The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-02-04
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opeaed On at one time. II he had been IN
charge Of the work, especially on kinney
street. he vouId have dug trench Tor
about twenty feet and then turneied Tor
about the same distance. thereby saving
the handling OF a large quantity OF dirt.
On portion Of this street the earth IS
largely Of g1Scksand, where this could not
have been done. but on other portions this
wou.d have been successful
III. G. Ester was next called rs witness.
and testified that about the 20th or I'D
OF January he noticed that about 5000
feet OF sewer on Front street had been
opened. In his opinion this was too
much. The entire ditch seemed 10 be
closely sheeted. and between Madison
and Columbia streets on the west
side there appeared 10 be consider
ably more lumber than was required.
He saw ten men baIing water. One
man az q pump could have done the work.
One gang " as haling at Union street and
another gang at Main street, 50 in this
case two men At pumps would have been
required. lie noticed brick going into the
inyert on the outside 81 Madison street
They were soft and poorly ground and
poorly burned. The authorities claim
that nothing bat hard brick should 60 into
sewer. lie took brick from the man
hole at Battery and West and one at Bell
and West. He tested them and found the
absorption in one as high rs % Per cent.
A competent person would not select such
brick for n manhole. He went over the
Brook street sewer and saw about l. 500 feet
opened. No contractor would put the men
ms thiekly at work as they were on that
sever
TsoHa- n-o.s >~,,.f,..;oo ~ .,yr,;,,.d
that he never had any experience IN act
uai field work in building sewers He did
did not testify that ali authorities said
that the outside and inside OF the sewer
must be OF the same quality of brick. .Au-
thorities differ on this point
l.. ID. W. Shelton testified that he would
only have opened up the Front street
sewer as fast as the bricklayers could be
employed. The disadvantage of doing
otherwise was the great quantity of timber
needed and the accumulation of water.
| In short trench the earth would absorb
the accommodating water. but in long
trench tue water would gather and make
extra expense. Men had 10 be employed
baling il out. lie saw many baling it out
with coal oil cans. He had never seen
| such thing before. A pump would. of
course. be more economical One man in
proper position with q pump could have
| done as much work as ten or q dozen the
| way they were doing. lie had seen men
tamping. but did not pay much attention.
| He had frequently watched the work and
| was satisfied IL could have been done tor
| one-third less. He had observed the
| brick; he had seen it dropped two feet,
when i. would easily break.
| At Brook street he found brick that he
| could easily cut with knife; some of ii
| was pretty fairy burnt. A small engine
| was used for pumping out the water, but
| he also saw men haiing out He supposed
| that the usual way would be to put the
| pump at the lowest point. Under cross
| examination he said that coal oil cans
| were As good as any sort of bucket. Ii
| might be cheaper TO use cans than buy
| pumps if the wafer was only in small spots.
| At the place where the men were baling at
/ Brook street he did not know whether the
| water was an overtlo-' from where the en-
| CINE was or another seepage. He eS-
| pressed the opinion that he would have
| not opened more than two blocks at a
| time. The only excuse for doing more
| was TO hurry the work. but i. would cost
more. Attorney Thompson caused con-
| siderable amusement by his smart ques-
| tions, but he could not shake Mr. Sheiton's
| testimony as to the want of any sort of
system. He admitted that the laborers
were doing the best they could in the alb
sence Of discipline.
Levi f. Compton testified as TO the effect
! Of the friction of sand upon the soft brick.
| The examination was verv lengthy and
almost entirely technical. His testimony
| could not be shaken.
| Ex-City Engineer Smith. of Ballard.
considered that the chief loss by opening
| up so much of Front street was the loss in
| storage. His opinion was that it was not
| necessary 10 have left the tagging along
| the entire street He had noticed the
| brick used on Commercial street. and
/ found is 10 be of a very inferior quality.
| At West street there was about 1000 or
/ 5000 feet of trench opened; by opening
less amount the snoring could have been
saved. The additional expense of clearing
| the trench of water must have been very
great. The lumber used in snoring there
| could have been removed and saved. He
| saw some of it burned. He noticed that
the men did not seem to be in any partic-
| uiar hurry. Nobody was directing the
/ men. The only object seemed 10 be to put
| 4 lot Of men at work at once. The same
/ amount OF work would have 10 be done in
! the usual way. only that the men would
! have been employed IN different shifts.
Cross-examned, he said that the ex-
| pense for labor in irench work was not in
| creased by opening up so much at time.
| The only difference was IN the cost OF
| superintendent. IL would not be difficult
to take oat the Snoring. IL wo2.d, Of
! course. take mems time 10 remove the
! tagging. but he did rot know what proper
/ ;iouHi the cost would be 20 the cos. Of lum-
Der. There was 10 saving in the cost OF
superintendence.
T. I. Smart testified shat he had noticed
/ 80 or 400 men az work on the Front street
/ sewer. Is seemed 70 him that theTe we're
/ altogether too many men for the amount
! Of work that was being done. The usual
plan OF eitching IS 20 open about two
! blocks a, time. On account OF the nccum-
u.At,oa OF alter. The men were nes being
/ handled IN an economical manner; he
! saw no focemen attempting 20 direct the
| men. They we're all doing y by them
/ se.ves. The number of men was jaSt
! about one-thiTd TOO many. He considered
| that the lumber could have been used
/ Ssve-a! times lie had seen the halinE
/ wisa cans, one man With pump could
have do8e a. ieast as much as I'VE with
Awarded Highest