B 429804
DUPL
PATR
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CIVITATIS
S REGIMINE DONA
BOSTONLA
CONDIDAAD
1630.

1837
ARTES
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PLURIBUS UNUM
TUE BOR
ŞI-QUAERIS-PENINSULAM AMOENAM
CIRCUMSPICE
9.08.10.0.0.0.0
THE GIFT OF
Prof. Henry Sandera
TO
525
.B 7
A 2
1888
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With Compliments of
William Jackson,
City Engineer.
PLATE XVI.

1563
HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
Main Drainage Pumping Station.
Front View.
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS
OF THE
CITY OF
OF BOSTONE
(MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A.)
BY
ELIOT C. CLARKE
PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT ENGINEER, IN
CHARGE
THIRD EDITION

SIT DEUS
PATRIBUS
ауа ло
$ NOBIS
BOSTONIA.
CONDITA A.D.
1630.
TATIS
REGIMINE DONATA A. D.182
BOSTON
ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL, CITY PRINTERS
No.
39
ARCH STREET
1 8 8 8
.
CITY OF BOSTON.
Lee
calsro
IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, May 11, 1885.
Ordered, That the Committee on Improved Sewerage prepare and have printed a history of
the works under their charge, at an expense not exceeding $1,500, to be charged to the appropria-
tion for Improved Sewerage.
Passed in Common Council. Came up for concurrence. Concurred. Approved by the
Mayor, May 13, 1885.
A true copy
Attest:
JOHN T. PRIEST,
Ass't City Clerk.
IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, Sept. 14, 1885.
Ordered, That the Clerk of Committees be authorized to prepare and print one thousand addi.
tional copies of the “Report on Main Drainage,” with an appendix giving a digest of the action
of the City Council in originating and prosecuting the work upon the system of Improved
Sewerage; the expense thus incurred to be charged to the appropriation for Improved
Sewerage.
Passed. Sent down for concurrence. September 18, came up concurred. Approved by the
Mayor, September 22, 1885.
A true copy.
Attest:
JOHN T. PRIEST,
Ass't City Clerk.
Reclars 18-20-39 mgr
IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, Oct. 12, 1885.
Ordered, That the Clerk of Committees be authorized to have two hundred copies of the
Report on Main Drainage" printed, in addition to the number he is already authorized to
print, by an order passed September 22, 1885; and the City Messenger is hereby authorized
to place said copies on sale in his office at the price of one dollar and twenty-five cents each, the
proceeds of such sale to be credited to the appropriation for Improved Sewerage.
Passed. Sent down for concurrence. October 15, came up concurred. Approved by the
Mayor, October 19, 1885.
A true copy.
Attest:
JOHN T. PRIEST,
Ass't City Clerk.
IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, Dec. 27, 1887.
Ordered, That the Clerk of Conimittees be authorized to have an additional fifteen hundred
copies of the “Report on Main Drainage Works” printed; the expense thus incurred to be
charged to the appropriation for Improved Sewerage, and that ten copies be given to each
member of this government.
Pas
d. Sent down for concurrence.
IN COMMON COUNCIL, Dec. 29, 1877.
Concurred.
Approved by the Mayor, December 31, 1887.
A true copy:
Attest:
JOHN T. PRIEST,
Ass't City Clerk.
299385
1
PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION.
"
The desirability of reprinting the History of the Main
Drainage Works” became manifest on account of the unabated
demand for the book among engineers and scientific men both
in this country and abroad. The City Engineer, in his request
to the City Council for another edition of the book, says:
" There is a constant demand for copies of this book, both
from citizens and from others, the work having, in addition to
its interest as a description of an important local inprovement,
a great value to the engineering profession and to municipali-
ties contemplating similar improvements.”
The only changes to be found in the new reprint are in the
Appendices; the financial statement being continued to the
present date, and additions being made in the list of officials
and committees of the City Council connected with the work.
J. L. H.
CITY HALL, Boston, 1887.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
а
THE second edition of this work was ordered by the City
Council to meet the pressing calls for copies which were con-
tinually being received. This edition is an exact reprint of the
first, with the addition, in Appendix B, of a review of the action
of the City Council in regard to the origin and progress of the
work. The disconnected character of the review will be ac-
counted for, when it is understood that the Committee on
Improved Sewerage, appointed each year, had practically the
entire charge of the work, and exercised full executive powers in
regard to contracts, general construction, and the employment
of labor; while the City Council was merely called upon to act
in regard to matters that required legislation, the settlement of
claims, the taking of lands, and general questions in regard to
the methods of carrying on the work. The extensive powers
of the Committee were set aside by the law amending the City
Charter, Acts of 1885, Chap. 266, which went into effect June
26, 1885.
J. L. H.
City Hall, Boston, 1885.
1
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
This brief description of the Main Drainage Works, of Bos-
ton, aims to record, for the benefit of engineers, an account of
the engineering problems involved and the methods of construc-
tion adopted. It also aims to give to the tax-payers and gen-
eral public a descriptive account of why the large appropriation
for " An Improved System of Sewerage” was needed, and how
it has been spent. By attempting to accomplish both of these
purposes it fulfils neither of them adequately ; since one class
of readers will find it too technical, and the other too deficient
in detail. It has been prepared amid pressing engagements,
and to save time the writer has not hesitated to borrow freely
from previous reports, by himself and others. Traces of such
compilation will, doubtless, be noticed by the discerning. It is
hoped that a fair idea of the works can be obtained from the
illustrations ; and that the description, even by its defects, may
encourage other engineers to publish, as they too seldom do,
accounts of works with which they have been connected.
