Paris, From the Earliest Period to the Present Day; Volume 2Walton, William
History
Paris, From the Earliest Period to the Present Day; Volume 2
Walton, William
Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History
The general distribution is effected from the eighteen reservoirs fed by
these various sources; the eau de source is furnished on the public
streets by six hundred and seventy-three fountains established against
walls, etc., and by ninety-seven of the "Wallace fountains;" the water
of the Ourcq and of the rivers is furnished by thousands of _bouches
d'eau_, on the sidewalks, in the streets, etc., for service in case of
fire, watering the streets, the innumerable lavoirs, etc. The monumental
fountains, such as those of the Place de la Concorde and du Châtelet,
which play every day from ten in the morning to six in the afternoon,
are furnished by the canal de l'Ourcq, whilst that of the Trocadéro and
its cascade, that of the Place d'Italie, and the luminous fountain of
the Champ de Mars, which function only on fête-days and Sundays, are
supplied by the Seine water. The fountains of the Luxembourg are fed by
the Arcueil aqueduct. The water-pipes throughout the city are generally
carried in the upper part of the égouts,--on curved shelves in the
smaller ones, and on upright stems carrying a curved holder in the
larger ones. In the grand _galerie du Boulevard Sebastopol_, for
example, the water of the Ourcq is carried on one side in an
eighty-centimètre main, and that of the Seine on the other in a main one
mètre, ten, in diameter.
[Illustration: MUNICIPAL PARIS: POST OF THE OCTROI AT THE BARRIÈRE DE LA
CHAPELLE SAINT-DENIS.
After a drawing by G. Maréchal.]
When the canal de l'Ourcq was first opened, the work was carried out
by a company to which was granted the right of navigation on the new
channel, connected with the Seine by the canals Saint-Martin and
Saint-Denis, but in 1876 the city of Paris repurchased this concession
from the canal company. A supply is also drawn from several important
artesian wells in different localities,--that of Grenelle, in the Place
de Breteuil, driven between 1833 and 1852, draws the water from a depth
of five hundred and forty-nine mètres and elevates it to a height of
seventy-five. This supply is turned into that of the Ourcq. The artesian
well of the Butte aux Cailles, begun in 1863, was resumed in 1892 and is
just being terminated; the depth attained is some six hundred mètres.
That of Passy, 1855-1860, somewhat less deep, supplies the lakes of the
Bois de Boulogne; that of the Place Hébert, 1863-1893, seven hundred and
eighteen mètres in depth, furnishes some large ponds in the
neighborhood.
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