XXXIV. OBSERVATIONS ON THE ALG OF THE 
Sh. boul, CLEY. WATER: 
M. G. FANNING. 
St. Paul receives its water supply from twenty-two lakes 
north of the city which are situated on both sides of a divide or 
watershed. The area from which the water is received extends 
about twenty miles north of the city. The greater part of the 
water comes immediately from Lake Vadnais, which in return 
receives its supply from chains of lakes through brooks, artifi- 
cial canals, conduits, etc. As these lakes are separated by a 
divide pumping stations are provided at Centreville lake and 
Baldwin’s lake to force the water over the divide. Besides the 
lakes, groups of artesian wells add to the supply and help to 
lower the temperature of the water during the summer months. 
There are nine wells at Lake Vadnais and twenty-eight at Cen- 
treville lake, making thirty-seven in all with depths varying 
from sixty-three to eight hundred and sixty-five feet. 
Pleasant lake receives the water from the north slope of the 
watershed; from here the water flows from Lake Vadnais, then 
it is conveyed four and one-half miles through a conduit to the 
pumping station. The elevated portions of the city receive the 
water directly from the pumping station. Other parts are sup- 
plied by gravity with water from Lakes Gervaisand Phalen. In 
order to get sufficient pressure to supply the higher areas, the 
water is forced into a reservoir one mile west of the pumping 
station. This reservoir is 290 feet above the water level of the 
Mississippi river and has a capacity of 18,000,000 gallons. 
There is another reservoir on the West Side to supply the ele- 
vated district across the river. 
At the pumping station and also at the entrance of the con- 
duit leading from Lake Vadnais, a series of graduated wire 
screens strain from the water the coarser vegetable growth. 
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