E. C. C.
City Hall, Boston, April, 1885.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY HISTORY OF SEWERAGE AT BOSTON
PAGE
13
CHAPTER II.
CHARACTER AND DEFECTS OF THE OLD SEWERAGE SYSTEM
18
CHAPTER III.
MOVEMENTS FOR REFORM-COMMISSION OF 1875
22
CHAPTER IV.
PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS
28
.
CHAPTER V.
MAIN SEWER
37
CHAPTER VI.
INTERCEPTING SEWERS
43
CHAPTER VII.
PUMPING-STATION
59
CHAPTER VIII.
OUTFALL SEWER
68
CHAPTER IX.
RESERVOIR AND OUTLET
82
CHAPTER X.
DETAILS OF ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION
89
12
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI.
PAGE
99
WORKING OF THE NEW SYSTEM
APPENDIX A.
RECORD OF TESTS OF CEMENT MADE
FOR BOSTON
MAIN DRAINAGE
WORKS
119
APPENDIX B.
REVIEW OF ACTION OF THE City Council IN REGARD TO THE ORIGIN
AND PROGRESS OF THE WORK .
146
APPENDIX C.
PUMPING-ENGINE TESTS
199
APPENDIX D.
LIST OF OFFICERS CONNECTED WITH Boston MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS .
214
.
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY HISTORY OF SEWERAGE AT BOSTON.
The conditions which necessitated a change in the system of
sewage disposal at Boston, and the problems to be solved in
making that change, can be better understood after a brief con-
sideration of the early history of sewerage at that city and the
manner in which the sewers were originally built.
Boston was first settled in 1630. When the first sewer was
built cannot now be determined, but it was earlier than the
year 1700, for already, in 1701, the population being about
8,000, a nuisance had been created by frequent digging up of
streets to lay new sewers and to repair those previously built ;
and in town meeting, September 22, 1701, it was ordered,
" That no person shall henceforth dig up the Ground in any of
the Streets, Lanes or High-ways in this Town, for the laying or
repairing any Drain, without the leave or approbation of two
or more of the Selectmen.”
The
way
in which sewers were built at this time was, appar-
ently, this. When some energetic householder on any street
decided that a sewer was needed there, he persuaded such of
his neighbors as he could to join him in building a street drain.
Having obtained permission to open the street, or perhaps
neglected this preliminary, they built such a structure as they
thought necessary, on the shortest line to tide-water. The ex-
pense was divided between them, and they owned the drain
absolutely. Should any new-comer, or any neighbor, who had
at first declined to assist in the undertaking, subsequently desire
to make use of the drain, he was made to pay for the privilege
>
14
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1
what the proprietors saw fit to charge. When a drain needed
repairing all persons using it were expected to pay their share
of the cost.
As might have been expected, under such a system, great
difficulty was experienced in distributing fairly the expenses
and in collecting the sums due; so that it became of sufficient
importance to engage the attention of the Legislature, and in
1709 an act was passed regulating these matters. It is entitled,
ee An Act Passed by the Great and General Court or Assem-
bly of her Majesty's ? Province of the Massachusetts-Bay. For
regulating of Drains and Common Shores. For preyenting of
Inconveniences and Dammages by frequent breaking up of
High-Wayes
and of Differences arising among
Partners in such Drains or common Shores about their Propor-
tion of the Charge for making and repairing the same."
The act recites that no person may presume to break up the
ground in any highway within any town for laying, repairing,
or amending any common sbore, without the approbation of the
selectmen, on pain of forfeiting 20 shillings to the use of the
poor of said town; that all such structures, for the draining of
cellars, shall be " substantially done with brick or stock ;”3
that it shall be lawful for any inhabitant of any town to lay a
common shore or main drain, for the benefit of themselves and
others who shall think fit to join therein, and every person who
shall afterwards enter his or her particular drain into such main
drain, or by any more remote means receives benefits thereby,
for the drainage of their cellars or lands, shall be obliged to
pay unto the owner or owners a proportionate part of the charge
of making or repairing the same, or of that part of it below
where their particular drain enters. In case of dispute the
selectmen decided how much each person should pay, and there
was an appeal from their decision to the courts.
For one hundred and fifteen years the sewers in Boston were
built, repaired, and owned by private individuals under author-
ity of this act.
It may be doubted if most of them were " substantially done
with brick or stock," and there certainly was much difficulty
.
1 Anne.
2 Sewers.
3 Stone.
PLATE 1.

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Heliotype Printing Co Boston
EARLY HISTORY OF SEWERAGE AT BOSTON.
