The Portland daily press., 1893-10-19
AT THE RESERVOIR.
Repairing the Havoc Wrought by the
Water Last Summer.

w
The work in progress at the reservoir
on the Eastern Promenade makes it a
very interesting place to visit, or would
if " No Admission" was not to be seen at
every possible point from which the top
can be reaches A Waterman, Mr..
M. j. Lappin, is there to see to it that the
men are not overrun with visitors as
would be the case were they left free to
go and come at pleasure. The work is
being done thoroughly, and when he is
at home under the personal observation
of Hon. George P. Wescott. Before the
work was touched ways and means were
carefully studied, and as result there is
the greatest possible amount of work be-
ing done at the least cost. That is, steam
is made to help on the work in every
possible way The clay for banking
up" is taken from the pit made by the
rush of water when it went down over
the hill that fateful Sunday morning. A
temporary railway furnishes the transpor
tation, and stationary engine at the
works gives the power. The clay for the
inside work comes from North street, and
that is brought by dump carts, of which
there is a constantly moving line The
crushed stone is brought from Salem,
Mass, and is taken by carts from the
foot of Chestnut street. Both clay and
stone are taken from the dumping
ground directly to the top by engines,
and by very good arrangement there is
no unloading except to the platforms
that are used to take up the loads FROM
the carts.
The work of filling the gap made by
the outward rush of water is going for
ward under the personal direction of Mr..
W. Whitaker of Providence, r. Fl. who
was brought here from Rumford Falls,
to take.general charge of the work. The
men in the pit are under the immediate
direction of Mr.. Deyer of Cape Elizabeth,
who has been with the water company
about fifteen years, and understands
what should be done. About 1875 men
are at work, and the scene from the top
is very lively one. Mr.. Whitaker is
putting in his filling six inches at time,
and then it is rolled down, large roller
being employed, the necessary power be-
ing furnished by stationary engine at
work on platform outside the gap, and
of equal height with it. Mr.. Whitaker
is an old engineer and contractor,
familiar with the line of work on which
he is now engaged, and is entirely unable
to see what caused the break. 81 give
| much credit to the theory that it was a
sudden quake in the ground, or the work
of the lightning" he said yesterday. 81
have seen many works of this sort, but
never one built as well as this The more
I see of it the more am struck with its
strength, and the more am at loss to
account for the breaking through"
The granite lining will be relaid for a
considerable portion OF one side of the
inside surface beside the part affected by
| the breaking away, and great mass of
granite blocks now occupy a portion of
the bottom of the pit They are being
replaced, and it is uncertain to what de-
| gree that branch of the work may have
to be carried forward. 1t is an odd sight
| to see the men at work on the sides Of
the slope, at an angle of As degrees, cling
| ing like flies to the surface.
| Then there is another feature of the
work that at once strikes the looker-on-
| the slope rolling. Standing outside and
looking from down North street, you see
stationary engine, and wonder what it
| is doing. From the top of the mound
you see at glance. It is drawing up and
| down big roller, not as large as those
used by Seth Griffin out at Rigby park,
but large enough. That roller working
on the slope inside is doing exactly what
the one on the top of the filling at the
gap is doing, rolling down the lining put
on in layers six inches at time, and
then brought down to the required point
| The work of rolling the slope is a slow
| job, but it must be done, and that in the
most thorough manner. Two-thirds OF
| the material used is, in and of itself,
water tight, and the rest is put in or on
as the case may be for filling. Every de-
| tail of the work is being most carefully
attended to. The best obtainable material
| is used, and no money will be spared by
|
to selecting the clay to be used on the
inside work, specimens were examined
| from Deering and other towns, and it
was at last decided that the North street
clay was the best adapted to the purpose.
It was at first hoped that the clay at the
cut at the foot of the hill, would do for
all branches Of the work, but it was soon
found that while it was excellent for out
side work, it was not good enough for the
lining.
Despite the mysterious break, there
seems to be but little possibility of i'm
proving on the original construction of
| the walls. Where it has been found
necessary to increase the gap, as has
been the case to some slight degree as the
work of filling has approached the origi-
nal height, the solidity of the work has
been made more apparent. Looking
down into the pit from the top the men
below are seen to be working very rapid