol- 
lows: No. 14-iron, 60 feet head; No. 12, 100 feet; No. 32 
11, 200 feet, and No. 9, 250 feet. These pipe have been in 
successful operation for many years.* 
" The success of these pipes led to the employment of one of 
greater magnitude; the inlet pipe is 150 feet above the outlet 
with a vertical height and head pressure of water from the 
lowest point to grade line of nine hundred feeti 
The thickness of iron used in No. 14 for 150 feet head ; No. 
12 for 275 feet; No. 10 for 350 feet; No. 7 for 425 feet; 
inch for 600 feet; 5-16 inch for 850 feet, and f inch for 900 
feet. These pipes are merely iron shells coated with asphal- 
tum. 
A supply main more recently finished, conveying water from 
Marlette lake to Virginia city and Gold Hill, Nevada, sustains 
a greater water pressure than any works of the kind ever before 
known. This pipe is 37,000 feet in length from the lake 
descending into and across a valley seven miles in width and 
supplying towns on the opposite side from the lake. " The 
outlet of the pipe near the towns is at present 300 feet lower 
by perpendicular measurement than the inlet at the lake, and 
the lowest portion in the-valley is 1720 feet lower than the 
inlet. At this point the pressure is 610 lbs. per scpiare inchf 
('4) static, in addition to the variable friction head, and severe 
strains due to occasional water rams." The pipe varies in 
thickness from five-sixteenths at a point of greatest pressure to 
one-sixteenth inch toward parts of least pressure at outlet and 
inlet ends. The average diameter of the pipe is 11| inches 
and it now delivers two million gallons of water per day. 
Tradition and custom have voted cast-iron as a proper 
material for a general water distribution, but the experience of 
very many cities, eastern and southern, has been against the 
same, and for the past twenty years wrought-iron and cement 
pipe have, to considerable extent, superseded the same. 
In the selection of materials, strength and durability are two 
of the most important elements to. be provided for. By the 
* Annual Cyclopaedia of 1870. 
+ Mining and Scientific press. 
The pressure due to an unbroken static head of 1720 feet is over 700 pounds to 
the square inch. 33 
refining process in the jnanufacture of wrought-iron a factor of 
safety for every degree of strength may be relied upon, then by 
properly coating the pipe with hydraulic cement both inter- 
nally and externally, the essential elements of strength and 
durability are secured. 
Before adopting the kind of piping for the Rome, N. Y., 
water-works, I made a personal examination of similar pipe at 
Watertown, N. Y., which had been in use over 18 years and 
was found to be as perfect as when first put down. I will add 
here, that when this kind of piping first came to my notice 
while being laid under my directions on the Central Park, 
New York, I objected to the same for general city use on 
account of the manner of tapping, but with the improvements 
since made this objection has not only been obviated but 
improvements have been made which render the same entirely 
superior in this particular to any other kind of pipe now in use. 
ESTIMATED COST. 
Pumping Works. 
Land and land damage $ 
Engine and pump-house 10, 000 00 
Foundations for pumps and engine 1, 000 00 
Pump well and chamber. 2, 500 00 
Engines and boilers 10, 500 00 
Pumps and fixtures 10, 000 00 
$34,000 00 34 
Covered Reservoir-Capacity, 800,000 Gallons. 
3,708 cubic yards excavation, at 50 cents $1, 854 00 
335, 000 brick in cement, at $18 per M 6, 030 00 
7,200 pounds flat iron, 
5,320 pounds round iron, 
140 pounds heads and nuts, 
12,660 pounds total, wrought-iron, at six cts ... 759 60 
210 pounds washers, 
50,500 pounds shoe, 
50,710 pounds total cast iron, at four cts 2, 028 40 
190 cubic yards puddle in bottom, $1.25 237 50 
65 cubic yards lining, 30 cts 19 50 
30,790 brick paving in bottom, $15 461 85 
Material and construction of roof 1, 200 00 
Land and land damage 500 00 
Gates and fixtures 300 00 
$13,390 85 
For the purpose of economizing in the construction and 
avoiding as much as possible the destruction of trees and shrub- 
bery on the summit of the hill, it is proposed to sink the ver- 
tical wall (bolted and banded) in the same manner as the pump- 
ing well is constructed, care being taken to support the same 
by sufficient embankment on the outside. 