15
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about payments ; so that in 1763 the act of 1709 was amended,
the amendment reciting that "Whereas it frequently happens
that the main drains and common shores decay or fill up
and no particular provision is made by said act to com-
pell such persons as dwell below that part where said common
shores are repaired, and have not sustained damage, to pay
their proportionable share thereof, as shall be adjudged by the
selectmen, which has already occasioned many disputes and
controversies,” therefore it was decreed that in future all per-
sons benefited should pay for repairs.
No further change was made till 1796, and then only to
provide that persons who did not pay within ten days of notifi-
cation should pay double, and that the sewers, besides being of
brick or stone, might be built of such other material (probably
wood) as should be approved by the selectmen.
Under this act the greater part of Boston was sewered by
private enterprise. The object for which the sewers were built
was, as indicated, " for the draining of cellars and lands.” The
contents of privy-vaults, of which every house had one, and
even the leakage from them, were excluded; but they received
the waste from pumps and kitchen-sinks, and also rain-water
from roofs and yards.
That much refuse got into them is proved by their frequently
being filled up, and as they had a very insufficient supply of
water they were evidently sewers of deposit.
That they
served their purpose at all is due to the fact that the old town
drained by them, as shown in Plate I., consisted of hills with
good slopes on all sides to the water. Of this early method of
building sewers Josiah Quincy, then Mayor, said, in 1824 :
"No system could be more inconvenient to the public, or embar-
rassing to private persons. The streets were opened with little
care, the drains built according to the opinion of private in-
terest or economy, and constant and interminable vexatious
occasions of dispute occurred between the owners of the drain
and those who entered it, as to the degree of benefit and pro-
portion of contribution."
In 1823 Boston obtained a city charter, and one of the first
acts of the city government was to assume control of all exist-
16
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
>
ing sewers and of the building and care of new ones.
The
new sewers were built under the old legislative acts, and
the whole expense, as before, was charged to the estates bene-
fited, being divided with reference to their assessed valuation.
A small, variable portion of the cost was, however, generally
assumed by the city, in consideration of the use of the sewers
for removing surplus rain-water from the public streets.
The city ordinances regulating sewers required that, when
practicable, they should be of sufficient size to be entered for
cleaning. Some supervision was exercised over connecting
house-drains, and, if thought necessary, a strainer could be placed
on each. Fecal matters were rigidly excluded until 1833, when
it was ordered that, while there must be no such connection
between privy-vaults and drains as would pass solids, the
Mayor and Aldermen, at their discretion, might permit such
a passage or connection as would admit fluids to the drain.
This action was perhaps due to an advent of cholera during the
previous year. To assist in flushing out deposits, it was pro-
vided, in 1834, that any person might discharge rain-water from
his roof into the sewers, without any charge for a permit. The
same year control of the sewers and sewer-assessments was
given to the City Marshal. He was especially to devote him-
self to the collection of assessments, new and old, which were
largely unpaid. The other duties of the marshal probably pre-
vented him from devoting sufficient energy to the accomplish-
ment of this task; for it appears that, while there had been
expended by the city, for building sewers, from 1823 to 1837,
the sum of $121,109.52, there had been collected of this sum
but $26,431.31.
That there might be some one to give his whole time to the
financial and administrative duties connected with the sewer-
age system, a "Superintendent of Sewers and Drains” was
appointed in July, 1837. He was empowered to assess the
whole cost of any new sewer upon the real estate, including
buildings benefited by it. In 1838 the city decided to assume
one-quarter of the gross cost, and in 1840, in obedience to a
decision by the Supreme Court, it was ordered that the three-
quarters of the cost of sewers which was to be paid by the
EARLY HISTORY OF SEWERAGE AT BOSTON.
17
abutters should be assessed with reference to the value of the
land only, without taking into consideration the value of build-
ings or other improvements, and such has been the practice up
to the present time.
It is estimated that there are at the present time (1885)
about 226 miles of sewers in Boston. In 1873 there were
about 125 miles, and in 1869 about 100 miles. There are at
present supposed to be more than 100,000 water-closets in use
in the city ; in 1857 there were 6,500.
18
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
CHAPTER II.
CHARACTER AND DEFECTS OF THE OLD SEWERAGE SYSTEM.
Such changes have taken place in the contours of the city,
through operations for reclaiming and filling tidal areas border-
ing the old limits, that from being a site easy to sewer, Boston
became one presenting many obstacles to the construction of an
efficient sewerage system.
This will be understood from an examination of the plan of
the city proper, Plate V. On this plan the shaded portion rep-
resents the original area of the city, and very nearly its limits
in 1823. The unshaded portion of the plan, indicating present
limits, consists entirely of reclaimed land filled to level
planes little above mean high water, the streets traversing such
districts being seldom more than seven feet above that eleva-
tion. A large proportion of the house basements and cellars
in these regions are lower than high water, and many of them
are but from five to seven feet above low-water mark, the mean
rise and fall of the tide being ten feet. This lowness of land
surface and of house cellars necessitates the placing of house-
drains and sewers at still lower elevations. Most house-drains
are under the cellar floors, and fall in reaching the street sew-
ers; the latter must be still lower, and in their turn fall
towards their outlets, which were rarely much, if at all, above
low water.
Moreover, as filling progressed on the borders of the city, it
became necessary to extend the old sewers whose outlets would
have been cut off. The old outlets being generally at a low
elevation, even where the sewers themselves were sufficiently
high, the extensions had to be built still lower, and when of
considerable length could have but little fall towards the new
mouths.
