upr000332 77

5 /18/Wa Las Vegas Pine Lines ' . - .. ; ?> ’ ? ' .- , \ £ - - 613 Mr. ¥. H. Bancroft, let Vico President, Mr. J. Boas Clark, 2nd Vice Preeident, Special gora&ittoes Bear sire:- As instructed fey Mr^ Clark in Ms letter of May 8th, 1908. File #59-PP, X hare inspected the pipe line supplying water-fro® the springs to the tank in Las Vegas yard. X had the pipe uncovered in twenty-five or more places, including ten places wheats it had been leaking recently the leaks being lately repaired./ fill gl |®|I I found that the aaphaltura covering on the pipe, from some cause not apparent, had lost its adhesiveness and in places it -had peeled off t r o d the pipe leaving the metal subject-to attack from moisture/and corrosive salts in the soil which eats through the thin walls of the pipe in a few months. The asphalt appears to have logt fey volatilisation or other cause all the oil content which made it elastic and adhesive, leaving it brittle and untenacious and possibly porous. After a few months* -exposure to the corrosive moisture in the soil, small holes no larger than pin points are rusted through tho pips, which holes increase, in diameter as rusting continues. There seems to be no practicable way of preparing the asphalt so it will retain its adhesive qualities, nor is if practicable to uncover the whole pipe’, scrape it free from rust and apply another coat of asphalt. Practically all the leaks in the pipe line between the' tank and the reservoir are embraced in a section of less • than a mile, beginning a quarter of a mile above the tank and ending about the same distance below the point where the. Las Vegae & Tonopah Railroad track crosses it. In this stretch there have, within the lest six months, occurred about 2? leaks varying in else from the dia­meter of a pin to that of a lead pencil, and in one instance to three quarters of an inch in diameter. Of these.- 2? leaks, ten wers Included in a space of four foot in one Joint of pipe, and six in a space of three feet in another Joint. The leaks have all been stopped, either by plugging with wooden plugs or