- Eureka 1910-1919 - (Part 5 of 12) -
“The county surveyor will receive the same salary as before, $4 a day for time actually employed and the same fees as before. Under the new law, the man elected must be legally qualified and if no one in the county, who is legally qualified will take the office, someone from another county must be elected.
The commissioners will receive $5 a day for the time actually employed and 5 cents a mile for traveling expenses, but the salary shall not exceed $350. The commissioners will meet once a month, unless by vote they agree to meet quarterly. The commissioners now meet as a board of review in May instead of June. The office of county assessor was abolished by this law, but the present assessor elected last November will hold his office until the expiration of his term.
In May of 1913 the Eureka library board received the following letter from the Carnegie Corporation of New York: Responding to your communication on behalf of Eureka, Kansas, if the city agrees by resolution of council to maintain a free public library at a cost not less than $900 a year, and provides a suitable site for the building, Carnegie Corporation of New York will be glad to give $9,000 to erect a Free Public Library Building for Eureka.
It should be noted that the amount indicated is to cover the cost of the library building complete, ready for occupancy and for the purpose indicated. Before any expenditure on building or plans is incurred, the approval of proposed plans by Carnegie should be secured.
Although $1,200 was voted as a maximum amount to be raised by the taxpayers for the maintenance of the library, a recent state law cuts the tax levy for library purposes to .4 mills, by which Eureka can raise but $900 a year for this purpose.
The question now before the board is a suitable site and plans. These will be decided soon, to push the work as rapidly as is consistent with good judgement.
In June 1913, the library board agreed to purchase 210 feet of ground at the corner of Main and Fourth for the location of the new Carnegie library. (The library was built at Main and Sixth Streets) This piece of ground comprises four lots of 50 feet each, which was purchased for $2,000 and an additional 10 feet was bought from another party for $300.
In buying these lots the library board has agreed that 70 feet in width and 80 feet deep should be used for the library building, and the balance be held for the city to be used for the site for a city building and auditorium.
In July of 1913 the water situation was not good in Eureka and the city authorities had ordered a discontinuation of the use of city water for sprinkling lawns and gardens. There was an advisory to boil drinking water and people were wondering as to the real facts concerning the water situation in Eureka. An interview with the commissioners has secured the following information, which is contained in the following article.
The water situation which confronts the people at this time is the worst since the installation of the waterworks system. At the rate at which water is now being used, 175,000 gallons a day, the supply will last barely ten days. This including the river water below the intake pipe and below the charcoal and gravel filter box through which the water now being used is passing. Last year during fair week the same condition existed, but coming so late in the season, rains relieved the famine before the supply was gone. During this entire year, the rainfall has been below the normal and this great scarcity, coming so early in the season, when no rains sufficient to fill the streams can be counted upon for at least two months, makes the matter most serious. For two weeks the commissioners have been working on this proposition and trying to solve the problem. They are frank to admit that they are still as undecided as to what is the best method to pursue as they were when beginning. They have hit upon a plan which seems to have fewer obstacles.
Up the river, beginning on the Arthur Pugh farm, 8,000 feet from the pumping station, and extending for a mile and a quarter, is a deep basin in the river bed which in the knowledge of the oldest settler has never been dry. It is fed by underground springs and during the past two weeks, since the commissioners have been closely observing it, it has not receded in the least, although an immense amount of water has been evaporated by the heat and winds. This has convinced the authorities that the supply could be depended upon, so it is the plan to pump this to a point where it will be available for the city supply and the permission of the land owners has been obtained. Two ways have presented themselves to accomplish this end. Across to the northeast about 5,200 feet from the south end of the basin is the stand pipe and it was first thought advisable to lay a pipe across this way, but a rise of ground of 130 feet had to be taken into consideration and no pump could be found that would lift a sufficient stream that distance. So, the next best plan and the one that in all probability will be used in this emergency, is to bring pipe line down the river bed, about 4,000 feet over a ledge of rocks, and allow it to follow its own course down the river bed for the balance of the way. Disadvantages of this plan lie in the fact that at several points along the bed it is entirely dry and a considerable quantity of the water will have to soak into the ground before it begins to flow. The basin, however, being one and a quarter mile long and average 150 feet wide and at a conservative estimate a depth of 4 to 5 feet for this width, contains a large quantity of water, estimated at 95 million gallons.
One of the disadvantages or fallacies of commission form of government is brought to light in this crisis. Under the commission rule, no money can be spent unless it is actually in the treasury. The city cannot go into debt. Also, the fund for one department cannot be put to any other use. The net receipts from the waterworks have been used for some time in paying off the bonded debt at the rate of $4,000 a year. The waterworks bonds, $24,000 of which remain unpaid, will fall due in 1919. The funds on hand are insufficient to meet this emergency. $2,000 is on hand, $1,400 of which belongs to the cemetery fund and cannot be used for anything else, although that amount will not be expended for that purpose in several years. The money is on hand, but it is not in the right pocket, and how to meet this emergency, financially, is another problem which faces the commissioners.
For the sake of fire protection and public health and safety the water should be conserved and the rules observed.
The City Engineer, C.C. Huntington was sent to Independence, Kansas, where he purchased 4,500 feet of 4 7/8-inch pipe. As soon as it arrives in Eureka, a force of men will begin laying it as planned. (Do not know where the money came from for this project) The July 31, 1913 edition of The Eureka Herald stated the laying of the pipe line up the river for the purpose of supplying more water was completed and an engine and pump installed. The first engine, a gasoline, was insufficient to draw the load so a steam engine, which by pulleys equals 20 horse power was tried and proved successful and was at work all night causing a rise of more than three inches in the river at the pump station. The water had become so low that the intake pipe which leads through the filter box was above water and the river water had to be turned in direct. The new supply remedies this and will be kept at work night and day.
In September of 1913 a tornado struck Eureka about 6 p.m. from the southwest going to the northeast. Homes were wrecked as well as barns and a great number of trees were uprooted. Only one man was injured. The roof was torn off the First National Bank building ( this building was located on the southwest corner of Main and Third Streets) about 40 feet of the north wall was blown down. The plate glass windows in the 300 block of Main were broken in every business. On Oak Street, the Lutheran parsonage was damaged and chimneys destroyed. A large hole was torn in the roof of the parsonage. East of town the tornado moved across the cemetery destroying some trees. The estimates on damage varies from $20,000 and upwards.
In July of 1914 school districts No. 90 (Willis), No. 118 (Stewart) and No. 42 (Tonovay) voted to consolidate under the name Tonovay Union District No. 3. A new $10,000 school building will be erected at Tonovay. Three teachers will be employed, and a high school established which will gradually grade up to a four years’ course. The other districts to vote for consolidation are No. 15 ( Prairie Light, Rocky Ford), No. 38 (Fame), and No. 75 (Neal) which will hereafter be known as Neal Union District No.4. The Neal school building will be used this winter and a new building will be erected next summer. Three, and perhaps four, teachers will be employed in this school, which will also install a high school course. The other two consolidated districts in the county are Quincy and Virgil and both have proven highly successful.
For four days in July of 1914 the Eureka Light and Power Company had a special demonstration agent in Eureka for the purpose of showing the people of Eureka the beauties and convenience of electricity for cooking. Many people visited the demonstrations. The electric range is very similar to the modern gasoline range in appearance, but the heating possibilities are much greater and the convenience is almost perfect. The ranges cost $50 and $60, according to the size . It is estimated the cost of operating a range for a family of five will average about $4 a month. All who visited the demonstration parlor were given a treat in the form of a big dish of ice cream with cake.”