As a consequence, the contents of the sewers were dammed
back by the tide during the greater part of each twelve hours.
CHARACTER AND DEFECTS OF THE OLD SEWERAGE SYSTEM. 19
To prevent the salt water flowing into them many of them
were provided with tide-gates, which closed as the sea rose, and
excluded it. These tide-gates also shut in the sewage, which
accumulated behind them along the whole length of the sewer,
as in a cesspool; and, there being no current, deposits occurred.
The sewers were, in general, inadequately ventilated, and
the rise of sewage in them compressed the foul air which
they contained, and tended to force it into the house connec-
tions. To afford storage room for the accumulated sewage
many of the sewers were built very much larger than would
otherwise have been necessary, or than was conducive to a
proper flow of the sewage; and, as there would have been little
advantage in curved inverts where there was to be no cur-
rent, flat-bottomed and rectangular shapes were frequently
adopted.
Although at about the time of low water the tide-gates
opened and the sewage escaped, the latter almost immediately
met the incoming tide, and was brought back by it to form
deposits upon the flats and shores about the city. Of the large
amount of sewage which flowed into Stony Brook and the Back
Bay, and especially that which went into South Bay, between
Boston proper and South Boston, hardly any was carried
away from the vicinity of a dense population.
The position of the principal sewer outlets, and of the areas
on which the sewage which caused most offence used to accu-
mulate, is indicated on Plate V. From these places foul-
smelling gases and vapors emanated, which were diffused to a
greater or less distance, according to the state of the tempera-
ture or of the atmosphere. Under certain conditions of the
atmosphere, especially on summer evenings, a well-defined
sewage odor would extend over the whole South and West
Ends of the city proper.
This evil was thus described by the City Board of Health in
one of their annual reports : --
Complaints of bad odors have been made more frequently during the
past year than ever before.
They have come from nearly all parts of the city, but especially and
seriously from the South and West Ends.
20
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
Large territories have been at once, and frequently, enveloped in an
atmosphere of stench so strong as to arouse the sleeping, terrify the weak,
and nauseate and exasperate everybody.
It has been noticed more in the evening and by night than during the
day; although there is no time in the whole day when it may not come.
It visits the rich and the poor alike. It fills the sick-chamber and the
office. Distance seems to lend but little protection. It travels in a belt
half-way across the city, and at that distance seems to have lost none of its
potency, and, although its source is miles away, you feel sure it is directly
at your feet.
The sewers and sewage flats in and about the city furnish nine-tenths of
all the stenches complained of.
They are much worse each succeeding year; they will be much worse
next year than this.
The accummulation of sewage upon the flats and about the city has been,
and is, rapidly increasing, until there is not probably a foot of mud in the
river, in the basins, in the docks, or elsewhere in close proximity to the city,
that is not fouled with sewage.
Various palliative measures were adopted. The Back Bay,
into which the waters of Stony Brook, and with them most of
the sewage of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, used to empty, was
lately partly filled with gravel, forming the present Back-Bay
Park. The brook was carried in a covered channel to Charles
River, which somewhat lessened the nuisance caused by it, or at
least transferred it to another locality. Owing to complaints
from the physicians of the City Hospital and other residents in
that neighborhood, the city purchased and filled the upper por-
tion of Old Roxbury Canal at the head of South Bay. The
sewers emptying into it were extended, and the position of the
nuisance caused by them was thus altered by a few hundred
feet. In general terms, it may be said that none of the old
sewer outlets were in unobjectionable locations.
There are no plans in detail of the sewers of Boston. Many
of the older ones have no man-holes. In some streets several
sewers exist side by side. Occasionally a sewer is found built
directly above an older one. Probably one-half of the larger
main sewers are wholly or partly built of wood, and have flat
bottoms. An unwise provision was inserted in the charters of
some of the private corporations organized for the purpose
reclaiming and filling areas of flats, by which it was stipulated
of
PLATE II.
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Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig.4
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Fig. 11
Fig. 10
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Fig. 15
Fig.23
24
25
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Fig. 17
Fig. 18
00
TECHBBS
2
Fig. 21
20
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
Large territories have been at once, and frequently, enveloped in an
atmosphere of stench so strong as to arouse the sleeping, terrify the weak,
and nauseate and exasperate everybody.
It has been noticed more in the evening and by night than during the
day; although there is no time in the whole day when it may not come.
It visits the rich and the poor alike. It fills the sick-chamber and the
office. Distance seems to lend but little protection. It travels in a belt
half-way across the city, and at that distance seems to have lost none of its
potency, and, although its source is miles away, you feel sure it is directly
at your feet.
The sewers and sewage flats in and about the city furnish nine-tenths of
all the stenches complained of.
They are much worse each succeeding year; they will be much worse
next year than this.
The accummulation of sewage upon the flats and about the city has been,
and is, rapidly increasing, until there is not probably a foot of mud in the
river, in the basins, in the docks, or elsewhere in close proximity to the city,
that is not fouled with sewage.
