The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-05-31
a Trir TO lake ScbarO

Councilman Land together with the represent
atives Of the press and escorted by Mr.. c. j.
Gilman of the Water Company and Superin-
tenaant Colmau of the American Water Pipe
Company, took carriages at the Falmouth no
tel shortly after nine o'clock ana proceeued
long the line of the pipe to Lake SeoaSo.
Tho dow at the hour of starting was rather
cool Int the sun shone bright and pleasant
weather was anticipated. Shortly after pass
in, sacclrappa however, the heavens were
elouded over and showers continued to fall up
IN the party FROM that time until their arrival
home, although the rain was not sufficient in
quantity to give any one a soaking. The rain |
did good service in laying the dust, and the
drive to the Lake, distance of soma sixteen
miles, was most delightful one. AT this sea-
son of the year nature puts Oh its most allurlng |
aspect The sloping fields covered withverdure |
the trees clothed in their luxuriant foliage. the |
orchards white with the blooms of the apple, |
pear aud cherry trees that fill the atmosphere |
with their delicious odors make picture that
can only be seen in May CT June in this lat |
tude. Seated in light open wagon drawn by
asplrited span composed of a dark chestnut
and gray, with Superintendent Colman by
our side holding the ribbons, and wh) gave us
all the information we desired the two hours
and half before reaching Libby's Corner (the |
point where the party left their carrages) pass
ed swiftly away.
A great deal has been said about the leaks
along the road. During the whole distance to
the Lake we counted some twenty wet places
Whether they were all leaks or not we don't
know, OF whether some of them were mercy
nj IL, l,@
these wet spots were in no case of great Size
The soil appears to be heavy clay from point
few miles beyond Saccarappa which cracks
| and splits under the baking process elected by
| the heat OF the sum- AT one point Oh the line,
/ at Gambo Hill, the pipe is sunk below the sur
face Of the ground distance of twenty-five
| feet, the top of the hill being level with
| the Lake. The distance the piposis sunk below
the surface for the whole distance from the city
| to the gate house at the Lake, ranges from five
to thirty-three feet. 1t therefore can be easily
seen what difficulties the company have had to
contend with in laying their pipe through this
stiff clayey soil at such depths, and particular
| ly when we see the loads OF broken rocks and
stones that lie piled up by the side of the line
of pipe in the vicinity of White Rock where
heavy lodges were encountered.
At the point called Libby's Corner, where we
all dismounted, and thence walked to the gate
house that connects the water of the Lake with
| the conduit "a distance of mile and three
| quarters) we have an opportunity Of seeing
| specimen of the troubles of excavation Here
the water-gate may be seen twenty feet below
| you, as you carefully peer over the edge of the
| nbankment while the brick work where the
pipe Is laid is six feet below the top of the gate.
Next you come to one Of the most difficnlt
| parts of the whole Job, a tunnel through blue
clay three hundred feet long and thirty feet be-
| low the surface OF the earth. When you re-
member that this blue clay is like iron and
| sticks to the shovel "like a brother" you don't
| wonder the progress was made at the rate of
| not more than four feet day, and through this
tunnel the pipe is laid in concrete to resist pres
sure. This tunnel was thought advisable rath-
| err than to go down through the ravine which
would have required greater amount of pipe
to be laid with a greater expenditure of time
and would not have been as advantageous in
the end as the present course. The deep exca-
vations from Libby's Corner towards the mouth
| of the conduit extend six hundred feet, includ-
ing the tunnel, and some pretty tall scramb,ng
L
their way along.
| cover hill, over dale, The ror2li busl thorough
| briar''
| until they reached the mouth of the conduit
This conduit, the building of which has so
long delayed the completion of the work, is
547S feet in length and is all finished with the
exception of SO feet which is now being exca
waited from four faces at the rate OF four feet
day, so that it is expected by the goth of June
the Water Company will have finished their
labors The conduit is 8 2 by 2 IL feet in size
and possesses a capacity fully sufficient to sup
ply the city at the rate of $4,000 900 gallons per
day through as many additional mains as may
| be considered desirable The main pipe to the
city is laid upon flooring of cement and en-
veloped in a thick coating of cement and is 20
| inches IN diameter in the clear. During the
laying of the brick work in the open excava-
ton the water has been shut off from the on
| duiJ by dam and the city-1S supplied by
] ..roans or small brook which contains an am
| pie supply for that period. When the compa
| ny undertook to build the conduit we hardly
think they could have had an adequate idea OF
the amount of labor before them, for of the
| 547S almost every foot is deep excavation, and
| 700 feet is tunneling through solid rook.
csssity Of laying pipe, the tunnels themselves
serving better than any pipe that could be
made. We descended some thirty feet into
one of the tunnels, which was about IL feet
high by the same in breadth, aud wondered
how men were willing to work in these cav
ems, the sides Of which were running with
water, with standing pools on the floor; good
place to get a rheumatism that would never
leave you. The lantern at the further end
twinkled ike gow-worm in the distance, and
rendered the surroundings more terrible than
| if utter darkness prevailed.
Forty men are at work steadily day and night
| in completing the tunnel of 96 feet and as soon
as that is finished and certain short connec.
| tions of pipe made in places along the conduit,
which had to be delayed on account of the
winter. the only thing remaining to be done
will be to shovel the dirt over the pipe, and ex-
cavate short distance into the lake from the
gate house at the end OF the conduit, so as to
make deep canal that will keep an ample
flow Of water into the conduit Although the
course pursued by the company in approaching
the lake has been one that involved much
greater expense to them than they had ever
anticipated, yet they have got their connection
with the lake at place where tine water flows
gently, and is very clear, instead of being rily
as would have been the case at Chadbourne's
Point or at the foot of the lake by the Ogdens-
burg road.
Having thoroughly examined the great work
OF excavation for the conduit, the man shafts
for giving air to the workmen in the tunnels,
the engines for pumping the fresh air into the
tunnels after blast, and those for pumping
out the water, the. company, who were now
pretty sharp set, proceeded to the building be-
longing to the works, and, after short delay
during which the quality of the Sebago was
fairly tested, sat down to an excellent cola.
ton, to which ample justice was donel
A short time after dinner having been spent in
conversation and cigars, the party again took
carriage and visited the works on the line of
the p. 81 o. r. R., two miles distant. Here
We inspected the immense cut through a hill
67 feet high and 200 feet broad, where the work.
men were lately killed by the eaving in of the
embankment Rails for four tracks were laid
for quite distance hand-cars hurriedly NOV
ing to and fro, workmen digging away, every
thing looking well, and all busy as bees. Then |
the horses heads were turned in the direction
of home, and at half-past five the party arrived |