The record-union., 1896-11-12

twenty-five feet toward the river. Here
lhey pass through another concrete
wall thirty feet long and six feet high |
along the base of the levee, rendering
them immovable and preventing all
danger of their working in any direc-
ton. The levee, which had been cut to |
let the pipe through, was filled in and |
settled with water making it as solld |
as before, and, in addition to this, mas
been faced with strong brush mat |
tress, pegged and wired down and rip |
raped with heavy rocks.
Mr.. King feared last Saturday that a
storm was coming and was anxious to
place the cement work beyond danger
OF softening by a rise in the river. he
therefore kept his gang at work on sun
Gay and finished the cement walls SO
that they We're hard as rock by the next
morning. 1t was lucky he did so, as on
Tuesday morning the river commenced
TO rise about 10 O'Clock, and the men
had barely time to construct the lower
layer of the brush mattress when the
water came over the outside of it, but
everything was SAFE and the two feet
OF rise did no damage to it. 1t is all
The construction of the pumphouse
and the placing of the boilers and
pumps will be proceeded with as rap
idly as possible, and they will be ready
fer work by the time the big sewer is in
condition to convey the water down to
them.
A BIG DITCH.
There is a long, deep ditch on S street,
running from Front to Eighth, and
when a Record Union reporter Wis
tied it yesterday it presented a scene of
activity that betOkened an earnest de-
sire to get the sewer in condition to
carry water before the storms set in
for the winter. Here again has the
sipage water impeded the work. 1t had
been intended to begin at the sump to
construct the sewer and continue it up
to Seventeeth street, but the water that
came in at various points prevented the
programme from being carried out
From Front to Second street the water
has been very annoying, and also from
between Third and Fourth streets to
Fifth, causing the banks to cave so
that the sides had to be shored UP with
timbers. AS the ditch is from sixteen
to twenty feet deep at these places, a
tctNC IL d SGIlOuS lilIllcI, bul lOILQ4IdLC-
ly there have been no accidents to the
men.
The sewer is to be of brick. six feet
in diameter at the sump. Beginning
at Seventeenth street, it's inside di
ameter is 4 feet down to Thirteenth
street; from Thirteenth to Ninth street
its diameter is AZ feet; from Ninth to
Seventh it is ) feet; from Seventh to
+ &c ~ 10
Front it is feet. It is circular and
composed of a double layer of bricks
eight and one-half inches thick, which
are laid in a mortar composed of the
best quality of cement, in the proportion
of one barrel of cement to two of sand.
This is strictly measured under the Wig
liant eye of p. A. Miller, the veteran
contractor, who is inspector of the work
and who watches all that is done on the
bottom of the sewer. A half circle of
vitrified iron pipe, inverted, is laid and
filled in between the outside and the
brick sides of the sewer with concrete,
making it a smooth gutter in the bot
tom Of the sewer. This pipe runs from
twenty inches to twenty-four inches,
being modified to conform to the
changes in diameter of the sewer. 1t
viii give a better flow of water when
there is not much sewage than the
sewer would without it, and also
strengthens it. Under all this, at the
places where the sipage is bad. making
the ground soft under the sewer, there
is a foundation of broken rock acting
as a drain, and in this broken rock are
two siX-inch pipes running with the
sewer to carry off the sipage water
Eight bricklayers We're hard at work
laying the brick for the upper lart OF
The circle, the foundation and lower
part having been laid from Seventh
street to near Fourth, and the men are
not far behind it. a pump near Fifth
street is pumping the sipage water into
he trough at the bottom of the sewer
and running it up to Sixth street
through the portion that is completed
to test the grade. There another pump
is pumping it into the old Sixth-street
sewer, which crosses above the big
sewer at present and carries the water
u Y street. This sewer broke in the
night on Tuesday and made things live
~ for about half an hour, until the men
gained control of it with sacks.
AS fast as the bricklayers raise the
sides of the sewer other men shovel
lay the brick, it is well packed by the
time the sewer is finished and the rest
Of the ditch is filled in and allowed to
settle. From fifty to seventy-five men
in all are employed on the work, and
two weeks will probably see the sewer
completed from Seventh street to the
sump. From Seventh street to Seven
teenth it is not thought that sipage
water will give any trouble in the ditch
and the work will progress faster. The
rev Fifth-street sewer and that on
Thirteenth street will connect with the
big sewer and provisions are made for
the connection. When these are con-
structed and the pumps started the
lower part of the city viii be relieved
from water and the discomfort it
caused last winter
The new sewer viii be about 6.100
feet long, and will relieve the upper
portion Of the city, when in operation
from the accumulation of water in time
Of heavy storms that has caused so
much annoyance and Inconvenience in