Distribution, 
5,085 lineal feet 16-inch pipe, laid complete, at 
$3.75 $19, 068 75 
2,310 lineal feet 12-inch pipe, laid complete, at 
$2.45 5, 659 50 
3,960 lineal feet 8-inch pipe, laid complete, at 
$1.47 5, 821 20 
22,324 lineal feet 6-incli pipe, laid complete, at 
•$1.15 25, 672 60 
Carried forward $56,222 05 35 
Brought forwardI $56,222 05 
3,630 lineal feet 4-inch pipe, laid complete, at 
80 cts 2, 904 00 
$59, 126 05 
Forty-seven hydrants, complete, and casing, $50, 2, 350 00 
Two 16-inch stop valves, complete, $200 400 00 
One 12-inch stop valve, complete, $100 100 00 
Two 8-inch stop valves, complete, $56 112 00 
Seventeen 6-inch stop valves, complete, $45.... 765 00 
Three 4-inch stop valves, complete, $28 84 00 
$62, 937 05 
Pumping works complete 834, 000 00 
Reservoir 13, 390 85 
Distribution 62, 937 05 
Engineering, superintendence, etc., say 5 per 
cent 5, 516 39 
$115, 844 29 
Summary of Expenses. 
A large portion of the piping might be dispensed with for 
the present and the distribution confined to the more densely 
settled portion of your city. This item could be reduced to 
845,000.00. 
Plain, high-pressure pumping machinery of sufficient capac- 
ity to supply your city for sometime, can be furnished for 
810,000 and probably less. 
The construction of the reservoir might be deferred for the 
present, and direct pressure used so that this item can be 
struck ont of the estimate, leaving the total cost of works to 
be provided, for at present, including superintendence and 
incidentals, only 871,525.00. 
In making these suggestions, with the view of economizing 
in the first cost of construction, I would advise that no reduc- 
tion in the size or caliber of the piping be made, and that, in 36 
the erection of the pump-house and other permanent structures, 
the general plans be carried out as fast as the several extensions 
are needed. 
I am indebted to Mr. J. C. Brayton, your city engineer, for 
services rendered in preparing a topographical map, and to my 
assistant, Charles W. Knight, for his aid in preparing this 
report. 
In presenting the same, permit me to congratulate your 
committee on the superior commercial position your city 
occupies, and the favorable auspices under which you are now 
moving in the introduction of public improvements, which are 
imperatively demanded for the health and prosperity of every 
community and which are a sure indication of a successful 
future. 
Thanking you for courtesies extended while visiting your 
city, 
I remain, respectfully yours, etc., 
PETEK HOGAN, 
Consulting Engineer. 
Albany, N. Y., January 23, 1875. APPENDIX. 
JSrAND J4 A V E N A T E K - W O R K S . 
Specifications for Cast-iron Distribution Pipes and Pipe 
Mains, Hydrants, Branches, Stop Valves, Etc. 
All of the pipes to be twelve feet in length unless otherwise 
ordered; the diameters hereinafter specified are always to be 
understood as the inside diameter of the body of the pipe. 
Every pipe is to have the initials of the maker's name cast dis- 
tinctly upon it, and also a number signifying the order of its 
casting, the several different diameters of pipes, each to have 
its own series of numbering; the figures to be at least two or 
three inches in length, according to size of pipe, with a pro- 
portionate width ; the weight of each pipe to be conspicuously 
painted on the outside, before delivery, with white lead paint. 
The ordinary pipes shall be of the kind usually called spigot 
and faucet, or socket pipes; the curves, branches and bends 
and all other special pipe castings (including such varieties of 
branch, bevel hub, double hub, hydrant bends, taper pipes, caps, 
sleeves, and any other pieces for connecting with these or with 
the stop-cocks, air-cocks or inlet wells that may be required) 
shall be made according to such particular drawings and 
instructions as may be given by the engineer from time to 
time. 
Every pipe shall have a bead or fillet at the spigot or small 
end. The faucet or hub end of the pipe to be of such form and 
thickness as the engineer may direct. 38 
AU pipes of sixteen inches and upwards to he formed so as 
to give a lead joint of not less than three-eighths of an inch in 
thickness all around, and not more than seven-sixteenths; 
those of twelve inches diameter and under, to be arranged for 
a joint not exceeding three-eighths of an inch in thickness all 
around, and not less than five-sixteenths. 
All the straight pipes shall be cast in dry sand moulds, ver- 
tically, with the hub end down. 
The metal which must be remelted in the cupola or air 
furnace shall be made without admixture of cinder iron or 
other inferior metal, and shall be of such a character as to make 
a strong pipe, tough, and of sound, even grain, entirely free 
from uncombined carbon when examined under the microscope 
and such as will satisfactorily bear drilling and cutting. 
