Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, May 14, 1918, Page 2

|GET | WATERWELLS TOBETESTED | TOASCERTAIN ™ THEIR WORTH Contractor Who Drove the Wells Confident They Will _-Supply Sufficient Water. ALLEGES NEGLECT ONLY & U CAUSE OF TROUBLE fth Ward Citizens Want Pav- ing; Willing to “Dig Up” For Its Cost. The feature of the meeting of the city council last evening was the pre- séntation-of ‘the report of the spe- cial committee named by the council ¥ to make a trip and lnvéstigate,va‘ri- »ous water systems. consisted of Mayor Vandersluis, Al- _derman A. V. Garlock and City En- gineer Swinson. The" report was freely 'discussed and several points explained. 3 9 E. J. McCarthy of the McCarthy Well company, Minneapolis and St. Paul, the concern that sunk the first wells of Bemidji’s water system, was ‘present:. and .- addressed. council, ~expres! his: o Kion: there’ was plenty of water in the - ““wells but - that -the . city=-had beén negligent and had not tested the wells nor given them the proper at- tention to ascertain” their capacity, . nor v_zhat could be done to improve the wate!j supply. Will: “Pull” Well. It wes decided to have Mr. Mc- Carthy bring his equipment to Be- midji, pull well: No. 2 and’ ascertain its. worth. - 3 . Mr. McCarthy- expressed his em- phatic belief that a capacity of one million gallong each: 24 hours could be secured from- the wells for the city. [l Mayor Vandersluis asserted that L7 Tthe city. wanted no limited supply.of water but wanted all the water the people wanted to use and pay for. Fifth Wants Pavine. L. R. Elwell, cashier of the Farm- ers’ State Bank in the Fifth ward, + addressed the council on behalf of —-a large number of property owners petitioning for a pavement to extend from the end of the Nymore pave- ment south four and one-half blocks to the business district of Nymore. He stated that owners of 567 % lineal feet would pay their share of the pavement in cash, 1,090 lineal feet, Yhlf cash, balance as assessed at the usual time; 240 feet to pay 20 per cent cash, 492% feet non-residents. Of this, it would be up to Be: midji to pay..for 140 feet of front- age, about $1,000 to . $1.20) oy street and alley intersections. The city engineer was instructe to make surveys and estimates of the| proposed improvement. Object to. Fence. A petition signed by twelve prop- erty owners and residents, whose home yards are on Dewey avenue, presented a petition to the council protesting the erection of a high fence by W. E. Dean at 1209 Lake Boulevard. The Dean lot is backed by Dewey avenue and the offending ¢ fence is along the avenue at the rear of the Dean lot yard, it being alleged the fence is seven or eight feet high. The fence is termed a ‘nuisance’” and ‘“‘objectionable.” After the matter. was discussed a few moments President Clark re- ~4marked that he believed the mayor Qand city attorney should attempt to qstraighten out the matter satisfactor- ily, whereat the mayor ejaculated “Y—e—s!"” Then he narrated an account of having attempted to do #0,, and _the results. The .matter was referred to the committee on streets and walks. Joseph Hahn was given the con- tract to clean the septic tank at a (Continued on page four) Co. will take possession of tlie ground floor and basement of the C. E. Bat- tles building on Beltrami avenue Au- gust 1. Mr. Battles will move into the building now occupied by the Challenge hotel. The hotel building will be thor- oughly remodeled, a new front to conform with ‘the present Battles store building and .an addition on the rear which will make it ninety feet long. - Work on remodeling will begin at once and arrangements made Tfi\ln Prarmao g hipself- that ju~his- opin-{. ANOTHER BIG IMPROVEMENT; BATTLESTOREMODEL HOTEL INTO FINE BUSINESS BUILDING A deal,was consummated Monday|to effect the change about August afternoon where by the J. C. Penney | first. _ BEMIDJI To the President and-Members of the City Council of tha City of Be- midji: At a meeting of the city council held in the city hall, in the city: of Bemidji, April 29, 1918, we the un- dersigned committee, were appointed for the purpose of investigating the manner in which adjacent cities se- cured their water