Capt B.R. King, superintendent of the Fort Meade, Fla., water works, shows a picture of the only working alligator in Florida.
Some time ago one of the sewers of Fort Meade became clogged up. It was 400 feet from manhole to manhole, and the sewer was 20 feet below the surface and in quicksand.
It looked as though the city was in for an expensive job. The captain conceived the idea of getting an alligator, tying a line to him and letting him work his way through the sewer. At first an 18-inch alligator was tried. He went nearly 200 feet and turned back.
Then a four-foot 'gator was obtained, and he worked his way from manhole to
manhole, carrying the line with him, after which the cleaning of the sewer
was a simple matter. -- New York Sun.