The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-03-31


full Judgment on to see whether the
cost Of furnishing those things would
more than offset the difference In his
bid. 1t would make great deal Of
difference what kind Of q man he
was whether he would put the work
thru quickly, promptly and get it
done right or linger along consum-
ing coal for great length of time
to secure the same results
| The Problem Of Distractions
| Some of the lines of pipe have to
be laid thru the allays where there
Is an eighteen inch belt left unpaved
to lay the pipe in. It, happens that
in this same belt the telephone
poles are standing in the line where
the pipes will have to be laid and 1t
costs from $50 to 5000 apiece to
keep the telephone poles in place
while they are laying the pipes
under them or to move the telephone
poles il they have to be moved side
ways and lined up again. In one OF
the alleys is q row of telephone poles
that carries a transcontinental tele-
graph and telephone service with
many cables and wires and the line
has to be preserved absolutely in
tact while the construction work is
gonig on. II they have to cut of the
bottom of the pole to lay the pipe
line and then set the. pole again
above the pipe line, 1t will have to
be set in cement so that it shall be
absolutely solid and not settle an
inch. Some of the bids did not pro-
vide that the contractor should take
care of these distractions and local
men who have had experience in
building brought these things to the
attention of the council to show that
even the low bids might not be the
| best bids.
Salvaging Old Materials
The question is often asked
| whether they will be able to save
much Of the old pipes and sell them
or use them again. The engineers
have figured those things out very
carefully and have indicated certain
lines of pipe that will not be dis
turbed at all but will be used in the
new system by simply hooking them
up with the new. On some Of the
principal streets the old six inch pipe
will still be used and connected up
between big mains laid both east and
west of them or north and south of
them. There will be some lines
where the new pipe lines will paral-
lei the old ones and it will be neces-
sary to lay the new lines and connect
them at certain intervals and keep
the water service going without an
interruption of more than q few
hours then drain the old pipes and
take them out before filling in
around the new system. Some of
these old pipe lines will be taken out
to the extremities of the system and
laid where it will be necessary at
some future date to replace them
with larger ones. Some of the bids
did not specify that the contractor
would take care of the work OF keep |
ing the water service going and con-
Meeting up SO that there should be |
no interruption of the service and !
they did not specify that they would |
take out the old pipes and preserve
them. Some Of the bids as inter-
preted left it for the City to have to
remove these distractions when the
contractor came to them and the
council men tried to plan everything
so that there would not be occasion
for the contractors to be bounding
the council men. at all times of the
day with reports that there is a pipe
line encountered that must be re-
moved right away. At various times
when they are trying to plan to give
the contract to local men, they came
up against difficulties of that kind,
where there would be a breach be-
tween two contractors and certain
parts Of the work would not belong
to either of them and would natur-
ally fall upon the city. Three en-
gineers sat with the council all week
on the matter advising them in all
The devious ways where the council
was not clear on the problems as
they arose.
What About Engineers?
We neglected to say earlier in the
article that the firm of Cotton & Will
son of Idaho Falls and city engineer,
James Young of Blackfoot are the
three engineers working with the
council In this matter. Employing
engineers was about the first thing
he council did when they started in
On the subject of new water sys-
.em. Five per cent of the cost Of
construction is about what people
generally pay on buildings and sys-
ems and in this case the council took
time to choose engine
BIS, finally deciding in favor of those
hat live nearest to Blackfoot, who
ire experienced and thoroly efficient
n the work. We had no local en-
sineer at Blackfoot, who was suf-
iciently skilled to undertake tho
work and Cotton & Wilson were en-
'loyed on per cent commission.
Tive per cent Of the total cost of the
system exclusive of real estate and
water rights that might be purchased
n the compensation for the engine
RS and they pay all expenses and as
istants out Of that For instance,
+ they employ our local engineer,
lanes Young, to do lot of supervis-
ng, which they are doing, they pay
lin out of their commission. If the
Whole system costs us 100000, the
Engineers fee will be $4,000. They
AVE conducted a very exhaustive