The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-09-01
RICHMOND FIRM s
MIGHTY CONTRACT.
itContinued from First Page.) 4

InbSUa ss0 Yin . III ~
Continued from First Pase.)
day. The planning and the schem
ing have finally resulted In tho biggest
undertaking of the kind In tho history
OF America, and this tremendous thir-
teen mil lion dollar contract which the
Richmond and Chicago contractors
Will sign up for this week is the be-
ginning Of the wonderful work.
To Drain the Catskills.
According to Mr.. Reeve, New York
IS. anu has been. In a certain sense
dry, very dry. 1T needs water. and
needs 1t badly. That IL why the city
has started to build d water-supply
system that will drain an area in the
Catskill Mountains equal to that of the
whole State OF Rlelc Island. gather
ing the water intC> a huge artificial
lake three quarters OF the size Of Man
haitian Island Itself EIghty-six miles
this water Will flow by the force Of
gravity alone, crossing under the Hud-
son by gigantic siphon sunk deep
into the bed rock, and finally It VIII
deliver six hundred million gallons OF
pure mountain water to the metropo-
lis every day.
Six hundred million gallons a day
means a flow OF water considerably
Hudson river itself during the dry
season. 1t means enough water every
twenty-fcur hours to cover the whole
Of Manhattan and the Bronx half
inch deep. 1T means four times as
much water led into the city in year
as falls on 1t In rain and snow. II
means an engineering task as great
and costlier than the Panama Canal.
it means building dam in the drained
mr. In Cd pplv N In IL.
famous Assouan dam. that collects the
waters of the Nile. That. briefly, is
the story Of New York's new water
system.
Forces Employed.
Engineering. geology, botany. zoolo-
gy. law. finance. brains and nerve are
strangely mingled in the gigantic I'M
dertaking-but chiefly energy. 1t
takes the utmost energy of five hun
bred and fifty trained engineers to
plan how this vast territory is to be
drained and the water carried down
to the city. Lastly, 1t takes clever
legal talent to carry the work through
properly. for six towns and fifteen
miles OF railroad are to be covered
over. AS for the grating politician.
he has not appeared yet.
For. whatever the theorists may say
OF municipal activity. the chief engi-
neer, j. Waldo Smith. means to carry
this work through for the city IL
science and brains can do it. He and
his five hundred and fifty assistants
are young men with regulations to
make and sustain.
The five hundred and fifty men on
the staff include engineers. sanitary
experts. surveyors. rodmen. axmen and
line men.
smiths Vigorous Way.
Quick and accurate work is what Mr..
Smith himself is noted for and what
he expects of every man under him.
lie came to the Croton Aqueduct Com
mission in 1903. and after about two
years work he had proved his ability
to take charge of the new water plans.
That was on August !, 1905. The month
was unayoidably consumed in pre-
paratory discussions that ended in
little. so that Mr.. Smith Was not able
to get down to work until the first OF
September. BY October eth. less than
six weeks, he had turned out a COM
plete draft OF what he proposed to do
and had submitted 1t. with an estimate
of the cost. This draft has been gone
over constantly by experts in all
branches since then. and a year and a
half of closest examination has not re-
suited In any important change.
Problem solved.
One problem only remained unsolved
That was not because 1t was insolu
BILE, but because 1t was n deep problem.
probably a thousand feet deep. This
problem is how to get river under
n river; in other words how to build
n mammoth siphon to carry the water
under the Hudson. Building the
siphon Is simple In theory. IL 1t were
an ordinary tunnel like that in which
the Pennsylvania railroad intends TO
run it's heavy steel trains into the
city 1t would be comparatively we'll
understood undertaking. But such a
tunnel full of water at a continuously
high pressure, and itself liable to cor
rosion from the water constantly pass
ing through it, did not appeal to the
engineers.
Forty years ago tho city OF New
York built for itself the first of all
aubaqueous tunnels under Its rivers.
That was the old Croton water-system
tunnel under the Harlem, blasted and
drilled through solid bedrock. 1t is
rs good now a. 1t was then; 1t will
be as good practically forever.
rock sphon was what was sought
under the Hudson. That sounds also
comparatively simple. But it was not.
Biologists asserted that at the point
chosen to cross the Hudson from
storm King Mountain on the west
shore to Breakneck Mountain on the
cast there is bedrock IL one goes deep
enough to find it. The trouble was
that no one had ever had occasion to
go deep enough to locate it, and it
had to be known to certainty before
real work could be done. The men
who found 1t are the men who have
so far surmounted every obstacle in
their path.
Eureka! Eurckn!
They have found 1T. continuous
across the river. at a depth Of over
six hundred feet. Thus the water
from the CatslSills will run into Storm
King Mountain four hundred and fifty
feet above the level of the Hudson
1t will then shoot down shaft six
hundred feet further below that level
IN all considerably more than thou
sand feet be forced by It's own pres
sure across the river and UP again
to the height OF four hundred feet
inside Breakneck Mountain opposite
Except for the size it Is all as simple
in theory as an experiment with q
glass tube.
The work of crossing the Hudson