New-York tribune., 1902-12-15
SNOW QUICKLY MOVED.
WOODBURYS GOOD WORK.
Streets Cleared Under Trying CIR
cHD2st0Hces

The Street Cleaning Department had a two
fold nrohlem TO meet yesterday. In the opinion
Of exnerts the snowstorrn, which had left a
six inch deposit. was Of the most difflcult
20 handle in fifteen years Two inches at the
fotfou. was snow, then there was a solid layer
of sleet then a couple Of inches more of snow
finished off with a final coating OF sleet Inc
resui: was doubly petrif1ed mass. an acreage
of welded STEEL the Deputy commissioner
Of The Bronx termed il.
But not only the snow in protected strata
like a twoply layer cake, but the department
had no contractor to take hold OF the job Will
lam Bradley does not begin his work TIL
week from to-day, owing to the delay In OBJ
tanning an acceptable bid. His was the fourth,
and was at % cents a ton The bidding started
In at 50 cents and the third was 30 cents. AS
the result the department was thrown on its
own resources in an unprecedented way. Diff
Guilty was experienced in obtaining trucks be-
cause nearly the whole supply was devoted to
handling coal.
Finally work was begun yesterday with 1,SO0
Eweepers 1900 laborers 1000 carts and 500
trucks In spite of the peculiar fall Of snow
and the absence of contractor. the situation
well met
Major John McGaw Woodbury., in rubber
boots. took charge III person of the work in the
financial districts the desire being to have these
good shape Tor business No-ods
The work was under the direct oversight OF
n. D. Bouton the general snow inspector, and
by last evening he and his force had succeeded
in clearing the city to the following extent;
Broadway had been cleaned from the Battery TO
Forty-second-st, Park Row to Chambers-st'
the ferry streets and financial centres, the great
crosstown streets. Fifty-ninth. Thirty-fourtn'
Forty-second, Twenty-third and One-hundred-
and-twenty-fifth; much of the length OF Fifth
ave. a good deal of Coumbus-are-. some OF
Eighth-ave. and all the Bowery-
Mr. Bouton said TO Tribune reporter:
1T was strictly an emergency situation we
not only had the snow handle, but we also
4oog care of ali the garbage and ashes through
out the city It was the duty Of the thirteen
inspectors for the districts Of Manhattan
and The Bronx to locate ali available carts
This was done. Sunday is always bad day
because men do not care TO work then All
around it was a big. hard situation to meet, ana
the Major deserves an immense amount Oh
credit for what he did with it 1t also ought to
be noted that The Bronx received attention to-
day"
In The Bronx, in addition to the regular force
of the department, consisting of seventy carts
and I75 men 175 men and 100 double trucks
we're hired. This force began clearing the snow
from Third-ave., ,One-hundred- -thirty-eighth-
St wiIis-ave- Tremont-ave- and One-hundreo-
snds;,rtx-Hrst-st as well as that portion of
Boston road below One -hundred-a -and-sixty-
ninth-st. By nightfall the streets had been well
cleared of snow. No attempt was made yester-
day to clear the side streets. and work on them
will not be begun until the main thorough
fares have been cleaned.
Some inconvenience and delay were caused IN
the snow removal by the scarcity of piers suit
able for snow dumping. There have never been
enough and this year two piers which were
available last winter have been closed to the
snow carts One of these is at Jay-st. and the
result is that there is no place to dump snow in
the North River. between Pier A and Canal-st.
Snow wagons from the streets in the wholesale
district are forced to make the long trip TO one
or the other Of these two piers 10 dispose Of
their loads On account of the scarcity Of piers
provided with the dumping runways the de-
partrent carts and those hired for the occasion
stand loaded in long lines at the piers waiting
i turns. Ali the time spent moving slowly for
! ward in line is wasted, and the precious cart is
useless for the time being.
The estimate of the Street Cleaning Depart
1nent on the snow removal yesterday was 27.e16
loads. or II. 424 cubic yards.
Under the ordinance passed at the in
stigation of Commissioner Woodbury.. railways
occupying streets are obliged TO clean sections
Of the streets. equal to the space used by the
cartracks- The penalty for failure to comply
permits 20 the railroads to run the sweepers
with which they keep their tracks free from
snow. Dr.. Woodbury. has the power OF issuing
and recalling these permits, without which the
sweepers cannot he run.
In pursuance Of its allotment the Metropolitan
railroad yesterday cleaned Broadway from
Bowling Green to Vesey-st-, which is its share
Of the street from the Battery to Fifty-ninth-
st The work was expeditiousy and conscien-
tiously done. The smaller horsecar lines of the
lower East and West sides did their little bits
of cleaning during the day although some diff
7Fad| Tir1cr
Metropolitan also did its share in Twenty-Five
Thirty-tourth, Fifty-ninth, Forty-second sts.,
and in the avenues. In Fifty-nnth-st. the
work viii have 10 be done over because more
snow fell after the sweepers finished Satur-
day night.
One downtown horsecar line the Chrystie-st,
is said to have been negligent, and its permits
may be endangered, but the scarcity of trucks
on Sunday is good excuse
The New-York Central Railroad cleaned Hud-
son-sl, from Beach TO Canal, and in Canal-st.,
from Hudson to West which bits represented its
snare OF the Lower West Side streets through
which its freight tracks run. One wear the COM
pany tried freighting the snow away in fat
cars but now il uses trucks.
Snow IN Brooklyn was never so quickly and
satisfactorily removed as it was yesterday ,1n-
der the direction of William S. Clarke. the su-
perintendent or the Street Cleaning Departrnent
IN cnarge of the work Six hundred carts and
TRUCKS were In use and 4 600 loads of snow were
taken away by the department Three thou
sand men We're engaged in the work The
Brooklyn Rapid Transit COMPANY and tba
Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad unSer an
agreement with the department cleaned q n,r,
Der OF the main thoroughfares, such as Fulton
ST. Broadway and Smith-st. Mr. Clarke re-
ports that the companies In contrast With last
year, are doing the work promptly and thor
oughiy '
All Of the shopping district was vzsu c,aar,oz
ana good progress was made in the main thor
ouehiares such as Greenpoint and Manhattan
aVes, IN Greenpont; Grand-st and Kent-ave in
the Eastern District and washington ond
ADAMS sts and Myrtle-ave. Fultoa-st is clear
lE6a Tv