The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1906-10-09
cry THAT HAD SAND.
How Galveston IL sim Raising Itself
Above Flood Line.

How Galveston IL sim Raising itself
Above Flood Line.
Each day the solid wall crept farther
along the gulf front until At length 1t
stretched four and half miles, guard
Ing the whole corporate length to IT'S
outer limits, and on top Of this the
city has undertaken task unknown Ii
history. but which Is now one third
/ completed TO lift itself bodily above
4 the food line A district as large as all
4 that part Of Manhattan below Houston
street Is being raised to a height In
4 places fifteen feet above its present
Level. 1t wns not an open country or
Il tract Of waste land which was to be
lifted. 1t was the major part of an
active, vigorous town. the most iInpor
tant business center Of the southwest
u Street car lines, gas pipes. water
mains, houses, churches, all the com
pick mechanism Of a metropolis. had TO
be elevated an average Of seven feet
above the old grade. No less than Ill,
100000 cubic yards are needed to com
plete this work,
Eleven million cubic yards! The
quantity conveys no definite idea to
most What it really meant for the
gulf city to undertake this work may
be realized from comparisons. Calves
ton is the second export city Of the
United States. During the last fiscal
year, 1906 there cleared here for both
United States and foreign ports vessels
Of total Of 1.TB2,4TS net registered
tons. This tonnage is an equivalent of
1.s2S,000 cubic yards
Fl II every vessel clearing from the port
4 Of Galveston last year had been loaded
with sand to her full net tonnage ca
pacity the amount carried away would
be less than one-sixth 81 what Il being
used in raising the grade The material
required would make five pyramids as
large as that Of cheops. II every
vessel flying the American dag were
required to bring one full cargo OF
Sand II would take three trips Of this
great feet to meet fsalveston's need
This Il the magnitude of the public
work that the city Of less than 10000
souls has undertaken with no outside
& aid save the retention Of its own state
taxes for seventeen years.
The men Of Galveston have built d
solid concrete sea wall four and a half
miles long at cost OF S1,500.000 and
have paid for it In cash They have
backed the walla up with hundred
feet Of solid iilllng and ara now raising
the greater portion Of the city to ah
average height OF fourteen and a half
feet above sen level at cost Of 81,
200.O00 further
The solution of the problem OF rails
Ing Galveston was an engineering feat
\ No tool III America could accomplish
the work within the city's resources,
and hauling material BY rain cost $500
900 more than the municipal tax limit
would allow Suction dredges could not
pump sand three miles into the heart
or the town. The solution lay in the
radical proposal Of driving canal into
the heart Of the city and using self
propelled dredges. but recently intro
duced in Europe. which could take
their loads from the ship channel,
steam m this canal and discharge the
material under the houses and through
the streets
The operation Of these engineering
TltanS possesses certain interest.
They steam over or alongside sand
i bank. The main engines actuate a
large centrffuaaI pu1nn whose function
It il to take up material and discharge
1t into the hoppers. sKreIsel poInpe,"
or whirlpool pump. was the name given
II by the old Prusslan pioneer who first
/ applied this principle to hydraulic
dredging The pump forms small
inaelstrom, sucking UP into the interior
Il OF the dredge sand. mud. etc. with 50
TO 30 per cent Of sen water Then with
d full load Of hundreds OF tons the
dredge steams across the nayigable
channel. up the temporary canal and
pipes the mixture on 10 the lots and
appointed streets.
Two years more will see the accom-
plishment Of this great undertaking.
The sea wall viii withstand the fury
OF the widest storms The raising OF
its grade will lift tile city above the
danger point OF the highest food. The
incubus which has for so long over
Swallowed this entrcpot Of the south
west will vanish Galveston's legitl-
mite future will have 10 It's realization
no vital barrier Scientific American.