The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-01-30
PARIS SEWERS.
Interesting Description of the Most Per-
feet Sewage System In the World.

IQVPfeSIlnG
feet Sewage system In the World.
The sewer we first entered is about
fourteen feet high and sixteen feet wide.
The masonry appears to be of the most
substantial kind and every care is taken
to keep these sewers in the cleanest pos
sible condition. They look like under
ground railways or like the tunnels OF
any surface railroad passing through
mountains. Arched overhead there Is
a fat projection at each side, and be-
tween these two projections there is
trench five feet deep and four feet wide.
To-day the trench was nearly full OF
water The little cars for tourists span
this trench, and the men who push them
run along the lodges at each side, which
are about three feet wide. Overhead IS
an iron pipe about three feet in diameter,
in which runs filtered water for drink
ing purposes, and another smaller pipe
filled with unfiltered water for street
cleaning and general use. 1t was cheer
full information which one of the men
gave us, that should either of these
pipes happen to burst while we were in
the sewers it would be useless to try to
escape, as the mere pressure OF ar
within the pipes was so tremendous that
it would kill us all Immediately. But
there is no danger" he said, the iron is
nearly three inches thick. They will
not burst" Upon the top OF the
sewers are all the telegraph and
telephone wires OF Paris, and the
streets, therefore. arenot disfigufed with
poles and wires. These wires are COM
pletely insulated so that even though
when in heavy rains, or when the sewers
are flushed for cleansing, they may be
touched by the water. the electric cur
rent is not affected in the least. After
a ride of about mile on these little
cars we reached place where we were
changed from cars to. boats. These
boats are about about four feet wide
and twenty feet long. and are pulled
along with ropes by men who run along
the narrow lodges at each side. Here,
in addition to the lights on the boats.
there are lights attached to the roofs OF
the sewers Yet as we looked ahead to
the long dark tunnel and saw the boats
silently speeding along with their car
goes of humanity. the WEAKNESS OF the
scene reminded one of the NEUROLOGICAL
Charon and the river Styx, or of Satan
and the lost souls, as represented in
Michael Angeles picture of the Last
Judgment.
There has been much written about
the pleasantness of this trip and its
entire freedom from noisome odors,
but while as great piece of engineer
ing it surpasses even the underground
works of ancient Rome, and is, there
fore, wonderfully interesting, it is by no
means wholesome excursion, for after
having been in the sewers only half an
hour the entire party complained OF
nausea, and 'other symptoms of ma
laria, and my head still rings with the
heavy doses of quinine which have
found necessary to counterfeit the effects
of the sewer gas. There are nearly
one hundred and fifty miles of these
sewers now in Paris, most of which
have been built since 1852 1t is stated
that the sewer system has reduced the
death rate of Paris from thirty-six per
one thousand inhabitants to twenty-five
per one thousand, and Paris is now the
healthiest capital on the continent
Paris Cor. Sacramento Bee.