type. Consequently, the steel substructure, for all practical purposes,
would represent a dead loss, and, therefore, the economy of this type is
open to serious question.

A tender was received for a reinforced concrete structure identical in
outward appearance with the one built, but, owing to the natural
conservatism of the local residents regarding this type of construction,
it was not acceptable.

The tower, as built, consists of a hollow cylinder of plain concrete,
109 ft. high, and having an inside diameter of 22 ft. The walls are 10
in. thick for the first 70 ft. and 6 in. thick for the remaining 39 ft.,
and are ornamented with six pilasters (70 ft. high, 3 ft. wide, and 7
in. thick), a 4-ft. belt, then twelve pilasters (12 ft. high, 18 in.
wide, and 7 in. thick), a cornice, and a parapet wall.

A steel tank of the ordinary type is embedded in the upper 40 ft. of
this cylinder. To form the bottom of this tank, a plain concrete dome is
thrown across the cylinder at a point about 70 ft. from the base, the
thrust of this dome being taken up by two steel rings, 1/2 in. by 14 in.
and 3/8 in. by 18 in., bedded into the walls of the tower, the latter
ring being riveted to the lower course of the tank.

The tank is covered with a roof of reinforced concrete, 4 in. thick,
conical in shape, and reinforced with 1/2-in. twisted steel bars. The
design of the structure is clearly shown in Fig. 1.

The tower is built on out-cropping, solid rock. This rock was roughly
stepped, and a concrete sub-base built. This sub-base consists of a
hollow ring, with an inside diameter of 20 ft., the walls being 5 ft.
thick. It is about 2 ft. high on one side and 7 ft. high on the other,
and forms a level base on which the tower is built. The forms for this
sub-base consist of vertical lagging and circumferential ribs. The
lagging is of double-dressed, 2 by 3-in. segments, and the ribs are of 2
by 12-in. segments, 6 ft. long, lapping past one another and securely
spiked together to form complete or partial circles. These ribs are 2
ft. from center to center.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--(Full page image)

WATER TOWER VICTORIA, B.C. WATER-WORKS]

Similar construction was used to form the taper base of the tower
proper, except, of course, that the radii of the segments forming the
successive ribs decreased with the height of the rib. Tapered lagging
was used, being made by double dressing 2 by 6-in. pieces to 1-3/4 by
5-13/16 in., and ripp