The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-09-16
ST. LOUIS ENGINEER HAS PLAN
TO MAKE GALVESTON SECURE,
Would Raise the Grade With Material from Gulf Bottom
Build Monster Sea Wal-Estmates Cost
at SlO,OOO,OOO.

Robert Burgess. q civil engineer, now in
St. Louis. who has been identified with
large engineering projects in Texas. and is
familiar with Galveston and its surround
inss, has some interesting ideas about The
city's future and how 10 make it Secure
against storm and sea.
When seen yesterday, he said:
THE first question TO be decided IS:
Shall the city be removed, or shall & be
rebuilt where 1t is? | have no hesitation in
saying 1t will stay right where it &. This
is the resolution of the people of Galveston
themselves. They have too much at stake
there to give # up.
This decided. the next question *. what
can be done to prevent another catastrophe
like the horrible one just passed? To go
ahead and rebuild the same a. before would
be fJOiEardy. Another storm may come
III q year, or II may not come Tor cen
tury. That another VIII come some time
there is no reason TO doubt, and II may
find a city ten times the size of the cac
just destroyed. What. then. can be do1c?
There are two things that can be done; and
at reasonable expense.
First. the grade or height of the city
can be raised ten feet or more, sufficient
10 place the residence portion above the
height of the recent flood. This can be
done by the method of the hydraulic
dredge. taking the material from the bot
tom of the bay or Guis. and pumping IL
ashore with water through long pspes. The
water flows of and the sand remains
gradually raising the surface to any te-
sirable height. This work has been and
can be done at an expense varying from
to l6 cents per cubic yard. according TO
the conditions which surround the problem.
At Galveston the conditions are favorable
1t is surrounded by water on all sides. from
which an ;nexllaustible supply of material
can be obtained.
10 cover I square mile to an average
heiSht of ten feet would require II. 50 22:223
cubic yards OF material. | am confident
this material could be put there for ) cents
per cubic yard. but suppose il 10 cost 10
cents the cost would be s. .032. .533 or ap-
proXimately Sl.WJeO per square mile. Sup
posing four square miles. which is about
the present area of Galveston that would
require this treatment. We have a cost of
A,O1vO for raising the grade.
Next 10 protect the sea sCore from the
action OF waves. If this should he thought
necessary. wall Of solid concrete making
practically q single stone or monolith.
could be constructed along the beach well
back from the edge OF the water This
wall should slope well backward. so that
the force of the waves would be mostly
expended in throwing the water in the air
IN the form of SURF or spray. The founda-
uon of this wall could be placed saw ten
feet, below the surface. the top extending
ten feet above. Being practically a single
stone 1t would securely rest upDD a sand
and if il sank it could be elsly
raised by the addition Of more concrete on
the top. Cracks or damages could be re-
paired in the same way. To build a wall
having a base Of ten feet in width, -four
feet wide on top and twenty feet total