On 14 October 1874, City Council proposed its first money referendum to eligible voters, which included an order to obtain a $25,000 line of credit towards purchasing fire engines and apparatus, as well as to construct buried underground water tanks along Main Street for firefighting purposes. (The only people who were entitled to vote at this time were the property owners, many of whom were also responsible for organizing the fire brigade.) The ordered equipment, which arrived the next month, included: hose reels, fire hose, a hook-and-ladder truck, and chemical engines, as well as a horse-drawn steam pumper.