Friday, April 5, 2024
DUCK!
Fowls brave the chilly weather this week on Big Blue River, near River Road between the wastewaster pumping station and the Shelby County Babe Ruth fields. | photo by JACK BOYCE
Local History: ‘It May Be Lonely for Him, But We Always Have Gas and Water’
Editor’s Note: The following uncredited article, clipped and saved by the late David Craig, was published in 1953 in a Shelby County Genealogical Society newsletter. It might be of greater interest to the engineer than casual local historian, but it thoroughly documents the water and gas process used in Shelbyville at that time.
When Mrs. Housewife turns the handle to turn on her gas stove to prepare the family dinner or turns on the water faucet to run through a load of washing, she expects the water or gas pressure to be sufficient for her to complete the job, and if anything goes wrong, how angry she can be. But there is one person always on hand at the Indiana Gas and Water Co. plant on N. Noble St. whose job it is to see that city dwellers have the service they demand.
Norman A. Miller, 102 Third St., is the man who sees we don’t run out of gas or water during the day and three other operators divide the work during the other 16 hours of the day. Miller and his co-workers, Russell Stine, Jack Young and Clarence Moore, have probably the most lonely jobs in Shelbyville, unless it might be a nightwatchman. The hours can become mighty long when you are in a building by yourself with nothing to talk to except a lot of pumps, valves, dials and a constant humming.
Miller is perhaps the luckiest, for he is the senior operator and works the 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift. His job and that of the other operators is to watch the gas pressure and water pressure going into the city mains and to maintain the water level in a large reservoir and in the standby tanks for both gas and water.
Water for the city of Shelbyville, Miller said, is obtained from five wells located near the water plant on N. Noble St. and from two gravel wells which are 30 feet deep, but which aren’t used very often. The other five wells are 90 to 149 feet deep and three of the wells are used most of the time, although in hot weather all five may have to be used at once. Usually the pumps are shut off after midnight if the reservoir is full.
During weather like we have been having the past few weeks, Miller said, we lose water every day and the pumps have to go all the time.
Especially during this time of the year, the water level in the wells has to be checked, and that is one of Miller’s routine jobs each day. To accomplish this, he pumps air into an air line down the well and a gauge registers how far down the water level is located. Miller said so far there hasn’t been a noticeable drop in the level, but they are being very cautious.
Reports of the daily pumpage of water and gas, chlorine used, pressures maintained, etc. also have to be made by the senior operator.
The largest well maintained by the company, Miller said, is pumped by a 75 horsepower motor which pumps 1,475 gallons of water per minute. The water is pumped from the wells through the newly installed rust removing filters, then purified and into the reservoir, from where it is pumped into the city distribution mains.
Water is pumped through the rust removing filters at a rate of 1,500 gallons per minute, then goes through the chlorine process in which about 10 pounds of chlorine are added to Shelbyville’s water each day. Actually, Miller said, the water is pure enough, but the state Board of Health requires the addition of a minute quantity of chlorine for safety reasons.
The huge reservoir located near the plant holds about 405,000 gallons of water, and is pumped into the city at 65 pounds pressure. A large water tower on S. Noble St. is “floating” on the main, Miller says, and it holds 300,000 gallons of water and is usually filled except during peak periods. The reservoir and tower serve mainly to ensure even distribution of water. Last Saturday, Miller pointed out, was a record day for the company when 2.5 million gallons of water were consumed by the residents of Shelbyville. And on Tuesday of this week, 2.4 million gallons were pumped.
All of the pumps and equipment are driven by electricity, but a gasoline engine is maintained as a standby unit in case of a power failure. This engine, which burns aviation gasoline, has to be tested periodically, and Miller and his co-workers pass the job around, so all of them will be in practice.
Miller started to work for the Public Service Co. as a maintenance gas helper on Dec. 19, 1943. Then, on May 1, 1944, he became a gas operator, the man who made artificial gas. He was then transferred to the Indiana Gas and Water Co. when it was formed Oct. 1, 1945. In July 1947, he became a maintenance mechanic for gas distribution when the switch-over to natural gas from artificial gas was made, and then on Aug. 1, 1948, he became the senior operator at the plant.
The operator explained that our natural gas supply comes from stations at Martinsville and Seymour from the big inch pipelines of Texas Gas Transmission Corp. and Texas Eastern Transmission Corp. The gas comes to the city under 100 to 175 pounds pressure and at a station south of the city on Smithland Road. The gas is stored in a huge holder tank and then distributed to the city under 7 ounces of pressure.
An alarm system is maintained through a telemeter, to warn the operator on duty when the gas pressure falls below 80 pounds pressure coming into the Smithland Road station. In case it does, the operator then alerts other employees who find out just why the drop in pressure.
