Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-05-09
ISLAND CITIZENS
TAKING THE PRELIMINARY STEPS IN A BIG
IMPROVEMENT.
Planning to Make FIJI Of Six OF Seven Hundred
thousand Cubic Yards in the Low Ground
North Of the Bridge

For several weeks past number oil
prominent citizens Of the Island, includ-
ing among their number large property
owners and men Of wealth, have been
earnestly considering a proposition TO
materially add TO the value Of the Island
as 4 place OF residence, and as natural
consequence. increase its taxable prop
erty 10 the amount of a couple OF hun
dred thousand dollars or so. Their plan
/ is 10 fill In all the low ground north Of
the suspension bridge, extending in
width from the residences on the east
side of North Front street east To a dis
lance considerably outside the present
edge of the bank. and running
as far toward the northern end
OF the Island as the low ground
extends al present. This done a street,
/ fifty or sixty feet in width would be laid
out. running from about where the
"round house" is at present located, OPP
poSite the north end of South Front
street and cutting clear through the
lots north to about where the brick
house stands, near the upper end of the
/ Island There would be row Of lots
outside this new street, one hundred
and twenty feet deep, situated exactly
as those on the east side Of South Front
street. and it is believed by those living
along the present North Front street
| that the new lots would be the most de
Sirable on the Island by long odds and
would command good prices.
Engineer Durham. formerly chief en-
giueer Of the Wheeling Bridge and Ter
minal Railway Company, has been Ton
suited about the matter, and he was
present at a meeting of interested gen
/ tlemen. held at the Office of the Mutual
Savings Bank, last night. There were
] also present Mr.. Joseph Lawson. Mr..
I George Eckart, Mr.. George Wise, Mr..
Alexander Mitchell. DR.. George !. Cad
/ die. and others. while number of
Others who We're unavOidably absent,
were present in the spirit. being fully
/ i'm sympathy with the project.
The matter was fully discussed, dur
/ i'm the two hours the gentlemen We're
present. and the foundations were laid
/ FOR the formation of a company. which
should undertake the work.
The space To be- filled in has length,
I from the suspension bridge abutment
northward of four thousand feet, with
am estimated average width OF 270 feet,
and the iill, il is thought, will average
about twelve or thirteen feet i'm depth,
being deepest az the south end. Ii is
roughly calculated that about 7OO,O 900
cubic yards of earth and rock filling
will be- required
Two plans were discussed for obtain
ing chcaply this large amount Of mate
rial, either one of which, it seems, is en-
tirely feasible. One was To obtain the
material from land purchased or other
wise acquired ON the Ohio side Of the
river. while the second plan, and the
one which had the most friends, was 10
take the material from the top OF Wheel
ing hill from the present new
reservoir south. In view of
the pending resolution in Council,
raising a joint standing committee,
to consider, among other things, plan
for the gradual annual removal OF a GER
tain amount of material from the top of
the hill. beginning at the new reservoir
cut, and gradually extending south, il
was the concurrent opinion of those
present that the city. entering upon
this work of lcveiing the hilltop, would
desire that the material be removed, and
that il would be glad TO have private
parties take il away as fast as eXcavated,
either by the workh0uSe gang or labor
erS. or both, put to work upon il.
The city being supposed to be in
this mood of killing two birds
with one stone, the gentlemen pres
cnt AT the meeting proposed 10 re-
move this earth and rock to the Island,
not by the slow means of teams, but by
"A series of steel buckets, supported and
carried on "a steel rope, the system being
kown by several names, among the APP
plianccS Of the sort being the Bleichert
system of overhead carriage, manufac-
tured by the Trenton Iron Company,
and the system manufactured by the
John 4. Roebing'S Sons Company, also
OF Trenton.
Assuming the resolution now pending
i'm Council to have passed, as it will be-
vond a doubt, il having no opposition
whatever i'm the Second Branch, the
Island Improvement Company, as the
respective corporation might well be
called. would extend a steel cable from
the hilltop, say at the south end OF
the new reservoir site, or in that
vicinity, clear across over the houses In
| North Wheeling and across the river to
the Island side. On this endless
cable. operated exactly upon the
principle of the cable car system. would
bee suspended steel buckets. with a
capacity of from half ton TO three and
|one-half tons, according To the system
and size adopted, and the cNcavatcd
earth. loaded into the buckets through
"A shutc. would be sent spinning across
To the Island. dumped ont. and carried
back empty. the time required To make
/ a round "trip varying according To the
velocity the cable was run at
from four ar fvs minutes up,
/ By This system hundreds of cubic yards
OF material could be delivered daily
and the work would soon tell IN the
wide spread Surface of new ground.
Many such plants as this are now in
opcration i'm this and other countries, aS
will be hereafter referred To. some OF
/ the systems being four miles i'm length,
81 there is 40 question of the feasibility
of the plan. II IS thought the distance
the earth wonld have 10 be- carried
would be about $500 feet, and the cost
I i'm the ncighborhOOd OF $4,000
At LoganSport, Pa, there IS such
uanway. one span having length of
fourteen hundred feet The cable is
two inches in diameter. consisting OF a
hemy core. around which are wound
six strands of nineteen steel wires each.
and has strength of one hundred tons.
/ The buckets each weigh one and one
half tons. and contain three and one
half tons of earth, making the total five
tons 1t takes but five minutes to make
trip.
At LumbcrpQrt, Pa, there Is another
cable Of the same nature, used 10 carry
granite blocks across the Delaware
riyer. II has one span of 99S feet and
the system is guaranteed good up to
I :. 900 feet span. These two systems
were built by the John 4. Roeblins'S
Sons Company,
The Bi-Neiallic Mining Company, of
Granite. Montana, has an overhead cable
system $3.50 feet long, with a fall OF
.s95 feet. This system takes load OF
eleven tons 90 a clip, the loads in irauslt,
developing about fourteen horsepower