The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-04-14
WILL BREAK DIRT
ACTUAL WORK ON UNION STATION
BEGINS TOMORROW.
CONSTRUCTING FORCE READY
FROM 200 TO 800 MEN WILL BE EN-
PLoYED BY CONTRACTORS.

Everything in Readiness for the
morrow MorntnE-Work Will Start
Near the Ogeechee ROad-Tha I
Road VIII Run Above the Tracks,
While Gwinnett street Will Run
Below Them-Snvannah VIII Be
Headquarters for oliver and Co.'s
Large Business.
Ground will be broken tomorrow for
the approaches to the Savannah Union
Station to be erected on West Broad
street. Bids for the construction of the
sea ton, 100, will be received tomorrow by
the Savannah Union Station Company,
and Wednesday the directors of the COM
pany will meet and award the contract
This means realization of the hopes Sa-
vannahians have long entertained and the
spectacle Of workmen actually engaged in
providing the city with a magnificent un-
ion station. A great deal has been said
and written about the station since the
original publication of the plan by the
Morning News many months ago, and
people have begun to long for the day
when the construction would begin.
Everything will be in readiness for the
first pick to sink into the ground to-mor-
row morning. That is what MIR. D. j.
Hauer, engineer for Messrs. w. J. oliver
& Co, the contractors who viii undertake
the work, said last night Once started,
there will be no decay, as the contractors
are under bond of $50, 900 to complete the
construction of the approaches by Jan. l.
Camp for the construction force has
been established near Stiles avenue. Cor
rails have been built for the mules to be
employed in the grading, and houses are
going up for the accommodation of the
hands The camp will be the permanent
enc for the work, and care will be taken
to properly appoint it.
Between 200 and 300 men will be en-
pIoyed in the construction of the ap-
proaches. Nearly all of them, Mr.. Hauer
said, will be secured in Savannah, only
a few having been brought from other
places. Colored men, principally, will be
employed but there will be places open
to white men aso.
Thirty teams of mules are already on
the ground for the work. More will be
brought from South Carolina, where they
have been employed upon other contracts.
Scrapes, wagons and other equipment re-
quired for such work are at hand, and
two steam shovels are on the way. One
was already owned by oliver & Co., while
the other was bought from Ohio makers
especially for the Savannah work.
Operations will be commenced upon the
cut that is TO be made just north of the
Ogeechee road. This must be made in or
der to allow the steam shovel to get
through. Work within the city limits
will also be started Immediately. and the
new street to be opened up in place of
Wilson street, which is to be closed, will
be graded.
The tracks will run above Gwinnett
street, but the grade of the Ogeechee road
will be changed and the road will run over
a bridge, under which the tracks will
pass. This work and more will require
considerable masonry. and contracts for
part of it have been sub-let by oliver &
Co. They may also sub-let contracts for
a little piling that has to be driven, but
all the grading will be done by the firm.
An office force will be established at Sa-
vannah by oliver & Co, and this city will
become the headquarters of the firm,
which is now finishing up an important
contract with the Southern Railway at
Ensley, Ala. near Birmingham. This was
100000 contract. The firm is engaged
upon others at Blockton, Ala, and Marys-
vile, Tenn.