New-York tribune., 1903-07-14
THE CRoTON DAM REPORT.

Reports on public works are seldom sprlghtly
or entertaining reading. They are not, as
rule to be commended for vacation perusal In
q hammock in preference to Wilkie Collins or
Sir Gilbert Parker. But we do not remember
for a long time to have met with one so dis
tinctly depressing in tone as that which has
lust been made to the Mayor by the Aqueduct
Commission and its chief engineer. 1t is the
sort of thing that would make the rarest of
DAYS in June seem like dun evening in No
vember, and cause the most buoyant optimist
to wonder whether, after all, life is worth liv-
ing. 1t is a record Of blunders and delays, of
things done which should not have been done,
and things undone which should have been
done and ii is illumined with no ray of promise
that there will ever be anything better while
the lamp of the present commission holds out
to burn.
There were two colossal blunders made by
the commissioner its engineers; all the same
early in the undertaking. either of which if not
corrected would have imperilled the integrity
of the whole work. These were the adoption
Of the core dam plans and the building of the
core dam on a foundation resembling soft brown
sugar. If we pass the former as matter on
which the best expert opinions differed, we can
not pass the latter on any conceivable ground
There can be no excuse nor palliation of such
DluuQeT us lHdt Ol DullulIlS IL6 Oull OH SuCu
foundation. 1t was discreditable to the COM
mission, and to the engineers, and to the con-
tractors and builders. We cannot. of course
entertain so monstrous a suppOsition as that
any of these three knew beforehand that the
foundation of the dam was so unfit. But they
ought TO have known. The character of every
inch OF the underlying rock from side to side
of the valley should have been ascertained be-
fore single yard Of dam was built upon it.
The discovery of this soft rock under the core
dam raises inevitably some ugly questionings
concerning that under the central masonry dam
Do the commissioners or the engineers or the
contractors know positively that it is of any
better quality? We assume that they do and
that they made sure of it by boring. But what
worse than midsummer madness il was. after
making so sure about part Of the dam, TO let
the rest of II go on blind chance and guesswork
especially in a region like that. where geo
logical formations are varying and mixed
worse than Chinese puzzle! No matter what
else the commission may have done or may not
have done, that one supreme blunder will ever
remain as damning indictment against It,
1t is now nearly eleven years since work on
the new Croton Dam was begun Three years
ago Mr.. Freeman, in his report to the Controller
on the citys water supply, confidently antici-
pated the completion of it in 1902. The commits
sion now cOnfesses that the dam will not he
sufficiently advanced to permit the beginning of
the impounding Of water by December 1. 1908
the date which ii a little while ago so iauntilv
and cocksurely set for such beginning. and II
helplessly adds that il cannot tell when the
dam will be finished. II cannot tell until the
borers get to the bottom of the brown sugar
They have been boring diligently for more than
three months and they have not struck bottom
yet They have, however. found more troubIe
The excavations for rebuilding the core dam
will undermine the old aqueduct and so a big
retaining wall will have to he built to support
the latter What additional works that in turn
will involve goodness only knows Meantime
the work on which the taxpayers OF New-Yorl,
are spending millions, the work whose PROMPT
and proper completion is so essential TO the
comfort, safety. health and very life of the me-
trOpolis must be indefinitely delayed The men
who year after year receive big salaries for
supervising II in the interest of the city cannot
give even an approximate estimate of the num-
Der Of years more the city will have TO wait
beyo- ,e ample time originally assigned for