Various palliative measures were adopted. The Back Bay,
into which the waters of Stony Brook, and with them most of
the sewage of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, used to empty, was
lately partly filled with gravel, forming the present Back-Bay
Park. The brook was carried in a covered channel to Charles
River, which somewhat lessened the nuisance caused by it, or at
least transferred it to another locality. Owing to complaints
from the physicians of the City Hospital and other residents in
that neighborhood, the city purchased and filled the upper por-
tion of Old Roxbury Canal at the head of South Bay. The
sewers emptying into it were extended, and the position of the
nuisance caused by them was thus altered by a few hundred
feet. In general terms, it may be said that none of the old
sewer outlets were in unobjectionable locations.
There are no plans in detail of the sewers of Boston. Many
of the older ones have no man-holes. In some streets several
sewers exist side by side. Occasionally a sewer is found built
directly above an older one. Probably one-half of the larger
main sewers are wholly or partly built of wood, and have flat
bottoms. An unwise provision was inserted in the charters of
some of the private corporations organized for the purpose of
reclaiming and filling areas of flats, by which it was stipulated
PLATE II.
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Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig.3
Fig.4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig.7
Fig. 8
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Fig. 11
Fig. 10
Fig. 9
Fig. 12
Fig.13
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14
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COMMON TYPES
BOSTON CITY SEWERS.
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Fig. 17
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27
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Fig. 16
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Fig. 20
Fig. 22
Heliotype Printing Co. Boston.
CHARACTER AND DEFECTS OF THE OLD SEWERAGE SYSTEM. 21
that the corporations should themselves extend all sewers whose
discharge would be obstructed by the filling. Such extensions
were made without systein, by building flat-bottomed wooden
scow sewers, which were laid upon the soft surface of the flats
before the filling was done. Cross-sections of various common
forms of existing city sewers are shown on Plate II., Figs.
1 to 22. Fig. 22 shows Stony-Brook culvert, which consti-
tutes the lower mile of Stony Brook and is that part of it which
is covered and used as a sewer.
One fact which increased the danger arising from the dam-
ming up of the sewers, and the consequent compression of their
gaseous contents, was that the house-drains connecting with
these sewers were ill adapted to resisting this pressure. Most
of them were built of brick or of wood, before the rise of mod-
ern ideas in regard to sanitary drainage; and, as they were
usually leaky, the gases forced into them found ready egress
into the houses. Figs. 23 to 29 on Plate II. show common
forms of these house-drains.
The drains differ greatly in size. Of 113 which were ob-
served while building the intercepting sewers in 1878, –
66
66
66
66
66
11 were about 4 inches in diameter.
4
5
21
6
5
7
27
8
เด
8
9
11
10
26
12
or more.
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
113
Of these 113 drains, 9 were level and 14 pitched the wrong
way; 45 had flat bottoms and 68 curved ones; 38 were
wholly or partly choked with sludge, and 75 were reasonably
clean. At about the same time examinations made with pep-
permint, by the City Board of Health, of 351 house-drains in
various sections of the city, showed that 193 of them, or 55 per
cent., were defective in regard to tightness.
>
22
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
CHAPTER III.
MOVEMENTS FOR REFORM-COMMISSION OF 1875.
a
For the ten years preceding 1875 the average annual death-
rate of Boston was about 25 in 1,000. On April 14, 1870, the
Consulting Physicians of the city addressed to the authorities a
remonstrance as to the then existing sanitary condition of the
city, in which they declared the urgent necessity of a better
system of sewerage, stating that it would be a work of time, of
great cost, and requiring the highest engineering skill.
At about the same time, and in each of their annual reports
thereafter, the State Board of Health referred to the matter,
saying that the question of drainage for Boston and its im-
mediate surroundings was of an importance which there was no
danger of overstating.
Of such great importance was the matter considered by the
State Legislature that, in the special session of 1872, an act was
passed authorizing the appointment of a commission, to be paid
by the City of Boston, to investigate and report upon a compre-
hensive plan for a thorough system of drainage for the metro-
politan district.
This was not accepted by Boston, on the
ground that the expense should be shared by the neighboring
cities and towns, and no commission was appointed.
In a communication to the City Council (Dec. 28, 1874),
upon the necessity of improved sewerage, the City Board of
Health pointed out clearly the evils of the existing system, and
strongly urged that a radical change should be made. March
1, 1875, an order passed the City Council authorizing the Mayor
to appoint a commission, " consisting of two civil engineers of
experience and one competent person skilled in the subject of
sanitary science, to report upon the present sewerage of the
city
and to present a plan for outlets and main
lines of sewers, for the future wants of the city.” The Mayor
thereupon appointed as members of the commission Messrs. E.
a
.
MOVEMENTS FOR REFORM-COMMISSION OF 1875.
23
S. Chesbrough, C.E., Moses Lane, C.E., and Charles F. Fol-
som, M.D., and in December of the same year their report was
submitted.
As was to be expected from the professional attainments and
reputation of these gentlemen, the report contained a compre-
hensive and exhaustive statement of the defects in the existing
system of sewerage, and of the causes which had produced such
a condition of affairs, and finally recommended for adoption a
well-considered plan for remedying present defects and for pro-
viding for future needs.
