The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-08-12
A BAD PROBLEM ON
IRVING AVENUE
NEAR TWENTIETH STREET IT
rs SAID THE FILLING GRAD
UALLY SLIPS DOWN THE
HILLSIDE.

P'N'HS AA'"'S aNNiuS III lnS uelkH
i borhood OF Nineteenth and Twentieth
streets. according to one or NOR,
property owners who are interested
in the matter.
AT this point OF the new thorough
iare there was deep hole, or ravine
and it seems that as fast as il is filled
up there is a constant sinking away,
Several times, it is said, the street has
been practically filled to the requisite
level, yet slowly and surely the great
mass OF earth has slipped and sub
sided. The conditions there seem to
be identical with those in several
other places along the river.
| Thousands OF cubic yards of dirt
have been placed in the fill, and vet
as far as is known il may take thou.
sands OF yards more TO secure sta
tionary road bed, and il may even
prove an utter impossibility TO ever
secure a solid and permanent roadbed
by merely placing earth there. The
deep, underground movement may
simply take it all away,
A representative Of the Astorian
made a casual inspection Of the work
yesterday. The subsidence is very
plainly to be seen. One of the men
on the ground said the earth fell. away
as much as a foot Z day, sometimes.
In one place there is simply a hole
now that had already been filled to
the level once or twice before.
1T is my belief" said we'll known
citizen, yesterday, that the city au-
thorities should stop this work with.
out days further delay. 1t is idle, /
in my judgment, to continue the work /.
along the lines now being pursued. !
Every one in Astoria knows how I
those hills slide, and this seems to be
a bad one. The work should be stop |
ped at once. Then let the city en-
gineer go ahead and prepare some
plan whereby the work can be made
a permanent improvement. II tn.
city were to accept the work now, it
would be an outrageous imposition
on the property owners who pay for
it, in my judgment, for within two
months after the job was accepted
the street would, / think, prove i'm
Dassible. 1t looks like a pretty ser
Gus matter, and it should be met
'quarely and without any delay"
1t is said that when the rains come I
his fall the improvement is almost
,ertain to be in far worse shape thar (
low, and that if the city should ac-
,ept the work before the rains. that
ioon thereafter the trouble would Is
crop out far worse than
yer. w. A. Goodin is the contractor. !
t is presumed, since the matter has (
ssumed the phase it has, the city
would ,endeavor to protect him in hi 2
ontract in some reasonable way, &
hough apparently the great need now
s for the councilmen and mayor not .
0 lose sight OF the work for a mo
nent to the end that the citizens may &
oe protected.
Put the whole affair seems too ;
.Ighly important to ignore. If the i
work is continued and later the inn .
turns out to be nothing
,ut botch of the most unsubstantiR
lind; then the citizens whose money c
5 to pay for the work will naturally
,e filled with something more than :,
ighteous Indignation. That is, it is
aid that no matter how carefully and
the work is now done by !
he contractor under the present plan, n
t will be simply like building house n
on the sands" Irving avenue prom a
ses to be beautiful thoroughfare, if ,
he improvement is properly done. n
t is suggested that perhaps the city r
ould buttress up the work and make t.
t Of most substantial nature by tha a
se Of piles or masonry work at the y
,ottom Of the hill, to give halt n
0 the gradual subsistence Of the slid Ii
ng hillside. II
Perhaps it should be said that the Il
rouble seems to be entirely localized v
yithin the comparatively narrow ra- II
inc. Property on both sides Of the m
lace is as solid as rock, and houses b.
ave been built there which have
TODD for years in perfect stability.
he commonly accepted theory Of
1ese sliding hillsides, of which there
een1 to he several laonp the river in -