The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-11-08

city Engineer Phillips has .erous
task Oh hand, and there is no way of
judging very well Just now what pro-
portions il may assume. His attention
was drawn last Saturday to the set
Ting of the sidewalks on the northerly
side of lower Lackawanna avenue
from the Delaware and Hudson sta
tion to the bridge and upon making
an inspection he finds that nearly the
same condition is presented as that
opposite the old Wyoming house a few
years ago.
The curbing is settling down almost
level with the asphalt, and the flag
stones Of the sidewalks are loosenng
and settling as well. How to account
for this other than the supposition
that the subsoil has been washed away
is what is puzaling Mr.. Phillips.
Il the ground were compact the
curbing and sidewalks would not set
tie. Relieving that the ground is
honcycombed then the question to ar
rive at is, How much is 1t honey
combed and what caused it?" Two
things could be the cause the leaking
of the water main. on the leaking of
the sewer.
CONIlIlON ne fOJ y II.
How long any of these leaks, if
either or both exist, have been going
on is another thing to consider. If
they are recent. the amount Of soil
washed out cannot be large. But if
| they are old, the Chasm under the
street will be a considerable one
on Saturday Mr.. Phillips made Il
| preliminary inspection. He went into
the Easements along that side and
| found that nearly all of them, espec-
| tally of those buildings on the "air
| lots were damp. In one of the lower
! Easements OF Roche & Fadden's hotel
! the water was trckling through the
! wall as if 1t came from a spring under
! the street.
| 4 bottle Of that water was secured
! and sent to the laboratory in Chitten-
! dcn's drug store for analysis. The
! analysis did not detect any sewerage
| particles in the water. 1t was almost
| pure enough to be use for drinking
| purposes,
Then yesterday. Assistant Engineer
! DOminick j. Kelly and LoVelmen Evan
| Walters and Evan Thomas were de-
tailed 10 go down to the mouth of the
| sewer at the river and work their
| way w. \ short distance inside the
| sewer they came to a stop by encoun-
| tering q small cataract about feet
| in height ~ large volume Of water
| was flowing over it 1t the time and
| that made their progress impossible
| They were forced to turn back, but
| while they were in there they noticed
| that water was tricklnG from thr
nOrtherly side of the sewer wall, and
got n quart bottle and filled it from
this source. 1t will be analysed TO.
dGy. its appearance in the bottle sew.
oral hours atterWard was clear. There
was scarcely any sediment ON The bot,
tom of the bottle after standing thai
length Of time.
NO PLAN OF SEWER.
Strange to say, there is no plan ot
the sewer recorded in the city engi
neer's office. 1t was built in 1872 wher
Fred Amsden was engineer. and /
there ever WAS Il plan OF it, it is lost
strayed or stolen. In the absence o
a plan in the department is workinl
somewhat in the dark. From calcu
latiOn3 made uEOn measuring tn,
depths Of manhoes MI Phillips is o
the opinion that the sewer has thrc,
or fcurs drops" about eight feet higl
each.
He has fixed next Thursday morn
iEg at o'clock as the time for send
ing another party into the sewer ant
; a man dowr each of the two manhole
in that section This unseemly hou
has been selected because at tnat tim,
, the business of the sewer will be a
, its lowest ebb. The street commits
, sioncrs department will be instructed
. not to flush the streets from whicl
the sewerage is drained into the Lack
aWanna avenue pipe.