Bracken flooded the town with posters warning residents that in order to repair a burst pipeline from the springs to the town, water service, including that for fire protection, would be off for 24 hours.
hln000850. Union Pacific Railroad Collection, 1828-1995. MS-00397. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/d1bk19p78
English
Las Vegas, December 11, 1919. Mr. J. Ross Clark, Pres., Las Vegas Land & Water Co., Los Angeles, Cal. Dear Sir:- We are having today very serious trouble with our water Maine west of the old L.V. & T. tracks. There are six joints of that vetrified sewer pipe line bursted. In fact, the entire top has just blown off of the pipe. This happened about half way between the intake and the old L.V. & T. tracks, and this bursting of the main was the cause of flooding of the yards and storehouse of the L.V. & T. The water service gang arranged to repair this line tomorrow, but the entire town and railroad shops will be cut off from the use of any water for at least 24 hours. I have flooded the town with 1000 posters, advising the people to be prepared for the trouble; also personally notified the different industries using boilers that they would have no water, and am running an ad on tonight's mov- ing picture screen, asking everyone to be cautious in cases of fire. Some of the city commissioners even had the audacity to inform me that we would be held responsible for any lose in case of fire if the town was without water. Mr. Merry and Harry Coffey have been arranging all afternoon for the best care they can of the railroad service, and I sincerely hope that within 18 hours the water can again be turned on, as this is the estimate given me by John Clark for the repair of the main. I believe that there should be no delay whatsoever in reinforcing or strengthening that part of the main from the intake to the end of the wooden main, for we are very likely to nave a recurrence of this trouble at any time, and the rottenness and weakness of the vetrified sewer line cannot be depended upon if we cut the flow down to such an extent that it will only fill this line which in this case we did yesterday, it reduces the pressure to such an extent that the two-story hotels of the town cannot get any water into their rooms, and the roundhouse is required to run pump for supply over there. To take care of the town and all the industries we must at all times have the full head of both springs and the intake at the end of the 16" line. -2- I believe I have taken all precautions I could to avoid any trouble from this occurrence, and I sincerely hope we will get over this without any. We, of course, will be without fire or hot water here at the rooming house but we can get along same as other people of the town have to do. I believe the Railroad Company will be at a greater inconvenience than las Vegas City. Yours truly, Vice Pres. & Agent. cc W. H. Comstock Maguire.