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Page 168
WATER SYSTEM
CHAPTER XXXVI
ONE of the menaces of a town constructed of wood
buildings is the danger of fire. That section of the town on the
south side of West Long Street and west of Brady Street was soon
built almost solid to the top of the hill. The persons in that
vicinity feared fire and after the burning of the Opera House in
1881, four or five business concerns organized a temporary fire
department. The first thing they did was to dig a well 20 feet deep
in the location of the present Holland Building, and purchase a
"double action force pump" with 200 feet of hose. This force pump
was operated by hand and was of the type of pump used by the large
cities in early days.
This pump afforded but slight protection. It reached
the properties within 200 feet of the pump, which properties were
owned by the contributors to this enterprise.
This effort created sufficient interest to awaken the
other inhabitants of the town to the necessity of better fire
protection.
It was learned that an application was being made to
the Governor of the Commonwealth, under the laws controlling the
supplying of water for a corporation to supply water to the
inhabitants of DuBois for fire and domestic purposes. At this time
there was considerable rivalry in several political factions. It is
probable that one faction became connected with non-residents of the
town, as "Mason's History" discloses the fact that the application
was made by foreign capital. Immediately an application was made for
a charter to the Secretary of the Commonwealth by local citizens,
viz: P. S. Weber, D. J. Crowell, Levi Hydrick, D. L. Corbett, W. T.
Ross, James Hines, Emanuel Kuntz, J. E. Dale, H. Loeb and George D.
Hamor. After a contest at Harrisburg a charter was granted on the
18th of May, 1881, to a corporation called "The Citizens Water
Company of DuBois."
This new corporation did not seem to understand that it
would have to secure permission from the Borough Council to lay its
pipe lines on the streets of the Borough, as no ordinance seems to
have been passed for that purpose.
However, sufficient money had been raised to buy a
large steam pump, which was placed in the grist mill of W. T. Ross,
then standing at the corner of Franklin and Booth Streets in the
location of the present St. James Hotel. This pump was connected
with Pentz Run. A four inch pipe line was then laid along Booth
Street, Long Avenue to Courtney Street and down Courtney Street as
far as the Alpine House and along which was constructed fire
hydrants made of wrought iron pipe large enough to attach a
regulation fire hose. A larger quantity of regulation fire hose was
purchased, together with
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