Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1913-04-12

comes DHCK DRUMMING Will
information about the cata-
CON BIS. One wonders If an
italian. visiting London, learns any
thing of it's 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
catacombs, are as a childs toy to St
Paurs cathedral
Take an instance in point, says the
London Weekly Telegraph. For more
than two years, from 1909 to the be-
ginning of 1911, 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 1t second
thought? Yet IL they had chosen to
investigate they would have found
that It lnclosed an immense shaft lead
ing down to one OF London's greatest
drains-.a huge, low level culvert run
to Bow. a 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
drains having length OF over 1000
miles. Their outfalls are at Barking
and Crossness. where are immense
pumping stations capable of dealing
with some $1,000. 100000 gallons OF
sewage in the course of the "a hours,
In Paris one of the recognized sights
OF the city Is its sewers. but who
dreams OF inspecting the far more
wonderful sewers OF London. the wind
ing serpents of length almost sufii-
cient to stretch from London to Edin-
burgh, and which guard the health OF
over six millions of people? They cost
$55.000,000 to construct and s1.300,000
yearly to care for, yet the money Is
well spent. TO. since 1870. the death
rate Of London has dropped from "a to
II per thousand.
All day and all night. all the year
round. work &c es on ceaseiessiy In the
wonderful subterranean world of the
sewers. An army of sewer men in
hugh thigh boots wade in the swiftly
running fluid and work In the close.
hot air of the deep dug tunnels.
Through these sewers now run what
were once navigable rivers. The Fleet,
for instance, up which barges and
pleasure gaIfeys once made their cum
brous way, at present runs about four
feet below the surface Of Harrington
street and New Bridge street. The tun-
mel through which the river flows Is
big enough for the passage OF an ON
nibus. yet In wet weather Its bore Is
not sufficiently large to carry of the
storm water, as flooded Easements In
Tudor street and the neighborhood
testify When there are high tides in
the Thames the tidal flaps" at Black
friars bridge are held back by pres
sure of water. and at such times they
say that, we're a FIVE foot spike driven
into the middle of New Bridge street.
the pentup water OF the Fleet would
rush up In jet as high as Ludgate
Hill station.
Queer Finds In Sewers.
Strange things are found by the
men who deive in the depths. digging
London's sewers. In making the Buck.
lersbury sewer the excavation ran sud
denly into large natural cave, though
how formed II is impossible to tell. As
for relics of past days. the London
county council has a collection of
these and a very interesting little mu-
scum II forms. Here are tusks OF the
mammoth. the gigantic long haired
elephant that once roamed the great
marshes where London now stands.
Here are bones OF early British cattle
and perfect skull OF a prehistoric
Londoner who shot game with flint
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