Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-09-29
DALLAS.
Crack Base Ball Team Coming to Fort
WOrth-Wants a PostOffice
Reports of the Water Reservoir Investigating
COmmittee-The Whole Matter Referred
to an Ohio Engineer
BADLY MIXED .

NOALNiA LIScLlHS hds du I'LL DOE tuIiL OiC
and much interest was taken. The re-
ports of the water reservoir investigating
mmittee were the principal subject for
discussion. The committee Is composed
of tive members of the city council and
the city engineer. The reports as re-
turned to the city council were three in
number, and show large variance of
opinion as to the quality of work done by
the contractors The report of City En-
gineer Poyner was Us follows:
In compliance with your instructions have in
/ spected the condition and character of the work
1 that, taken as 4 whole find the work of aver
age quality. The cement in the bottom of the
reservoirs is of the full thickness and would be
! injured II the propoTlo- OF cement was IN
/ creased by causing TO crack from the heat OF
/ the sun be!ore being ready for use. The sand
and gravel used for concrete is fIeer from earth
! thar have ever around the city. That
used for mortar is fine grained. The mortar
/ would not set quick of course. The brick are
! well burned and viii compare favorably with
! any in the market. do not that sufficient
! broken brick have been used in any way 10 in
thar cam ng ony be Controlled con by sum-
! cient inspection, the force employed
in this pat of the work is dntirey too large and
! covers 100 much territory to be carefully In
/ spected by one man. l respectfully recomne ID
| that the engineer In charge he allowed an add
| uonal assistant for the inspection OF the brick
WORK; also one for the inspection OF the spread
| ing Of the concrete in the bottom Of the reser
vOirs, as 1t Is impossible for the present cement
! inspector to leave the mixing machine aud be
! sponslble Tor proper proportions. viii also
state that the GU omary allowances for the ex-
| pense OF supervision and engineering OF public
| work OF this magnitude IS from t . per cent.
of the total expense. find this to be 40 per
cent. for the months of July and August.
Alderman Webster, as chairman of the
committee, then submitted a minority re-
port. From his report IL would appear
that there was scarcely particle of the
work done according to the plans and
specifications. The lining of the bottom
of the reservoir should be of concrete
four inches in thickness and made of
three parts gravel, one part sand and
one part cement HIS report SAYS that
only ne-thirteenth of cement was used
in place of the one-fifth required and
that this proportion of cement renders
the flooring soft and crumbly, and as he
believes practically worthless. The re-
port further states that there are places
over the concrete flooring where holes
can be made through the work with the
foot or the point of an umbrella, further
more that the concrete flooring should
have been of the uniform thickness of
four inches, but that the average thick
ness is not over two aud one half inches.
In summary the report reads:
We c ono ude that the concrete lining of the
bottom has been in no particular laid according
to contract and should not in its present state
be actepte! as OF any value whatever to the
city, because:
l.. The proper quality of cement was not used
in all cases.
the action Of the sun, causing it to set soft and
crumbly instead of hard and firm.
3. The right proportion of sand and gravel
was not used.
4. The thickness of four inches demanded by
the contract has not been laid some being
only average thickness of two inches as
stated ABOVE.
The report then tackles the slope
walls:
The specifications for this part Of the work re-
quires:
/. Lining of gravel. to be well tamped or
rammed in; this lining of gravel to be put in TWO
coats or layers, and so constructed as to form
solid and secure wall.
?. layer of one halt inch of cement mortar
3. A second coat of one-haf inch of newly
bedded wet.
i. Space to be left between the ends of the
tricks for the reception of fresh grouting or
mortar.
5. That all brick used shall be hard burned,
whole brick; the brick to be thoroughly wet be-
fore LAYING, and that no bats shall be used
8. All sand used to be of the quality techni-
cally known as clean, coarse and sharp
The report states that the gravel was
not tamped according TO the specifica-
tons, but was thrown in loose. The
half inch of cement mortar was there,
but the sand used was too fins and rem
dered the mortar crumbly and not up to
the standard demanded, and that the
bricks were placed close together instead
of leaving q space between them, and by
so laying the bricks the mortar could not |
get down between the bricks and make q |
solid wall.
The bricks were laid dry in place of
having the ends wet as the specifications
required, and being dry the mortar did
not adhere to them, but the bricks were
sprnkied after being placed in position. |
The sand used was entirely too fine.
The report sums up the slope work as |
follows:
Frsm all of the above we conclude that the !
lining of the slope has not been done according |
to contract, and that the same, and more espe-
cIsily the brick work. is absolutely worthless to
the city fos the purpose designed: We believe !
that water turned into the reservoir as 1t stands
would soon soften and undermine the brick wall |
so that 1t would gradually sink down and tumble |
in.
The brick work should, in our opinion, |
be completely torn awav and replaced with an |
othe- wall laid, as contemplated by the con-
tract
IN connection with the foregoing we desire to |
call your attention 20 the unwarrarted depreda- !
IlO0 upon the CITY 5 aOQ. lying adjacent TO thlS
work. The testimony of F. o. Brown. one Of |
the contractors. and other witnesses, show that |
the greater part of the sand used in this entire /
work was taken without authority from the /
city's land. There stands on Lake avenue, |
the principal street in your new Ell y park, hole |
100 feet long and twenty-five to fifty feet |
wide, where sand has been excavated and /
carted away by the contractors for making the |
bricE and mortar used on this work. This hole
will require the erection of a costly iron bridge
to make the street passable, and even when |
bridged it Will remain for generations an eye
sore upon the otherwise beautiful prospect. The
actual value of tne material used will probably
be about 5000, not estimating the damage TO the
appearance Ct Lake avenue by the unsightly ex-
cavation. We recommend that the value OF the
material used and the damage done to the ap-
pearance of the park be carefully estimated and
the sum be deducted from the pay of the con-
ira ctors for this work.
Many obstacles have been placed in the way
OF the committee by the contractors and others
to prevent more than surface investigation. !
According - NJ. MahonT. the wafer superln-
tendent, the contractors tried TO force him at
the beginning Of this investigation to turn the
water into the reser OR, evidently with the view
of preventing thorough inspection of the bot
tom lining. where report shows so many de-
fects were existing Besides this. Mr. LANG |
one OF the contractors, refused to permit six or
eight brick experts to make exam nation OF |
the brick worE using at the time of his refusal |
language too strong for repetition here), not
said experts were taken out there
by the committee for the express purpose and
were accompanied By memoer of the COM
uittee al the time.
The following majority report was next