The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-05-20
The Rebuilding Of Seattle

The Rebuild
ny FREDERIC j. HAslx1N.
Seattle.
The manner in which this vigorous
hauled and rebuilt breaks all world
records for municipal ingenuity and
enterprise. In order to overcome tho
disadvantage OF the steep hills upon
which Seattle is built, determined
attack has been made upon them. and
no such Wholesale moving of dirt las
ever occurred before In merely I'M
proving cltys topography. For nine
years this work has been pushed in
cessantly day and night. rain or shine.
Nothing has been allowed to stand In
the way OF the grand scheme of i'm
provement, and verltable wonders have
been accomplished
The actual number Of miles OF
streets affected by the rcgrade work,
giving partial changes is 21l miles.
together remade. The change, N the
average street grade for these I'll
miles has been a reduction of from Is
per cent. to S per cent. The enhance
ment OF the sale value Of property re-
suIting from this work has been an
increase Of 400 per cent. In the bus
mess districts. and OF 1000 per cent.
in the residential districts. At the
time. Of regarding the principal streets
of the city. their width has been In
creased from sixty-sx feet to either
eighty-four or ninety feet. as the dis
trict elected. AS a result, 275 blocks
Of buildings have either been moved
back nine or twelve feet. or. II an
alley in the rear prevented their re-
moval, they were cut of In front to-
permit the widening. During the time
that. these regrades have been carried
on in the hill portion OF the city,
dredgers have been reclaiming the tide
flats, and UP to the present time, sixty
city blocks have been reclaimed by
these. fills. There will eventually be
reclaimed in this manner 800 city
blocks
The task OF razing its hills is to
Seattle 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 shovels, 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 a year ago. he
would gaze up the ascent of a tower
ing hill he now finds himself peering
over railing into n monster pit. At
times an impenetrable pail of smoke
obscures the view of the work be-
! meath. Then the smoky curtain is rent
and through the rift one catches
| transitory giimpses of the big steam-
shovel eating it's way into the hill
1 the hydraulics sending clouds of dirt
and spray into the air, the miniature
trains putting back and forth. and the
ant-like figures of men at work. When
/ the vision is unobstructed the onlooker
/ sees towering banks crumbling before
the onslaught of water and shovel.
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 steam-shovel fol-
| lows in its wake and methodically es-
tablishes the desired level. The geo.
| logists tell us that in the course of
Icenturies the gentle rainfall Will re-
duce~to an insignificant bump on the
map the proudest mountain that ever
reared its head above the clouds:
Imagine then. the erosive powers of
1 a solid stream of water capable OF
denting In the side OF marine
/ boiler. This is the hydraulic in action.
! Hardly the right sort of hose for the
gardener to use in sprinkling the lawn,
| for less than three minutes Applicant ton
| you'd see the foundation OF the family
\ domicile uprooted and the furniture
l buried under the pile of shingles that
/ was once a roof.
4 Work on the excavations Is contin-
uous. Day and night men and ma
chinery wage unceasing war on the
sbiz q hf tweVe hours each .S
five men. receiving wages ranging from
4 SO to Sc per day, according to the ma
i ture of their task, comprise shift
which goes to work at Z in the morn
/ ing and Is relieved twelve hours later.
j The trains that haul away the dirt are
/ never relieved. and are given extreme
care by special mechanics. 1t is estl-
4 mated that each hydraulic removes
. n q dc. n
dirt every twenty-four hours. Not
4 withstanding the magnitude of the
work and the great risks the workmen
are taking, few accidents have oc-
4 workman was struck In the abdomen,
y by the nozzle Of big hydraulic and
1 instantly killed. At another time a
4 huge chunk OF Ignite coal 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
i of this regrade work In Seattle was
4 amount Of work now IN actual pro-
4 gress covers 100000 cubic yards, at a
4 cost of $2.194,000. The amount OF work
h authorized by resolutions, but only as
/. court proceedings. embraces 11.ooo,oto,G
4 cubic yards, which. It is expected, viii
4 cost about sa.Ooo,ooo for removal
4 Therefore, the total yardage actually
, contracted Tor IN the WnOle EreSraue
4 scheme amounts to 1G,460,000 cubic
Z yards. and the total contract price Is
(. S5.362, 900.
. That portion OF the city where the
tide flats are being reclaimed pre-
ance. Fronting the observer. are, long
. rows of buildings, mounted on tall
piles, or frame supports, such as
q twenty and thirty feet In the air, wait
ing for, 100000 cubic yards Of dirt Il
: be sluiced down under them from the
I hills above. If foreign visitor, un.
acquainted with Seattle's ways "
handling hills and hollows in her owr
sweet fashion, We're suddenly to view
: this forest of stills surmounted, will
4 rows of houses he might be justified
some monster tidal wave that the res,
!, idents had planted their dwellings II