supply, the qual- ity of the same, and to look into the water conditions generally, to en- able the. city council to take up the water proposition in a more intel- ligent manner: : It is generally admitted that a good, safe and efficient water supply is one.of the greatest assets and one of the essentials of a good and grow- ing city such as we have. =One of the first questions asked by a manufacturer or resident, who may locate-in a growing city are in regard:ito_the water s ply. . He wants to know about the pply for the following purposes: Drinking, maputacturing purposes, laundries, baths, street- ' sprinkling afid fllushing, fire protection, eéte. -~ Citv’ssWater Report. * - Our city- at present is supplied from a series of four deep wells, ranging from 250 to 325 feet deep The committee|and thirteen shallow wells around 20 feet in depth. For certain reasons’ with which we are not entirely fa- niliar, the supply has become defi- cient to-such an extent as to cause alarm in the city, and the danger of ot being,able to furnish enough wa- ter for domestic and fire purposes be- came so acute that the.councfl de- cided that the time had come for an cverhauling of the water - system, and after saweral meetings action was taken resulting in the appointment -of this committee. 3 A . ~Citv i Growing. - There is no disputing the fact that the city is growing to such an . ex- tent as to necessitate the furnishing of double or triple the amount of wa- ter used at present. The new normal school, for instance, will require a large amount of water which shall be of the best quality, otherwise the state of Minnesdta will not permit ~ AUCTION AND SALVAGE RECEIPTSOVER $900 Thus far the Red Cross auction and salvage. drive. has ‘brought in $946. The auction will be contin- ued next, Saturday and'every Satur- day ‘as’long as there is something to sell and some one to buy. Anyone having anything to donate to the sale will kindly notify W. E. Dean and if they- cannot bring it to the room, the .same will be called for. The room in the Elko, containing the articles for sale, is being kept open every afternoon for the convenience of customers. The executive committee of the Red Cross chapter extended a vote of thanks to Mrs. F. T. Beaver, who di- rected the salvage drive, she receiv- ing notification today. ~~MAKE W.$.5. PLEDGES— (By. United Press) ‘Washington, May 14.—The emer- gency fleet corporation for the week ending last night launched an aver- age of two ships daily, according to the report. —MAKE W.S.S. PLEDGES— JAMES GORDON. BENNETT. NEWSPAPERMAN. DIED TODAY (By United Press) London, May 14.—James Gordon Bennett, owner of the New York Wordl, died this morning in Parise —MAKE W.8.8. PLEDGES— DAILY CASUALTY LIST (By United Press) ‘Washington, May 14.—The cas- ualty list today contains the names of 27 missing, bringing the possible missing from the Scieprey fighting to over a.hundred. —MAKE W.5.S. PLEDGES— NEW AIRCRAFT HEAD (By United Press) Washington, May 14.—(Official) —Archer London of Buffalo was to- day named chief of the aircraft pro- duction division. . Mr. Battles stated that he expected to dispose of considerable stock, es- pecially the implements, and carry a complete iine of household articles and builders’ hardware. One heating plant will be installed to provide heat for the two buildings. Mr. Battles has occupied the pres- ent location for the past eight years, having formerly occupied the " old Wiuter store, which is now used as a warehouse in the rear of the pres- ent store, He built the new store building in 1914, WEEK’S ‘TLAUNCHING RECORD. the usage of the same.. In some pla-}it ig as bx;lght and spark'ung as any ‘ces the idea seems to prevail that|spring water, without any odor or jthe.state authorities all fayvor well | taste. They do so-only in the event|Anders has certainly solved the wa- ‘water. For the city of Fargo, Mr. that it can be procured as cheap as|ter question for all time. .by other methods. The only objec- tion against the filtering method is on account of the average small town not willing to pay the amount of money necessary to keep up a plant in an A-No. 1 condition. It also happens often’ that with a ‘cHange in