The commission stated, as essential conditions of efficient
sewerage: first, that the sewage should start from the houses,
and flow in a continuous current until it reached its destination,
either in deep water or upon the land ; and, second, that the
sewers should be ventilated so that the atmosphere in them
should attain the highest possible degree of purity. To quote
from the report :-
The point which must be attended to, if we would get increased com-
forts and luxuries in our houses, without doing so at cost of health and life,
is to get our refuse out of the way, far beyond any possibility of harm
before it becomes dangerous from putrefaction. In the heat of summer
this time should not exceed twelve hours. We fail to do this now in three
ways:
First. We cannot get our refuse always from our house-drains to our
sewers, because the latter may not only be full themselves at high tide, but
they may even force the sewage up our drains into our houses.
Second. We not empty our sewers promptly, be use the tide or tide-
gates prevent it. In such case the sewage being stagnant, a precipitate
falls to the bottom, which the slow and gradual emptying of the sewers, as
the tide falls, does not produce scour enough to remove. This deposit re-
mains with little change in some places for many months.
Third. With our refuse, which is of an especially foul character, once
at the outlets of the sewers, it is again delayed, there to decompose and
contaminate the air.
As a result of this failure to carry out the cardinal rule of sewerage,
we are obliged to neglect the second rule, which is nearly as important,
namely, ventilation of the sewers; for the gases are often so foul that we
cannot allow them to escape without causing a nuisance; and we compro-
mise the matter by closing all the vents that we can, with the certainty of
poisoning the air of our houses.
1 The catch-basins, too, in the course of the sewers, serve only to aggravate this evil,
and should be filled as early as is practicable.
24
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
In the opinion of the commission there are only two ways open to us.
The first, raising more than one-half of the superficial area of the city
proper (excluding suburbs), is entirely out of the question, from the enor-
mous outlay of money which would be required, - - more than four times as
much as would be needed for the plan which we propose, and which con-
sists in intercepting sewers and pumping.
There are in use now in various parts of the world three methods of
disposing of the sewage of large cities, where the water-carriage system
is in use:
First. Precipitation of the solid parts, with a view to utilizing them as
manure, and to purifying the streams.
Second. Irrigation.
Neither of these processes has proved remunerative, and the former only
clarifies the sewage without purifying it; but if the time comes, when, by
the advance in our knowledge of agricultural chemistry, sewage can be
profitably used as a fertilizer, or if it should now be deemed best to util-
ize it, in spite of a pecuniary loss, it is thought that the point to which we
propose carrying it will be as suitable as any which can be found near
enough to the city, and at the same time far enough away from it.
The third way is that adopted the world over by large cities near deep
water, and consists in carrying the sewage out so far that its point of
discharge will be remote from dwellings, and beyond the possibility of
doing harm. It is the plan which your commission recommend for
Boston.
>
On Plate III. is reproduced a portion of the plan accompany-
ing the report of the commission. The plan shows the routes
of the main, intercepting, and outfall sewers recommended, and
the proposed locations of the pumping-stations, reservoirs, and
outlets. It will be seen that two main drainage systems were
proposed, one for each side of the Charles River; that on the
south side having its outlet at Moon Island, and that on the
north side discharging at Shirley Gut.
The former system was designed to collect and carry off the
sewage from all of Boston south of Charles River and from
Brookline; the latter was to drain the Charlestown and East
Boston districts, and also the neighboring cities of Cambridge,
Somerville, and Chelsea. The two systems were identical in
their general features. These were : intercepting sewers along
the margins of the city to receive the flow from the already
existing sewers; main sewers into which the former were to
empty and by which the sewage was to be conducted to pump-
ing-stations ; pumping machinery to raise the sewage about 35
PPY POND
SARLINGTO
REVERE
SAUGUS BRA
BOSTON
MEDFORD
EVERET
TPING STATION
EASTRN
MAIN_SEWER
SOMERVILLE
CHELSEA
FITCHBURG
WINTHROP
BREED'S
ISLAND
BOSTON MAIN DRAINAGE
MAIN AND BRANCH
INTERCEPTING SEWERS
RECOMMENDED BY THE
SEWERAGE COMMISSION.
1875.
SCALE OF MILES.
3
LOWELL RR
R. R
VORTH
RIVER
WATERTOWN
CAMBRIDGE
VARLESTOWN
EAST
BOSTON
RIVER
EASCAMBRIDGE
CASTERN
CHARLES
BRIG HET ON
CAMBOOGLE PORT
BOSTON
RIVER
RESERVOIR
ALBA
CHARLES
APPLE
PT.SHIRLEY
GOVERNORS
ISLAND
9DEER
BOSTON & ALBANY
BREWSTERS
LD HARBOR
POINT
HANNEL
R.R.
CHES RES.
HILL
BROOKLINE
CASTEV
MAIN SHIP CHANNEL
BROAD SOUND
BROOKLINE
SOUTH BOSTON
ROXBURY
RESERYDIR
LOVEL
ISLANE
AN070) 070
*ROCK
SPECTACLE
GALLOPI
SOUTH SIDE MAIN SEWEA
JAMAICA POND
PUMPING STATION
LONG ISLAND
GEORGE
THOMPSONS
ISLAND
RAINSFORD
SAND
SAVIN
HILL
FOX POINT
PROVIDENCE
MOON
SLAND
HULL
MWEST ROXBURY
COMMERCIAL PT
SQUANTUM
DORCHESTERN
BR. R.R.
