The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1899-06-17
VANCOUVER RECuMEs
\ SECOND WATERLOO
Ry q Delay of Jus, Two Minutes Thrc'
Con,rlrters t..sc q Fat Con
tract

Three ot th, Astoria Contractors who
expected 60 have bid on ghc cortrtc, Go
erect the ba-rack bulld.ng~ az Fort SIC
yrns are now wiser than they were aud
now know the valuc Of minute o; time.
especially when a biz undertaking is AZ
stake whether Il b. securing government
contract or winning battle After days
NJ hard work ngurlugs up the estimates
Tor their bids ana the expenditure u cor-
siderable money IN securing their data.
then to miss getting their bids In by only
TWO minutes OF dine WAS almost as
crushing a blow as when Waterloo was
.os; TO Napoleon by the fatal delay ut
GrouChy. The unfortunate contractors
who met their Waterloo AZ Vancouver
We're Joseph Suprcnaut l.. iar,wis ana
q. e. PalmJerg. Messrs Pllmberg ana
Suprruaut LEI, here Wednesday evening
by train but On account OF a delay
caused by freight train wreck d.d 10.
reach Portland until .. m when thrs
went 10 bed and slept un,N a. m TO-
lending % ,Ikr the y.iu ear gyv Van
couyer, which they expected would g.
them there before - Oc.Oyk. naon. tsr
nour al whlcE the bids would br opened
Mr. Har,wg bad gone up that night on
The boat. and meeting Pa.mDerg ana Su-
pr,naut. o. was decided that they would
90 20 Vancouver together Arriving at
ghe Jepo,, they found the time card had
Jgen changed and shat the car woulduOt
leave for nearly an hour. A. tim. had
now become 4 matter og vital importance
In their plans. they teicphoned 10 van
oOuyer livery stable TO have "A carriage
meet them al the ferry landing 10 take
| ilce. The electric car eventually gof start
ed, only 10 be- stopped by series Of de-
/ lays, one being 10 stop while a soldier
ran back and picked up his hat thar had
| blown of his head Arriving a. the Co
/ iumbia river the ferry was late In cross
| ing over, 80 that when me now thorough
| ly excited contractors reached the Wash-
! lngtOn shore the minute hand, s)gether
| with the hour hand on their watches was
getting dangerously near the Il o'clo. X
mark. Jumping into the carriage the
team was raced through the streets Of
Vancouver on the full run for the bar
racks, but the clock said two mlnctes
past 12 and the time for receiving bids
was past FOR Uncle Sam is lneRorable
in his rules.
G. l.. Houston the other Astoria bidder,
had gone up the same night as the Others
and took the frs, car for Vancouver
and consequently got the bid Of himself
and J. f. Ferguson In on time When
the bids were opened It was found tnat
Houston & Ferguson's bid was for pd, So
while the next lowest was Conn., Van.
couyer contractor for $1,000 As Hous-
ton & Ferguson's bid did not include the
plumbing, while that Of the Vancouver
contractor did, the relative difference f.
the bids will have 10 be ascertalned By
the government officials before an award
can be made There were number oil
other bids from Portland contractors.
some Of them being as high az 897 7.OOO A,
the government had estimated the cDst
Of the proposed buildings at &s0. .O00. It (.
quite likely that Houston &c Ferguson
will get the contract, or at least awarded
to them and the Vancouver man jointly
Mr.. Palmberg's bid was higher than that
Of Houston & Ferguson. but Mr.. sur
pernaut was the lowest Of all and had
he got his bid in he would have received
| the contract