the city administration a chdnge of policy is inaugurated which might mean change of man- ‘agement in the watr department Huge Filter Plant. Monday, May 6, we went to Min- neapolis, arriving Tuesday morning. Our first objective was the depart- ‘ment of sanitation of the State Board of Health. There we secured passes to go through the Minneapolis puri- fication plant, accompanied by Mr. ‘Whittaker, superintendent of depart- jmentof sanitation, and Mr. Childs, | enginger. We were driven out to which would work in most instances |y Columbia Helghts plant, and ui- to the detriment instead of the ad- vancement of the same. Let us, therefore, suggest changes' are made in the water de- partment or plant that the entire og- ganization-lbe kept entirely relegated from politics, both in the matter of | iy personnel and4 policy. REPORT ‘We left Bemidji at 3:17 p. m., Fri- day, May 3, and went to Grand Forks, N. D. This city has an up-to-date mechanical filter plant. The water is pumped from Red Lake rivet, taken to the plant and filtered and soften- that whatever|p .., der the personal ghidance of L. I. Birdsgll, superintendent, were taken h the entire plant, This plantfis of a 65-000,000-gallon ca- pacity every twenty-four hours and is a wonderful works, and which at present time is being practically doubled in its capacity. In the mod- ern fliter plant there is no guess- work.. Every operation,is done' with careful precision.” The question of chance is-eliminated and -does not énter into the calculations at all. Brainerd Suvply Faulty. After our inspection of the sys- ed, and then finally chlorinated. The|tem here we went to call on M c- result is a water of exceptional qual-{Carthy & Company, the drillers of ity, clear and sparkling. It is used|the Bemidji wells. for all commercial. purposes. as well| our yisit here later. We will refer to At the conclu- as domestic use. The capacity of.the|sion-of our visit we returned to the plant is two million gallons every|university for further The population | with. the State Board twenty-four hours. conferences of Health, of the city is about twenty thousand.| whoge recommendati In-our investigations here we had the a.tta:hed and a p;rg nosfa{si;] e::;fi:th hearty co-operation of the filter plant| Weidid not*go to Brainerd for in- and-Mr. Sharpe, a representative of [ spegtion because it was useless. The the Pittsburgh Filter company, who | Brajnerd water su i ) i pply is taken from accompanied us from a point where | the Mississippi river and put through the water:enters the.plant”to where}echjorine treatment only. The water it' goes - into -the ‘distribution: ag pure water.’ Their-guida; maing 1850 'poor that they must use about afid| twenty-one pounds of chlorine to the explanations- were -very instructi¥e;Iniilion gallons, whereas a modern and we-assure you they were certain-|filter:plant like Grand Forks, Fargo 1y appreciated. This plant has alor, Minneapolis use from two and a chemical laboratory which makes| half ‘to three daily or tri-weekly tests of the wa-|This ‘accounts ?:x!mt‘;nse l:fi)l;rmxallitoe:: ter to determine the amount of treat-| The plant is also located wrong. The ment necessary. . This is essential to| intake being below ‘the pulp mill and thé operation -of a successful plant.|refuse from'this plant gets into the The rates charged for water are 50| digtribution system, making the wa- cents for first 1,000 gallons; cents per M for the next 4,000 gal- lons; 35 cents per M for the pext 5,000 gallons; 30 cents per M for the next 10,000 gallons; 28 cents per M| What similar. 