Have You Got Wood?

Attending our last monthly district water meeting one of the members brought an interesting item for show and tell. I had seen photos and read snippets of reference, but I had never actually seen a wooden water pipe. The pipe was only recently unearthed from a long abandoned line near the city of Conway, AR. The gentleman told that the city had been sold the piping in 1914 with a promise that the Red Cedar would enhance the water flavor in a pleasingly sweet manner. However the cedar proved to not be a suitable fit as evidenced by numerous leaks. They later switched to this pipe made from double tongue and groove white pine, reinforced with iron banding. The pipes were then coated with Creosote as a preservative. The pipes were said to be laid in 13’ sections. No accurate details were offered as to service life but there is record of suspending laying new wood lines post 1919, when there was a rash of catastrophic main breaks. No doubt other areas were sold some “wood” pipe but Arkansas was mostly wilderness until the mid-1800s. Early in the 1800’s and not long after our country’s founding, cast iron pipe became available and was much more viable and used widespread.

For general knowledge I found that wood water pipes date back at least to the Romans. As late as 2004 a Roman military fort was excavated in the Great Britain dating back at least 2,000 years which had Alder wood pipe supply plumbing. Typically a wood log with a central hole bored through. Amazingly it was still functioning, fed from a nearby stream and flowing water. It is an extreme example but validating and noteworthy. In the United States of course any use of wood piping would have to date post the Pilgrim’s and organized settlement. Resident Indians had done well mostly without dedicated plumbing. I did find reference of New York City, at the end of the 1700’s when the population was 60,000, they installed some early wood water mains. Interesting this was done in response to a Yellow Fever epidemic, actually carried by mosquitos bred in the wetland marshes. A progressive businessman named Aaron Burr founded a company called “The Manhattan Company” to oversee water infrastructure improvements. The projects were lackluster at best but the bank was a raging success evolving into what is now known as “Chase Manhattan”.

Another interesting sideline of the wood piping was the use for firefighting. The exposed pipe could be penetrated with a pick-axe and a tap vigorously inserted to fight a nearby fire. When the fire was extinguished a tapered wood plug was inserted to block outflow and could be retained for future use again. This “plug” was generically known as a “Fireplug” and is still used today to refer to a fire hydrant in the water main. Just today I noticed a popular utility supplier, “USABluebook”, offers tapered wooden plugs for sale. These plugs are completely effective and would last a very long time to plug small holes at lesser pressure such as bullet holes in steel storage tanks! It is a 30 second remedy that works wonderfully.

Very soon a somewhat valid shrill for Government intervention to assist the repair and replacement of water infrastructure will expand. There has been national organization promotion of a federal Superfund to help cities and utilities. I’m certain it will come into fruition sooner or later. I have no issues with low interest loans IF they are indeed repaid. The infrastructure is certainly ageing and the urgency is that much of it is nearing a century of use already. But I think at least some of the urgency is unfounded. If it is working be cautious what you “fix”. My personal worry is that a federal Superfund would be a till; ripe for pillaging by officials and utilities that had already mismanaged their financial resources. A properly managed utility should mostly support the maintenance and expansion of its infrastructure in response to the needs of the community. If the topic of wood pipes comes into play, don’t be fooled, they are relatively rare, atypical, and not as ancient or primitive as one may think in our nation.

It is reported that wooden pipes are surprisingly still operating remote, small portions of service distribution mains and have only lately been decommissioned in some parts of the country. In truth the actual amount is precisely unknown. Wood pipe sewer mains were also utilized. Cities in Alaska, Maine, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota, among other places, report on occasion, finding wood piping still in use. Portland, OR used wood piping beginning in 1856 (their choice of wood is underwhelming considering) all the way up to 1919. The last wood water mains in Portland were decommissioned in 1953! Wood piping is a very interesting historical footnote in the water industry. From my searching it seems the practice and use dropped from the scene dramatically by 1920.

An interesting footnote in history and our national infrastructure.