The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-05
SEWER WORK RESUMED,
Rain Has Greatly Interfered With
Its Progress This Week.


Its Progress This Week.
Work on the big sewer at the corner of
East Broad and Liberty streets will be re
sumed to-day after having been practically
suspended for two days on account of the
weather. Day before yesterday there was
no work at all going on, the rain being so
heavy as to make it impossible for the men
to do anything.
There was just a small force at work
yesterday. While it was not raining all
day it was still too disagreeable for the
men to work. In very wet weather the
additional difficulty of getting the dirt out
of the bitches when they are several inches
deep in water is encountered. Deep
streams were running through like mill
races, and the full capacity of the pumping
engines would have been tested to keep
the bitches clear for the laborers. The
buckets would be carrying more water than
dirt if operations were carried on with the
| conditions so unfavorable.
Several powerful negroes were busy GriV-
| ing in the long planks that serve to pre-
vent the banks of the bitches from cav
| ing. These are absolutely necessary where
| sewers are laid as deep and in such soil
as here. The sides would sink right in
prevent The planks are started after
| the bitches have attained depth of only
two or three feet. The end that is to go
into the ground is sharpened. Men force
| the planks in as far as possible and then
| begin to drive with sledge hammers from
| stages. These are gradually lowered as
the planks sink under the heavy blows,
until at last they, are even with, or just
a little below, the surface. Cross braces
| 49,. sR
| to prevent the dirt from forcing in the
| planks. The lumber bill of the contractors
will be a considerable item of expense,
| as the planks are covered in when the
dirt is thrown back into the bitches
An example of the necessity for so fixing
| the planks as to prevent any caving can
| be seen on Liberty street, where the pave
ment has sunk in two or three places as
result of the sides going down a bit.
| In one place the damage TO the pavement
| is considerable, the caving seeming to
have been worse at that point than at any
other. Liberty is the first well-paved
| street that the sewers have yet encoun-
| tered, so il Is possible that there will be
| no recurrence of the caving. The foremen
! will understand better in their future work
how to keep the pavements from sinking.
| The contractors will probably do all they
can to avoid any damage being done the
/
| been done along a street it falls to the
contractors to put the payements in the
| same state of repair in which they were
| found If depressions and broken, uneven
| surfaces are found after the line of sew
ers has passed, it is likely that the con-
| tractors will very speedily grow tired of
such work.
The contract for hauling away the dirt
| that has accumulated on the north side of
Liberty east of East Broad street has
| been let to the owner of dray line The
work is progressing fast, a number of
| teams being constantly engaged. Vacant
| lots on the Thunderbolt road are having
| depressions filed in with the dirt, There
| will probably be vast amount of it to
be carried away, as a large proportion of
that which is thrown from the bitches
cannot be put back. The same soIidity
| that exists before the dirt is disturbed nv
the pick and shovel is not found when II
is thrown back. In many places the
| grades call for a depth of twenty feet
and, the bitches being four feet wide. an
| idea of the quantity of dirt to be removed
can be gained
| The leak found Wednesday in the
naphtha pipe leading from the old to the
new works of the gas company, has been
| repaired This was the leak that came
so near being the means of sending sew
| eral of the workmen out of the world nv
the asphyxiation route. The fumes gath.
cred in the bottom of the ditch after the
naphtha had run out and mingled with
the water in the bottom. After the men
| VINO keeled over under the influence of the
4 gases mad been gotten from the ditch tho
now OF the naphtha was cut off at the
WORKS until 1t was possible to repair the
leak after the fumes had dissipated