Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-10-02
A SHELL FOR AN AQUEDUCT.
An Engineers Description Of the De.
fects I'm the Potomac Tunnel.

A SHELL FOR AN AQUEDUCTs
An Engineers Description Of the De.
fects i'm the Potomac Tunnel.
Washington Correspondence Baltimore Sun.
Mr.. Geo. H. CoryeIl was assistant engineer OF the
Washington aqueduct for some time. He is civil
engineer and camehere from Hagerstown.Md., hav-
ing been previously connected In his professional
capacity with various railroad enterprises. He Is
said TO be experienced and capable. He was re-
| lieved by Major Lydecker after the latter was
assigned to the charge OF the aqueduct because,
according to his own idea. he was too on1cious In
guarding the interests OF the Government and the
people. Mr.. Coryen makes the following state
ment for the san:
"The army engineers ia charge OF the construc-
ton OF the Washington aqueduct," said Mr.. Cor
yell, cannot say they were not frequently warned
and given every chance TO prevent the fraud which
was made possible by their culpable negligence.
became connected with the work In October. 1854
charge showing the actual conditions OF the work.
| The men actually engaged In the prosecution OF
the work had no guide whatever, except preIim1-
nary profile OF the tunnel began at once to pre-
pare working plans made a surface survey and
then ran lines along the drifts Had not done so the
work would have been In worse condition than It
is For tine headings or the tunnel. with the drifts
carried out on the original lines would not have
teenth-street ai-shaft II the drifts had beee pro-
1ected upon the original lines the headings would
nave been over 81 feet apart. All this corrected
and then began the construction work. The lining
built under my supervision was OF the horseshoe
variety. insisted on good, solid work, and did
pGS ssa aesee 20 Tor the
OF the work, and was determined that the
lining should be sufficiently strong 10 with
tunnel night and day. also had trrlsty inspec-
tors good mechanics, every one OF them. They
joined with me in my Efforts to secure good work,
and think we succeeded. did not think the In.
spectors were paid enough. told Major Lydecker
they should receive SIPS month instead OF S75
Expert men, told him, could not be employed for
deckers reply. He said: Il do not want expert
men. would rather have people go down In the
he appointed an inspector at $50 per month.
This was followed by the appointment OF E ii.
kiriln as chief Inspector. was ordered to confne
pervision OF the lining to Mr.. Kirlin. protested
against this treatment, not wishing to be respOn-
siOle for work done under the supervision Of man
not skilled in engineering work. / told Major
Lydecker thought only engineers should have
the Immediate supervision OF engineering work.
not long after Mr. Kirln took charge that the work
was beng carelessly done.
81 fairy dragged Major Lydecker down into the
tunnel He never seemed to care about personally
Inspecting the work. showed him that the Joints
were not being banded, and gave him other evil
denees or bad Workmanship and the negligence OF
the inspector. The result was that was again
placed IN charge of the lining, with Kirn under
Inc. had great deal Of trouble with him ON ac-
down In the tunnel because it hurt his feet to
walk along the rocky bottom. ] insisted that he
should walk from one end OF the drift TO the Otner
every day. At the same time was going down
anu getting up on the scanoldtng and making
close inspection OF the work. Every hing pro-
crossing Iairly well when 1 received notice that
Lieut.. Townsend had been made supervising en-
gineer OF the tunnel work. Then the real trouble
began.
This young officer determined to change the
plan OF the tunnel lining. AT first he conceived
The brilliant idea OF putting In what is known as
a segmentaI arch. This consists merely OF an arch
at the top OF the tunnel leaving the sides and bot
arch in the Rock Creek drift. Al a point where
the strongest possible lining should be placed he
intended TO put In the weakest. The pressure
at Rock Creek would be seventy-six pounds to
the square inch. This enormous pressure was to
be opposed by the seamy, rotten rock through
this scheme. 1t was tried and found i'm
practicable, but not before estimates had been
sent In based on the segmental arch. IL was
be constructed within that estimate The SEMI
circular arch, with vertical side walls, was adop-
ted. The bottom was to be left unprotected. i
tried TO show that there were assures in the bot
tom OF the cut as well as In the top and sides. ]
urged that the water would percolale through the
assures, and in time Washington might well be
called city OF springs. was too officiOus, pre-
sumo, for was relieved from DUTY. In the letter
relieving me- Major Lydecker says: Il, not you, am
responsible TO the Government for this work.
hope he Will not endeaVor TO escape responsibility
now.
''lut luSptCuOIS BuO WeIt dl WUIh W Tue tuuh6f
with me were removed soon after was This, to
me, seems significant Since that time fully 5000
feet OF lining has been constructed, great deal OF
IL consisting OF only two rows OF brick, and much
of It built up the sides with the rock excavated
from the tunnel This rock diSintegrateS when
brought into contact with the air. The action Of
the water would d1sintegrate 1t within q year.
Yet four feet OF the sides mas other protection
than this II this is not criminal disregard Of the
interests OF the citizens OF Washington and the
general government, should like TO know what
would be.
"This Is even worsethan the fraud that has been
discovered, for ttsinadeQuacy would pot have been
realized until the water had been turned on and
untold disaster been brought upon the city. The
fraudulent work done on the tunnel could not have
been carried on had Lieut. Townsend and his in
spect0rs been vigtiant. assert that he could not
have gone down In the drifts with his eyes uncov-
cred and failed TO discover that the backing was
not being put in according TO contract
"Thelr attention was called to the condition
months ago. endeavored to head OF the appro-
priation iOr the work. Had succeeded the Army
engineers would now have reason TO thank me.
They did not heed the warnings, but went ahead
blfndly, and no Investigation would have been
some steps had TO be taken TO fix the responsibility
They need not go far, for NAL Lydecker has IL
over his own signature that he Is responsible
When 1t Is realized that 10 600 gallons OF water
was 10 be turned loose In the mere bottomess shell
the Army engineers were putting in some idea can
have eventually visited the city had the work
gone on. Now 1t can be torn out and done over
again. 1t has cost the city and tine Government
vast amount OF money. The loss, however Is as
nothing compared with the destruction OF property
which would doubtless have occurred as soon as
the tunnel went into operation"
MsIffomafre CAllo~o Isrns.Ssn-