Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-08

One of the largest municipal improve.
ments ever undertaken by the city was the
building of the big Thirty-third street sewer
| few years ago. 1t was to be built under.
meath the bed of Two Mile run, which wa,
| the natural drainage basin of large por-
tion of Lawrenceville and Bloomfield. In
| the construction of the sewer 5000, 00O
| brick would be required. Evan Jones got
the contract, and he at once stuck up lot
out two high embankments along Liberty
avenue between Thirty-fourth and Thirty
sixth streets, and which is veritable
mountain when seen from the cars of the
PENNSYLVANIA Railroad across the Two Mile
run gully.
The hill was all shale, but Jones set his
crushers and plug mills to grinding, and he
will keep on grinding until Liberty avenue
between the two streets named has nothing
but level ground on either side, which the
real estate agents will at once throw upon
the market as good, eligible building lots
Out of that hill of rock every one of the
6,000,0 900 brick which went into the big
Thirty third street sewer was made. Out
of the same hill have come the brick which
have gone into the walls of more than one
handsome business warehouse in Pittsburg.
Before and After Taking.
One of the photographs accompany wing this
article shows some workmen with their
picks on one corner of this Liberty avenue
embankment. 1t would have required no
stretch of imagination for the artist in re-
producing this photograph to have placed
beside it the picture Of an imposing eight
story business block on some of the down
town avenues, labelling the drawing of the
rocky hill, "Before Attacking" and the
sketch of the building "After Attacking.
That is precisely what happens in Pitts
burg every year-some disfguring bit of
hill disappearing and going into brick walls
that inclose a business of many hundreds of
thousands of dollars per year, perhaps.
Obviously the community reaps a three
fold advantage from the peculiar habits of
the squatter brickmaker First. he levels
on ground for the real estate market. Sec
ond, he is gradually beautifying the city.
A brick works is now running on that hill
of rock on Locust street, which I wrote
about in last Sundays DISPATCH, and il is
going to grind the bulky mass of liobter
rock out of sight. Third, he prevents waste.
quitting the hills for materials to throw into
the construction of new buildings. Tins
adding to the material wealth of Pittsburg
by the highest possible type of economy.
Eow Bricks Are Manufactured,
How does he do it7 Who ever heard ~
bricks made out of rock? To make bricks
without straws was imposed upon the Israel
ties as a severe and hard task. To maka
bricks out of rock might be regarded as a
still more laborious task in these latter davs
But it is quite an easy matter. The shaie
rock and dirt from the hill are roughly diD
yided, the dirt being thrown into ohe Wheel
barrow and the shale into another. Tba
dirt is wheeled upon an elevator which car.
ries it up tower so or 60 feet high. There
it is dumped upon a screen, the finer pro.
duct passing down through chute to a |
lower story, where finer sitting is met |
over another screen and second chute car.
ries it down still lower, where the earth |
in its finest quality passes over final sieve |
into the pug mill, water here Transforming
muddy stream into the brick press on the |