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5/18/08. Las Vegas Pipe L in e; 613 Mr* W. H. B an croft, 1 st V ice P re s id e n t, Mr. J. Boss Clark, 2nd V ice P re s id e n t, S p ecial Committee: Bear S ir s :- As in stru cted by Mr. Clark in M s l e t t e r o f May 8th, 1908, P i l e #59-PP, I hare inspected the pipe lin e supplying water from the springs to the tank in Las Vegas yard. I had the pipe uncovered in tw e n ty -fiv e or more p la ces, Inclu ding ten p laces where i t had been lea k in g re c e n tly the lea k s being l a t e l y rep a ired . I found that the aaphaltum coverin g on the p ip e, from some cause not apparent, had lo s t i t s adhesiveness and in places i t had p eeled o f f frofa the pipe le a v in g the metal su bject to attack from m oisture and c o rro s ive s a lts in the s o il which eats through the thin w a lls o f the pipe in a few months. The asphalt appears to have lo s t by v o l a t i li z a t i o n or other cause a l l the o i l content which, made i t e la s t ic and adhesive, le a v in g i t b r i t t l e and untenacious and p o s s ib ly porous. A ft e r a few months* exposure to the\fcorrosive m oisture in the s o i l , small h oles no la r g e r than p in p oin ts are rusted through the p ip e, which h oles increase in diameter as ru stin g continues. There seems to be no p ra c tic a b le way o f preparing the asphalt so i t w i l l re ta in i t s adhesive q u a lit ie s , nor is i t p ra c tic a b le to uncover the whole p ip e, scrape i t fr e e from rust and apply another coat o f asph alt. P r a c t ic a lly a l l the leak s in the pipe lin e between the tank and the r e s e r v o ir are embraced in a section o f le s s than a m ile, beginning a quarter o f a m ile above the tank and ending about the same distance below the p oin t where the Las Vegas & Tonopah R ailroad track crosses i t . In th is s tretch there have, w ith in the la s t s ix months, occurred about 2? leak s varyin g in s iz e from the d ia ­meter o f a pin to that o f a lea d p e n c il, and in one instance to three quarters o f an inch in diam eter. Of these 27 le a k s , ten were included in a space o f fo u r f e e t in one jo in t o f p ip e, and s ix in a space o f three f e e t in smother j o i n t . The leak s have a l l been stopped, e ith e r by plugging w ith wooden plugs or