The morning call., 1895-02-12

authority it is not likely that the Governor
has decided to drill no more holes.
1t is possible, indeed, that the reason he
restricted the jurisdiction of Donahoe to
the sampling of the materials before it goes
into the piers is because he did not drill his
holes big enough.
At any rate, he has selected Arthur
Brown, late master bridge-builder of the
Southern Pacific Railroad Company, and
now a retired capitalist, to have charge OF
the exporting, he to be aided and abetted by
Professors Rising and Soule of the State
University.
"These," say the Commissioners, in the
fullness of their notion that there will
be no more holes drilled at present, "shaH
have every facility we can lend them in
their work The office and everything at our
command on the water front is open to
them. We want them to inspect as matter
of security to the commission. The public
has a right to the fullest knowledge posi-
BILE with regard to this work. and we hope
these experts will be retained to the finish
of it,
'But as to Donahoe and his drilling holes, !"
said Mr.. Chadbourne, "the commission
aprecaution against lawsuit which might
hamper and delay the work for years.
When he presented his credentials we at
once turned him over to the contractors,
and the contractors began to kick. The
attitude they took indicated to us that they
might take his work on our allowing him
to do it, as an acceptance of their work.
You see they maintain that the piers are
theirs until we take them off their hands.
When we allow man to go in there and
drill holes against their protest, calculated
to weaken the structure, they say at once
that they will be held no longer respon-
sible. They might demand the release of
their bonds and the payment of the 25 per
cent reserved until acceptance. 1t has
been said that this work would never be
completed in this generation, and it began
to look that way until this commission
commenced to push it. In spite of the
handicap of keeping the ferries open while
this work was going on under and around
them it has gone forward rapidly this past
year, and we did not want it to be re-
tarded.'
But that was leading away from the
subject.
Colonel Won Schmidt, in speaking of his
communication to the Governor yesterday,
said: II simply wrote a suggestion as
citizen, believing that the Governor is in
earnest but that he may not be well
posted on the subject. The point of chief
interest to be determined in this matter is
the quality of the cement. There are
many grades of cement. That for use in
these piers should be the best. 1t should
not set too quickly, as some cement does,
but it should be of the quality of solid
stone in couple of months. If it has not
set in that time 1 would say that it never
would set. 1t should be mixed to about
one barrel of cement in four. There are
possibilities always in the matter of hold
ing out cement and making such a struc-
ture of rock and stone as is liable to fall at
any time, and the only way to test its
quality is after it is done, and that by
driving six-inch holes into it as you would
sink an artesian well.
81 have nothing to urge against the plan
of the piers, except that l believe light
iron or steel bridges from one to the other
would have been preferable to the rigid
mass which they are making with the con-
crete. The piles on which it rests are sus-
pended in soft mud, you understand, but
the work, have no doubt, has been well
done, and they are sufficient to bear the
weight don't think there is anything to
fear, either. from the lateral thrust from
the shore line spoken of by Mr.. Allardt, for
the seawall, which has stood there long
enough to prove its efficiency, is safe
guard in that direction.
'But this is an earthquake country, and
that is what should be considered. An
earthquake tosses mud about as though it
was so much water, and a very little shak-
ing would crack and throw down an in
flexible mass like that. 1t is very difficult,
however, to provide anything to meet such
a contingency, and it is merely my opin-
ion that steel braces would have been
better"
Engineer Holmes has heretofore taken
exactly the same position. He has always
urged before the commission that the rigid
mass of stone contemplated by and now be-
ing carried out in A. Page Browns plan was
Objectionable on these very grounds-the
effect that an earthquake would have upon
it; also because of its great and unneces-
sary weight-the weight of the foundation
itself-and the third important element