Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-24
GOING UNDERGROUND.
Electric Light and Telegraph Com
panies Are Willing to
BURY THE WIRES IN FOUR YEARS.
Mayor Gourley Effects an Enormous Saw
ing to the City.
GETTING THE POIES OFF THE STREETS

| An underground wire ordinance that will
without doubt become law was drafted
yesterday afternoon at a conference of city
officials and representatives. of the inter-
ested electric companies held in the Mayors
office. The consultation occupied over an
! hour, and while it may not have been en-
tirely satisfactory to the electric light,
telegraph and telephone companies, they
realized that the time had come when dila-
tory proceedings would'no longer be toler-
ated and that they might as we'll submit to
the public demand as gracefully as possible,
which they did The only company not
represented was the Pennsylvania Rail-
road.
The electric light companies combined
with the telegraph and railroad people in
demanding an extension of time, which was
finally granted, so that instead of only two
years from June 1, 1892, they will have four
years from August 1, 1892, to put all wires
underground. With this concession there
is a condition, however, that % per cent of
the wires must go down each year.
Getting the Poles Off the Streets. .
The completed ordinance provides that
there shall be no poles west of the east side
of Grant and Eleventh streets, except those
used by the electric light companies along
the Allegheny and Monongahela wharves,
and the terminal poles by which the wires
are conducted from the streets to the build
ings occupied by their patrons. The poles
on the wharves must be on the opposite
side of the street from the building line,
and shall only be used for the wires used in
lighting up the river front.
The terminal pole system adopted is con-
sidered the best that could be possibly be
selected. BY it no wires will cross the
streets ut any point. In front of the build
ing of patron company can place pole
bv which wire can be carried up from the
conduit on the outside of the sidewalk to the
top of the pole from which it must be car
ried across the sidewalk at right angle, to
the building. After making one connection
with a block of buildings the company will
distribute its wires from that point to the
balance of its patrons on that block, either
over the roofs of the buildings or in some
other manner not visible from the street.
Some Con cessions to the Companies.
On the east side of Grant and Eleventh
streets the companies will be allowed the
same number of poles for the present that
they now have. This will permit the rail-
road companies to connect along those
streets with their freight offices without going
underground and will allow the Allegheny
County Electric Light Company to get
much of its heavy cable near to its distrib-
uting point before going underground.
The Chief of the Public Safety De-
partment will have entire supervision of
the underground wire system as lar as he
may deem it connected with his department,
and the system will be open and subject to
the approval and inspection of his depart
ment at all times. The Chief of Public
Works will have the supervision and direc-
tion of the work, and where wires must
come up from or go underground, the open
ing of the street cannot be done without mis-
permission. All wires must be at least two
ieet under ground, and plan and specifca-
tion of every system of wiring must be sub
mitted for the approval Of the Chief of
Public Works Department or the Commit
tee on Public Works before any work can
be done.
Councils viii re tn, Last Resort.
In case the Chief or the Committee on
Public Works refuse to approve such plans
Councils have the right to give approval by
concurrent resolution. The city is in
sured against damages in any way, by rea-
son of the underground system. and PEN
atty clause is included making every offense
against the ordinance Unable BY $780,
But the feature OF the conference YES
terday, which seems to please Chief Brown |
the most, is that the companies must pro-
vide for carrying any and all wires Of the po-
lice and fire departments without cost to
the city, and the Chief gives Mayor Gour-
ley all the credit for gaining this point. 1t |
had not been expected that such thing
would be considered by the companies, and |
clause had been inserted by which the |
share of the expense. AS it is expected |
the underground wiring will cost upward |
OF $500, 200, this was considered fair share
for the city to expend, considering the large |
number OF her wires
The Mayor Ihought Differently.
But the Mayor thought differently and in |
forcible speech to the electric men YES |
terday he showed what valuable franchises |
they had and how little they were paying
for them and insisted that they should |
carry the city wires. They finally con-
sented and the $780, 600 clause was stricken
out. This will not let the city out of ex-
pense in the matter entirely as quite sum
will be required to make the necessary
changes in the police and fire alarm system,
but it will be small in comparison and the
Mayor receives the credit for saving at
least S100, GOO.
Two ordinances will be required to put
the new system into effect One, a general |
ordinance which regulates and governs all
the companies, and the ) provisions of
which they must accept in writing, and the
other putting the compulsory feature of the
un ierground wiring into effect. Both will
be presented at the next Council meeting,
which will probably be next Wednesday,
and it is thought Councils will adopt them
at once.