KEPONSET RIVES
NEW YORK
RESERVOIR
का
BOSTOA
PLATE III.
DEDHAM
Heliotype Printing Co. Boston.
1

COCOS
(SSIC
MOVEMENTS FOR REFORM-COMMISSION OF 1875.
25
feet; outfall sewers leading from the pumping-stations to reser-
voirs near the points of discharge at the sea-coast, from which
reservoirs the sewage, accumulated during the latter part of
ebb and the whole of flood tide, was to be let out into the
harbor during the first two hours of ebb-tide.
The cost of the proposed main drainage works, as estimated
by the commission in its report, was :
.
For the territory south of Charles River.
north
$3,746,500
2,804,564
66
66
Total
$6,551,064
The commissioners' recommendation met with very general
acceptance. But, as was to be expected, a certain amount of
opposition to it was encountered.
One remonstrance against the adoption of the proposed plan,
which was presented to the City Council by a number of esti-
mable citizens, may be of sufficient interest to cite, because it is
a type of the kind of objections which are often urged against
plans for municipal improvement, however carefully considered
by the most competent experts : -
The undersigned respectfully remonstrate against the adoption of the
system of sewerage proposed in Report No. 3 of this year. We believe if
carried into execution it will prove not only ineffectual, but destructive to
the health and prosperity of the city. .
Of late years the cost
· of many, if not most, of the public works has greatly exceeded the esti-
mates; in some instances, it is said, two or three hundred per cent.
Should this new system exceed the estimates to a like extent, the amount
would be augmented to between fifteen and twenty millions of dollars.
But we do not believe it (flushing) will, or even can, be made to per-
form that end in an effective or satisfactory manner; because we under-
stand, by the report, that the inclinations of the sewers will afford a flow at
a minimum rate of only two miles an hour, so that it will be almost impos-
sible to prevent the glutinous slime and putrefactions from constantly gath-
ering and adhering more or less to the sides and bottoms of the sewers
and drains, and as constantly exhaling the deadly gases on every side.
It will likewise be borne in mind that the thick mass of liquid
corruption within the sewers and drains must be drawn along to their up-
hill or final ascent of thirty feet and over, and kept in motion and delivered
at the distant outlets on the bay, by means of enormous pumps and ma-
chinery worked by steam-engines,
for a stoppage in the oper-
a
26
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
ations of such an extensive system for only a day or two, along the low
lands and other parts of the city, would almost inevitably result in serious
maladies and other evil consequences.
Will not the exhalation
and odor (from the storage reservoirs) blown by every changing wind here
and there along the wharves, upon the shipping and back upon the land,
create a nuisance so offensive and unhealthful as to become intolerable? No
provision seems to be devised to prevent such emanations or their baleful
consequences. In these noisome reservoirs the contents must ever be ex-
posed to the sun, the storms, and the inclemency of the weather.
In the severity of winter they must become as frozen as the water in
the bay or along the shores; and as often as they are converted into ice
there must be an entire stoppage of the works.
Such reservoirs
and outlets might be reduced to ruins in any future day of hostilities -
either foreign or domestic should such hostilities ever occur, the effect of
which ruins would be the fatalities of the plague.
There is now but a single system before the authorities, although there
are not less than five different systems in Europe alone.
It is
hereby requested that the same be postponed, and that a reward be offered
for the best plan for sewerage relief
and that such plans be re-
ferred to a commission of citizens
with power to give the reward
for the best plan.
Other remonstrants thought that city sewage had a great
manurial value, and should be so utilized as to be a source of
revenue; still others considered the proposed scheme extrava-
gant, and advised temporary palliative measures.
What prevented these remonstrances from having much
weight was that, while criticising the proposed scheme, they
either suggested no alternative plan, or else failed to show that
the method which they themselves recommended would remedy
the existing evils.
As a compromise the City Council inclined to adopt the
recommendations of the commission in so far as they referred
to the territory south of Charles River, which included those
portions of the city which suffered most from ineffective sewer-
age. Application was made to the Legislature for authority to
construct works in general accordance with the recommendations
of the commissioners, and an act, approved April 11, 1876,
entitled " An Act to empower the City of Boston to lay and
maintain a main sewer discharging at Moon Island in Boston
Harbor, and for other purposes,” was passed.
The subject had been referred by the City Council to a Joint
MOVEMENTS FOR REFORM-COMMISSION OF 1875.
27
>
Special Committee on Improved Sewerage, and in June, 1876,
this committee reported, recommending the adoption of the
system devised by the commission, and that surveys and esti-
mates be made for the work, and also that the feasibility of an
outlet at Castle Island be considered.
By an order approved July 17, 1876, the sum of $40,000 was
appropriated for the purpose of making surveys and of procur-
ing estimates for an improved system of sewerage for the City
of Boston, on a line from Tremont Street to Moon Island, and
also on a line from said street to deep water east of Castle
Island.
A few days later the City Engineer, Mr. Joseph P. Davis,
appointed the writer principal assistant, in immediate charge
of the survey and investigations, which were at once begun.
