New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1866-09-22

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tvcr at nth Il GO feet below the surface and u!
mics feov london Bridge. The sewers are constructed
In and where they mite the immense nam tnn'
mel Is suprorcd by huge buttreeses, tesde beng con
tanned iu what nav be called an eHbGnkment Of concrete
| The estimated cost OF tAs vast work was about
G4,O0O0C0, and the time for its completion I'VE yeas,
The estimates however have been exceeded, and the time
eXtopded until the end Of the present year Should tbe
anticpaons of tho engineer MIR. j. w. Bazalgce, DO
realized these works viii be among the greatest OF ancnt
or noden times. 1t is said they will have absorbed,
when finished 800 10000 bricks and o00VOV euDc ygus
of concrete while the excavations will have amounted TO-
1000 OOO cubic yarls Of earthWorks These drums GA,
charge daily, will when they are completed, oOoVVOU
| gallons of liquid and 400 tuns of solid refuse.
THB CINCINNATI SEWERAGE SYSTEM
Leaving the immense drains OF the European neuoo-
Tia We desire TO call the attention Of the reader to the
sewerage system Of Cincinnati, when is Penss one y,
the best this continent There no place on tue planet
where there are faulty sewers and all the advantages
of theoretical sewerbuding have not yet been reduced
TO Practice Cincinnati Las no exclusive knowledge upon
this subject; but she is making an ehoIt 70 combine IN et
sewers The greatest amount OF good and tho smallest
amount of evil. The engineer, A. W. Gilbert, uIher
whose supervision the plans were made rs an enthusiast
upon the subject and has given it great study The city
itself is admirably situated for dnnago purposes and,
wheu hor are built, they viii perhaps Do as nearly
! perfect as any.
largo sewer under Eggleson-ave. will take up and
carry into the Ohio River the entire drainage OF the east
EN- part Of city. West Of Broadway every street per-
pendcuar 10 the river in the business portion OF the city
Is made o sewerage district, containing large sewer
which receives the drainage OF half block on eech side
lateral being connected With the main under every
and those west of Smitl-st. drained toward Mill
creek the districts being laid out in accordance with the
general plan adopted for the direct drainage Ia the Ver
All these sewers are built upon tho most approved pan,
with catch-basns sufficient TO take up ell tho surface
drainage aud spurs in front Of every houseput in while
the mains being bult-by which connections may be
made by housc-drains The sewers built principally
Of sonewao pipe except where the sizes are too large IN
which bricks ued laid in cement and made per-
fecty smooth tho interior surface, the form geneIa4y
being circular The manhos upon an improved plan,
aud tho traps, though imperfect, tho best known 70
engnceIs The cost Of these sewers levied upon te
abutng property end cquaizcd throughout each sewer
age district. No system of drainage. however, can 10
pefec and faulty Workmanship has already made trouble
for Cincinatrlns. The entire drainage OF the city ias
into the Ohio River only short distance below the point
from which the water supply is akenan obvious fault
which the city later will BIO compelled to avoid
The supply Of water is also too small and until this is
romeded Tie sewerage system Will not be complete. The
riennal floods in tho Ohio River, however, carry oil tho
flth but fancy the lowwater season at ever midsum-
mer WILL when the city is thoroughly severed lay bare an
evil that scientific provision has not yet enabled engineers
to shun. Nevertheless tho system itself IS admirable
and should be pushed, as the experience OF inc present
epidemic has shOWn with tho utmost Tapdiy 10 tul COM
| pleton.
