Take care of yourself and you will take care of Dayton.
Maj. L. T. Rhoades,
U. S. Army.
ONE OF THE EARLY NOTICES
“Do not use water closets. Contents will reach cellars. Use vessels, disinfect, and bury in back-yards. Disinfectants: carbolic acid, chloride of lime, bichloride of mercury, and creolin.”
“Do not use sanitary sewers and closets until notified by the Board of Health. Even if the “Hollywater” system is on, the sewers are full of mud and will clog. Burn or bury all excreta, garbage and filth. Add lime and bury deep. Use disinfectant in out-door trenches also.”
Inspection showed a much better condition than was anticipated. In all but three districts, the sanitary sewers were running freely and the warnings were replaced by new notices:
“Sewers are open and ready for use. If the water supply is not sufficient for flushing, fill the tank of the closet with a bucketful of water, and flush as usual.”
Wooden public convenience stations were also established over sewer manholes in the business sections and in residential sections without sewer connections.
The three sewer districts that were out of commission were the St. Francis, the North Dayton, and the Riverdale low line. The St. Francis sewer is a gravity line, and a manhole at the lower end was completely choked up. It was necessary finally to dynamite this manhole in order to open the line. The two latter lines are both low, and sewage has to be pumped into the river by pneumatic ejectors. The air lines from the compressor plant in the water works pumping station were laid in the levees which were washed out and at one point about 200 feet of pipe was lost. This was difficult to repair, and these districts had to be left without sewerage until April 2, when a by-pass on each line into the storm drains was opened, and the backed-up sewage lowered sufficiently to clear most of the cellars and to permit the use of water closets.