Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1910-02-10
OF PARIS
$50 MILES LONG
Garry Refuse to Clichy and Keep
Seine Clean-Workmen Live
in Them.

New York, Feb SIN the accounts of
the Paris disaster special mention has
been made OF the sewers that honeycomb
the entire city They have been one Of
the features OF Paris. which were shown
to visitors az the most marvellous system
OF sewers in the world. They proved,
however. an added danger in the food
situation.
DR.. George A. Soper. chairman Of the
metropolitan sewerage commission, has
made a special study OF sewerage con-
ditons in Europe and is thoroughly
familiar with tho method Paris has
worked out to keep her streets and river
clean.
The sewers OF Paris" said Dr.. So
per, are about go miles long They
run underground beneath nearly all the
city. not always, however following the
lines of the streets, they have had
to be constructed SO as to get as far as
possible a regular grade
IN size they vary from the sewer no
bigger than the ordinary pipe to a great
oval-shaped tunnel 1S feet broad by IS
high. Without figuring the point out
carefully I should say that at least 200
miles Of them are large enough to be
visited by the workers In them for pur-
poses Of cleaning.
The object of the sewers, DR. Soper
said, Is to keep the Seine clean and as Il
matter OF fact that river, flowing as II
does through city Of over 2,75o 600 peo-
pie, Is wonderfully free from impurities.
Up to the beginning of the last century
every drain that existed ran into the
river. Now 1t may be said that practlc-
ally speaking, not single gutter empties
ried out to the great works at Clichy by
marvellous system of pines. In order to
get there it is forced to pass the wlndinss
three times by siphons under different
reaches Of the river.
RUN TOWARD CLICHY.
The sewers in the city are laid out
so as to lead in the genera, direction
OF Clichy, growing large they
progress toward it. Unlike the sewers
OF New York and other great cities.
they receive direct all the debris and
refuse of the streets. No catch basins
are provided, and there is no attempt
to separate from the fluid before 1t
that 1t collects on the surface
People use the sewers liz the way
that seems very strange to a New
Yorker" said Dr. Soper. zone morn
ing in the Avenue de rOnera one of
the best streets. / was astonished to
see a numbr of hairpins lying In the
gutter. In a minute | saw girl come
out of an artificial hair shop and de-
liberately proceed to wash in the gut
ter punches of false hair. She was
using gasoline, and allowed it TO run
straight into the gutter. as she had
finished with 1t.
with all this debris running into the
sewers a great deal of care has to be
taken to keep them clean. Paris has a
regular force OF men at work there and
provides them with boats. some Of them
propelled by electricity. Along the larger
sewers there are what one might call
! sidewalks on either side and it is quite the
thing for visitors to do to go for a boat
ride in the sewers. They are lit by cleo
tricity. and really are not very offensive
About 995 parts of sewage is water and
the odor is more of a musty scent than
anything else.
DR.. Soper described the men EMPLOYED
In the sewer as a class somewhat higher
in the social grade than the Italians who
serve the city of New York on the dumps
Some OF them never seem to come out.
There are" said Dr. Soper, wide
chambers followed out for the conven-
ience OF the working force. There they
seem to pass a great part OF their time
That sounds horrible, but you know that
AT the dumps in this city some OF the
Italians sleep in rough hunks under con-
ditions that sound impossible for any
human beings"
FAMILIES LIVING IN THEM
Are there women there?"
"Wcll that Is rather hard to answer
accurately. There are no official records
Of any women or children being allowed
in the sewers. but certainly any one who
has paid visit to them will say that
he has seen both women and children.
I suppose they are the wives and families
OF some Of me workmen. There are not
| exactly houses in the open chambers
but there are shelters, and 7 presume
the men and their wives live there"
The sewers of Paris run at all depths
beneath ,ae surface. They have to pre-
se~ve as far as possible an easy grade,
so as to allow the sewage to be carried
along at regular pace. and the city
| Itself is built on several hills, Consequent
| ly, sometimes the sewer may be as deep
as a tunnel some times It is only four
or five feet below the level of the
street.