40 ter all the more disagreeable. * 8t. Cloud Conditions. The condition at St. Cloud is some- They have a large for the next 10,000 gallons; 25 cents | Shallow well dug in a ravine next to per M for the next 10,000 gallons|the river where it is fed by the river and 20 cents per M for any excess. To. East. Grand Forks. by in-filteration, the water coming through the side. 8o shart, however, that they get prac- .The distance is The next town. visited was East|tically the raw river water in this Grand JForks. The city with one million gallon Forks plant. has a Afilteration plant zation well. They use chlorine for sterili- but as in the case.of Brainerd capacity. | they must use too mucl k This plant is older than-the Grand|good water for (:l(:)mesu':: fo make s purposes. Instead of using liquid|The water is used for cooking pur- chlorine they use the hypo-chloride|poses only. Wells are easily driven of lime. They have a crude way of | yrom. which drinking water is se- :nixing the same, which forces them|cured. These two water plants show 0 use an overdose of the chemical, the glaring error that is made when the result being a bright, clear wa-|apn’ jncomplete water plant is in- ter but with somewhat of a taste|gtalied. and smell. This water -would not sfiit the people of Bemidji, who are|gtarted for home. used to good water. From Minneapolis your committee The results of our They have no| trip are that we received a supply of chemical laboratory and depend upon | instructive informationsand make us Grand Forks for their analysis of conclude that a city should abso- the same. - The operator at the plant|ytely: find' but 4t first the. require- is not a technical man. He keeps | ments as to amount of water needed the machinery going, but his knowl-|anq whend plantisfnstalfed to-make edge ends there. g Minot’s Problem. A Saturday evening, May 4, we went to Minot, N._D: Here they have an|4ations to make to your Up to 1917, filtering interesting situation. /they used a mechanical plant of 2,000,000-gallon it complete. Recommendations. We have the following recommen- honorable 1. i The ultimate water supply' for capacity. | t1¢ city of Bemidji is a purification They securéd their water from the|pniant known as a mechanical rapid Mouse river. the year the river produced 300,000 In the dry season of |gang filter. 2. As a filteration plant will take gallons per day, and their consump-{apout two years to install, according ;ion was about 550'000 gallons Der|i, estimates furnished us, on account ay, 80 ithis readily bseen that some|q¢ gifficulty in securing material, it other method must be used for 8e-|ywjj| be absolutely necessary that the curing water. The filter plant, it|ity, furnish a safe, clear water un- appears, was also operated by rule|¢j“gych time as a complete filtera- of thumb more than by scientific : i rati methods, with the inevitable result ’tllgndso)s:fi:: cts;]r;rl;eay;zt t{.‘,;’é’e ey possi- that the water was of a Very DOOT |pijjties: quality from the plant. After being (a) To install a crib and pipe forced to look for a mew supply of|jjne from Lake Irvine as suggested water they put in a series of dug-|py Mr. Anders. test wells which finally culminated (b) To test out our shallow in securing a ten-inch well 132 feet,| wells with a view to putting down which gives them an exceptionally|aj) j1arge shallow wells which could heavy flow. The water is perfectly|pe yged for a permanent filter plant. safe apd very soft, but it has a very high color, and has a taste from or-lany on a per day. basis ganic substances. (¢) To eniploy McCarthy & Com- W pull This water would f sergens from-one or-two of the deep not satify our citizens at all. How-|wells with the view of cleaning, ever, the w.atex' could be made as whieh, if it is found impossible to do, clear and bright as any water in ex-|t, ahandon them in preference to istence with -filteration; but they do| putting in new ones and then gzo not want to go to the extra expense.|pack to propositions A or B. Most of the water for domestic use 3. The immediate placing of our is secured from shallow wells from|rders for two chlornic plants to be a depth of twenty to twenty-five feet| yged for water if taken from Lake which is a clearer water than the|yryine. deep well water, but not of as gafe a quality. As part of this report, we attach a report of the Chamber of Commerce, which may be used if de- gired in regard to further investiga- tions if found necessary. In #ur in- vestigations here we had the ‘hearty co-operation of Mr. Thomas, cigy en- gineer and water commisgioner, which we could. not get at Forks, owing to its being Saturday afternoon, and the city buildings were closed. Fargo’s Fine Plant. Saturday evening, May 5, we went to Fargo. Monday, under the guid- ance of Mr. Altof, we went through the