The record-union., 1899-04-02
PUMPING PLANT DISMAATLED
HARD TO LOCATE THE DAM
AGING LEAKS.
Mayor Land and Others Have
Theories Of Causes and
Cures.

There was a large attendance of citi-
ems at the spectacle of the demolition
OF the city pumping works. Front anu
S. streets yesterday afterncon-many Or
| them doctors of various sorts and condi-
tions, each ready with his diagnosis
and remedy for existing conditions.
There was a general agreement that
the plant was suffering from an excess
of water, and workmen were busy tear
ing down the shed and dismounting the
machinery SO to speak. Banker Frank
| Miller and Secretary Coleman of the
Chamber of Commerce looked out for
the commercial interests of the city,
While Dr. A. NJ. Henderson examined
the water sipage for the bacteriologists,
and Mayor Land made observations for
the benefit, he said of all the people.
The proposition was a simple one,
after all; the question: being, What is
the source of the trouble? There were
four theories afloat-Mayor Lands, that
the river caused the trouble; certain
engineers, who believed the sipage was
from the American river, because the
tides of the pond corresponded with the
rising and falling of the river; others,
who believed the trouble was from an
OF the gas works; and another theory,
that sewage was siping into the main
pit--but no man could prove his theory.
| Mayor Land started to driving deep
sheet pilings for distance of eighty
feet from a point opposite the pumping
plant to a terminal eighty feet to the
north-and he said such a prescription
would dam the river 'sipage and stop
the trouble; but others smiled at the
Mayor and made light of his theory.
| DR.. Henderson bottled water like a
true bacteriologist, though he felt sure
a chemical analysis would be necessary
before he could say what was the
source of the excess of water. j. O..
Coleman was content to hedge, uncer-
tain whether bursting sewers, subter-
ranean rivers, or tides from the Ameri-
can RIVER caused the trouble.
While all the theorists were trying to
solve the problem in way consistent
with what they deemed the facts, many
wcrkmen were busy tearing down the
shed and arranging to remove the
pumping plant; but nobody has yet said
where it should be placed, for no one
knows the history of the trouble or the
origin of the excess water supply. Of
course the water appears to come from
the river, which is twelve feet higher
than the pond at the works, but Engi-
neer Cunningham says the flow is con-
| trolled by the American River, while
others say that the seat of the difficulty
is al an artesian we'll by the old Felter
distillery
The great problem is to discover the
source of the supply, and until that is
done all work is a sort of guess. Many
engineers think that if the water was
siping from the river it would wash a
large outlet through the dumps, while
it. is said others believe the entire
source is from the river by inf1ltration
Il have an idea that my scheme of
sheet piling will stop all the trouble, .
said Mayor Land, but many people
offered to wager long cigars and other
luxuries that the water did not come
from the river. and that if it did the
sheet piling would not stop it.
Meantime, there is a pond that ebbs
and flows around the wrecked pump
ing plant. playing tricks with the shift
ing sands. 1t is quite a stream, and it
| flows with varying force in spite of all
theories. 1t is expected that the mys-
terry will be solved within the next
week: but until the solution is forth
coming everything is guess work. The
fact is that time is demonstrating the
fact that the quicksand foundation of
the old plant is most uncertain, and in
any event better scheme than the
present one is almost sure to emerge
from the chaos.