The pipes shall be free from scoria, sand holes, air bubbles, 
cold short cracks, and other defects or imperfections; they 
shall be truly cylindrical in the bore; straight in the axis of 
the straight pipes; and true to the required curvature or form 
in the axis of the other pipes; they shall be internally of the 
full specified diameters, and shall have their inner and outer 
surface concentric. 
No plugging or filling will be allowed. 
Every casting must be thoroughly dressed and made clear 
and free from earth, sand or dust, which adheres to the iron in 
the moulds; iron-wire brushes must be used, as well as softer 
brushes, to remove the loose dust. No acid shall be used in 
cleaning the castings. No lump or rough places shall be left 
in the barrels or sockets. Great care shall be taken to have 
the sockets of the required size to receive the spigots, having 
due regard to the allowance to be made for the lead joint. No 
pipes will be accepted which are defective in joint room, 
whether in consequence of eccentricity of form or otherwise. 
The forms, sizes, materials, strength, uniformity and con- 
ditions of all pipes, branches, and all other castings herein 
referred to, shall be subject to the inspection and approval of 
the Engineer of the Grand Haven Water Works, and any 
directions or explanations required to determine the intent or 
meaning of the specifications, will be given by him. The 39 
Engineer or his agent to be at liberty at all times to inspect 
the materials in the foundry, and the moulding and casting 
there. 
The ton used will always be understood to be the gross ton 
of two thousand two hundred and forty pounds, (2,240 lbs.) 
Whenever the word "Engineer" is used herein it refers as 
well to his properly authorized agents, limited to the particular 
duties intrusted to them. 
Every pipe, branch and casting of whatever form, shall 
pass a careful hammer inspection, under the direction of 
the engineer or his inspector, and shall be subject there- 
after, under the direction and inspection of the engineer, to a 
proof by water pressure of (300) three hundred pounds to 
the square inch. Each pipe, while under the required pres- 
sure, shall be rapped from end to end with a hand hammer, to 
discover whether any defects have been overlooked, and any 
pipes which may exhibit any defect by leaking, sweating, or 
otherwise, shall be rejected. This inspection and test to be 
made at the expense of the contractor. 
The affidavit of the superintendent of the foundry, or 
of the foreman employed by him to superintend the above 
described testing shall be furnished to the engineer from time 
to time, stating in detail that the said pipe (describing it by 
its class number) has been carefully tested at the foundry in 
accordance with the above specifications, and that no defects 
were discovered or discoverable. 
The pipes shall be carefully coated inside and outside with 
coal pitch and oil, according to Dr. R. II. Smith's process, at 
the expense of the contractor.- The coating to be applied at a 
proper heat, and in a proper manner, before any rust sets in, 
and before the pipes have been subjected to the water pressure 
proof. 
The pipes to be heated immediately previous to dipping 
them in the pitch composition. 40 
The weight of the straight pipes which will lay 12 feet in 
length each, are to average closely as-follows, viz.: 
Diameter. 
Each length to lay twelve 
feet. 
Permitted devia- 
tion in weight. 
Thickness of required 
joints of caulking. 
INCHES. 
WEIGHT PER PIPE-LBS. 
INCHES. 
4 
264 
5 per cent. 
5-16 to 3-8 
6 
384 
5 
5-16 to 3-8 
8 
540 
5 " 
5-16 to 3-8 
10 
640 
5 
5-16 to 3-8 
12 
900 
5 
5-16 to 3-8 
16 
1524 
5 
3-8 to 7-16 
20 
1980 
5 
3-8 to 7-16 
No pipes will be received that are more than the permitted 
percentage below the specified or required weight. For any 
excess above the deviation allowed, no payment will be made, 
except in cases where they may be specially ordered. 
The branches and all other special castings must conform in 
weight and thickness of iron to the drawings and directions to 
be furnished by the engineer; governed by the following con- 
siderations, when more specific dimensions and directions are 
not given on the drawings. 
The hub to be of the same size and thickness as the hub of 
the straight pipes of its size, the straight portion of the spigot 
ends to conform similarly and proportionately in weight and 
thickness to the corresponding pipes. 
The branches, curved pipes, and all special castings, shall be 
subjected to the same proofs as the straight pipes. 
The initials of the maker shall be marked on each piece. 
The engineer may reject without proving any casting which 
is not in conformity with the specifications or the drawings 
furnished. All the pipes are to be delivered at such times and 
in such proportions of each size, and at such points on the line 
of the work, as may be directed by the engineer, and each 
delivery of pipe is to be accompanied with such special cast- 
ings as may be required. 
