Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1891-10-08
AN ENGINEERS VIEW OF IT.
r, f.. Branch Discusses the Sub
.iect Of Sewerage, in Il Report
to City Council.
He Thinks Il System Should be
Provided, and Suggests
Proper Method.
AVcrdict Rendered by the COrO
Mer's Jury in the Buffalo
Accident-Heavy Rain.
Sewerage Il Necessity.

Sewerage Il Necessity.
Interest has been revived to some eX-
tent in the question Of constructing
system of sewerage for jamestown, and
at the meeting of the city council next
Monday evening the subject is likely to
again have consideration-if there's
quorum present. The following inter-
esting opinion will be submitted to the
aldermen at their coming regular session,
in pursuance of request recently made
for authoritative information in regard to
the matter. It is in the form Of report
and is self-explanatory:
10 the Hon. May or and Members of the
City Council of the City of Jamestown:
Gentlemen:-In response to your re-
quest for an opinion from me as an en-
gineer, as to the feasibility Of sewerage
system for your city, would beg to sub
nit that in my opinion such system
would be not only feasible and desirable,
but If we are to have any regard for the
public health, an absolute necessity, and
would recommend that in order to sup
ply the present and most urgent de-
mands that main sewer of 10 inches in
diameter be established and laid in Fifth
avenue, from Second street on the south
side Of the railroad track to Fourth street
on the north side Of the railroad track,
with an east and west sewer of the same
diameter on Third street, extending from
Fifth avenue west and emptylng into the
James river. Such a sewer would
be- about 2,2OO feet in length and
would cost not to exceed 5l.5O per foot,
aggregating $4,000. OF course it is de-
sirable that the outlet would be as far
down stream as possible, but to construct
the Fifth avenue portion and extend it
south SO that the outlet would be at the
southern extremity of Fifth avenue
would not be expedient, for the reason
that the ground along Second street is so
high that to drain the residence part
north of the track would require sewer
20 feet in depth at Second street, and
even to drain Fifth avenue from Fourth
street south would require sewer l6
feet in depth at Second street. Eight
feet in depth is sufficient to avoid frost,
and when you 60 deeper the expense Is
more than doubled, besides the incon-
venience of making connections, most OF
which would be in the highest part OF
the city, for the present at least.
The highest part of the city extends in
the shape, ridge commencing at the IN
tersection OF Fifth avenue and Second
street and extending southeast, and If at
any time in the future it is deemed ex-
pedlent to sewer that part of the city
lying south of this ridge the outlet may
be made in the James river south of the
city.
1t has been said that emptying sewer
into the river would endanger the health
of the city. That is true to some extent,
but which is the least ot two evils-to
run the sewerage into the rive: and oc.
casionally get Whit la Chicago, or to
throw it into the back yard and live
right IN the midst of it and get full
benefit, or on the other hand dump it In
a cesspool and let run into the we'll? That
is what we are doing now and the
thought is not pleasing.
It is we'll known that the formation
underlying the surface soil III this valley
Is loose shale through which anything
in the liquid form passes readily. For
the last ten years we have been steadily
saturating this soil with sewerage mat
ter. This being true, would 1t be strange
If the water in the wells was more or less
impure: will venture to assert that if
the water of the wells was analysed,
three -fourths of all the wells IN the city
would be condemned. In my opinion
the danger arising from emptying sewer
age into the river is not one tenth part of
that which we are undergoing at pres
ent and which is steadily increasing.
Although we have not increased in popu-
lation for the last eight years, sickness
and the death rate have increased to an
alarming extent, and will continue to in
crease unless prompt and DECISIVE action
is taken at once.
The facilities for flushing such sewer
are first class. The carrying capacity Of
of a Is inch sewer on grade of inches
per 100 feet would be 1921 gallons per
minute; one inch of rainfall per acre
would equal 377 gallons per minute. The
flow from the artesian we'll is equal to
AGO gallons per minute, SO that if the
we'll was turned on with quarter force
it would be amply sufficient to flush the