Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-08-26
old TR|GG WORKS. DAM
MAY SOON Be REMOVED
Captain Cunningham Says City Is
Wasting Money in Harbor
improvements.
FILLS AS FAST AS DREDGED
Construction Left by Old Shipyards
Believed to, Be Cause Of Continue
Gus Formation of Sandbars in
Richmond Harbor.

1t Is confidently expected that tho
government will soon take mold of tho
harbor situation here. and put an end
to the trouble that has existed ever
since the old Trlgg embankment was
made at the upper end Of the harbor.
about fifteen years ago. without a
question this news Will be greeted by
tho Old Dominion Steamship Company
and other shipping concerns with en-
thusiasm. for this company has made
complaint time and again about the
present conditions.
Tho Trigg Co., on entering tho feld
to build Its dockyards made an agree
ment with the government whereby IL
would be held responsible for the re-
moval OF the dam in case the business
was discontinued. The Triggs operated
the line for a WHILE finally going into
receivership. Contrary to their prom
Use they never took away the dam,
which has been the principal source OF
the condition complained Of
According to information gathered
from Captain Thomas Cunningham. Jr..
OF tho city tug and the dredging ma
chino maintained by the city to keep
tho harbor in proper shape, and who
has been operating In the harbor for
the last forty-six years. every strong
tide causes an eddy to be formed just
below the old embankment. Tho sedi-
ment brought down Is deposited right
in tho turning basin. and stays there
until removed by tho dredge.
TURNING BASIN HAS
NOT BEEN COMPLETED
The turning basin. started by tho
government, has never been completed.
The lower part OF 1t has not been ex-
cavated. To illustrate: the basin is like
bottle with the mouth Of It upstream.
When the mud and sand enter II nils
up. there being no way for 1t to get
out.
With an appropriation of $4,000 a
year. the city has been working on this
problem for some time. but finds itself
seriously set back by two main things:
first there Is no convenient place to
put the sand and mud pumped out:
second. dredging Is delayed almost SO
per cent when workmen have to break
pipe connections as ships come in and
go out
Two pipes. one 500 and the other
400 feet In length. carry the sand
and mud up the great incline of from
twenty-si1 to thirty-two feet. The
consequences Is Immediately Seen-the
pipes clog. So often do they get
clogged that nearly half of the time
of the force at work is consumed in
digging them out and putting them in
workable order again.
SAYS CITY WASTES MONEY
AS LONG AS DAM STANDS
The remedy for the cure OF the exist
ing evils. in Captain Cunninghams
opinion. Is to reduce the lift at which
the sand and mud is pumped, and take
away the old dam built by the TriGgs.
The city. he said would always waste
money on the harbor as long as the
dam stood
t,About 1000 feet Of the harbor from
the city dock up. will have to be
dfedged now, only 400 feet having al
ready been worked on. That this Is
vety slow progress considering the ex-
perse incurred, the captain admitted,
yet " not in his power to change
conditions. He said that he had been
cutting two channels about fifty feet
from the Old Dominion wharf since
May. each thirty feet wide. has com
pleted one and lacks thirty feet of fin
fishing the other. Before he beganl
work on them. ships could not enter
along the Old Dominion wharf except
at high tide, now they can draw from
eleven to twelve feet Of water. In his
opinion the depth should be from hf-
teen to eight cen feet.