The San Francisco call., 1896-02-05
A PLEA
Of One Hundred Thousand People.
BASED ON IMPORTANT SANITARY AND ECONOMIC
REASONS, FOR THE SPEEDY COMPLETION
OF OAKLAND HARBoR.


BASED ON IMPORTANT SANITARY AND ECONOMIC
REASONS, FOR THE SPEEDY COMPLETION
OF OAKLAND HARBoR
To the Honorable the Senate and House of Rep
TesentdtiUeS, in Congress Assembled: Your memo
rialists, the Board of Trustees, the Board of
Health and the Board of Education of the city
OF Alameda; the Mayor and City Council, the
Board of Public Works, the Board of Health
and Board of Education of the city OF Oakland,
and the president and secretary of Fruityale
sanitary districts Nos. l and 2, State of Cali
fornia would respectfully represent:
That the United States has in course of con-
suuctlon public work, known as Oakland
harbor, extending from deep water in the bay
of San Francisco easterly into the bay of San
Leandro, and comprising in its entirety jetty
system in. the bay of San Francisco the es-
tuary of San Antonio, with its lines reformed
and its depth increased, a tidal canal, to be dug
TO depth of eight feet below low water,
through the isthmus between the said estuary
and the bay OF San Leandro and dam and
automatlc hoodgate to be constructed at the
point where the bay of San Leandro now
empties into the bay of San Francisco: this
hoodgate to shut automatically at eyery high
tide, and thus force all the tidal water flowing
out OF san Leandro Bay, on each ebb tide,
trough the tidal canal and estuary and the
je.ties into the bay OF San Francisco.
That the part OF this harbor represented nv
the eastern portion of the jetty system. the
estuary of San Antonio and the tidal canal
are located between the city of Oakland and
Fruitvale sanitary districts Nos. and Q and
North Alameda on the north and the citv of
Alameda on the south, the bay of San Leandro
being located on the east of Fruitvale sanitary
district No. 1 and the city of Alameda; these
cities and sanitary districts representing
population in round numbers of 1OO. .OOO
That the sewage of the southern half of tbe
city OF Oakland and the northern half of the
city OF Alameda, as well as the waste from tan
neries, gas-works, cotton-mills end other man.
utacturing establishments located on the estu-
airy fsome of which is very offensive) is dis
charged Into the estuary of San Antonio; that
the sewage of Fru1tvale sanitary districts Nos
1 and 2, including North Alameda, empties
into the eastern and western portions of the
tidal canal; that the sewage OF the town Of
San Leandro, as well as that of the northern
half of the city of Alameda, empties into the
bay of San Leandro.
That these various sewer systems have been
planned and constructed to empty, as above
stated, into these various parts of Oakland har.
Dor on the supposition that said harbor would
be completed within a reasonable time and
that by the flow and refiow of the tides twice
daily back and forth through the various parts
OF the harbor all the waters composing it
would be thoroughly changed and that each
ebb tide would carry out of the harbor into
San Francisco Bay. and thence through the
Golden Gate into the Pacific Ocean. so mueb of
the sewage-ladened water in it as to make said
harbor proper receptacle for and an efficient
means for carrying off the sewage of the 1OO.-
600 people living adjacent to it.
That the National Congress by act annr,ved
March 3, 1873, directed the Secretary OF War tn
cause examinations or surveys or both to he
made and plan devised for the construction
of Oakland harbor; that Colonels Alexander
Stewart and Mendell were constituted q Board |
OF United States Engineers under the act to
make the examinations and surveys and to de-
wise the plan for the harbor THAI this plan then
devised was approved and adopted by the Sec-
retary OF War, and between the years 1874 and
1894 inclusive fourteen appronriat tions
amounting in gross to 81, ,794 600, have been
made by Congress and expended under the sn. |
pervsion of United States engineers in tho
construction of the harbor.
That it is estimated by the United States en- |
gineers that appropriations amounting to
ST. 100000 are yet necessary to complete it.
That it is the opinion of the United States en- |
gineers who have had charge of the construe
tion of this harbor that fully 40 per cent of tho
ST, ,784. 600 thus far expended on it, say goo |
900, have been devoted to dredging between the |
ietties in the estuary and in the eastern and |
western portions OF the tidal canal. and tbat
from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of this 500. |
600, say $140,000, would have been saved in |
dredging if the tidal canal between San Lean.
dro Bay and the estuary of San Antonio and |
the dam and automatic foodgate, shutting up |
at each high tide San Leandro Bay at its OPEN |
ing into San Francisco Bay, had been con- |
structed after the jetties had been completed- |
the resultof the construction of the tidal cane,
and foodgate in the early history of BUILDING
the harbor being vast amount of scourino |
and dredging by the natural procession of the
tides to and fro twice daily through that part
OF the harbor between the bays of San Fran
cisco and San Leandro. The engineers in |
charge of this work inform us that
165, 900, 600 of cubic feet of tidal water
will pass at each ebb of the tide. |
or twice daily this being the measurement of
the tidal water in San Leandro Bay), between
San Leandro Bay and the bay OF San Fran.