All the pipes and castings contracted for must be delivered 
at the points where the same are to be used, in all respects 
sound and conformable to the contract. The inspection is not 41 
intended to relieve the contractor of any of his obligations in 
this respect, and a defective pipe or casting which may have 
passed the inspector at the works or elsewhere, will be at all 
times liable to rejection when discovered, even if laid in the 
trench, and until the final adjustment and completion of the 
contract; and if any defective pieces are found they shall be 
taken out and replaced with new pieces. 
The contractor will be required to place the castings in such 
positions as may be required by the engineer, for convenience 
and inspection. 
Specifications of the Manner of Constructing and Lay- 
ing Cement Pipe. 
The materials used in the construction of the mains, distri- 
bution and service pipe, together with the necessary connec- 
tions, hydrants, stop-valves and adjutages, shall be of the best 
quality, subject to the approval of the engineer in the employ 
of the city; the pipe being equal in quality and construction 
to the sample now on exhibition at the office of the mayor. 
(Sample to be deposited). 
All of the iron used in the construction of the pipe to be of 
the best quality, American refined, known as the " M. F." 
brand. 
The twenty-inch pipe to be made in sections, not less than 
seven feet long, of number 14, Birmingham Gauge. 
The sixteen-inch pipe to be made in sections not less than 
seven feet long, of number 15, Birmingham Gauge. 
The fourteen-inch pipe to be made in sections not less than 
seven feet long, of number 16, Birmingham Gauge. 
The twelve-inch pipe to be made in sections not less than 
seven feet long, of number 16, Birmingham Gauge. 
The ten, eight and six-inch pipe to be made in. sections not 
less than seven feet in length. The ten-inch to be made of 
number 18, the eight-inch to be made of number 19, and the 
six-inch of number 20, Birmingham Gauge. 
The four-inch to be in sections not less than seven feet long, 
and to be made of number 20, Birmingham Gauge. 
All of the iron for the pipe to be lap-jointed, riveted with the 
best quality of number four and number five wrought rivets, 42 
not over one and one-quarter inches apart from centers; in the 
twenty-inch pipe the rivets to be three-fourths of an inch apart 
from centers. 
The sixteen-inch (16) pipe to be coated on the inside with 
Rosendale cement and clean sharp sand, in the proportion of 
one of cement to one of sand, to an even thickness of three- 
fourths of an inch ; and on the outside with Rosendale cement 
and clean sharp sand, in the proportion of one of cement to 
two of sand, to an even thickness of one inch and one- 
quarter. 
The fourteen-inch (14) pipe to be coated on the inside with 
Rosendale cement and clean sharp sand, in the propor- 
tion of one of cement to one of sand, to an even thickness 
of three-fourths of an inch; and on the outside with Rosen- 
dale cement and clean sharp sand, in the proportion of one of 
cement to two of sand, to an even thickness of one and one- 
fourth inches. 
The twelve-inch (12) pipe to be coated on the inside with 
Rosendale cement and clean sharp sand, in the proportion of 
one of cement to one of sand, to an even thickness of five- 
eighths of an inch ; and on the outside with Rosendale cement 
and clean sharp sand, in the proportion of one of cement to 
two of sand, to an even thickness of one inch. 
The ten, eight, six and four-inch pipe to be coated on the 
inside with Rosendale cement and clean sharp sand, in 
the proportion of one of cement to one of sand, to an even 
thickness of one-half inch; and on the outside of the pipes 
with Rosendale cement and clean sharp sand, in the proportion 
of one of cement to two of sand, to an even thickness of one inch. 
All of the pipes to be laid as per sample with the ball socket 
joint of not less than four inches in depth. 
Cast-iron bends and branches shall be furnished of such 
form and dimensions as the engineer shall direct, and prop- 
erly set and connected with the pipes. 
Plugged branches shall be inserted at such places as shall 
be directed, to provide for future extensions. The branches 
to be paid for at the same price, per lineal foot, as the corre- 
sponding pipe of the same internal dimensions. 43 
Hydrants. 
The hydrants will be of a form and finish to be approved of 
by the chief engineer. 
They will all be single unless otherwise ordered, and be fed 
by pipes four inches in diameter, with a valve three inches in 
the clear. 
The hydrant bends and upright to be provided with socket 
to receive water pipe. 
The upright portion and entire feed pipe to be not less than 
five feet below grade of street. The upper part of hydrant to 
be finished in a neat and ornamental manner, and to extend 
not less than two feet above grade of street or sidewalk. 
All the screws, packing boxes, waste valves, seats and nozzles 
shall be made of composition metal. The valves will be opened 
by means of a rod properly cut and working in a composition nut. 
