Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-12

ASHINGTON. d. c., Nc
TO BRING MORE WATER IN.
The Work Of Excavation for the Big
Main Begun Today.
MONTH AHEAD OF rnx-rHB PIPE Will. sx
LAID raoA soru ENDS OF TEE LINE A. aAr1pLY
~ PossIDLE-coI. xLLIor rxExs xo1 TIE
WORK WILL BIT DONE
The second act Of the modern drama entitled
'swashington's Water Supply" was begun this
morning when Contractor Thomas Cowle and 3
gang Of twenty men went to work 81 the corner
Of r and 4th streets northwest to did the trench
for the new four-foot main that II TO connect the
great reservoirs with the city's pipe systen.
This is over month ahead Of the time ct
BY Col Wilson when he made his plans for The
work. the advance being due to . desire on the
! partof Col. Geo. II. Elliot, the present engineer
officer in charge, to push the project 10 . COM
pietfon at the earliest possible date There 10 .
considerable stock Of pipe on hand and Col
Elliott calculated upon . sufficiently rapid de-
livery Of the remainder to keep the workmen
busy from now on, making allowances for bad
oA~
ANOTHER GANG
will be started In short time at the other end
the distributing reservoir above GEORGETOWN
and the two viii approach each other from
| these starting points. The trench will be dug
ahead about u couple of blocks, 90 as to give
the pipe layers plenty of room. The latter win
begin the work Of laying the pipes on Wednes-
DAY or possible on Thursday, and then the
picks viii hy and the earth will swallow the
mn Rotn a..
there ia 4S-inch tube laying underground to
bring water from the reservoir Oh the hills to
the four foot main that runs up New
Jersey avenue. When that will be II
question that Col. Elliot refused to answer
this morning while talking to q STAB
| reporter. There are 30 many possible obsta-
| cles he explained, that may delay the work in
unforeseen ways that it is not safe to predict the
date OF completion.
POSSIBLE OBSTACLES.
ut is an unfortunate fact" he said, ''that
| the District government kept no record of the
things that were put under ground, such a.
gas pipes, water mains and sewers. From the
time OF the Shepherd government down to
the present time there ia a perfect record Of
every project and we have an accurate map Of
| the obstacles in our way that were planted dur
ing that period. but beyond that we shall be
cropping in the dark. There is no telling what
| we may strike. 1t may be a sewer or grave
yard 1t would not surprise me in the Toast II
| We run across crop OF bones before we get
| through. Such an obstacle as a sewer in our
path would inconvenience US badly. as we should
have to wait until We got it out OF our way.
The pipe must go on at all hazards, even if the
| sewer is blocked and turned into another
| course. We might take dip under an obsta-
Gle, but that is not good plan, for it gives q
low spot in the main, where sediment is cure
| to collect and impede the flow Of water. There
will be
where the pipe crosses Rock creek at NJ street,
but we can remedy this by means of blow-off.
The plans for the crossing have not yet been
quite completed, but the pipe will be supported
between two large trusses. The span in 126
feet long.
I'VE shall keep ahead with the work from
now on and can promise the folks here an in
creased water supply Mt the very earliest posi-
Bile moment. The materials are coming in at
a satisfactory rate and are of good quality
Our inspectors at the works are rejecting pipe
| right and left and elbow none but perfect work
to be sent here. There was a carload of special
castings smashed in transit a few days ago, but
this will not delay the work at all. as we have
others at hand and more coming. This loss
will fall on the contractors and may be trans
ferred from them to the railroad company, so
the government will not lose cent by the &C.
cident. 1t was due to careless packing and
handling.
The trench which was started this morning
to be excavated for the 4S-inch main will ex-
tend from the distributing reservoir along the
Conduit and Canal roads to Foundry branch, and
from 37th and III streets along N to New Hamp-
| shire avenue, and Il street, thence to 4th.
The trench for the 30-inch main. which will
not be dug until the other is completed. will be
excavated from New Jersey avenue and street
northwest across the Capitol grounds to East
CanitOl fhapca atr fn
18th east.
There will also be a 24-inch main on 18th or
18th streets-probabiy the latter-from X to L
streets northwest.
orally "a feet deep and at least feet wide on
the bottom and feet at the surface of the
ground. The line will follow the curb instead
Of the center OF the street, and the excavated
materials will be SO piled that at least half of
the footway is clear At street crossings bridges
will be built
TO ACCOMMODATE CARRIAGE AND FOOT TRAFFIC.
The pavement is to be cut neatly along the
edges of the trench and the pieces piled out of
the way Of travel.
There will be about 10000 lineal feet of
trench for the 4S-inch main, 400 feet for the
30-inch and about 400 feet for the 24-inch. The
rate OF progression in the work of excavating
ia fixed at 400 lineal feet day, but the en-
gineer in charge has the right to diminish this
pipe layers and to inconvenience the public as
little as possible.
PRO BONO PUBLIco.
The object Of Col Elliot is to have the
trenches stand open as short time as possible
in order to prevent the ill effects eminating
from newly dug SOIL and he will keep the pipe
layers hard at work to fill the excavations as
fast as possible. There will probably be no
more than three squares open at once.
The pipes wf1l be laid directly on the ground,
except in cases where the soil shows such signs
of softening as to render foundations advis-
able. In all other cases the earth will be packed
down solid with hammers before the pipe il
laid. Each joint of pipe will be fitted into the
other with calking of jute yarn and lead.
This will require about 1900 pounds Of jute
and 100 tons Of lead.
THE COKE WORKERS. STRIKE,
The Hungarian Miners Still Make Trou.