St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-14
WHY THE RLUNDER?
The Engineering Department
Makes Bad Break.

Makes a Bad Break.
The engineering department has. it
appears, contributed its mite to the
comedy of errors which makes up the
history of the retrenchment and reform
administration. A blunder that will,
perhaps, cost the city thousands of dol
lars, has been committed. The great
Northeast Minneapolis sewer tunnel is
not sewer tunnel at all. 1t is simply
an underground channel. Instead of
tapping Sandy lake and drain
ing the low ground adjacent
in far Northeast Minneapolis, the head
OF this big, costly piece of engineering
will, if the sewer be continued as
planned. protrude into the open air and
form scene for the robbers cave"
games of Northeast Minneapolis chill
dren- The tunnel will be sort of ven
tilating shaft for the subteranean re-
glonS. but as no underground inhabit-
ants have been discovered in that part
of the city. its usefulness for that pur-
pose had better be left to the magma
ton. 1t has been suggested that the
city engineer and his assistants be
buried in this monument to their I'M
scientific methods. Certainly, they
might lie in the northern part of this
risk of being defiled 10y sewage.
This big sewer tunnel. big enough to
accommodate team of horses, was be-
gun about four years ago. 1t is the
most pretentious piece of engineering
ever undertaken in the city. Viewed
in the light of recent developments, it
is well that the city'S corps of engineers
has never been called upon to under
take larger piece of work. Thou
sands of dollars have been sunk
IN this abortion. and more will
be quietly slowed away in its
capaciouS depths before it can accom-
Stined. Some Of this money has been
paid out of the general fund, some of it
has come from the taxpayers in special
assessments. AS property owners can
not be assessed twice for the same thing,
the money necessary to make
a sewer out of this below-ground
driveway will have to come out
of the general fund and municipal
expenses in other directions will have
to be curtailed in order to meet the de-
ficiency. This is not by any means the
first time that the discovery of misman-
agement end miScalculationS have been
discovered in connection with this same
sewer tunnel. This last mistake, COM
ing on top of the others, should demon
strate to even the most skeptical that
there is something wrong with the city
engineers office.
This tunnel runs out Harrison street,
and is a continuation of the main East
side sewer. When planned it was said
that its purpose Was to gather all of the
Northeast Minneapolis sewerage and
dump it into the river below the city
waterwork's intake pipe. Afterward it
tod To
North to and beyond Sandy lake, so
that the notwithstanding. stagnant
water up in that section might be car
ried away. Property owners up there
favored the enterprise, and were per-
fectly willing to help pay for it, al
though much of the AUDITING property
was at that time unproductive, because
the building of this tunnel to carry off
all superfluOus water would decrease
the value OF that property. The lines
for the sewer were run out and con-
stru ction was begun. Numerous acct
dents befel the work, the particulars of
which there is not space here for the
narration; nor is that necessary, for
the public remembers them, especially
the cavlng in of the tunnel because of
the slIp-shod manner in which the in
side work of brieking up was done.
There has been no trouble with
the enterprise for coupleIof years now.
and the tunnel has been pushed until
the upper end of it is abreast Sandy
lake and almost in the open air. In Or
der to make it effective for the purpose
intended when its construction was be-
gun, several hundred feet of that big
tunnel-sOme blocks of its length
must be adopted and the work done all
over again. The man who planned that
tunnel figured out the levels, etc.,
must have been star-gazer:
he must have had in con-
temptation a trip to the North star
and to nave planned this tunnell with an
eye to its future usefulness as bed for
the big gun which should start him
upon his aerial journey, la Jules
Verne. Anyhow, the channel is point
ed towards the sky. It>will, as it now
stands, never drain Sandy lake or any
of the houses which may be built upon
adjacent property. Water cannot be
except through evaporation. 1t would
cost too much to evaporate Sandy lake
into the sewer. The siphon would, like
wise, be trifie too expensive. The
problem which now confronts the city
engineer in connection with this big
tunnel and its uses is this: How can
we drain Sandy lake through this tun-
mel when the bottom of the tunnel is
two feet above the surface of the lake?
Any man who can satisfactorily answer
this question will confer favor upon
Andrew Rinker. The employees of
the engineers office say this sewer
was not designed to drain Sandy lake.
Very well, what was it designed for
then?. They say to convey sewage
from the houses up there. Sewers. in
order to be of any use, must be below
the frost line. The upper end of this
sewer is several feet above the frost
line and higher than the bottom of any
ordinary cellar.