Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-03-18
HOW DENvER's STREETS ARE KEPT
CLEAN.

| CLEAN.
| Superintendent Waterbury Makes Public
His Simple and Economical Plan.
From Belford's Monthly.
| The subject OF street cleaning and the best
methods to be adopted has been a topic Of con-
siderable interest Of late to the municipal
authorities of many OF our large western cities.
Especially has this been true Of Denver whose
phenomenal growth and advancement in public
| as we'll as private improvements has been the
| wonder of the country at large and the pride of
| her public-spirited citizens. 1t is only within
| the past two years that the attention Of our
municipal authorities was directed to the urgent
necessity Of well-pavei streets to substantiato
our claim Of being the most beautiful city in
the Union.
During the past year Denver has laid nearly
thirteen miles OF pavement on her PRINCIPAL
business streets, besides paving about four
n:ies OF alley. all of which regularly cleaned
| every twensy-four hours with the exception OF
Sundays.
For the purpose Of inteiligently organizing a
| street cleaning department for this city was
directed by the mayor and city council to visi.
the large eastern cities. examine their methods
OF paving and adopt such plans as deemed ad-
visible. found the method to be most in
vogue 10 be system of sweeping at night with
two or four-horse rotary brush broons SO coz
structed as to remove the dirt debris into the
| stree; cutters, where it was then grouped into
piles and haned to the dnmp in carts.
With the exception of Washington. Philadel-
phia and Chicago found the two-horse sweep
ers lost In use, for the reason that a fou--ho-se
| inachins Is very awkward to turn streets &C.
curied by street cars and where there is a great
deal Ct travel. In Denver We use five two-horse
machines to sweep thirteen miles OF paved
streets in eight hours and run on the following
schedule. which adopted after many uusatis-
factory experiments with other plans:
At m. the sprinkler starts out. so as to
| have about two streets done ahead OF the
sweepers, which start at 10 pm. and which go
four abreast. following each other SO as to lap
the cuts about six inches, taking the entire
length OF the street before turning, the turn
| being made at the end OF the street and of the
pavement, thereby sweeping the entire length
Of the street in one round and leaving no dirt
| in tho middle CT the street for the hand broom,
which is the case where the WORK is 6aae :.
block at u time. Al il pm the hand
brooms commence. four men On rice.
with a broad shovel. who sweep and
| shovel the dirt into piles. ready for the ca-s
men. who commence at midnight. and are eight
| IL number, one man and horoe to each cart
| slanting end gates SO TO be self-drmping
when tipped. and hold one and one half Yards Of
| dirt each, which is hauled entirely o. paved
streets to the viaduct dump and there dumped
/ through steel chute into coal cars. aad taken
as a fill for low grounds by the railroad COM
pany, thereby saving us a long haul on unpayed
and often muddy streeta The entire force re-
| qui-ed to sweep thirteen miles Of paved street
| in eight hours is rs follows:
One foreman, who has immediate supervision
| during my absence; one wagon boss. in charge
| OF the cart beds: one dump guard, who sees
that the cars are properly loaded and who
keeps a record OF tie number of loads made by
each cart man. whether he had full load or
| not and when he arrived at and left the dump;
| one machinist. who builds the machine brooms
| and makes all needed REPAIRS five two-horse
| sweepers, with one driTer to each, who is IN
strlcted to oil his machine as often as once
| each hour, and is held responsible for any gross
carelessncss in breaking his machine, Tor which
have been unavoidable. When sweep
| ing on streets where car lines run
| the drivers instructed to pull three
| blocks and then turn out for tbs cars
| to pass, there being no city ordinance requir-
ing the car companies to clean between their
| the work. Finally the dirt Is piled in the gut
| tiers by sixteen hand-broom men, as before de-
| scribed, who are divided into two gangs OF eight
men each and who take two streets simultan-
eously, often racing to finish first, which IN
surss the completion Of the whole work In
| eight hours, as per schedule. In the morning
| the foreman leaves his report Of the nights
work. as to any men who were absent or who
failed to work in satisfactory manner; any
breakage in machinery or suggestions he may
| have to make. and he is also required to make
his time report to the timekeeper for the use Of
| the city auditor.
On the morning following the work I
examine each street in person and any faulty
| or defective cleaning Is reported to the fore
man. who is required to call ct the office for his
nights orders, to inform me who did the faulty
work and to send the man or men to me for
correction.
heated term. or from May to September, the
streets are regularly washed in the following
manner. original with this department.:
We have 400 feet Of fire hose, which reaches
the full length OF one block, and under which
at equal spaces Of six feet apart are placed
small set Of platform trucks, eighteen inches
| long with broad leather straps at each end,
which pass through the wood Of the platform
ard buckle around the hose. holdingit sec nely.
These trucks are mounted on double bed casters
four inches in diameter which roll freely in any
direction. At the front end the hose is coupled
to piece Of casing pipe ten feet long and to
which are attached two double handles for the
purpose Of holding the hose up to the pipe men
and to ovsrcoms the pressure due to the re-
sistancs Of the water, which Il 10 pounds
in this city. On the front end Of the
above described pipe II attached 'Y," to each
prong OF which Is attached sixteen feet Of the
same size wire rope and to which in turn ID at.
tached . fire noxsie with . handle for each
man. tbs pipe man at each end, and which has
= spray attached to IL large enough to cover
one-hak Of the street. ct time, thereby clean
| ing the entire width Of the street ct once. As
the street il cleaned the hose 10 moved forward
| by the pipe men In conjunction with the mon
who have hold Of the handles. and a. soon - the
block 4 somplsted the men 60 back and un-
couple from the ping, carrying the hose forward
to the next plug. which generally takes
about twenty minutes TO each block, leaving
| the pavement - clsan - . house board, at the
| sazps tins cleaning the cutters and uneven
spaces in tha pavsmsnt between the paving
blocks e veil = me street car tricks and vssS-
ing ont ell The liquid sscrstons which cause
such nuisance IN our large cities during the
| hot monthA The sand washed into the gut
tsrs u lsft until ths following night, and when
| dry b taken mp By cart men and hauled away
the same - the strsst swespings, ths hand
brush men handling the hose.
| We have rseeived many compliments, both
iron visitors and The press. regarding the
cleanliness q our stresss, 81 vhiah " ere
justly proud, beljsving that We have earned the