MT. PLEASANT.

The water used by the Hospital for the Insane at Mt. Pleasant is obtained chiefly from two sources, to-wit:

First. From a well drilled to the depth of 1,267 feet. The well is cased as follows: From the surface to a depth of 123 feet, with casing twelve inches in diameter; from that point to a depth from the surface of 733 feet, with ten-inch casing; from the bottom of the ten-inch casing to a depth from the surface of 1,153 feet, with six-inch standard wrought-iron pipe; from that point to the bottom the well is in St. Peter sandstone and uncased.

Its capacity per day is about 1c0,000 gallons, which is good for domestic uses but not suitable for boilers.

Second.-From the water-works of the city of Mt. Pleasant. This water is used in the steam boilers and green house at an average cost of nearly eleven cents per 1,000 gallons. The quantity obtained from that source during the year ending June 30, 1901, was 3,724,223 gallons, which cost $397.48.

There are three cisterns connected with the deep well pump and in constant use for reservoir purposes, which will hold 150,000 gallons. There are also two iron tanks in the attics of the main building which are not now in use.

The supply of water obtainable from the institution wells is. not sufficient and should be increased.

VINTON.

The College for the Blind at Vinton obtains the larger part of the water it uses from the water-works of the city of Vinton. The water ordinarily furnished is from artesian wells and is excellent, but the price exacted is unreasonably high. The lowest rate obtainable is fifteen cents per 1,000 gallons for measured water. Under the existing contract the institution pays $600.00 per year for what it uses, but we believe this rate to be excessive, and, moreover, the entire supply of water which the artesian wells can furnish for all users is but from 110,000 to 115,000 gallons each day and the quantity may at any time prove to be insufficient. In view of these facts we believe it desirable that the institution be provided with its own water supply. A well 160 feet in depth in the engine house failed to supply the requisite quantity of water, was abandoned several years ago and is not in use.

The institution has nine cisterns, with an aggregate capacity of forty-eight thousand gallons. Rain water flows into them and is used chiefly for laundry and kitchen purposes.

CHAPTER V.

RAILWAY SWITCHES.

The quantities of coal and other freight received in carload lots by each of the larger state institutions under the control of this Board, the cost of transporting in wagons freight from the railways, and the danger of loss by theft, make it desirable to have such institutions connected by suitable switches with the railways. The only institutions which are now so connected are the Penitentiary at Anamosa, the Hospital at Clarinda, and the Soldiers' Orphans' Home at Davenport.

During the last biennial period correspondence was had with officials of various railways nearest the institutions not supplied with switches, for the purpose of ascertaining the terms on which switches could be obtained. The answers given by the officials charged with the duty of representing the railway companies in such matters are set out in substance in the following statement:

CHEROKEE.

The only railway near the Hospital for the Insane at Cherokee is that of the Illinois Central Railroad company. In answer to our application for a switch to the hospital buildings, the company stated that the estimated cost of building such a switch was $31,586.00. and of maintaining it $1,500.00 each year; that the actual cost of switching would be $3.00 per car, and that to allow the company a reasonable sum for interest on the investment, for repairs and for switching, a switching charge of $11.50 per car would have to be made. As this sum much exceeds the cost of hauling freight in wagons, no arrangement for a switch was made.

COUNCIL BLUFFS.

Efforts to secure a switch from a railway to the School for the Deaf at Council Bluffs had been made before this Board came into existence, but without success. Nevertheless we applied to the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway company for a switch from its railway, which is so located as to make the cost of a

switch from it to the institution buildings less than that of a switch from any other railway. The company declined to make a definite proposition, but stated that if the institution would furnish the right of way and do the necessary grading and bridging,. the company would make an investigation to ascertain whether the prospective traffic would justify the expenditure the company would have to incur. It stated further that if the switch were built, there would be no charge for switching freight which came over its line, but that there would be a charge of $5.00 per car for switching freight going to or coming from other lines. The number of carloads of freight received by the institution during the year 1900 was ninety, of which eighty-four were coal. There are two switches on which cars of freight can be placed within half a mile of the institution buildings, and the cost of hauling by wagon from those switches to the institution does not exceed twenty cents per ton. All coal received is weighed on the institution scales, and it is not certain that any considerable number of carloads of freight would be hauled over the Milwaukee lines. In view of these facts we are of the opinion that it is not for the best interests of the state to accept at this time the conditional offer made by the Milwaukee company.

