The morning call., 1892-05-02
THE FELL.STREET FARCE.
Some Of the SceRe-Shifting That Is Now
Going On.
TIE STORY OF 4 WRONG SURVEY.
HortaF Made Of 0ae-TeRth Cement and Eine-IenthS
One Of the BOtthieSt Of
BOteh Jobs.
TEE STORY OF 4 WRONG SURVEY.
The FelI.street sewer-A Farce, in One

The Fell-street Sewer-A Farce, In one
Act and Forty Breakdowns.
That is what the underground job6ery OF
the park sewage outlet will be called oeIOre
long The scene: hitting is now going on
and all the realistic accessories Will soon Dc
ready. 49,
tits TO be an expensive show for the prop
ertv-owners: but then think of the richness
of II. the gorgeousness. Not single detail
Is to be left out The greatest pains is being
taken to make the farce complete. What a
spectacle 1t is to bel Real brick, real NOR
tar, real workmen and genuine inspectors;
all secured at an enormous expense for this
engagement only.
Scene-shifting is going on at Church and
Reservoir streets. Reservoir would seem
to indicate that this is tank play, but 1t is
not. It is just s plain farce.
City Engineer TiltOn, who, with Street
Superintendent GilleraD, divides the h0nors
If stage management. ordered survey OF
Reservoir street some time ago IN order that
Conklin & Co, the contractors, who are
playing the leading roles, might put down
the curbs for thecoTners OF Reservoir and
Church streets. build sidewalks on the ccT-
ners, construct culyeTts and make pipe con-
nections with the sewer, which has been
is a part of the main Feil-stTeet sewer.
Reservoir street is so feet wide.
The survey was made and the contractors
did the work. completing it 10 days ago.
While laying the foT the culyeTts they
made q liberal show Of cement. There
were barrels and barrels of it. The prop
eTty-OwneTs rubbed their hands together.
There is going TO be one honest JOB done
In this city at last, said they.
The cement was quietly carted of when
nobody was looking On-betweel the acts,
as il were-and the stuff that was used in
those culverts, and, in fact in the whole
sewer, for this is a fair sample Of the WOTS-
maBship, was gritty mixture that the
workmen call dope"
THE CALL has several samples OF this
dope"
It is dirty stuff, that assays about one
pound of cement to nine pounds Of sand
The culYerts were built, the pipes put in,
the curbs and sidewalks laid
Now it Is found that the whole piecs Of
botehwoik must come out
Wby2
Not because the mortar was nue-tenths
sand; not because the sand was not clean
and dry, as is called for by the specifca-
tons; not because the mortar was stuck in
an inch and a half thick In order to .ecOnO-
mze Oh brick; not because the side walk
was laid in the himsiest fashion; not be-
cuse the euTbs were laid IN loose sand and
could be pushed aside with ones foot, but
simply because the surveyor made a wrong
survey He put Reservoir street 10 feet
south Of where II should have been.
The error has been repaired. The cul-
Verts have been torn up tan easy job con-
sideri the fact that there is no adhesive
quality in the mOrtar), aud the sidewalks
and cuI BIS are 10 be removed, which Is also
an easy Job.
Now, who pays for this errorP The
RI n will
haps they will have to.
a CALL man went 10 the spot yesterday
and scraped from the brick with his fingers
about two quarts Of the mortar" Il had
been sticking between the brick for 10 days.
Il surely ought to have set in that time If
there was any cement IN 1t worth talking
about.
But there was not
Reservoir street was ordered cleared Of
all distractions on April Il. The ObstTuC-
tl0Hs consist Of one-stOTy house and along
high board fence, which partly incloses
japanese garden.
This is the 81 Of May aud The obstruc-
tiOns still remain.
When the sewer contractors began work
In October last they uncovered the old
sewer which the new one was 10 replace.
They left large hole near the Castro street
railroad line, Ia the middle Of Market street.
That hole Is still there-a menace TO life and
limb. The sewer is cIOgged up below the
hole, and yesterday the water coming down
through the 5-foot channel was stopping in
It's course al Market street, where 1t Is col
Letting In great pool that is stagnating
and filing the air thereabout with a fright
full Odor.
The contractors have left the sewer IN
covered at Haight street in the same way.
They eft the whole block along Church
street to Ridley uncovered for several
weeks while building the new sewer, and
much sickness resulted in the neighbOrhOOd.
There is every reason TO believe that a
thorough examination Of the Fell-street
sewer all along its route would result in the
discovery Of one Of the botchiest Of bOtch
Jobs that the city has ever accepted, and
that pT0perty-owners have ever paid for.
As usual, the burlesque inspector has
played his part we'll The lightnng-c change
artist 10 charge of the mOrtar-mixing eVinces
bis superior talent as of old time, and the
funny man who handles the tape-meaSure,
as well as that other artist who iuggles with
the 1o-foot pole, ars ell we'll up in their
parts.
ltHam merry, merry farce, roaring farce
farce that will have long run. unless il
becomes too unpopular as the season ad-
Vauces
And the property-owners pay for it.