Wooden Water Line Pipe

The last wooden pipe in the city was taken out of service in 1859 but some were left in the ground.

Wooden water line pipe. The firefighters would cut a hole in the water main and use a hand pumper to pull the water out of the pipe to fight a fire. The last year wooden pipes were installed in portland was 1919. The wooden pipes were apparently laid on back of spruce from ninth to tenth between october 1811 and october 1812 according to a report from the department s archives. Abandoned water pipes have been uncovered during street excavations such as these pipes and those above removed in 1901.

City of baltimore wooden water pipe early 19th century remember water matters j. Long abandoned wooden pipes. The log would be somewhere between 20 to 30 inches in diameter with the bored pipe hole being a mere 3 to 6 inches in diameter. Buried underground and filled with water wooden pipes can last for decades or centuries.

The more primitive are log wood pipes hollowed out tree trunks or logs. Photo courtesy of the philadelphia water department historical collection. Wooden pipes likely remain buried in many older communities but rarely is one dug up utility says. After the fire was out they would drive a wooden plug into the water main.

Since wooden pipes had no salvage value they were often abandoned underground when replaced by metal. There are two main kinds of wooden water pipe. Although each year the miles of wooden pipe used dwindled the last year portland used wooden pipe was 1953. The wood absorbs the water and expands against the steel restraining bands creating a watertight pipeline.

That means wooden water pipes served the city for almost a century. Water department crews found 200 year old wooden mains while replacing a line in center city. A wooden water pipe that dates back to world war i.