A 30,000 gallon tank of Butane is maintained as a standby unit in case of gas failure or in case the pressure would become so low, it would have to be used.
During the summer months, 1.8 million cubic feet of gas per day are used and three to three and one half million cubic feet are consumed in Shelbyville during the winter, Miller said. Last month, more than 60 million cubic feet were consumed.
Another job of the operator is to maintain the gas pressure of 17 ounces to the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. next door to the plant.
So the residents of Shelbyville receive their gas and water service regularly and efficiently because Norman Miller and the other three operators are always on the job.
NOTEBOOK:
INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Despite centuries of war in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, one mystery has long beguiled archaeologists: Where are all the bones? For instance, despite over 10,000 people dying at Waterloo, only two bodies have been excavated at Waterloo since 2012, not to mention the scores of horses killed that day. A new book argues that it’s because of a massive market for bone char that emerged in the 1830s, as markets for sugar boomed and the industry needed burned bone as a raw material for its factories. Those bones became very valuable very quickly; the price for 100 kilograms of bones increased from two francs in 1832, the year before the first sugar factories opened in Belgium, to 14 francs per 100 kilograms in 1837, when the industry was in full swing. It didn’t take much for the farmers in the area to do the math. (Science/Numlock)
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This Day in Shelby County History
2014: Betty Raymer, 90, who chose the WAVES over the WACs for her World War II service because her father had served in the Navy in World War I, was accepted into the Honor Flight trip program to Washington D.C. WAVES - Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service - were officials known as the U.S. Naval Reserve (Women’s Reserve). Raymer had enlisted on Feb. 22, 1944, a day she was off from her job at the New York Central Railroad.
2004: Misty Wilkins was appointed new animal shelter coordinator. She had previously been an animal control officer.
1994: Freudenberg-NOK joined Plastic Moldings Corp., J & L Tool & Machine and Brewer Manufacturing as the latest company along West State Road 44 to announce expansion plans. Freudenberg was expected to start an 8,000-square-foot addition at its 1700 Miller Ave. and planned to add 10 jobs. Freudenberg employed 140 at the plant.
1984: Shelbyville High School seniors selected for the annual May Festival court were Lori Garrison, Roberta Nuthak, Debbie Favors, Joyce Sleeth, Tonya Napier, Barbie Bernard and Tomecko Adams. Three juniors were selected to serve on prom court: Misti Kremer, Gail Douglas and Lori Lay.
St. George Lutheran Church members organized a petition to have the church added to the National Register of Historic Places. The southwestern Shelby County church had been built in 1867. Harold Isley, James Sanders, Wanda Sullivan and Jan Schambach were leading the committee.
1974: A former gas service station at the east edge of Shelbyville was purchased by Long John Silver for an incoming restaurant. The United Oil Co. had gone out of business a year before.
K-Mart confirmed plans to build in Shelbyville on ground leased from local auto dealer Donald Siebert at the former Skyline Drive-In Theater. K-Mart would face the west and be located on the eastern-most line of the old Skyline property, next to the General Electric property line. McDonald’s had announced plans to build next door.
1964: Auto dealerships and factory parking lots were experiencing issues with vehicle break-ins and thefts. Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. reported 21 vehicles had been broken into over one night shift.
1954: A planned candidate questionnaire organized by the Shelby County Ministerial Association was dropped. The questionnaire sent to candidates had asked about church membership and attendance and the candidates’ stands on various issues. But few of the candidates responded, and the chairmen of both parties had opposed the initiative. “We firmly believe that the moral standards of officials should be of the best to achieve good government,” Republican Chair William Carithers and Democrat Chair Fred Gravely said in a joint statement.
1944: City Council passed an ordinance lowering police officers’ hours from 72 per week to 48. Council members agreed with the chief’s assessment that “the best work” could not be done under the previous circumstances.
1934: An Indianapolis man who was drunk and looking for a fight was “laid out” on the sidewalk in front of the Strand Theatre by a 16-year-old Fairland boy. The man had called the boy “yellow” and other names, but the boy only took action when the man started to follow him into the theatre. The boy’s hand broke a glass over one of the theatre lobby posters. The man was taken to jail.
1924: St. Vincent’s Catholic Church, three miles east of Shelbyville, was destroyed by fire. The origin of the fire had not yet been determined. A broken glass jug had been found at the east door of the church, and a box containing a nail puller, funnel and waste saturated with coal oil was picked up a short distance from the church, at the side of the road and at the entrance to the church cemetery. Nothing was left of the church but the brick walls, which were burned white. The fire had started on the 44th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone, set in 1880. Church trustees in 1924 were John Beyer, John Fisher, Martin Zinser and Albert Soller.
1914: Fred Kennedy opened a New York office for Kennedy Carliner, based in Shelbyville. B.F. Swain was also a partner in the business.
OBITUARIES
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