The New York herald., 1875-12-21
THE NORTH RIVER BULKHEADa
PRELIMINARY REPORT on THE EXAMINING EN-
GINEERs


The engineers appointed by the Mayor to examine
and report upon the King and Canal street bulkhead
wall-Messrs Newton, Gilmore and worthen-have
made preliminary report, the principal points Of
which follows:-
We nave now with the aid OF divers, made thorough
examinations Of All the exposed faces of both bulk
heads, the examination Of important points being by
two divers al different times, thereby checking thclr
reports The water has been pumped out OF the cais
and the shaft at King street. and we have made
personal examination of the exterior face and centre
OF the wall We have also had a shaft sunk in the
Of the Canal street wall and have had a casson
constructed there in which we are making trial of con-
construction, under, as nearly possible, the
same conditions as those under which the bulkhead
made.
We are also having experiments made OF the conn
parave and strength Of concrete OF Portland and
Rosendale cements In the position and under the cir
cumstances obtaining in the construction OF the bulk
head All these experiments require time for the set
ting OF the cement and are at present incomplete we
cannot therefore, at present give full answer 10 all
the queries proposed but answer to your hrst inter
rogatory the facts to the conditions OF such struc-
together with your opinion as TO their safety and
durability, we would respectfully report Una. rom al
examinations we find that the mode OF construction
adopted in connection with the details appliances and
materials used, is uncertain IN It's results
We have found that the component parts OF the con
crete have settled in layers strata with varying pro-
portions cement that the broken stone and sand are
in excess at the bottom the layer and the cement
the top that the cement has washed out and
deposited itself as Lditdnce in combination with the
soil in the water in layers by themselves presenting
of concrete OF pockets IN spaces In the concrete
Many portions OF the wall we find strong, with a good
set but the faces almost invariably weak and the set
imperfect; but do not find any but the slightest
settlement degnment OF the wall nor is II probable
that either OF these will increase TO any injurious or
unsighty extent while the bulkheads remain under
their present conditions without back illing but be-
fore the earth filling is put in behind the walls we
should propose some further protection against the
thrust outward OF the embankment.
Whatever of weakness there may DO in the present
structures think IL may be remedied without any
removal of structure any large expenditure We
would PROPOSE at any rate TO leave it as II is for the
present
We do not wish to be understood MS condemning
system the method OF constructing submarine masonry
by passing freshly mixed concrete through and de-
posting il in the water On the contrary, II IS well
known that excellent work be executed in that
manner under suitable precautions respect to the
quality of the cement used, the proportions OF the
the ingredients the kind of apparatus
employed in laying it and the with which 1t is
operated.
These criticisms will be set forth fully in their
final report and in the meantime they suggest that
nothing be done toward completing those portions of
the walls for which the pile foundation has been wholly
or partially prepared.