Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-09-24
HARRISBURG TOO
CAN TELL STORY
OF big DITCH
Paxton Greeks Improvement
Another Wonder Tale in
Civic Achievement
IN THE DAYS OF OLD
Remarkable Reclamation Feat
of City in Controlling Floods
and Nuisance

big Ditch; it is the story of Pax
ton creek.
momentous problem at Panama, Just
so did the city of Harrisburg via the
Board of Public Works. solve an equ-
ally momentous problem for the peo-
pie of the city, in improving that long
stretch of sluggish stream.
Harrisburg to-day is celebrating
the remarkable strides it has made in
fifteen odd years of public improve
ments; of all the big jobs 1t planned.
completed and paid for in the splen-
did program of improvement, none
represents a greater achievement in
sofar as the greatest good for the
greater number is concerned, than
the improvement of Paxton creek.
The Mosquito Paradise
Up until few years ago Paxton
creek ran through the little valley in
the central section of the city-eXcept
in time of drought; then it usually
collected in stagnant pools and housed,
fed and watered mosquitoes until a
heavy rain partially cleared the pools
and allowed the stream to roll along.
| For years sewage from goodly half
of the city was emptied into the open
water way and the fall in the long
length of the creek was not sufficient
to properly carry it off. Back yards
and dumping points along the valley
didn t encourage health and sanitation
by any means. Paxton creek was an
eyesore in more ways than one
Not only from the aesthetic view
point was the creek obnoxious; its
use as an open sewer, practically men
aced the health of the immediate
neighborhood through which 1t flowed
to say of the community at large. On
several occasions more or less serious
epidemics of one kind of another were
attributed to the unsanitary little
stream.
The Floods
But it had another drawback Or
dinarily in time of drought, the creek
could hardly be coaxed to move; on
other occasions, during freshets or
after especially heavy rains, 1t could
not be restrained. The tales of the
rampages of Paxton creek in the low.
end of the city have much space in the
book of the god of things as they
were.
A sudden rise in the Susquehanna
always meant the backing of the
creek; if this happened Immediately
after heavy rain storm. the accumu-
lated rush of waters from the tiny feed
streams brought about situation that
was little less than deplorable That
the severe floods occurred in the
poorer communities made the condi-
tions doubly pitiable.
The Solution
Then in 1910 Harrisburg voted
among other things to float a loan
item of some 100000 to provide for
the Improvement of Paxton creek"
Several years before. earlier in the
Harrisburg improvement campaign,
enough funds had been borrowed to
construct a great interceptor sewer
throughout the creek valley and par
allelling the stream. To this was con-
nected all the sewer outlets that once
emptied into the open bed. Once
cleared of the sewage, the improve
ment of the creek bed itself could be
undertaken. That was the next item.
But this is skipping ahead a little
too fast, too, perhaps. Harrisburg
first of all had provided way to con-
troll the floods of Paxton creek.
The Flood Control
i In Wildwood park, the lake was
CONSTRUCTED; within 1t was the dam,
a great weir was built. At the far
end of the Lake an overflow was pro-
vided for and by means of the weir,
and the overflow only just so much
and no more-water as could be con-
veniently carried away. The overflow
, went into the river and in the creek
bed could pass from the dam. Thus
! were floods controlled and forever
stricken from the history of unpleas-
ant things along the creek valley. But
creek itself.
For more than three miles the creek
winds through the heart of the city.
! Harrisburg didn't take long to figure
out its solution 1t decided that the
Istream could simply carry the storm
or surface drainage in much the same
way that the gutter carries off the
surface or storm drainage of the
street. And that's just what the i'm
Iprovement" of Paxton creek is--a
great twelve to thirty foot-wide con-
crete gutter.
Sodding the Sides
Sides of the creek are sodded in
! places; in other sections just the wide
open, concreted trench satisfactorily
solves the problem of the years.
Gone are the mosquito breeding
, places, the frog haunts, the Shiny
odors; gone even are the rickety little
, bridges that once crossed the stream
here and there Now, serviceable lit
tie concrete viaducts have replaced
them.
OF all the jobs which Harrisburg
has so successfully worked out Pax
ton creek, perhaps, has Jared less hap
PLY of the gods and the contractors
Opperman Begins His Job
Begun three e. years re- r1 ago Npner,, wnen tne
it was only recently completed Even
, yet there is a section to be replaced.
This is just north of State street where
, the great water mains that extend be-
tween the Reservoir and the pumping
station. are being lowered beneath the
! concrete invert of the big drain.
Opperman's bid on the job was
$96.20; the actual bill has totaled way
beyond that. And at that Mr.. Opper-
man never finished the work.
Beginning at Maclay street he
started his excavations southward.
! He never got beyond Maclay street.
, So his bondsman, the Maryland Cas-
! ualty company took UP the work and
i that firm sublet the job to another
contracting firm, the West Construc-
, ton company of Baltimore.
, That concern by the way figuratively
and literally made the dirt fly" Oc-
casional slides of tons of earth into
new excavations. high water, bad
! weather-they all figured in making
; what contractors began to consider the
city's Jonah job" But the West COM
/ pany pushed ahead-at a financial
, loss. While the report was never
r verified councilmen declared that the
t contractor himself had pointed out
that the firm, lost something like
AS2s.ooO.