Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-05-22
land for Site Has Passed to the
Government.
.AVING In THE SELECTION
Care Taken by the Board in Its
Determination.
RISON OF COST

filtration plant adjoining the Howard
kersty reservoir on the east passed to
IfhScnyernment yesterday afternoon, when
the mai payments on 1t were made. The
vernment now has for this purpose a
tie more than forty-five acres. the land
kately acquired costing As cents per square
foot. This area includes the streets run
ming east and west that to be closed,
and which of course. have not been paid
for. 1t includes all the land between Gin
cinnati street to the Soldiers Home, and
from the reservoir to North Capitol street.
1T extends square further south than did
the estimate for the land of the original
project, and takes in narrow strip of
land between the reservoir and LIST street
and north Of Baltimore street. This in
creased area was purchased in order to
provide sufficient land to Increase the
capacity of the filter plant to T6.Op0GNN gal
Ions a day which is the full capacity of
the tunnel to bring water to the reservoir
The original project provided only for a
capacity of 60.OOO.OD gallons day, which
Is sufficient for present necessities
saving i'm Purchase of Land
Before Gen Wilson, who was chief of
engineers when the purchase of the site for
thG-titer plant was decided upon approved
the project the price asked for the land
had been lowered from fifty cents, which
the owners for a long time insisted upon as
minimum valuation. to forty-fve cents a
f'tit. which entailed a large saving In the
transaction 1t was accepted. and was be-
lieved to be a lower price than could be
sect!red had condemnation PROCEEDINGS been
resorted to To the south of the site the
largest building operations in the city have
been under way for the last two years, and
this Improvement. continuing as it now is
was believed to be sure to largely Increase
the value of the land purchased In the near
hnr CCaS
between North Capitol and 1st streets west
ana north of r street to the Soldiers Home
except such houses faced on the latter
street This stretch of land was subdiyjded
and since that time extensive improvements
IN grading, laying of sidewalks &C. have
beeh under way, and several hundred
houses nave been built north OF r street.
ai-' large numbers of them are now in the
course of construction. In no other part
OF the city have building operations been
5" active during these two years over so
restricted an area In some respects the
higher ground near the Soldiers Home
was regarded as the most desirable. all of
Delns Skirted by an electric car line and
with the continuing of building the land
now purchased for the filter plant would
hSJe been invaded by the home builder.
Care in Selecting n Site.
One Of the questions that came before
the board Of army officers who were an
thorized to decide upon a site was the 0ues-
ton Of cheap land for such a site in COM
petition with the more expensive land
which has been purchased This board
Consisting of Colonel Miller, in charge of
" ashington aqueduct: Captain Beach,
F-sslneer Commissioner of the District
and captain Gailard, formerly connected
with the engineer department of the Dis
trict, after considering the several sites Of
Tered and Investigating the question gener-
ally. concluded that there were but three
sites deserving of special investigation and
on two of these sites they made estimates
They were the site which has been chosen.
thstt which is north of the reservoir and
what is known as ''Stubblefield.' which is
on the Maryland side of the Potomac
three and one-half miles from Great Falls
and twelve miles from the new or Howard
[ University reservoir.
The desirable feature of this site was the
Cheapness of the land put the engineers
took the view that the important point to
b. considered was not one element of the
cost aut the entire cost of the project and
they found that the cheapness of land was
more than overcome by the additional cost
or completing the project on that cheap
land as well as the inadvisability of Sc
iHctlng such a remote site because of dam
gers of contamination of the filtered water
before 1t could be delivered to the con-
sUmers in the city. The selection of Stub
blefield would throw out Of use reservoirs
and works that have probably cost a MIL
lion of dollars and would make necessary
the building of a great settling basin at
StubbSetteld had that site been selected,
yoir. the present distributing reservoir and
Howard University reservoir. all of which
under the plan adopted will be used as
settling basins. But in addition to that
Here would have been danger from what
the engineers call '-infiltration." or the
contamination of the filtered water from
TIL time il would have left Stubblefeld I'M
III II should enter the water mains of the
city.
The water from a filter plant at Stubble-
fe.d would have to come to the city by
means OF the aqueduct tunnel. which is
practically a covered canal of masonry, at
times being constructed by excavation
through rock This tunnel is not built to
stand pressure. and the water in IL is
liable 70 contamination because of leakage
inis' II through crevices in the masonry tun-
f-i or tunnel excavated through rock At
ter the water has been filtered and enters
The mains, Of course the pressure Is such
as TO prevent outside contamination enter
Ing the mains should there be any leak
The present central location of the filter
beds is such that the filtered water will be
distributed through the mains and delIy-
cred in short time from the basin holding
the Uttered water.
The board found the advantages of both
or the sites. one east and the other north
OF the Howard University reservoir to be
- nearly equal that It required a careful
estimate to determine which of them would
be approved. and this estimate caused
them TO select the site east Of the reservoir.
Advantages Compared.
In its report to the chief of engineers
the board compared the advantages OF va
rt-iis sites, as follows:
large number OF sites were offered for
the consideration of the board Many Of
these were rejected on account Of their
general unsuitability for the purpose, due
TO location. typographical features. or en-
cheering difficulties to be overcome.
The board has visited all sites that a
Study OF the question indicated as avafla-
BILE
The result has been the elimination Of all
proposed sites except three-all of which
have been prominently mentioned as avail
able for the location Of filter beds. These
are.
Site THAT known as the "Stubblefield"
site. which Is situated three and one-haIf
t@L.p miles from Great Falls and twelve Q2)
miles from the new reservoir
site 2-That to the north of the new
reservoir and bounded by the Soldiers
Home grounds. Whitney avenue. .BelIe
vue" subdivision. Ith street, Morris street
and the new reservoir land.
Site 3That to the east of the new resar
voir and bounded by the Soldiers Home
grounds. North Capitol street, Cincinnati
stseet. LIST street Baltimore street and the