Show 71 notes on bingham canyon water works by A P hanson engineer in charge the town of bingham canyon located 20 miles southwesterly westerly from salt lake city and the metropolis of the celebrated west mountain mining district was incorporated february 29 1904 and a governing board consisting of a president and four tru trustees was appointed by the county commissioners to act for the first arst two years or until the regular election in november of this year shall decide their successors the board which was made up of men identified with the material progress ana prosperity of the community at once set to work as far as possible with the means at their command to supply the most urgent needs of the new town chief among which being water for fire protection and domestic uses in the latter part of march the writer was called in and the survey and construction of waterworks water works commenced the fact that the visible supply of portable water was very limited made the problem a serious one A mountain stream having its bed in a steep and narrow gulch with ample fall for all necessary pressure flows through gli the town and in its virgin state may have furnished ample supply with proper storage but it has for many years been used as a sewer to carry off the drawings drain drai ings from tale numerous mines located above and is entirely unfit for domestic uses even with filtering the only other available supply was a number of small springs and seeps of pure water located along the margin or said stream for a distance of half a mile and the flow from one or two tunnels near the bottom of the gulch at present idle but which would likely become unfit for u use se should work be resumed in the tunnels conditions were unfavorable to the ca construction n st of reservoirs at the point where desired and it was decided to use tanks which if less duA durable able are also less costly and work was at once commenced to develop water by means of tunnels driven into the hill from near the margin of the creek at points where springs or seeps occurred these tunnels have given very good results remits and the enlarged flow is conveyed into a settling tank or sand box sunk in the ground at the mouth of the tunnel whence it is piped to the storage tank at present one tank is used which has a capacity of gallons it is made of oregon fir and rests on a substantial foundation of rubble masonry it is the head of f the pressure system whence seven and six inch pipe conveys the water along the mail in streets of the town an open flume also connects the tank with ith the creek so that in case of a serious fire e the whole flow of the stream can be turned in at a moments notice fortunately up to the present time there has been no necessity for doing so nearly feet of pipe was laid last lar t year which carries it well through the business part but it is the intention to ex tend the system further this season the pressure in the pipes increases rapidly reaching 90 pounds at the upper edge of the business district and pounds at the present terminus all the pipe used is wood stave spiral wound with galvanized steel wire ind and made from clean kiln dried oregon fir milled by special machinery mac hindry this pipe is made by the intermountain inter mountain pipe co of this city and guaranteed by them as to the pressure it will work under which is regulated by the winding and size of wire it is made in 12 14 and 16 foot lengths and half and quarter lengths for curves and forced together by blows from a heavy sledge or maul the swelling of the thoroughly seasoned wood being depended on to prevent leaking this pipe was decided on in preference to metal pipes of various kinds after careful investigation the chief points in its favor being very much lower cost price and less expensive to lay as it can be put together without the assistance of skilled labor far less liability to injury by frost and consequent saving in excavation which is a great deal where the subsoil is thin and a trench safely below frost line would necessitate blasting in a narrow street with buildings only a few feet distant on both sides greater durability than any except cast iron pipe in a soil charged with either acids or kalies alkalis al except the building of the tank the work was all done by day labor tended by the street supervisor an and d members of the board the trenches were dug on the average of three and a half feet deep and on as easy curves as the narrow tortuous street or road would permit and the pipe made to conform with the trench tren cli using short lengths of pipe where the curves were sharpest all the casting in the shape of tees for hydrant couplings irregular and silver bros of crosses were furnished by this city from drawings made by the writer the hydrants are of the ludlow pattern with secondary valves and a nd were obtained through the trent engineering co of this city as were also the gate valves for the main pipe in construction everything went we nt into its place without any hitch or alteration whatever and when the water was turned in and the full pressure a applied there was a found to be a couple of small leaks in the pipe where the curve was rather sharp but bui these were easily stopped and since an then up p till the present time a period of several months the system has given entire satisfaction is A great number of connections have been made for house service the pipe used for this purpose being half inch iron pipe the writer not believing in the superiority of lead pipe except for the plumber the connection to the main is made by boring a hole with a bit one sixteenth inch less diameter than the outside diameter of service pipe the thread end of the pipe is twisted in and the connection is made and will stand a pressure of pounds in this manner the town of bingham canyon became the possessor of efficient waterworks water works and did not have to issue water bonds either ei ther |