There shall be a self-acting brass spring attached to the waste 
valve, which shall be so arranged as to remain closed when 
the hydrant is open, and to open when the hydrant is closed. 
Composition nozzles shall be firmly secured to the discharge 
pipe of hydrant, and shall be so constructed as to fit the 
suction hose of steamers, or ordinary service hose connections 
of the city. 
Stop Valves. 
Stop valves of a form and finish to be approved of by the 
chief engineer shall be furnished. 
The valves of all the gates which are eight inches in diam- 
eter or less shall be made of composition metal, and those of 
more than eight inches diameter may be made of cast-iron 
properly faced with composition metal. 
The valves seats shall all be faced with composition metal, 
and the valves properly fitted thereto. 
The rod, connections, screws and packing boxes will be of 
composition meta], and shall be properly fitted together and 
to the top shell of the water gate. 
The shells or body of gate shall be made of cast-iron of 
proper thickness, faced and securely bolted together. 
The gates shall be set in strong wooden frames terminating 
with man hole, and covered with strong iron cap with raised 
letters " WaterWorks" thereon. 44 
All of the cast-iron used for the Stop Valves and Hydrants, 
shall be of the best description, to make the most tough, 
strong and durable castings of uniform and desirable texture 
and density, and such as will bear drilling and cutting. The 
surface of castings must be smooth and neat. The wrought- 
iron shall be of the best American refined, and shall be neatly 
forged and fitted. 
All of the composition metal shall be of the best description, 
made of pure copper, nine parts, and one part tin. 
The lead used for caulking the joints of the straight pipe, 
special castings and connections, shall be of the best quality, 
pure and soft, one and one-half pounds per inch for each 
diameter of pipe to be used. 
All of the pipes over eight inches in diameter, together with 
the stop valves and heavier castings, shall be lowered and 
placed into position by the use of convenient derricks, with 
strong and safe tackle and gearing. 
All of the water gates and hydrants shall be tested to stand 
a pressure of three hundred pounds to the square inch. 
The proving and inspection shall be made under the direc- 
tion of the engineer, or by an inspector duly appointed. 
Trenching and Pipe Laying. 
The work of trench and pipe laying shall be executed in 
such order and at such places and parts of the city as the chief 
engineer in the employ of the city may direct. 
No public or private street or roadway shall be obstructed 
by excavation or otherwise, until directions are given by the 
engineer in charge, and the contractor shall be responsible for 
any unnecessary delays and obstructions or damages to indi- 
viduals or property, caused by them in the prosecution of the 
work. 
The dimensions of the trenches shall conform to the differ- 
ent sizes of pipe, and shall, in all cases, be excavated so as to 
leave ample room for the proper connections of the pipes and 
branches. 
All of the pipes, when laid, shall be covered to a depth of 
not less than four and one-half feet, and the hydrants branches 
to a depth of five feet below grade of street. 45 
When excavations are made to a greater depth than here 
specified, to conform to proposed grade of streets not finished, 
or for the passage of tlie pipes under sewers or other 
obstructions, extra compensation to be made by the cubic yard 
for the actual amount of work done, as per the estimate of 
quantities, and the true value, to be determined by the chief 
engineer. 
All the excavation from the trenches shall be replaced and 
properly so as to guard against waste or settling; where the 
streets are paved or graveled proper care shall be taken to save 
the materials and to restore the same to their former condition. 
All waste materials shall be removed and deposited in such 
places as the engineer in charge shall direct. 
Since the foregoing specifications in relation to wrought-iron 
and cement pipe were made, I have received a copy of the 
annual report of the Jersey City water-works for 187-1, in which 
Mr. J. P. Culver, the chief engineer, in speaking upon this sub- 
ject, says: 
" The conduits have been unusually free from breaks during 
the year with the exception of the parting of the 36-inch cast- 
iron main on the east side of the Hackensack river. * * * * 
The tires on the meadows have been great enemies to the con- 
duits. Since December, 1873, not a leak has occurred in the 
36-incli cement and iron conduit, a circumstance heretofore 
unknown in hydraulic engineering where so large and so long 
a pipe laid over such marshy ground was used." 
In speaking of the Cornish and also the Worthington duplex 
engine recently introduced there, he says : The Cornish engines 
raised 470,360 pounds of water one foot high with one pound 
of coal, while the Worthington duplex engine raised 557,600 
pounds one foot high with one pound of coal. 
The report of the Lynn engine referred to heretofore for the 
full year of 1874, has also been received, showing a duty of 
848,900 pounds one foot high, which is the greatest duty ever 
performed in this country. 
PETER HOGAN. 
Albany, January 25tfA, 1875.