The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-26
built on soft mud without foundation.

\ ton, and the lower stories OF houses w0r
almost uniformly damp The porou
bricks, made from Mississippi clay. soake,
up water from the soil like sponge. Pneu
monia and diseases due to dampness wer
far more frequent than they should hav
been, and the greatest loss to merchant
with large stocks of goods was due to damp
ness.
The stores were so damp that tho goods
particularly gloves, clothing, &c, were
soon mildewed and not few merchants
followed the practice of shipping theiI
goods North during the dull season anc
treating them to a sea voyage in order
10 give them an airing and drying out,
| When the work of sewering New Orleans
began its people received a remarkable
| object lesson in the mater Of the super
saturation OF the soil, The work was be-
gun by private company which had not
| taken the water question into sufficient
consideration and failed in consequence
Purchasing the old Parish Prison, the
scene of the Italian lynchings of 1891, and
intending to use it as central station,
the New Orleans Sewerage Company be-
gan laying sewers through Robertson
and IRENE streets Never did engineers
encounter more difficult task. The
sewer pipes sank in the soil and after the
canal was dug, and the water drained
from the neighboring streets, the streets
themselves began to sink like squeezed
out sponge. The streets sank several
feet, so did the buildings on them, and
every house was cracked or thrown out
of plumb.
The company saw itself overwhelmed
with suits for damages. The cost of lay
ing sewers was seen to be small item
compared with the damage to neighbour
ing property The sewerage company
abandoned the idea of private sewerage,
threw up the sponge, and the sewer work
was left untouched until few days ago.
A few years after the work of drainage
was started. Advantage was taken of the
experience in the sewer work: but, never
theless. a whole square of the great drainage
canal on st Louis street sank in quick
sand and had to be rebuilt The engineers
persevered and finally triumphed The
drainage canals were built and 80 built that
the subsistence Of the soil from the saueez-
ing out Of the water was slow and equal
Of buildings as had been the case with the
sewers.
The drainage canals are constantly
pumped out and kept dry, and they are
rapidly drying all the SOIL carrying off not
only the rain water but the soil water "a
well. The old dmpne>s due to a super
saturated soil, disappeared
Water, formerly found at depth of
two feet, is now found only at six feet.
Graves which could not be dug more than
feet deep can now be dug IA or is feet be-
fore the water becomes troublesome. The
houses are dryer and the diseases of damp
ness, like pneumonia. have become less
frequent.
Other results have followed The Board
of Health ordered all ordinary wells in the
city closed some years ago, finding that they
were filed with soil water full of or ganio
matter. The factory owners discover ed
that by going down 1000 feet they struck
artesian water. One of the athletic clubs.
sinking an artesian we'll, struck fine vein
of salt water, and since then several of the
clubs have had salt water bathing pools
But the work OF drainage has changed
even this The artesian wells have become
uncertain. One may stop altogether, and
another begin to gush; and they have be-
come so un reliable that no new wells are
being sunk.
The greatest change however has been
in the ordinary suburban wells The
swamp back of New Orleans, formerly COW
cred with water the year through, has by
drainage and by the construction of pro-
lection levees along Lake Pontchar1rain
become dry; and scattered through this
region. number of small farms have
sprung up which furnish the city with
milk and vegetables.
Their only water supply has been from
the wells Year by year, az the drainage
system has progressed. the water in these
wells has sunk lower. until the dairymen
and the farmers report this year that the
wells are dry, and their farms and cattle
are suffering in consequence,
In the city this dryness is even more
marked. The soil is sinking but only be-
cause it is being dried out Skyscrapers
are no longer impossible, and the st.
Charles Hotel is making twelve-story
and will have a cellar under
ground--the first cellar ever built in New
Orleans and the first one possible here.
When the Cotton Exchange was built, il
sank so much that it carried down the
building next door, and had to pay $50 900
damages A firm of wholesale druggists
constructed an eght-story building and
had to pay big bill in damages
For dragging down the building next door.
Now, several twelve-story buildings are
going up without an inch of sinking After
Two centuries of being water soaked, New
Orleans has been dried out
There has been only one serious case
Of the sinking Of the soil. This was on the
riverfront just opposite the French market
The soil suddenly went down six or eight
feet as though an earthquake had occurred,
-aking down the tracks of the Southern
Pacific and Louisville and Nashville rail-
roads. An investigation showed that the
of these roads had emptied
A quicksand pocket, just below the rocks.
What has occurred at New Orleans in
The last few years has occurred to a less
extent in other parts Of southern Louisiana,
where the many drainage plans under way
are squeezing the water out Of a soil
which the Mississippi had left in a half
completed form, neither quite land nor
water.
The apparent subsistence of the Gulf
coast and of all southern Louisiana is no