The morning call., 1891-12-06
POINT LGBUS
IMPROVEMENTS.
Wonderful Strides of Progress in
Richmond.
Nearly Million Dollars Expended on Sewers
and Street Work in Eighteen Months.
The Only Drainage System.

In union there Is strength. A better IL
lustration of this ancient truism 1t would
be hard TO find than the splendid results OF
united effort In that portion OF the city Ia
'niliarly known as Richmond This district
may be generally described as lying west OF
Lone Mountain, between Golden Gate Park
and the Preside. and extending to the
ocean beach. 1t is even now very desira-
Die residence locality, and the far-seelng
ones prophesy for it the chosen spot of the
city for homes. The problem of commune
cation IS the only one TO be solved,
Richmond, or the Point Lobos District, as
t has been called for years, has been but
indifferently progressive up to about the
beginning of 1890. Settlers with the cour-
age and hardihood of pioneers moved in
from time to time and purchased small hold
:ngS. on which homely dwellings were
-rected. and they quietly curled down to
wait the advancing wave of progress.
As their numbers increased and they saw
the growing need of improvement they
stirred the subject among themselves. This
and that was desired; why not have it?
But there was no concerted action. Some
pulled one way, some hauled another, and
the few advantages that reached them came
more as spray from the breaking wave Of
progress than from their own efforts.
The rapidly increasing desire for i'm
prOvementS reached n climax in n most
singular manner In the latter part OF 1889
awoman was run over and instantly killed
by one of the dummies OF the Park and
Ocean Railroad on Point LobOs avenue.
This sad accident created instantly bond
Of sympathy throughout
THE ENTIRE DISTRICT.
The dummies had long been objection
able fea,ure-a menac to life and such like
and they were anxious TO be rid of them.
An Indignation meeting was promptly
called at which nearly every resident and
property-Owner Of the community and many
outside Of il were present. They resolved
IS with a single voice that the dummy must
20. Attention was directed TO the proceed
lDgs of the Board of Supervisors in July,
1879, granting the company the privilege Of
running dummies on Point IO0OS and First
avenues, from Central to the park the
privilege 10 continue during the pleasure of
the board Committees were appointed to
AXE the matter in hand and the determine
ton expressed t. wage war until the dunn
my was vanQulShed.
The comp nv was first appealed to. They
had many times assured the residents that
the dummy was only temporary cOnven-
lence: that Is soon as business would war
rant the cable would be extended and the
oh;e enable motor removed. They were
reminded of their promise, but temporized
with the committee bv explaining that the
road over which the dummy ran should be
!raded and severed before such a costly
permanent Improvement as cable TOadbed
could be constructed; as soon as that was
done the cable would surely be extended.
This was the germ out Of which sprang
the Point LobOs Improvement Club, and
the wonderful strides forward from that
line can hal diy be told at a single sitting.
The desire for Improvement was 50 great
a of 4
cable system in place OF the miserable make
shift that had
THREATENED PUBLIC TRAVEL
For decade was so promising, that the
whole country seemed fired with new zeal.
Point Lobos avenue, il was decided at once.
should be graded and severed
But this was simply an entering wedge.
Point LObOS avenue really formed but a
small portion of very large district, all of
which was quite as deeply interested In the
important subject OF drainage. What if the
Dig avenue IS severed, where will the out
1T he? was the significant question.
The purposes Of the Improvement club
were fuzzy crystalIzed by this time. Not
only must Point LObOs avenue be severed,
nat the whole Point LoOos district should
De supplied with a system OF drainage, and
1t should he constructed on a scientific plan
abundant'y ample for all future needs. The
club proposed To profit by the miserable eX-
perience of older portions of the city, and
not cumber the strict with a botchtd up
string OF sewers, rammei in here and there
i.aphaZ rd, without thought of the future.
The system must be as near perfect as the
nEinrrrs could make it, and the outlet all
that could ever be required Of 1t.
Early IN 1890 the Board of Supervisors in
response TO a petition from the club in
stIuctsd Cily Engineer ). Harrison Smith
to prepare a system of drainage for the
Richmond district The work was done
in mast respects it was acceptable to the
hub. Bat the plan of outlet was not ac-
ceptdDle. The club whose members were
Perfectly familiar with the topography of
the country, knew that the plan was i'm
practicable, and they were determined not
% have an otherwise good system impaired
by any such fatal mistake.
THE ORIGINAL PLAN
Proposed that the outlet should extend from
Lake street nOl therly along Twenty-fifth'
venue one block to a street that was to be
opened and chrlstened New street, thence
westerly TO Iwentyseventh avenue, thence
n"rtheriy and westerly over a high bluff
into the ocean.
Engineers were employed by the club to
survey a feasible and suitable outlet. 1t
VAS finally fixed on Tweuty-fourth avenue
from Lake street noTtherly alb Jut a block
and half, thence at various angles west
rrly and nOrtGerly TO Twenty-seYtnth ave-
nue., and on to the beach. The main idea
was TO get sufficient fall without having to
SuINuUuul SUCH utIC6 obstacles IN the way
OF heavy emOaDkmentS and costly drilling.
Befure this new route could be finally
fixed upon the solid nine, by that time get
ting ready to retire from office and wishing
to feather as many nests as possible for
BGekiey's hungry lambs, established a CON-
mission Tor the opening and extension of
Twentyfifth and Twenty-seyenth avenues
and New street, appointing thereon A. L.
SPOTS, john DOugherty and c. H. Haswell.
These streets were to be opened according
TO the system prepared by Engineer Smith.
The squabbes that ensued are too
t rehearsal Suffice it to say that
the Improvement club has determined,
after many vain attempts to compromise, to
oppose and defeat the final report of that
commission II it takes ten years and the
cost of the system itself. Meanwhile the
utlet will be constructed along the route
decided upon.
This grand system of drainage, really the
only scientific and complete system in the
rty. threatened the district with an enOr-
nous expense, but the property owners
looked 1t square in the face and
MET IT LIKE MEN,
II is almost wonderful what has been ac-
cOmplished since this mighty work was
fairly begun, hardly more than eighteen
months ago Point L9bos avenue has been
graded and severed from Josephine street
tn Thirty-second avenue, a distance of
about two miles. and the sewer con-
structrd is large enough for an adult
OF average height To walk upright through.
Other large OF receiving sewers fave been
constructed in Fourteenth, Seventeenth.
Twentieth and Twenty-third avenues, from
Point Lobos to Lake street, and on Lake,
from Fourteenth to Twentieth avenues,
where the outlet begins. Into these re-
ceivlDg sewers have been constructed side
Vt lateral sewers draining twenty-five
blocks. The district tributary to the system
That will have its outlet at Twenty fourth
avenue is bounded by Thirty-sixth avenue
on the west, Josephine street and Masonic
the south and the Preside on the north.
The outlet for this magnificent system,
which will comprise over thirty miles of
sewers. will he 1900 feet in length and six
feet five inches in diameter More than
nine miles Of this system is already con-
structed, and the total cost will probably