ELDORA.

Application was made to the Iowa Central Railroad company, which operates the nearest railway, for a switch from its line to the institution buildings. In response the company stated that it was not in position to construct the switch, but if it were built the company would perform switching services at reasonable

rates.

FT. MADISON.

The grounds enclosed by the walls of the penitentiary at Ft. Madison are not extensive, are uneven in surface, and are occupied by numerous buildings. The grounds in their lowest part are several feet higher than the railway tracks, and there does not appear to be any satisfactory way of building a swith into. the enclosure, nor sufficiently near it to be of much practical value to the state. In view of these facts and the dangers inseparable from switching cars into and out of the grounds, we have not deemed it best to attempt to secure a switch for this institution.

GLENWOOD.

The buildings of the institution for Feeble-Minded Children

at Glenwood are situated on a hill much higher than the railway tracks at its base, and the construction of a serviceable switch from the tracks to the two boiler houses or other buildings of the institution would cost a large sum of money, if practicable, and in order to provide a reasonable compensation for the cost of building and maintaining the switch and of switching cars thereon, the charge for switching would necessarily be large, and more than the cost to the institution of hauling its freight from the railway in wagons. Therefore we have not deemed it advis able to make any effort to procure a switch for the institution.

INDEPENDENCE

Applications were made to the Illinois Central Railroad company and to the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway company for a switch to the Hospital for the Insane at Independence. The number of carloads of freight received by the institution in the year 1900 was 310.

The Illinois Central Railroad company replied that the necessary track would be more than a mile and a half in length and would cost about $13,500.00; that the business of the institution would hardly justify such an outlay; and that in order to secure compensation for the expense the company would have to charge. more for switching than the institution is now paying for hauling such freight as that which would be switched.

The Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway company replied that if it were to build the desired switch, it would have to charge $5.00 per car for switching, and that at that price there would be no profit for the company. Much of the hauling for the institution is done by its own teams, and it has not thus far seemed advisable to ask the last named company to build a switch on the terms stated.

KNOXVILLE.

The Industrial Home for the Blind at Knoxville was closed pursuant to Chapter 103 of the Acts of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, and is not receiving any freight in car load lots. Hence no attempt has been made to procure a railway switch for it.

MARSHALLTOWN.

We applied to the Iowa Central Railway Company and to the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company to construct a switch to the Soldiers' Home at Marshalltown. The company first

named, which owns the railway nearest the home, replied that the approximate cost of the switch, exclusive of right away, would be $8,500.00, and that it was not in position to construct the switch, but would operate at reasonable rates a switch if constructed.

The Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, after a careful investigation, decided that it would not be willing to construct a switch.

MITCHELLVILLE.

We applied to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company to build a switch to the Industrial School for Girls at Mitchellville. The company replied that the switch would cost about $3,000.00 and that it would not care to build the switch for the amount of business which would result. The number of carloads of coal and other freight, exclusive of building material, received at the institution during A. D. 1900, was fifty-nine.

MT. PLEASANT.

The number of carloads of freight received by the Hospital for the Insane at Mt. Pleasant for the year ending December 1, 1900, was 483. We applied to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company to ascertain the terms on which it would build a switch to the institution. In reply it stated that a switch would cost about $17,000.00; that the expense of construction and maintenance should be borne by the state, and that the company should receive a regular charge of $2.00 per loaded car for switching each loaded car and nothing for empties. The company further stated that it could not at present undertake the construction of a switch.

VINTON.

The College for the Blind at Vinton receives each year about seventy-five cars of freight in carload lots. Application was made to the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway company to construct a swith to the institution. In reply the company stated that for the amount of switching which would be done if a switch were constructed, a charge of $4.50 per car would have to be made. As about all the freight received in carload lots is coal, the hauling of which costs twenty cents per ton, it does not appear that the construction of the switch would result at this time in any substantial benefit to the state.

Our experience suggests the importance of arranging for insti