The Portland daily press., 1896-08-15

TO the cove, and knowing that sewer
round the cove was an impossibility at
that time, we placed the outtall at the
point.
The pipe at present laid on those
streets is not large enough to acoo1nlno-
date the extra flow talked of as we unuer-
stand it; and it would in our opinion 10
unwise, and in a short time UNSAFE W
allow the drainage of large area OF your
city to flow onto The fats at that or any
other point"
Mr.. f.. G. Jordan in his letter. refers
to the fact that the present sewer system
of Deering was made according TO the
advice of the eminent PROVIDENCE
specialist, ]. Herbert Shedd, and that
the Crude of the Forest avenue sewer was
established with view to its final union
at Deering's bridge with the new inter
oentine sewer, which Portland is con-
structing for the purpose of delivering
sewage into deep water beyond Tukey's
bridge. 'DPortland's error, -" says MIR.
Jordan, @in allowing her sewage to
pollute her borders Of Back Cove has
cost her many thousands of dollars in
abandoned sewers and many more
thousands of dollars in the ban upon
the development and increasing value of
a large territory, and still mors in sick
ness and deaths for which dollars make
no measure. Such errors your system
aims to avoid by collecting every pound
of sewage possible at the Deering bridge
OF
Cove are too valuable to be urified with.
There Is certain territory around the
Cove that must inevitably drain to the
cove, but it should be made as limited as
possible in order to avoid the great cost
of chemical treatment or pumping of
large amount of sewage, which will be
necessary if you would preserve the sur
rounding territory from depreciation In
value.''
City Engineer I. W. Barbour is equal
ly emphatic in his recommendation that
the original plan of draining this section
by way of the Forest avenue sewer be ad-
hered to. Among other things, he says:
1t Is a well known principle that it is
more economical to construct and main
tain one sewer outfall than several, other
things being equal, and 1t will therefore
be economy for the city of Deering to use
tbs outfall near Pomeroy's Rock when
ever conditions demand a more adequate
disposal than the flats of Back Cove and
also to conduct all sewage which is avail
able into this outfall."
Mr.. Barbour also says: ''The present
outlet Of the Oak and George street
sewers is the flats of Back Cove; by in
creasing the amount of sewage at this
outlet tho time Will be fastened when
expensive measures must be taken to
properly dispose of the sewage, and this
cannot be done by merely extending the
sewer further out on the flats"
The above veto and letters were read
by Mayor Mitchell without leaving the
chair and when he had concluded,
Alderman Davis asked Alderman Mat
thews if he had any comm unications to
present on this su bject. MIR. Matthews
had letter which he had written to
Mr.. Prentiss Loring, the president Of the
commission on Back Bay, which COM
mission was created by an act passed by
the Legislature. In his letter to Mr..
Loring, Alderman Matthews inquired
whether or no the city Of Deering would
be liable to any Interference from the
Back Bay commission if it attempted to
give outlet to its sewerage on the Back
Ray flats. To this letter Mr.. Loring re-
piled that the Back Bay commissioners
would not intefere if the Oak street
sewer scheme was carried out as con-
templated by the Deering city govern
ment, but personally he believed it
would be u great mistake for Deering to
give outlet to its sewerage in Back
Bay as the city of Portland will be
obliged to spend an immense sum of
money to correct the mistake it made in
this matter, and Deering should consider
the plan well before it laid itself liable
to commission of the same mistake.
At this point Alderman Davis got the
floor and proceeded to express his views
on the subject at issue. He read an act
passed by the legislature which waived
all state rights in Back Bay to the city
of Portland and granted that city the
right of eminent domain. Mr.. Davis
said that the state had granted privi-
leges to the city of Portland which it had
no right to grant. Portland would have
to pay for its rights in Back Bay and
Deering had already paid for the right
to the sewerage outlet when it had pur-
chased George street and constructed the
sewer there. Mr.. Davis said that Port
land hadn't got that right Of the city of
Deering yet and shouldn't get it until she
had paid for it and he. didn't believe
that either the State of Maine, Portland.
Poorduck, Soarboro or any other govern
ment had the right to take away from
Deering hat she owned and had paid for
Mr.. Davis then proceeded to discuss the
subject of eminent domain and had got
as far as to compare the question to a
faro bank, whan the Mayor brought him
up with a round turn by stating that he
was out of order. Mr.. Davis replied