Daily Republican., 1880-03-23
AT THE PULP WORKS.

The Massive Buildings Erected by
Jessnp d Moore: Paper CoMpa-
my on the Bank Of she Ch hrtsfiana,
which wfll Cover Ten Acres OF
Ground d yand Cost q Qaarter of o
MlAIion-A Hig Undertakipg.a
The low marsh-laud along the Chris
tiana creek just above the phosphate
works Of Walton, Whann Il Campany
has undergone great transformation
within few r.onths past. Along the
creek-front an extensive wharf has
been built, and just back from 1t a
number of immence buildings are In
course Of rapid construction. A hun
drsd mon are busily engaged, and the
plan on which the work is being done
ia very extensive. This Is where the
Jessup & Moore Paper Company are
bailding their ,much-talked-of pulp
works.
The land on which the works are be-
ing erected was boughtlast Summer by
agents Of the company, and the whole
matter was kept very quiet st that
time. Soon afterwards proposals were
privately asked for, and, almost before
our citizens knew OF it, the contractors
we're progressing with the first part Of
the work. Since then quite rapid
hsadway has been made and the hum
Of the massive machinery for the man
ufacture Of pulp will be heard In the
new buildiags before next September
| II every thing works right. A RnrUB-
LrcAN representative visited the place
Yesterday afternoon and Cleaned q few
facts that may interest the general pub
lie.
PILE pRiyINs.
Tie wet, spongy character Of the
land lying along the Christians, rem
dered II, in its natural condition, wholly
UNIT for building purposes, as a house
Of brick or stone that might be erected
would force the foundations into the
yielding soil and give real instance OF
the house not founded on rock. In
order to obviaie this difficulty some
plan had to be resorted to that would
give an artificial foundation. The only
thing that would meet the demand was
pile driving, and by this means q foun-
dation as firm as natural rock itself has
been secured. No less than seven
thousand piles have been driven into
the ground on which the foundation
walls Of the building stand. The work
of driving these piles, which are long,
slim, pine lSgs, appears slow enough to
the spectator, but it is soon completed.
The pile driver consists Of tall derrick
like frame work inside Of which the log
to be driven is placed. Through q strong
pulley at the top runs a stout cable
and this is fastened to an immense
piece Of iron, that Is hoistsd by means
Of steam engine. When the iron
weight is raised to the top 1t 10 allowed
10 drop upon the end Of the log, and
thus ii ia soon forced into the ground.
The piles are Of Virginia pine and are
from rs to 80 feet in length. In addi-
ton to those used in making the
ground firm, many were driven along
the bank of the creek in constructing
the wharf. The wharf is the longest
on the Christiana having frontage o.
TOO feet.
THE BUILDINGS.
The works consist Of nine build
Iings in all. The principal ones, with.
out pausing here to state the use oI
each, are known as the wood chopping
house, the wood digesting house, the
paper engine house, the machine house,
the building for preparing the alkaline
liquid, the soda-ash recovering house,
the evaporating house, and the steam
boiler house. OF these buildings only
one is under roof, the last named. The
dimensions Of this are 44x69 feet, and il
lis built Of stone. 1t will contain foul
Babcock Il Wilcox boilers of 100 horse.
power each. All the other buildings
are fairly commenced and are up to the
first story and ready for the frst-dool
ioists. The buildings will all be very
substantial, and erected with u special
view to the utmost strength. More
than three million bricks will be re-
suired in thier construction. Mr.
Charles D. Supplee of Philadelphia
has the contract for the boiler,
evaporating and recovering houses
and Mr.. Henry R. Coulomb o.
Philadelphia for the others. Mr.. Sup
plee now has nearly forty men en-
ployed and Mr.. Coulomb about sixty
Mr.. William Luke is superintendent O.
the whole work. When the buildings
are completed the machinery will b.
at once put in. This will be very ex
tensive, and quite a number Of con
tractors are filing orders for 1t. A
mongts these are Hilles 4 Jones and Pu
sey, Jones & Company Of this city, and
Robert Wetherill Il Son Of Chester, Pa
The cost Of the work cannot well b
fixed; some carefully estimate II at g.,
$4,000. The works will occupy abou
ten acres. The prospect of having the
works completed and in operation
within the next FIVE months Is now
quite Aattering. When they are com
pleted about one hundred men will bt
employed Hfty-during the day and fifty
at night; and houses will be built neal
the mill for them.
ANARTEsIAN WELL.
i One thing that Is essential to the
manufacture OF pulp is pure water. The
Christiana flows close by, but 1t is toe
often muddy to be Of much use wells
have been sunk, but the water has
been found to be useless also, being of q
chalybsa nature and strongly impreg
mated with iron and sulphur. Consid.