Fargo purification plant. This is a beautiful plant and kept to an exceedingly high state of efficiency. The plant has a 20,000,000-gallon capacity, and -a complete chemical laboratory and installations of all kinds for the scientific filtering of water. The water is secured from the Red river and is very dirty, but at the faucets anywhere in the city “Grand | roded. —— —_—— The Local Situation. Referring again to our visit with McCarthy & Company. They have on file complete data covering the drilling of all our wells, including the one Which was lost. They are of the opinion that the screens are not filled with stand, but are cor- If corrosicn has not gone too far they can be cleaned as evidenced by screens that have been in the (Continued on page four) GOVERNMENT TAKES OVER PRECIOUS METALS (By United Press) Washington, May 14.—The gov- ernment has commandeered for war purposes all platinum at $105 per ounce, irridium at $175 per ounce and palladium at $135 per ounce. READY FOR THE BIG RED CROSS DRIVE CELEBRATION IN BEMID: Y Py FO) RTY-FIVE, CENTS' PER MONTH SINSTER | oriont 0987 - FRONT; 0 PAULSON FILES AS “ SUCCESSOR OF RAKO: IS SUCCESSFUL FARMER Edward Paulson, residing in Sec- tion 25, Bemidji townghip, has filed for the office of member of the board of county commissioners as successor to A, E. Rako, who is a candidate for the lower house of the legislature from Beltrami county. Mr. Paulson has been a resident in his locality for the past four years, having been gn extensive land owner in Bemidji township a greater length of time. He is a successful farmer and a successful business men, being secretary and general manager of the Rosby Creamery company and one of the officials of the Farmers' State bank of Nymore. Before com- ing to Bemidji township he served eight years as a member of the board of county commissioners of Todd county, his home being at ' Long Prairie. .Owjng to his farming and, busineéss activities he has .become widely acquainted and is recognized as a man -of sterling worth, intensely loyal and well qualified for the of- fice he seeks and is willing to oc- cupy and serve the best interests of all concerned. sAlready several of the leading business men of Bemidji are looking with decided favor on, Mr. Paulson for the commissionership. —MAKE WSS, PLEDGES— PACKED STREET CAR BARELY ESCAPES TRAIN - St. Paul, May '14.—Several men were slightly injured and two girls faintéd when a street car became stalled on a railroad crossing this morning, as a freight train rapidly bore down upon the trap. The car cleared the track as the train barely reached the crossing. —MAKE W.S.S. PLEDGES— BAND AND GUARD AT DEPOT; FOUCAULT GOES It was a sincere crowd of friends that gathered at the M. & L depot ‘early this morning to say good bhye to Sergeant Clarence Foucault, who left for the third offi¢ers’ training camp..at: Camp ,@rant, Bockford, |l It was about 7 o'clock that the band and the Home Guard met at the city hall and proceeded to the depot, there being a large turnout of both guard and band. Scores of friends were also present. < The band gave a brief concert in the station prior to the arrival of the train, and hearty best wishes were extended as the popular young officer of Bemidji was abdut to board ‘the train. HOVERSONENTIRE WESTERN BATTLE ‘THE HUMAN SIDE OF LIFE SIX WEEK ~(By United Press) With the British afield, May 14.— A sinister silence hovers over the en- tire battle front.as the Germans pre- pare for their third huge offensive. It is generally regarded to »be the greatest yet staged on the part of the Teutons on the west front.- Six weeks have passed since the big drive on thh sides of the Somme stopped. Yet comparatively little has been accomplished. Although unusually dry and favorable weather has prevailed, Hindenburg’s promise to Germany ot quick decision has gone by the boards. “Chanlain Notches Gun. With the Americans in Lorraine, May 14.—Restrained by internation- al law, a chaplain may not kill an enemy, but there is one American chaplain who is privileged to notch the stock of his rifle three times for having killed three of his enemies by proxy. When the unit entered the trench- es the chaplain was with the troops. He was restrained from shooting but soldiers notched their guns for three Huns in the name of their captain, for the chaplain. 