The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-08-08
AALA NOW
RECLAIMED
Vile Old CesspooI
All Filled
GOOD WORK OF
R. R. DREDGER
Condemned Twelve Acres of Mud
and Slush Now High and
Sanitary Land.

ne WOth VI MINING III Tie luS6nlldEy
premises in the Olaa district condemned
some months ago by the Board of Health
is now practically completed, Captain
Parker, in charge of the undertaking by
the management of the Dowsett estate,
having turned off the flow of sand and
earth from the big pipe yesterday.
Dr. Pratt, of the Board of Health. Wis
tied the place yesterday afternoon. and
pronounced the work splendid success.
THE filing of that vile cesspool was
a big task to undertake. said he, land
the way it has been accomplished re-
fleets great credit upon those who had it
in charge. What was only a week or so
ago the vilest and most dangerously in
sanitary swamp in the limits of the city,
is now high and dry land, all the filth
and stagnant water having been drained
off, the premises flooded with purifying
salt water, and the basin filled in to
depth of four or five feet with clean,
hard gravel from the beach. The rail-
tive work, and it has worked with sur
prising dispatch. The whole district,
covering an area of ten or twelve acres,
and being a wretched mass of mud and
slush. has been drained of its filth, puri-
fled AMI filed in, within the period of
ten days, and the AaIa cesspool is now
perfectly dry and sanitary land, with an
elevation of three or four feet more
than would have been necessary to have
made it good. In the transformation
community has been removed and the
hearty approval of the Board of Health
is accorded Captain Parker and those
he represents for the thorough and eff
ficient manner In which the work has
been done and for the promptness with
which the undertaking was &C
complished. If that dredger was put to
work on more of our unhealthful basins
it would be much better for the health
of the public"
The reclaimed land referred to is stu
ated in the Aala district between King
and Beretania streets, being roughly
triangular in shape and bounded on the
Waikiki side by Nuuanu stream. 1t is
surrounded by japanese stores and ten
general dumping ground for the refuse
of the vicinity, its low elevation and the
drainage from the surrounding localities
making it a vile basin, entirely value
less.
Among the owners of the tract are
Mrs. F. BicIIeTton, c. Winam, Hail es
tate, Dowsett estate and II. A. Heen.
When the district was condemned some
months ago. the owners, acting together,
outcome was the chartering of the rail-
road dredger and all the piping in town,
under a cooperative agreement with the
management of the Dowsett estate. BY
cooperating and having all the tract
filled in at once, the owners greatly
duced the cost of retaining and had the
work promptly done.
The operations of the dredger (sta-
toned nearly a mile distanD which cuts
the earth by filling in and forces it
through the thousands of feet of pip
ing, have been source of great interest
since the work was begun, and many
curious ones have gathered about the
railroad wharf daily, watching the ma
chinery al work. A revolving cutter is
used for cutting the earth for filling in.
and a part of the pipe through which
the earth is forced extends out over the
water on pontoons, the sections being
connected by ball jointing, so that the
pipes can be swung about in any direc-
ton without disconnecting them; the
dredger, which was built for the railroad
company two years ago by Captain Par
ker, is not a large one. but is modern
in all particulars. 1t is equipped with
a powerful pump, and the gravel is
forced through the long pipe with the
greatest ease. In the matter of pipe, Mr.
w T. Dillingham;, who is superintend-
ing the work, had some difficulty. All
the government pipe which is cast iron
and all the portable wood fiumng and
cast iron pipes in town We're procured,
and joined together making the fiume
over 5000 feet in length. Through this,
the powerful pump at the dredger forced
a continual stream of earth and salt wa
ter to the condemned Aala premises,
nearly mile away, the end of the pipe
being moved aboutSas the deposit filed
In different portions of the tract It is
estimated that 1900 yards per day were
pumped into the basin by this process,
and the filling in was accomplished with
splendid dispatch. Before filing in the
different portions of the basin, each por-
ton was damned off for proper drain
age, and the salt water forced in
through the pipe, acted as disinfectant,
Is 1t carried out the refuse and stagnant
water through the flood gates and into
the sea-
Following the washing-out process
came the flow of clean sand, the same
being pumped In until a depth of from
three to five feet covered the former
surface. The pipe is some eighteen
inches in diameter and is the longest
force pipe ever used In the Islands.
There is yet, adjoining the reclaimed
premises, portion of the basin to be
filled in. This portion is towards Nuu-
anu stream from the reclaimed land, and
'is in a very bad condition. It's owners
have postponed having it filed in on ac-
count of continued litigation in the
courts. 1t is to be regretted that this
portion cannot also be reclaimed at this
time, it will act as a nuisance TO the
surrounding premises and will probably
become in even worse sanitary condition.
ON account of it's being the only rem
nant left of the old cesspool it Will re-
ceive the entire stagnant drainage. AS
soon as the matter can be arranged the
owners will have this remaining portion