Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-05-20

cent. The enhancement OF the saie
value of property resulting from III. ~ >
work has been 400 per cent IN tne
business districts and 1000 per cen. ~
of regrading the principal streets OF
the CITY their width was increased from
66 feet to either 81 or so feet. as the
district elected. AS - result 40 docks
of buildings have either been moved
back nine or twelve feet or II an alley
in the rear prevented their removhl
they were cut off in front 10 perm.
the widening. During the time that
these regrades have been carried on IN
the hill portion of the city dredgers
have been at work on the tide mats,
and up to the present time sixty CITY
blocks have been reclaimed by these
Ais. There will be reclaimed eventual
ly In this manner 800 city blocks.
The task of razing its hills Is to Be-
attic what the Culebra cut Is to the
Panama canal. and the operations In
vogue here are very similar to those
used in the work on the great isthmian
waterway. steam shovels, hydraulics,
dynamite, picks and shoveis are the
instruments Of disintegration. Rail-
ways, fumes and wheelbarrows are
the mediums Of transportation. The
magnitude of some of the excavations
cannot but impress itself upon the OBJ
server. Where only year ago he
would gaze I'D the ascent Of towering
hill he now finds himself peering over
a railing into a monster pit. AT times
an impenetrable pail of smoke obscures
the view OF the work beneath. Then
the smoky curtain is rent and through
the rift one catches transitory glimpses
of the big steam shovel eating Its way
into. the hill, the hydraulics sending
clouds of dirt and spray into the air,
the miniature trains putting back and
forth and the antlike figures of men at
work. When the vision Is unobstruct-
ed the onlooker sees towering banks
crumbling before the onslaught Of wa
ter and shovel. I
The greatest factors in the work OF
disintegration are the steam shovel
and the hydraulic. The major portion
of the work is accomplished by the lat
ter process, which breaks UP the hills
and removes the debris by means OF
fumes, while the steamshovel follows
in its wake and methodically estab-
fishes the desired level. The biologists
tell US that In the course Of centuries
the gentle rainfall will reduce to an in
significant bump on the map the proud
est mountain that ever reared its head
above the clouds. Imagine. then. the
erosive powers OF a solid stream of
water capable OF ueHtluB III tuc siuc VI
a marine boiler! This is the hydraulic
in action. Hardly the right sort Of
hose for the gardener to use in sprink-
ling the lawn, for less than three min
utes' application would see the founda-
ton of the family domicile uprooted
and the furniture buried under the pile
of shingles that was once roof.
Work on the excavations Is continu-
Gus. Day and night men and machinery
wage unceasing war on the hills. The
day is divided into two shifts of twelve
hours each. Twenty-Five men, receiv-
ing wages ranging from SO to IS per
day. according to the nature of their
task, comprise shift which goes to
work at in the morning and is re-
lieved twelve hours later. The trains
that haul away the dirt are never re-
lieved and are given extreme care by
special mechanics. 1t is estimated that
each hydraulic removes on an average
1000 wagonloads Of dirt every twenty
four hours. Notwithstanding the mag
nitude of the work and the great risks
the workmen are taking few accidents
have occurred. Only two have been
fatal. One workman was struck in the
abdomen by the nozzle of a big n.y.
draulic and instantly killed. At an.
other time huge chunk Of Ignite Goa
fell away from one of the cliffs and
crushed a workman to death.
The number of cubic yards of earth
removed during the first eight years OF
| this regrade work in Seattle was TO-
| 500 600. at a cost of $3,168.000. The
amount of work now in actual progress