Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/470

 sisted by a board of five men, each in charge of a separate department of the city service, similar to the organization of a railroad company or large mercantile or manufacturing company, and each held responsible for the conduct of the business of his own department, then responsibility could be attached to the person rightly subject to praise or blame.

It has long been the most agreeable delusion of the American people that "the people rule." Happily unconscious that instead of ruling "they are ruled." In the town meetings of the colonies before the American revolution, the people did rule very much in their local affairs, and for a hundred years afterward. In Oregon the provisional government was the perfect manifestation of the rule of the people; and which was largely maintained in the same spirit to the letter of the law down to the period when office holding came to be a remunerative industry. Then commenced that scheming of selfish politicians which has destroyed all political parties and made public plunder the sole object of factional rule.

To check or abolish this unpatriotic use of political power, and protect tax- payers and property holders from the corrupt schemes of contractors and office holders, the commission form of government for municipalities has been de- vised, and has been adopted at Galveston, Texas. Des Moines, Iowa, and other places, and is now, for the first time in Oregon, adopted by the people of Baker City, in Baker county. The experiment at Baker City will be watched with great interest.

The pure mountain water supplied to the city and the management of the water works has been the pride and boast of the city. After a full investigation of all the facts, and comprehensive knowledge of the cities of the world, an eminent engineer has asserted that Portland, Oregon, has the best water supply—quality and quantity considered — of all the cities in the world, with one single exception in Scotland.

The first organized attempt to furnish the city with a public water supply is believed to have been in 1857, when the common council granted to Stephen Coffin, Robert Pentland and Jacob Cline a franchise and permission to lay mains and pipes in the streets ; and the construction of Portland's pioneer water works was commenced soon thereafter.

The first supply of water was obtained from Caruthers creek, a dam being built in the canyon west of Seventh street. The first pipes used consisted of round fir logs with a hole 2^ inches in diameter bored through from end to end. These logs were bored by hand. Somewhat similar wooden pipes were removed from First street near Pine several years ago, after having been in the ground over forty years.

The supply from Caruthers creek soon proving inadequate, a small steam pump was established at a spring on the river bank near the foot of Mill street. In 1861, Coffin, Pentland and Chne sold their plant and franchises to H. C. Leonard and John Green, who proceeded to lay about 5,000 feet of new pipe made of redwood logs brought here from California. In October, 1862, Messrs. Leonard and Green incorporated what has since been known as the Portland Water Company, with a capital stock of $50,000. Soon after the purchase of the works the new company began the construction of a pipe line from Balch Creek near Willamette Heights. This pipe line terminated in a small reservoir at Fourth and Market streets.

In a few years it became apparent that the supply from Caruthers and Balch creeks would soon be inadequate to the needs of the city, and in 1868 the construction of a pumping station was begun on the river bank at the foot of Lincoln street and completed the following year. It was about this time that the original reservoirs at Seventh and Lincoln streets was built, and the one at Fourth and Market streets rebuilt and enlarged and a stone wall built along the