The San Francisco call., 1898-03-09
Official Statement on the Site for the Federal
 Building.
On One Corner of the Site Foundation Will Have to
 Be Sunk Deeper.
Defects Revealed by the Special Ex- animation of General Smith
 of Chicago.
Special Dispatch to The Call.
Call Office, Riggs House,


 Washington, March 8.
 The Treasury Department, after considering the report of Civil Engi- neer General Sooy Smith of Chicago for two weeks, finally gave out care fully worded statement this afternoon calculated to allay any apprehensions that the people of San Francisco may have concerning the foundation for the new Postoffice building. The mea- ger statement given to the press con- tains little if any information beyond that already telegraphed to The Call In fact, there is a very evident desire on the part of the Treasury Depart ment to give out as little information as possible.
 They claim that the examination made by the engineer disclosed noth- ing of very great importance. But from the fact that those engaged in making the excavations discovered a soft place near the corner of Seventh and Mission streets, and from the fur ther fact that the department, instead of sending one of it's agents to make the examination, employed a private civil engineer showed that they were
 
 the foundation. There has, too, been | deal of mystery surrounding the con- Sideration of Smiths report.
 Day after day the correspondents of San Francisco papers have visited the department for information, but not a hint was given them. The officials con- sidered the matter of sufficient import ance to bring General Smith here from | Chicago, and he had an interview with ! Assistant Secretary (yf the Tra1 l Spalding, Supervising Architect Tay- 1 Tor and Chief Executive Officer Kem- per, and, as stated in the dispatches to l The Call last night, General Smith ex- pressed the opinion that a much bet ter site could have been selected, and that the foundation plans near the cor ner of Seventh and Mission streets would have to be changed because of the infirm character of the ground at that point. The brief typewriter statement given out at the Treasury to-day is as follows:
 Owing to the general belief that treacherous sands underlie the site fo1 the new Federal building, and to the fact that soft strata were encountered in eXcavating near the corner of Sev- enth and Mission streets, the Super vising Architect of the Treasury De- partment decided to have a thorough examination of the site made by . civil engineer of national reputation For this purpose there were secured the services of General William Sooy Smith, who proceeded to San Fran cisco and made careful investigation by sinking twenty additional borings most of which were near the corner o1 Seventh and Mission streets. The de sign for the foundation as it appeared in the office of the supervising archi tect was also submitted for Genera Sooy Smiths consideration, and wa! pronounced by him to be the best tha could be adopted. General Smith, how ever, concurred with the engineer O. the supervising architects office in thu latter's recommendation that founda tions near the corner of Seventh ant Mission streets be carried to a deeper level than originally intended, thu. penetrating the yielding strata until satisfactory bed is reached"