St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-06-30

electric wires placed underground. The
| following May the council directed the
! Northwestern Telephone company to
| lay it's wires beneath the street. In
| April, 1S93 the final ordinance was
/ passed under which many wires have
| already been burisd. This provides
(; that all wires within the central por-
| ton of the city must be placed under
! ground before the close of next year.
! So far as concerns Seventh street, the
i limits within which electric overhead
/ wires are to be abolished extends from
/ Kittson street on the east to Fifth street
on the west. Companies owning wires
| already. in use were directed by the
| ordinance to bury at least two thou
/ sand feet of wire in 1898, four thousand
: feet in 1884, six thousand feet this year.
/ and the balance next year. But the
I Edison company and the Telephone
! company were excepted from the opera
| ton of this last provision, because, it
! is stated, these two companies had
already inferred more than an equiva-
/, lent proportion of wires. The Western
| The ordinance also exeepts the wires
| OF the city railway company In this
| connection it may be observed that,
although the railway company has
F. therefore the legal right to place upon
any street as many wires or poles as 1t
/ considers advisable, yet there is norea-.
! son why the service wires now on Sew
| enth street could not be run along
! neighboring and less important tnor-
! oughfares. 1t is even possible to place
| such service wires underground were
!! this done, the surface would be re-
| lieved of the heaviest and most dan
gerous electric current that now
threatens the safety of the citizens.
The Western Union now has no over
head wires on Seventh street, and, in
| deed. it has very few wires in any part
of the city that are not yet buried.
/ The North American company, as al
ready stated. has not intruded upon
| Seventh street, but elsewhere 1t has
made less progress in burying it's wires
| than its larger rival. The superin-
tendents of the city police patrol and
fire alarm telegraphs state that they
would be glad to place their wires be-
meath the street, but that the city mas
! a contract with the Northwestern
Telephone company for accommoda-
ton in the latter company's conduit as
soon as the conduit is completed along
Seventh street. 1t is expected that this
conduit will be ready to receive the
city wires some time during the sum
n1er.
When the municipal wires are bur-
led, nothing will be left upon the poles
to disfigure the south side of Sew
enth street but the few wires belong
ing to the American District Tele-
graph company, the Mercurial Alarm
company and the Heat Alarm COM
pany. 1t is the understanding of the
city officials that the three latter COM
panies will take down their wires
as soon as the city itself deserts the
same poles Upon the north side of
the street will then be left the multi
tude of wires that carry the electric
light currents of the st. Paul Gas
Light company The Gas company
states that it is preparing a special
conduit of it's own; that it has already
taken down a number of it's wires,
and that it will willingly comply with
the requirements of the ordinance
and bury all its wires before the end
of next year. But it is impossible to
deny that, outside of the city's own
wires, and those of the city railway,
there are none worth speaking of now
strung overhead on Seventh street
within the underground" district ex-
cept the wires of the st. Paul Gas
company. Not only are this COM
/ pany'S wires very numerous, nclud-
ing a series of about thirty along
the greater part of the street, but
|. their poles are old, decked with many
cross bars, and as repulsive in ap-
1 pearance as telegraph pole can well
be. The Gas company gives a rea-
soma BILE justification for the neglected
I appearance on the part of their equip
ment by asserting that as it is soon
/ to destroy its entire overhead plant,
| 1t does not desire to expend in repairs
| any more money than is absolutely
necessary. This argument is convinc-
| ing, of. course, but it does not confute
| the statement that, were the wires of
the Gas company now underground,
Seventh street would be but little dis
| figured with unsightly poles and
tangled maze of wires.