Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-02-07
THE SUTRO BATHS.
They Are the Largest in the World
and Are Built in San Francisco.

/ They Are the Largest in the World
and Are Built in San Francisco
The Sutro baths exceed the famous
Roman baths of antiquity in size as
well as equipment. The largest of
the Roman baths had about two hun
dred feet of frontage, to use the mod
ern commercial terms of designation
Two of these great bathing places
might be dropped within the Sutro
baths and still leave room enough for
men to walk and women to firt.
Adolph Sutro is skilful engineer
and he enjoys solving problems in
construction or breaking through diff
! ficulties in mechanics as he enjoys in
! vigorating exercise. He designed the
building over the bath, devised the
plan for water supply, invented and
patented the apparatus for heating the
water. The Sutro tunnels, second
series, are part of his scheme of con-
struction.
With the ocean at his feet, the
! breakers dashing against the rocks,
:
well provided power to send the water
to the bathing tanks that artificial
means would be unnecessary. There
fore with much noise and enthusiasm
he blasted out d basin in the solid
rock. Over the edge of this basin
comes the water of the huge rollers.
i Instead of riding the crest of the
wave, Mr. Sutro traps the crest of the
wave and uses it for his own purpose.
From the basin the water flows
through tunnels and canals, passes
gates until it reaches the reservoir,
where it is warmed by the Sutro
patent process, and then it flows into
the great tanks in the huge glass and
steel building.
On the road to the tanks through
the canals and the tunnels the water
has to pay toll of sand. OF course, it
would not do to have the waves carry
their load of sand into the baths, so
settling place is provided. By au
tomato arrangement, also the device
of Mr.. Sutro, the sand is washed back
into the ocean, while the water,
cleared, goes on it's course through
tunnels and canals to the tanks.
Sometimes the tide is very low and
! sometimes the ocean, even at the cliff,
; is quiet. There might be times when
the water could not dash over the rock
! wall into the basin. Artifce is en-
ployed to take the place of nature
when nature is in a quiet mood. An
emergency pipe pOkes its black pro-
! boscis under the waves, and a pump
can draw through it five thousand gal
Ions in minute whenever the five
thousand gallons are wanted in a min
| ute.
| Having made enough tunnels to ad-
nit the water, SandleSs and tepid, to
/ the tanks, Mr.. SutrO had to provide
! for sending the water to sea again,
| that the ocean might not be drained.
Dropping out the water at the place
| at which it was taken in would not
be satisfactory. Mr.. Sutro did not
want the baths to be receiving the
same water over and over again. That
plan would be too easy. In it were
no obstacles to overcome. He laid out
an outlet pipe through tunnels prob
ably several hundred feet long, and
| through this the water will flow from
the tanks and return to the sea sew
eral hundred feet from the place
whence it was taken.
| The water that comes in through the
tunnels must fill six tanks. The larg
est of these, the main swimming tank,
is 275 feet LING, and at the place Of
greatest breadth is $50 feet vile. The
other tanks are smaller. Some will be
used for ladies and children, some for
beginners-each one has its particular
use. One tank will be filed with cold
salt water for swimmers who want a
shock. Then there is little tank
filed with fresh water, supplied from
the Sutro water works on the bluff |
above. And the dressing rooms, every |
one provided with a fresh-water
shower and an electric light, and the
club rooms for the companions Of
bathers-they are counted by hundreds |
and are built tier upon tier, until the |
visitor is amazed at their number as |
much as he wondered at the maze Of /
tunnels.
The spectacular effect of the baths !
was prominent in the purpose of Mr.. /
Sutro in planning these baths. The
glazed roof, the great span that is |
more than two acres in area, is so
high above the tanks that looking up
to the vault seems like peering from
the court of the Palace Hotel to the |
sixth story. Elevators and grand |
/ staircases give communication from
one tier of the building to another. |
About the bathing tanks are seats in |
| tiers; seats for $500 people in a great |
amphitheatre, and there is room for |
$1,000 more to stand and to prone !