The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1913-04-25

10fOruldLlOu dOOuS eh0 S~~S~
- combs. One wonders II an
Italian visiting London, learns any
thing of its subterranean marvels, for
certainly the Londoner himself re-
mains woefully ignorant of all the
amazing systems of tubes, tunnels,
drains sewers, cellars and the like,
which honeycomb the ground beneath
his feet and, compared with Rome's
cstacombs are as a child's toy to St.
PauIs cathedral.
Take an instance in point, says the
London Weekly Telegraph. For more
than two years, from 1909 to the be-
ginning of 1911, a considerable area
| Of the Strand behind st. Mary's church
was inclosed by a gigantic boarding.
Literally millions of people must have
passed and noticed that boarding, but
how many ever gave it second
thought? Yet if they had chosen to
investigate they would have found
+ that it inclosed an immense shaft lead
jng down to one of London's greatest
drains-a huge, low level culvert run
ming all the way from Hammersmith
to Bow. distance of some twelve
and half miles, and costing more
than three-quarters of a million to
| construct
Two Thousand Miles of Drains.
This drain, which is now completed,
gives London a total of 352 miles, of
main drains, which are linked up
with tremendous network of smaller
drains having a length Of over 1000
miles. Their outfalls are at Barking
and Crossness, where are immense
pumping stations capable of dealing
with some 15,OO0,0OO,OO0 gallons of
sewage in the course of the "a hours.
In Paris one of the recognized sights
Of the city is it's sewers, but who
dreams of inspecting the far more
wonderful sewers of London, the wind
ing serpents of length almost suffi-
cent to stretch from London to Edin-
Ourgh, and which guard the health of
over six millions of people? They cost
@O,OVO,OOO to construct and $1,300,00O
yearly to care for, yet the money is
well spent for, since 1870, the death
rate Of London has dropped from "a to
II per thousand.
Ali day and all night, all the year
round, work goes On ceaselessly In the
wonderful subterranean world of the
sewers. An army of sewer men In
lugh thigh boots wade in the swiftly
running fluid and work In the close,
AOI air OF the deep dug tunnels.
through these sewers now run what
were once navigable rivers. The Fleet,
tUf instance, up which barges and
pressure galleys once made their cum
'Ous way, at present runs about four
l'V' oeloW the surface of Harrington
sueel and New Bridge street. The tun-
s s'l through which the river flows is
0s enough for the passage of an ON
-'Ous' yer IN wet weather its bore is
nu' sufficiently large to carry off the
r nv water, as flooded easements in
. .auuf street and the neighbo1hood
.s''y' When there are high tides in
tI names the tidal flaps" at Black.
snsa .' orldge are held back by pres.
sa Vi water, and at such times they
~. .ndt' were a five foot spike driven
II" Tue middle of New Bridge street
WV, pen'up water of the Fleet would
Hin ny IN a jet as high as Ludgate
9. Queer Finds In Sewers.
nan Aaase things are found by the
1o ra VINO delve in the depths, DIGGING
ls, aIOns sewers. In making the Buck
denl" ~ sewer the excavation ran sud
how , lu'o large natural cave. though
for r ,yfmed 1t is impossible to tell. As
eonn sencs of past days, the LONDON
heso oouhcll has a collection OF
Semi .; anu very interesting little mu
nsmn ~ lorm ., Here are tusks of the
elsn tinoIn, the gigantic long haired
nsr rIsn1 that once roamed the rrea1
Ba,s s where London now stands '
and at 40 bones of early British cattle
londap perfect skull Of a preb,s s.,rie
upp sSr sa, who shot game with fin,
he spsa arr arrows in the days when Stone one.
land was was the religious center of Tn J,
and ,oS Some wonderful shells Of aian e
that 'J tbs,s extinct nautilus, SO perfect sc
Drove '4 ten. sheen is still preserves served
once ONCE co mat the site of London poaf ws.
Sea. I ss s with a warm but sha, nn.
any As for pottery of all ages sAt thers
Of hst ss well the whole giving a1s 0, sor
earliest tf vi, IN kind of London from s tn.
But But tb ages up to today. i'0n -
ton sott1 Institute only very am 81 ' neg