From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Jan. 12, 1912:

• “After the warm spell things began to brighten up and there were those who had hopes that the cold weather was over with its accompanying snows, north winds and gas failures. But not so, for it was for but one day and then the northern blasts returned, the thermometers dropped, likewise the gas pressure. This morning the official weather taker on the hill showed a temperature of 5 degrees below the zero mark. A strong blast from the north added to the cold to make things disagreeable…. A small amount of wood and coal arrives at the yards every day but by night it is pretty well cleaned up. Wood is being brought in from the country and thus far the supply has been sufficient. Wood is selling for $7 and $7.50 a cord now.”
• “Yesterday morning the pumps at the Water Station began to pump river water into the basins at the pumping plant and today the water was turned into the city mains. Now Lawrence has adopted the slogan, ‘Boil the water.’ The citizens have been advised that the river water is unfit for use unless boiled, but it was the only recourse open to the Water Company, their wells have gone dry and there is no other place for them to get water except from the river. The scarcity of water at the plant is due to two things. The cold weather that freezes up the streams that supply the ground water for the wells and the increased consumption by the city. People leave their faucets turned on all of the time in order to keep the pipes from freezing up and in this manner a large amount of water is being consumed. The two fires Saturday also used up a large amount of water.”