The Hattiesburg news., 1914-06-23
S1AGKANT POOLS
IN GORD0N'S CREEK
WILL Be DRAINED
..
NEWMAN COMPANY MAY REMOVE
ITS DAM, WHICH Is SAID TO BE
CAUSE OF TROUBLE.
PUBLIC SENTIMENT DEMANDS
RELIEF FROM CONDITION
The News Exposure of Bad Sewerage
At Normal Leads to Even More Far
Reaching steps to Improve City's
/. Sanitary Condition.

@GOrdOn'S creek, Wnlcn nOWS through
the heart of Hattiesburg is to be con-
verted from a series of stagnant,
diseased breeding pools to live strean
Of water that will drain most of the
city, if plans being considered by the
commissioners this afternoon material
ize, and there is every indication that
they will.
The recent exposure through The
News of the unsanitary sewerage con-
ditions at the Normal College served
to call the attention Of the public to
the fact that Gordon's creek, instead
of draining the city as it should, is in
reality a sluggish and at times almost
stagnant stream which is a breeding
place for mosquitoes and disease dur
ing the summer months and which al
lows much of the sewerage to settle
on its bottom instead Of carrying 1t or
The condition has existed every
year during the summer months when
tho creek has become low, but since
the publicity given the overflow from
the Normal's septic tank, the City
Commissioners have received numer-
GUS complaints from people who fear
that these pools will become breed
ing places of disease, and the
Commission is meeting this after
noon for the purpose of considering
how the condition may be remedied
permanently.
Newman's Dam Is Cause.
The direct cause of the stagnant
pools in the bed of the creek is attrib-
uted to the dam of the Newman Lum-
Der Co., just above where the creek
empties into the river. This dam de-
creases the slope or fall of the water
from the city to the milldam by IL or
16 feet. The sewerage which finds its
outlet by means of the creek has to
flow through the mill pond and escape
over the top of the dam by means of
a spillway
The decrease in the fall or slope
caused by the milldam has caused the
bed of the creek to fill up with sand
and to form pockets, where the sewer
age in the summer time stagnates and
fills the surrounding air with a nau-
seating odor.
The city commission last week asked
w. ]. Haynen, general manager of the
]. ]. Newman Lumber Company, to
meet with them to discuss how the
condition can be permanently RENE
died. 1t was decided as the result OF
this conference to send the engineers
to make an examination and to report
on the cost of doing what Is necessary.
J.H. Putnam and F. M. Hill, engineers
for the city and for the lumber COM
pany respectively, have spent several
days at work on the drainage PROPOSE
tion, based on the idea that the present
dam across the creek be removed and
a canal dug so as to allow an unimped-
ed flow of the creek. Their reports
will be submitted today at the con-
ference.
Haynen viii Cooperate.
Mr.. Haynen has given the city COM
mission every assurance of his desire
TO cooperate with them toward remedy
ing any obstruction in the way OF
proper drainage of the. creek,
caused by his company. 1t is probable
that the Newman company will buiid
new dam which will have nothing to
do with the creek and will suppfy
their mill pond with artesian water
or will pump water direct from the
river. Mr.. Haynen is anxious, he says
To do whatever he can to make tine
condition around the mill Thoroughly
n sanitary.
There will be no great amount OF
work necessary besides the opening
of a small canal from short distance
above the mill to the river. AS soon
as the normal slope of the creek is re-
stored by removing the mill dam' the
fcontinued on Page Four-'