The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-06-05
REBUILDING
Of SEATTLE
Plenty Doing in Premier CITY
of the Puget Sound
Region.
advertiser Correspondence, Copyright
by Frederic j. Easkin.)

advertiser Correspondence, Copvriph
by Frederic j. Easkin.)
SEATTLE May 20.-The manner in
which this vigorous and progressive
city is being overhauled and rebuilt
breaks all world records for municipal
ingenuity and enterprise In order to
overcome the disadvantage of the
steep hills upon which Seattle is built
determined attack has been made
upon them, and no such wholesale
moving of dirt has ever occurred be-
fore in merely improving a citys topo-
graphy. For nine years this work has
been pushed necessarily day and night,
rain or shine. Nothing has been allow
ed to stand in the way of the grand
scheme of Improvement and veritable
wonders have been accomplished.
The actual number of miles of streets
| affected by the regrade work, giving
partial changes, is 211 miles. Eleven
miles of streets have been altogether
remade. The change in the average
| street grade for these 211 miles has
| been reduction of from fifteen per
cent to five per cent. The enhance
ment of the sale value of property re-
sulting from this work has been an in
crease of 400 per cent in the business
districts, and of 1000 per cent in the
residential districts. AT the time of
regarding the principal streets of the
oil
from 66 feet to either "a or 80 feet as
the district elected. AS a result 275
blocks of buildings have either been
moved back nine or twelve feet, or, if
an alley in the rear prevented their
removal, they were cut off 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 re-
claimed by these fills. There will
eventually be reclaimed in this man
ner 900 city blocks.
The task of razing it's hills is to
Seattle what the Culebra Cut is to
the Panama Canal, and the operations
in vogue here are very similar to those
uSeu III lle WOfh on IHe great lSliIIlidu
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
observer. Where. only a year ago, he
would gaze up the ascent of a tower
4, IL
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 eat
ing its way into the hill, the by
draulics sending clouds of dirt and
spray into the air, the miniature
trains putting back and forth, and the
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
are the steam shovel
and the hydraulic The major portion
Of the work is accomplished by the
latter process. which breaks up the
nils ana removes the ueDiIS ny iIiCchho
OF fumes, while the steam shovel fol-
lows in its wake and methodicalIy es-
tablishes the desired level. The geolo-
yists tell us that in the course of
centuries the gentle rainfall will reduce
to an insignificant bump on the map
Inc proudest mountain that ever
reared its head above the clouds.
Imagine, then. the erosive powers of
IF Fl
ng in the side of a marine boiler.
This is the hydraulic in action. Hardly ,
The right sort of hose for the gardener +
10 use in sprinkling the lawn, for less s
han three minutes application would !
see the foundation of the family domi- s
Tile uprooted and the furniture buried I
Inder the pile of shingles that was ,
)nce a roof. 7
Work on the excavations is con- 7
inuous. Day and night. men and {
machinery wage unceaSing war on the
Hills. The day is divided into two E
shifts of twelve hours each. Twenty |
i've men. receiving wages ranging {
rom IS to Sc per day, according to the I
nature of their task comprise shift \
which goes to work al seven in the {
and is relieved twelve hours |
dISE. Inc ITdliS llteiN tlehdA ehNNs N'~
Iirt are never relieved and are given &
extreme care by special mechanics. 1t I
$ estimated that each hydraulic re- |
moves on an average 1000 wagon-loads I
# dirt every twenty-four hours. Not s
the magnitude of the 5
work and the great risks the workmen 6
ire taking, few accidents have occur {
ed. Only two have been fatal. One :
n