We are always apt to esteem highly that which
distant than that which IL near Filth aiar OIL IS not we
diSageoabe thing that II Is Immediately under our noSesi
for tie vapo TO diluted and what would o1hef-
wise sckcn aud disgust now, only warns and tdmonshes
We confess therefore, that approach the subject Of tho
sewers Of NcwYork with certain degree OF hesitation
aud We familiar with 50 many dsagreeaolo
facts concerning them that impreoaton remble upon our
rcu point and our ink looks malediction might loOK
ir il could be QuoGed. Tho memory of their odors, as We
think Of them, Is almost as bad as me oaois tesees
The present sewerage ystom of Newly ork ~ notWhssad
ing all this quite good as any IN tho world Inc no
ton Acqueduct Board has oil the knowledge upon Tue
subct that has yet appeared and they admit tho utterly
wlecLed condition Of many oi the sewers We do not,
therefore hold them responsible for the miles 81 oespoob
that lie under Streets but we suher none the less GA
that account. We know, and 80 do they that much OF
the filth that passes into our sewers must run up an
before it get out; that great deal Of 1t Is washed
back and forth IN tho ss, until merchants are compelled
20 transfer their commerce TO other docks that the noS
ous gases which come up into many o our houses making
dinner often times an impossbiliy and typhoid lever
only another for death, arise from decotnPons
animal matters that the should carry hWhY 'ha'
faulty drains Gre tho rule and good ohes inc VI
this ooodIv misgoycu cd Internal pat II Metropohtan
nandjse which We call Ncw-York and that finally and
10 conclude may Of our sewers are an abomina9o nuns
ance. Everybody knows this as Wtll as We, ana eI w
shall tell and over again and again the same thread
bare story concerning sewers until they destroy
and then Will leave 10 our grandchildren TO repeat,
perhaps for century two before the evil snail have
been removed. This IS not hopcin view OF the hin,Hl
ate future admit We shall spend millions Of dollars
in undoing what has been badly DONE AID them when oil
! tins money las been washed out into the Atlantic we
shall perhaps find that tho loss doubled because We
did not know he Yauo OF hlth But let us SEQ ior
| moment what sewers really are.
PIor TO the organization OF The Croton Aqueduc Board,
in 1872 NcwYoTk contained about 10 miles OF sewers,
with 90 C0tchbasns for receiving the surface drainage
Until within the past year. the condition. graie capacity
AID direction Of these were unknown No records
of their depth location or size could DO nundi hey
have been butt merely Tor PURPOSE OF
ting 20 many tunnels under the streets, and so much
money into somebody's pocket without anyNrpterence 10
the utility Of tho drains and apparently IN he DlcI tha'
10 one would inquire where they were The labor
| was wasted aud tho money thrown away Inc sewers
wcro pcstilentia hud many OF hcn remain so still some
OF them constructed thai they had no Duties wat-
ever Some II feet deep compelled "a discharge teir
contents IL az all into Others two feet higher and ono
that we Of damned BY hugo rock that tho
contractors thought largo to be removed and O hand
TO DO unnclcd. fou had outlets into vacant lots and
many discharged their contents and do s,, al the bulk,
head limo Recent surveys by The Croton Aqucduot Board
discovered four feet by two feet eight inches IN
diam etc with ascending grade Of more then throe feet
10 be overcome betw Second aud 1hrdayes before
flow was possible The IN hadison-ave., between
Thirty second and Tirythd-ss rises II inches In 700
feet: in 1hrythrst rises eight inches IN 20O tes
ard ono in Tbriyiouh-st. rises two feet IN 30 feet
sewers elongated ces-poos Mr. Theodore Weston said,
less than year ago. that "cXcept when TIE grades ere
steep or where large area is drained through chan
mel tho rarely found free from deposit IN some
DECREE" Thus il will be that the drains, instead oil
carrying eli the lsh Of the city IN many places only srIe
as permanent rcepiaels for the sewage h were Duh 10
In the Spring Of 1855 the Legislature authorized tho
upon regular plans dividing the city into districts, PRO-
yidng adequate drains Tor each district with mains OF
sufficient capacity TO cary OF all tho filth OF tho area
II districts have been completed In seven OF these many
OF tho sewers have been laid and the whole viii be com
eted doubles DUNG shS G S 5yo vS u ng NO.
oil tho region lying north OF EiShy'hTst-st on the west
side and north Of Ninety-trs-st on the east SIDE Of
Central Park and including large port OF its drainage,
extending ~ Observation-Disclosures tho plans are
completed ard ready for contract The last report Of inc
Croton Aaucduc Board issued early in tho present ycor
says: these districts embrace total area oT - ~ ceres
or is square miles, in which an aggrcgas length Of -
miles OF sewers have been already constructed, While
about-2O miles remain 20 be built" District No 10,
covering Harlem flats is the largest snd has its outlo at
the foot Of II drains sn area
of not less than square miles about 900 acres.
Each district mapped out by ITSELF and has no con
nection with GAy other The mains built Of brick OF
Il oil iln Nitrille