ADDITIONAL NOTES ON TRKE-TRUNK WATER-PIPES. 23! 



wooden pipes, about 400 miles in extent ; but every year, from one cause or 

 another, it became necessary to take up such as were injured or defective, and lay 

 down new ones, amounting to an average of twenty miles, so that in the course 

 of twenty years the whole range was entirely removed." 



Then the bore of the wooden pipes varied for the most part 

 from three to six and seven inches, though a few near the 

 reservoirs might be ten or twelve inches. This small size 

 obliged the use of several lines of these pipes to afford a supply 

 of water to places at a considerable distance from the reservoirs. 



Thus we learn, p. 67 : — 



"In 1810 nine trains were laid, side by side, along one street; and as various 

 causes produced fractures w^bich permitted the water to escape, when an accident 

 of this kind occurred, it was often very difficult to ascertain the line that 

 contained the broken pipe, or the precise place where the injury was sustained. 

 Hence it sometimes happened that a leakage from a single pipe occasioned the 

 examination of a great length of the whole range, so that it occupied the labour 

 of weeks before the defect could be discovered. Besides, during the progress of 

 these operations, the usual supply of water being interrupted, it generally gave 

 rise to serious complaints. Instances have occurred of tw^o or three hundred • 

 yards of a street being taken uj), and several weeks elapsing before the workmen 

 could discover the leaking place ; which, exclusive of the loss of water, and every 

 other consideration, occasioned an expense of /.'30 or ^40 to the compans'. The 

 quantity of water lost by fractures, &c., was estimated at about one-fourth of the 

 whole that entered them from the reservoirs.'' 



Hence, also, when a good supp!}' of water was needed to 

 extinguish a fire, it was seldom obtainable from wooden pipes. 

 Our author is inclined to think that the introduction of iron 

 pipes for gas-lightmg probably led to their general adoption for 

 water supply, though they had previously been used, to a very 

 limited extent, for carrying water. As to the dates at which 

 they came into general use, we are told (p. 68) : — 



"Although previous to the year 18 10 the New River Company had placed 

 in the earth wooden pipes, several hundreds of miles in length, yet during that 

 period and 1820 the whole were taken up, and others, made of iron, substituted 

 through the entire range of their district." 



This change was a very costly one, but our author remarks 

 that the greater strength and durability of iron pipes will cause 

 them seldom to require either change or repair ; and the 

 disturbance of the streets, caused by the use of wooden pipes, 

 be very greatly lessened. Thus, much annual expense will be 

 saved by the Water Company, and much inconvenience and 

 annoyance be escaped by the public. 



It appears that the engineer of the Grand Junction Water 

 Works thought highly of stone pipes. They were adopted, 



