Opinion

Water problems nothing new

Monday, November 29, 2004

Two of the utilities that most people take for granted are water and sewer service. Looking back at the old records it seems that these two services have kept the city fathers busy for almost the entire 122-year history of McCook.

McCook was founded in 1882, at which time the Lincoln Land Co., the real estate arm of the Burlington Missouri Railroad Co., began to sell lots in the new city.

Originally the town of McCook covered about 480 acres, but soon extended in every direction, and there were four distinct parts -- West McCook, South McCook, East McCook, and Main town. Each of these parts developed independently, almost as if there were four separate towns.

One of the first problems that the developers encountered was that of water. On the lower lots, near the river, water could be obtained from wells of reasonable depth.

However, as the town moved north, some of the lots on higher ground could not get a well at all. Without water, the lots were useless, so by the fall of 1882, the Land Company began to make preparations for a waterworks system for McCook.

In 1883, McCook had its first waterworks -- from a location in South McCook. From the McCook Tribune:

"The waterworks is now in first-class condition. Everything is working smoothly. The pump at the waterworks is now doing the job and the immense tank on the hill is pumped full. As soon as the pipes are laid into homes McCook will take on metropolitan airs."

The pump for the new station was powered by a steam engine imported from Ohio, which could pump some 54,000 gallons per hour.

Ordinary pressure was 30-60 pounds, but could be stepped up to 120 pounds in case of fire. Water was pumped to an elevated reservoir erected on North Hill (Norris Park). At first the reservoir was a giant wooden tank, such as was used by the railroad.

In 1894, a 100-foot metal standpipe -- a landmark in McCook for the next 100 years -- replaced it. From the reservoir, water was distributed to all parts of the city, through 10 1/2 miles of water mains, 338 taps, and 21 fire plugs. Original cost- -- $75,000.

Editor Kimmell, of the Tribune was pleased with the system, but felt that McCookites should immediately provide "a watering trough and fountain in the business portion of the city ... where farmers can water their horses and allay their own thirst."

Almost immediately the original system was proved inadequate for the growing little city. In 1886 records show that J.E. Kelley, McCook pioneer, who was associated with the Lincoln Land Company, dug a "city well," which increased water capacity many times. This was housed in a brick building south of Main town.

In 1893, and again just after the turn of the century, new wells were added to the city waterworks, when the first wells became outdated. A pumping station was installed in South McCook in another brick building, surrounded by three large wells, each more than 30 feet in diameter. City fathers announced that McCook's water supply would be adequate for years to come.

Originally, the Lincoln Land Co. made a flat water rate to homeowners in order to encourage water use, but in 1906 the water system was transferred to an independent company, the McCook Waterworks Co., and that company installed meters, which were not very popular, since they increased water costs for most users.

In 1908 it was proposed that McCook construct its own municipal water plant, and the question was put to the voters. The vote was 370 to 285 in favor of issuing $85,000 in bonds to construct the plant. The result of this election was that in 1911 the McCook Waterworks Co. sold its plant and entire water system to the city for $65,000.

Probably the thing that spurred the development of a waterworks for McCook more than anything was for the fighting of fires. In June 1884 a fire broke out in the LaTourette Hardware store.

Due to lack of leadership and equipment to prevent the spread of the blaze, the flames quickly devoured LaTourette's store, the Wilson & Hickey restaurant, and Mrs. Bate's millinery shop, and did damage to the post office. During the fire there was widespread looting of these and nearby stores.

The editors of the Tribune sounded a plea for "a well- organized hook and ladder company, a hose cart, and crew to man it, and a number of fireplugs in the downtown area."

As a result of that plea, in 1885 businessmen stepped up with donations of money, 20 young men volunteered for the first fire department, George Hocknell donated a fire hose cart, and the village board promised to provide more fireplugs.

Apparently, there was some friction within the city's fire department, because in 1889 two independent fire companies, the B & M Hose Co. and the Boyd Hook and Ladder Co. both came into being, each with 20 members. For the next four years there were three fire companies answering fire alarms. In 1892 the three companies were united into the McCook Fire Dept., under Chief J.H. Dwyer, and located in the back half of the old First National Bank building on C. St. After 1893 the firemen were paid.

A sanitary sewage system for McCook was slower to come into being. In 1887 the B(urlington) & M(issouri) RR. put a line of sewage line from the railroad to the river. Mayor T.M. Helm pushed for a similar system for the city, but all that the city could accomplish was an underground, wooden drain placed at the city's main intersection at Main (Norris) and Dennison (B St.) Editor Kimmell of the Tribune continued to push for a proper sewage system and general sanitation, calling the situation "serious and troublesome", and another time, "McCook would smell far sweeter if a few stench-emitting and disease-producing carcasses were removed from the streets".

Typhoid fever, which struck the household of B & M Railroad Supt. Alexander Campbell, was traced to fumes from a clogged sewer pipe, which led from the house to an abandoned cesspool. In the opinion of the Campbell family and the medical practitioners, that is what caused the death of the Campbell's daughter, Ethel, and induced the sickness of the Campbell's son, Norman, and the Campbell's hired girl.

Unsanitary conditions may have been responsible for many other cases of sickness and death in McCook that year (1887)---contributing to often fatal illnesses, including diphtheria, typhoid fever, lung fever, and consumption.

At any rate, by 1906 the public was convinced that a modern sanitary sewer plant was in everyone's best interests. The issue went before the people and the vote was 2 to 1 in favor of constructing the "modern" sewage system. By today's standards the system was very crude, basically carrying untreated waste to the river. Though there were additions and changes over the years, it was not until after World War II that a sewage treatment plant, providing for primary and some secondary treatment, was constructed. Major concerns about fresh water and regulations about waste have come about only lately.

No one can predict with any certainty what is going to happen in the future, but one might hazard a guess that history will repeat itself, and much of the time of our civic leaders in the next 100 years will be spent working to provide McCook citizens with clean water and effectively disposing of waste.

-- Source: An Early History of McCook, Nebraska, by Marion McClelland, July 1942

Gazette Centennial Edition, and McCook's 1st Hundred Years, by Gene O. Morris.

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