Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-04-07
& RIDE THROUGH TIE SEWERS
OF PARIS


ed by Harper & Brothers, under the
title of The Old World in It's New
Face, falls in no degree below the
first volume in the matter of interest
1t contains, or in manner of treat
ment. The volume treats of Italy,
Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Pales-
tine, "Paris Again." and ga Short
Run into Belgium and Holland. -
Said valued friend once to us 1.-The
great difference between wise man
and fool is, that the one goes
through the world With his eyes OPP
en- and the other DOESN'T Accord
ing to this DIR. Bellows is wise
man, as any reader of his book will
see ut once. We give to our readers.
as the freshest thing we open upon a
description of a visit to the Paris
sewers. Those of our readers who fol-
lowed Jean Vatican i'm his struggles
through the noxious passages, will
see that great improvements have
been made below ground, as well as
above, under the reign of the self
elected Emperor. We could almost
wish that committee from Or city
government might be induced To Wis
it Paris, and to introduce its system
of sewerage into New York. The
fact of the splendid ,jobbery which its
introduction would give occasion for
even rivalling that of the inter
minable Court House-might offset
the otherwise fatal objection that it
would cOnduce greatly to the COM
fort and health of the people Think
OF New YORK, with a perfect system
of drainage, and its atmosphere pure
and free from OdOr even in August,
with gas-pipes and Croton pipes plac-
eel and repaired without obstruction
of the streets. The prospect il too
brilliant, and probably be realized
when granite piers surround our city.
and minute trains convey us 20 Har-
lem bridge in half an hour. Iemoc-
facy is glorious thing, and it is
sweet to be self governing people.
But to return to Dr. Bellows
descending a winding staircase,
We found ourselves at twenty feet
below the surface in Il stone tunnel
;ts large as the railroadtunnel of the
New Haven road at Thirty-second
street, through the centre of which
ran channel of ten feet wide. and
perhaps five deep, through which a
stream of almost inOffensive sewage
was Just about emptying itself into
the Seine. Suspended in the air on
iron posts, ten feet above the floor
were two great pipes, of the diameter
OF six feet each, through which the
water flows that supple, certain
wants of the city. Telegraph wires.
enclosed in lead pipes, were also
hung on the sides of the vault of the
sewer. Gas pipes L looked for, but
did not find, and why, cannot sur
mise, as there seemed ample room for
them and much more. The long
ball-fOr it seemed such-opened IN
several directions, and was lighted
quite brilliantly with oil lamps and
refiectors. We found ourselves in
what may be called the Depot, in the
midst of seventy-five ladies and gem
tlenan (at least half ladies J, who had
come on the same errand, and then
learned, for the first time, that the
sewers were one of the great attrac-
tions of Paris, and had daily some
hundreds Of visitors.
1.-The authorities had provided
with French system for their proper
reception, and conveyance, but un-
der very strict railroad surveillance.
Six open cars holding twelve per-
sons each, nicely and even elegantly
built, cushioned, and with corcel
lamp at each corner, were soon filled
with passengers. But do no. ina
gine that the passengers got into
them when they pleased or as they
pleased. If they had been dolls,
they could not have had less free
dom in their motions. They were
ordered in and out, packed in pairs.
and Observation-Disclosures to a very
offensive extent, but finally got
their places. The rails are placed OH
the edge of the channel of the sewer,
so that the ears run directly over it,
a path of two feet is left on either
side, on which the men run who pro-
pei the train. 1t moves at the rate
of perhaps five miles an hour, We
soon left the larger tunnel, and were
switched, car by car, on circle off
on to narrower track. We kent
passing the numbered openings of
smaller sewers, matching the streets
above, and into each of these were
apparently openings from each
building in the street. 1t is said
that there are three hundred miles
OF these sewers and if all Paris is
brought into the system, there is
nothing extravagant in the state
ment- The plan seems to he to make
the sewers so large and high and
light, and to pour SO much water
continually through them, that it
Will be possible for necessary force
of men TO live constantly in them
tthere Is day and night watch.
twelve hours each), watching. and
preventing any stoppage or accumu-
iatioll, any leakage or injury of any
kind, either to the sewer itself or to
the pipes that carry the water, the
teiegfaph-W1res, or any gas-pipes
that may eXls: III other parts of the
system, The vast outlay In the plan
Of these sewers it is indeed over
whelming to consider; but the econ
ohly IN Their management, after the
original cost, is equally vast, and ~
greater wisdom could mark the sani-
tary arrangements of a city. For, so
long as there are crowded, cloeged
and nlthy sewers under !. city, az in
New York, for instance, there will be
dreadful smells coming out Of their
mouths into the streets, as in New
YORK. Until the sewers themselves
are built on such a rapid decline as
To secure a swift flow and are flooded
often enough TO keep the mass in
them in thoroughly liquid form,
there can be no adequate security for
pure air, and a healthy and molten
sive atmosphere abovtground. Now,
the proof the thorough purity of Par
Is aloveground is the essentially
hess OF the sewers themselves and
this - proved by the fact that hun
dreds OF work .aen live here twelve
hours ui every day without sickness
or developing any local disease, and
stili more by the daily evidence that
troops of ladies and gentlemen go
4 Ia R.stN D. 4 . l.