4.000 Reported Killed. Moscow, May 14.-—Four thousand Germans and members of the Finnish White Guard were killed in a batile near Lahtis, 60 miles northeast of Helsingfors. A German bombard- ment killed many civilians after the White Guard occupied Tammerfors, 85 miles northeast of Abo. They shot 500 Russians, officers and sol- diers, executing them in groups of 40 or 50, machine guns being used. . —MAKE W.S.5. PLEDGES— INTEND TO MARCH? ~ THEN NOTIFY BERMAN f— . All Red Cross pavade umit chair- men should notify E. B. Berman of the fact that their umit will march so that the matter may be taken up and the unit given porper position and place of assemblage. The Red Cross parade committee, the grand marshal .and his staff will meet at the Commercial club rooms at 2 p. m. Wednesday. All are urged to be there as this-is the last meet- ing Ibefore the parade. : There will be all kinds of floats, but the general public is Tequested to march in the parade. In some in- stances, it i understood that splendid floats have been planned and that only officers of the organizations will ride. This will be permitted. No spectators will be allowed. All patriotie citizens will be urged to par- ticipate in the big demonstration and the entire city turn out in one gala fete to properly start the na- tion-wide Red Cross drive. A A A A, e ————————_ 210 Sometimes an incident creeps into an otherwise uneventful and prosaic run of humdrum existence and which sort of en- lightens the trend of everyday monotony in some respects and a couple might be given as in point: “DOC’S? PATRIOTIC HORSE “Doc” Northrup, the well known osteopath, :;in the: giadsome: spring, takes himself and the missus and hies out to their pretty little summer home north of Bemidji on the Birch- mont road. One of the paramount objects of consideration of the Northrup house- hold is a spotted brown and white pony, the family perambulator. And it is some patriot. Fact is, he s “there” every way when it comes right down to being the best bet Uncle Sam has in the equine line in this part of the state, if not in the entire state. 1t was when the long line of autos hove in sight last Sunday morning on the trip of the band and the Home Guard to Kelliher that the pony took notice. He was graziag near the front of the house and was contented with the world in general. A few cars passed. Along came the gaudily decorated recruiting car. The pony gaye a snort as it threw up its head, made a dash, took up his positiom in the line in front of the recruiting auto and for three miles cantered in front. Reaching a barn and other buildings on the road- side, the pony turned out, wheeled and watched the rest of the line pass. And the “Doc?” That's another story. CLOSE OF A PERFECT DAY It was a blithsome morn, a wee ago Saturday. Nymore had little un- usual to report. The hum of the Crookston mills sang their industrial tune and affairs moved as was their wont. It was a beautiful day. In one spot there was a scene of activity. A house was the setting, And it was a good house—fortunate people. In front of this comfortable dwelling was grouped several kitchen utensils of household use. Along the same thoroughfare were arranged in front, other collections, awaiting the arrival of the Red Cross salvage col- lecting truck. The last day of the drive. The hard work was soon to be ter- minated and the ladies were again assuming their usual spirit of cheer- fulness. The week's grind would soon be at an end. The sorting of miscellaneous met- als, the sorting of old shoes, bottles, rags, old clothes and what not. The' last bundle of magazines tied and paper sacked. All taken care of and sold. A sigh of relief—the close of a perfect day. Monday—A voice on the telephone. A woman's voice. That of a2 womah | of intelligence and blessed with good, substantial sense. A little uncertain but maintaining her composure. She was sorry to interrupt the one cadled, but-—the collection of ‘“‘junk’’ taken from the front yard were the kitchen utensils of the family. They- were just moving in. | i E ! ‘(‘n_ |