The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-03-26
L0OSENESS IN
FIGURING MAY
BE HARMFUL
Estimates For Construction
of Water Works Points
Need For Care
Editors Note: This is another
article in the series touching en-
city affairs especially as they
affect taxation.

Engineering is presumed to be an
exact science. 1t breeds carefulne IS
in making measurements, computa-
tons and the certificatioA Of esti-
mates of work accomplished in the
course of construction. This should
be particularly true were money
transaction is involved. Engineers
serving the public especially have
grounds for being extremely careful
in such matters. An examination of
a number Of such estimates made for
the construction of the water works
plant point the need for greater care
and more accuracy at least An or
binary layman would be astonishcd
at the large discrepancy found IN
those dealings with Contract No. )
or the Woodrich construction COM
pany. In fact, they almost cause
one to ask, "Whcn is a hole not a
hole" or. "Do excavations shrink
like new wooden suit not washed
in a certain brand Of soap
Scientists contend that tho Z nth
is shrinking, but 1t seems to shrink
at a terrific rate near the water
plant An excavation Of dirt, dry
dirt shrank from 20,500 cubic yards
On January It'll, 1924 to 5000 cubic
yards on March 28, 1924. Or. a
shrinkaee Of 1000 cubic feet in 80
days. Two cubic yards make very
big wagon load of dirt, and hence
the hole shrunk in size equal to 1000
loads of DIRT. From March 20 above
to July 7. 1924 the hole
sh ,ran 49, another a'eI , go 9Go , ,uJ.c
Making a total shrinkagc of 1850
wagon loads of dirt in six months.
Unless it be that someone dropped
a barrel Of alum into the hole and
puckered it up, this loose method of
estimating seems rather ineXpllcable.
Some sort of explanation doubtless
can be made; the estimates them
selves do not disclose any such ex-
PLANTATION.
Here are the estimates as allowed
by the city engineer and duly and
unquestiOningly approved by the city
commissioners at their respective
meetings.:
ESTIMATE No. dated Aug. 6,
1928:
$4,000 cubic yards of earth
excavation "a 66 cts. $40, 10000
ESTIMATE No. dated
Sept. /, 1928:
$4,000 cubic yards of earth
excavation "a 50 cts. -. 10000 90
ESTIMATE No. 3-Dated
Oct. l, 1928:
"2O,5OO cubic yards of earth
excavation "a 50 cts. -. 13,325.OC
Estimate No. 4, dated Nov. 5th
1873; Estimate No. 5 allowed and
Estimate No. allowed January 18th
all bear the same yardage Of 20,5OC
cubic yards.
ESTIMATE No. dated March %
1924:
rs, 500 cubic yards dry earth
excavation "a 65 cts. -. 10, 725.O(
100 cubic yards. dry earth
excavation "a $3.50 ..... 1880
1870 cubic yards wet earth
excavation "a $50 ...... 7,9l5.OC
ESTIMATE No same as above.
ESTIMATE No. dated July Z
1924:
$4,000 cubic yards of earth
excavation, a. IS cents :. $4,000
Less 5000 Gu. yds. backfill a.
~ cts. ............... 9OO.OU
S,85O.OO
100 Gu. yds. dry earth cxca-
vation-l.5O ..-.......... 1880
100 Gu. yds. wet earth excava-
tion-5.50 .... 1880
Estimate No. 10, Aug. 4th, leaves
figures unchanged, but ESTIMATE
No. IL, dated Nov. }, 1924 reads the
same as No. 8 except that the dcduc
ton of 100000 for backfill disap-
pears, leaving the figure at $9.75O.OO.
All following estimates as to these
items leave these figures stand.
AS stated before this apparently is
a loose procedure because it reflects
a variance Of $500 cubic yards or
over one-third of the final figure. 1t
is possible that layman could do no
worse a job of estimating. But. that
is not all for at s. cents per cubic
yard, this difference in yardage re-
presents $3,575.00 in money value
Suppose that the dispute with the
Woodrich company had arisen imme-
diately after the allowance of esti-
mate No. 3. and the city had paid
the Company $3,575.O0 more than it
was really entitled to receive, what
would be the situation? 1t is true,
the city. under its Is per cent reten-
ton on contract payments, had 49,
$4,000 of Woodrich's money in it's
hands. nevertheless there might have
been counterclaims for defective con-
structiOn or other causes to Offset
this sum. Where would the city then
stand? 1t certainly would put the
city attorney up against pretty pre-