Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-07-06
THROUGH THE BIG SEWER.
The Stars Exploring Expedition,
STRANGE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

STRANGE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS.
A Reporters Voyage Through Tiber
Creek Tunnel-His Important Discov-
eries-Great Sand Banks Block the
Sewage and Help to Flood the Gel
lars Along Pennsylvania Avenue.
Did you ever 60 into sewer? Leave behind
you the bright sun and the sweetness Of day
| light and pass into region of darkness and
| stencil? Hardly pleasant experience, but it is
| sometimes necessary for the public good.
| For nearly year past the business
men on Pennsylvania avenue have been
sufferers from the flooding of the cellars
beneath their respective establishments. Every
| time there was o rain storm there was, as q
| natural sequence, a food. Thousands OF dol
| lars worth of goods we're destroyed, and the
only thing the unfortunate merchants could do
| was to grin and bear it. Each, in his own way,
tried to remedy the condition Of affairs and
often imagined he had done it. Then there
| would come heavy shower and in fifteen min
| utes foot or two of the muddiest kind OF
| water would cover the cellar floor and ruin
| whatever was on it. The chocolate-tinted food
| was forced up, the business men claimed, from
| the B-street sewer. Frequently the question
was asked, is the sewer large enough; is it un-
| obstructed, and can it carry of heavy rain
| and the local Accommodations? To this in
quiry the water department replied
| that the sewerage capacity was amply suffi-
| cient to care for all the water and everything
else that came along. Representatives Of the
general government, which was loser through
the submerging Of portions of the botanical
gardens, have also blamed this flooding upon
the sewers.
THE SEWERS WERE AT ONE TIME KEPT CLEAR.
When Capt Hoxie was in power and when
Maj. Ludlow reigned supreme at the District
buildings the alluvial deposits in the sewers
were never allowed to amount to anything
They were dredged out as rapidly as possible
by force OF men engaged especially and con-
tinuously for that particular purpose.
This practice Of refusing to allow
sewers to choke themselves up was continued
up to about year ago and was then, for some
reason or other, discontinued. A steam engine
which had been used to hoist the sand and
gravel out of the Tiber sewer WAS allowed to
gravitate into q condition Of innocuous desue-
tude.
'THE STAR" EXPEDITION.
While the merchants and the water depart
ment were arguing to the condition and
| capacity Of the sewers THE STAR made arrange
ments to settle the question as to distractions.
at any rate, beyond cavil and to this end il or
ganized an expedition which should penetrate
the cavernous recesses Of sewerdom and grope
in the filthy stream in search of facts.
1t was not pleasant task but The STAR owes
it to its readers to keep them fully informed ON
all matters of interest-especialiy local inter-
est--so reporter was assigned to make the
voyage, to penetrate the gloom of underground
Washington, to explore a more circumscribed
but more intensely dark continent than that
over which Stanley has been roaming for years.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE.
staunch but not heavy fat-bottomed boat
was the prime necessity, but Of almost as great
importance was pair Of rubber boots, which
came within few inches of being long enough
to tie around the reporters neck. Light in
the darkness was an important essential, so in
the bow of the boat was fastened a large re-
Hector lamp. Two smaller lanterns were also
placed in the boat. Along and sharply pointed
iron rod and tape-line completed the inani-
mate portion of the outfit.
1t was necessary that some one who was thor
aughly acquainted with the sewer be of the
party, 80 an invitation was extended to Mr..
gardens. For thirty years he has
been familiar with Tiber creek in all its
varying moods and he carefully watched the
evolution from creek to covered sewer. In
company with Capt Hoxie he had explored the
tunnel and had familiarized himself with its
Typographical features. He accepted the invi-
tation, and shortly before noon Of yesterday
was on the west bank of the James creek canal.
READY TO EMBARK.
The crew-a colore ed man and white boy
scrambled on board; Mr.. Smith and The STAR
reporter followed; the bowlight and the lam
terms had their already-faming wicks turned
up little higher; and then. just as clocks and
steam-whistles were filling the air with the odd
conglomeration of sounds which mark
boat slowly forged its way through
the sluggish water under the 30-foot-span arch
OF the Tiber creek sewer, while little crowd
OF laborers and idlers on the bank speculated
what it was going to do when it got there. I'm
mediately behind the bowlight was
the reporter, whose specific duties were
to take measurements and notes In
the stern was Mn Smith, watchful as
to the condition of the arched roof and the
| side walls. The air was chilly and slightly
odorous when the tunnel was entered, but after
the boat had gone up about 200 yards the
atmosphere partook more of the odorous and
less OF the frigid
UNDERGROUND SCENES.
Gradually the little bow of daylight in the
boats wake faded away and gave place to a
more thoroughly ebonized darkness than that
which the ancients said surrounded and con-
cealed the land Of the Cimmerians. Ahead of
the little craft was food of light from the big
lamp-in startling contrast with the darkness
behind. Everything was distinctly visible,
from the cracks in the crown of the arch to the
apparently motionless and Shiny surface Of the
water.
DEAD ANIMALS IN THE SHINY WATER.
Drowned rats, with bodies distended in bal
loon-like fashion, and with paws stuck up above
the nauseous tide, bodied up and down like
corks as the oars disturbed them Cats of all
descriptions, from the infantile specimens
whose eyes never opened to the light of this
world to the battered old Thomas hero of a
thousand fghts-and the maternal
feline whose lifes chapter was closed by com
bination Of bad boy and rifle. Dogs were not
SO numerous. but they were represented
They seemed to have an especial
fondness for hanging over the outlets
of some Of the smaller sewers. and
but few Of the pipes which emptied their con-
tents into the perfumed food had no deceased
canine somewhere in their immediate vicinity.
The outlets of the sewers from Providence