New-York tribune., 1905-01-26
CITY TO LIGHT IT'S BRIDGE.
G4RBlGE FOR THE FUEL.
Mayor Expects Delancey-St. Plant
10 Start an -Four Months.

Mayor Mcclellan within four morths expects to
have a municipal lighting plant a small scale
in full operation Plans have been approved for a
plant gr6er the Manhattan end of the Williams
burg Bvidge which using fuel the refuse of that
district. light the bridge and have considerable
power left for other purposes. and next Monday
The specifications viii be offered 10 bidders. That
This plart Will prove success IS almost foresone
conclusion from TIE success Of the incinerator in
West E1tk-st-. from which Major Woodbury.. Street
Cleaning Commissioner. derives power TO light his
dump and stables. and il is entirely probable that
other plants similar TO the one proposed now will
be erected in various parts Of the city TO furnish
light 10 various city institutions
The plans provide for equipment or O-horse-
power. enough it IS estimated, light the bridg,
and some temporary schoolhouses and have left
for other purposes some l5O-horsepower. Funds
for building the plant available from the de-
partments Of Major Woodbury. and Bridge Com
missioner Best.
Two weeks Commissioner Best received bids
FOR lighting the Williamsburg Bridge from the
Brooklyn Edison Company. which had bid for the
Brooklyn end. and the New-York Edison Company
for the Manhattan end. Mayor Mcclellan believed
electric light could be furnished for about 80 per
cent less tlsn the prices named, re evolved a
scheme along the lines of Major Woodbury's 47th-
81. plant Commissioner Woodbury. had just OBJ
tsined from the Board Of Estimate appropriat ton
~ $1,000 for AN incinerator. Commissioner Best
had S6oao0 available for the construction of ma
chine shop.
L struck the Mayor that 4 combination of in
cinerstor and machine shop might develop the
steam necessary 10 operate lighting plant on a
small scale. Henry B. Parsons brother OF William
Barclay Parsons. and O. F. Nichols engineer of
the bridge department. drew plans and presented
Hp TO develop 4o0-horsepOwer- Major Woodbury.
believes that the waste Of the East Side tenement
house district will furnish all fuel needed but
ihe boiler viii be built so coal can be used also
Under the Williamsburg Bridge is A lot of more
less waste land that allotted 10 the Board
Of Education by the Sinking Fund Commissioners.
The Board Of Education has surrendered its rights
there in exchange for double the area half block
north Just where the bridge towers face the
waterfront is a discarded bulkhead owned by the
city. To that Major Woodbury. can tow his barges
fun Of refuse. His experiments on the West Side
have shown that IL can be handled without offence
10 the neighborhood.
''Mr Nichols has calculated" the Mayor said,
that II the city has 10 buy coal al the high
est market price. the saving each lamp will be
than 90 per cent the price asked for light
3nE the bridge"
The plans show a four celled furnace. with
stack 200 feet high. There Will be room and power
shop. and the work OF lighting the bridge viii be
1ions were to the Corporation Counsel for his
approval form. 1t 10 those plans the
Mayor referred when in his letter TO Senator
Malby and Assemblyman Rogers he said that the
local lighting problem was in fair way Of solu-
fion. and he expected in less than four months to
demonstrate that the city could operate its own
plant without legislative assistance.