Omaha daily bee., 1908-08-05
RouNp Anorr NEW YonK.
RIppIes on the Current Of life In the
Metropolis.

Away up on Esopus creek the guHgling
stream beside Judge Parker's home, up In
the famous Catskill mountains back Of
Kingston. N. Y, and along the ninety
mile route leading down TO a site just
over the New York City lire, a force Of
nearly 5000 engineers and contractors
workmen are now engaged in the biggest
task OF It's kind ever undertaken-the task
Of constructing the gigantic new water
supply system which New York City is
creating for itself at a cost of S162 ,000,-
600, A writer in American Industries call
culates the job will be completed in eight
years and will deliver to the city $780,
O0O.O0O gallons Of water daily. When fin
ished the Catskill aqueduct will be able
to carry not only the $50, O00, 900 gallons
of water daily which the Ashokan roser-
voir will furnish, but also the additional
quantity which II is proposed later on
to draw from other watersheds Of the
Catskills. BY 1915. II is calculated, New
York will be using 710,0O0,000 gallons of
water every day, and to meet the needs
Of a time when even Ashokan will not be
able to supply the city's great thirst.
plans have already been made to utilize
further the resources of the hills when
needed.
The Ashokan reservoir itself will cover
an area Of $500 acres, or 1913 square
miles, divided by a dixie into two basins.
1t will be twelve miles long, nearly three
miles wide at its widest point and will
have a shoreline of forty miles. Its stor-
age capacity will be 1870. 0OO,0 900 gallons.
The maximum depth of water will be 100
feet; the average depth fifty feet. From
the little village Of West Hurley, eight
miles west of the Hudson river, to It's
upper end beyond West Shokan, this i'm
mense storage basin will bury under its
waters an area of country having at the
present time a permanent population of
about 1900 and a summer population of
at least 1900. Seven villages will be
wiped from the map; thirty-two cemeteries
will be submerged and 2,400 bodies buried
in them will have to be removed to other
resting places. Sixty-four miles of pub
lie highways will be included within the
reservoir or discontinued because of its
building and twenty-five miles of new
highways will have to be built. The
Ulster & Delaware railroad, which runs
through the Esopus valley, will be sub
merged for eleven miles, and to carry
the road around the gap thus made four
teen miles of new track will have to be
located and built.
According to plans filed with the bureau
OF buildings, New York City's first steel
frame skyscraper-the nine-story Tower
building, at No. so Broadway, now but a
mere pigmy among the immense towers OF
lower Manhattan-is to be RACED to make
way for a thirty-eight-story building.
The exact height of the new structure is
not stated in the reports, but, estimating
by stories, It will be second among the
standing skyscrapers downtown to the
Singer building only. II is to cost about
$3,47 900. The new structure will be Of
brick and terracotta. with thirteen passen-
ger elevators and one for freight. 1t will
have a frontage on Broadway of S1.9 feet.
and on New street Of 500 feet.
Passengers on a Columbus avenue car,
bound downtown, were surprised the other
Afternoon to witness the unique politeness
Of a conductor, who aided with Chester
fieldian courtesy, every woman getting on
or off, lifting the children up and down,
and was generally obliging in his conduct.
His good nature seemed unfailing, and
there was none of the hurry up spirit about
starting the car after a stop.
The passengers talked to each other
about it, and finally one of them said to
the man in uniform: r
" III d new SHplOSes dTen I you
Twenty years" was the reply. "Why?"
You appear TO have time to be so-er-
polite" the passenger remarked.
"Oh, it's easy" the conductor said, with
a grin. "Since these receivin' ships began,
we save enough time on transfers to jolly
the people a bit"
The athletic training OF t~wenty-month-
old Helen Graf saved the youngsters life
when she fell from a window on the fifth
floor OF 1857 Webster avenue.
Joseph Graf, a foreman mason, the
child's father, is an athlete OF some repute
In Bronx clubs. and he had taught the
baby to hold on to a broomstlck while he
lifted her up out OF her crib and carried
her around the room.
While Mrs. Graf was hanging out clothes
the baby climbed out on the fire escape
and fell through the we'll hole. On the
fourth floor the child struck the rail OF
the fire escape and was thrown outside.
AS she passed the third floor she was so
close to the balcony that she caught the
iron bar and held on. In the yard l4-year-
old Joseph Colombo saw the baby and res
cued her, Or. Rosen of Lebanon hospital
said the baby had received nothing worse
than a few scratches.
More than thirteen hundred men have
been sent to the country districts by the
free labor bureau OF the Bowery Mission
in response to the appeals of farmers
for field laborers. The perennial cry OF
farmers, coming from the west ~part'cu-
larly, that their crops are threatened with
d obstruction for lack OF help. is being heard
as usual. The Bowery Mission started to
relieve the farmers by supplying help sew
eral months ago, and the number OF men
being sent out is constantly increasing.
owners OF real and personal property
in the Greater City. valued at 81, i6S, $50, 400,
will contribute $1l6, 1890 to the support
OF the city for the next fiscal year. The
total budget as fixed today by the Board
OF Aldermen shows that $l43, SO. 266 will be
required to meet the city's expenses for
the year. but a portion Of this sum will
be raised through sources other than direct
taxation. 1t was found necessary to
slightly raise the tax rate throughout the
greater city for this year.
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Popular Interest I'm Primaries.
New York Tribune.
II anyone doubts the popular interest in
direct primaries, he should consider the re-
suit Of those recently held in Texas. At