28
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
CHAPTER IV.
PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS.
By a liberal interpretation of the order in compliance with
which the survey was carried on, it was assumed that any
information was desired which might be of use in designing
main drainage works, in general accordance with the plan
recommended by the commission.
As the location of the outlet would affect materially the
whole scheme its consideration received the earliest attention.
It was necessary that the discharge should be into favorable
currents, and also near a practicable site for a reservoir which
could be reached by the outfall sewer from the city. A party
for hydrographic work was organized, consisting of one assist-
ant engineer, one additional observer, two sailing-masters,
and two boatmen. Their outfit included a small yacht and two
tenders.
A projection of the harbor was first made, and the triangu-
lation points given by U.S. Coast Survey were plotted upon it,
together with others obtained by ourselves from these, by
means of the plane table; the shore line being taken from a
chart belonging to the Harbor Commissioners. A sufficient num-
ber of prominent points having been determined in this way, it
was easy at any time to locate the position of a float by the sex-
At night, when other objects could not be seen, the har-
bor lights furnished points for observation.
Some difficulty was experienced in deciding upon the best
form of float. That first adopted consisted of four radiating
arms, with canvas wings projecting downward from theni (Plate
IV., Fig. 4). Upon calm days this form indicated very fairly
the surface velocity ; but was too easily influenced by winds
and waves to be used in windy weather, as it then invariably
grounded on a lee shore.
A " surface and sub-surface” can-float (Plate IV., Fig. 5) was
a
tant.
.
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>
of
FIG. 2.
FIG 4
אוורווקות ומהווה\ווחתי
דחוווווווווווווMyw
FIG. 5.
זין שחזרתיחוניחוחוחוחוחו
nmhainnom NAN
ותקח ההווווווווווווווווון יצירות-חוויין
a Serum
FIG. 3.
Thommy VIN Hindhunti Minh
FIG. 6.
1 1 4 rtyl\|/
Lead Plumb
PLATE IV.
FIG. 7
FIG. 1.
Heliotype Printing Co. Boston.

1
PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS.
29
.
re
9
used somewhat, and gave better results; but an ordinary pole-
float (Plate IV., Fig. 6), about 14 feet long and 4 inches in
diameter, was finally found to be the most satisfactory, indicat-
ing the mean current, which often differed both in direction and
velocity from the surface current. This float supported a flag,
or lantern, and, when there was danger of its grounding, a
shorter one was substituted for it.
In all, about 50 " free-float" experiments were made upon
the currents in the vicinity of Moon, Castle, Thompson's, and
Spectacle Islands. The trips varied in duration from 6 hours,
or one ebh-tide, to 52 hours. Angles to determine the posi-
tion of the float were taken each half-hour, and were recorded
together with the direction and force of the wind and other
data. During observations a man was stationed at a tide-gauge,
and all velocities were reduced to a mean rise and fall of ten
feet. The results obtained from the float experiments, stated
briefly, were as follows:-
Favorable ebb currents were found to pass both Moon and
Castle Islands. That passing Spectacle Island was sufficient in
strength, but unsuitable, owing to its direction and some other
characteristics; while that skirting Thompson's Island was alto-
gether unfavorable. Floats leaving the vicinity of Moon Island
with the early ebb would travel seawards with an average
velocity of .74 miles an hour, passing between Rainsford and
Long Islands, through Black Rock Channel, and at the turn of
tide would reach a position between the Brewsters and George's
Island about four miles from the point of starting. This course
is, for its whole extent, outside of the inner harbor. Floats from
Castle Island followed Main Ship Channel and Broad Sound,
and travelled about as far as those from Moon Island. Return-
ing with the flood-tide the floats would travel about two miles
towards the city, and with the succeeding ebb would once more
move seaward, not again to enter the harbor.
Sewage, being fresh water, remains for a while at least upon
the top of the denser sea-water, and is more affected by surface
currents than by deeper ones. An attempt, more interesting
than practically instructive, was made to ascertain to what ex-
tent sewage put into Boston Harbor would be diffused within
30
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
a few days. Fifty bottles were put into the water at Moon
Island, each containing a postal card, which the finder was re-
quested to mail, stating when and where it was found. Ten of
these bottles were picked up within the next three weeks. One
of them was found at Marshfield, about 25 miles south of its
starting-point; another at Salem, about the same distance
north ; a third, 30 miles south-east of Cape Ann, and the re-
maining seven outside of Cape Cod, near Provincetown, Well-
fleet, and Chatham, from 50 to 80 miles distant.
Castle Island would have been much more easily accessible
from the city than Moon Island, but its selection involved sev-
eral serious disadvantages. It belongs to the United States,
and is the site of Fort Independence. Although this old fort
is of little practical value, there were no reasonable grounds
for hope that the government would permit a storage reservoir
to be located on the island. It would have been necessary to
place that structure on the main land in South Boston. The
area available for the purpose would have been restricted on
account of its great cost.
Even if the works could have been
so constructed as to be wholly inoffensive, the natural prejudice
in the community against the proximity of sewage would have
caused great opposition to the building of a reservoir so near
to a densely populated district. Moon Island, on the contrary,
afforded an excellent site for a reservoir. The neighboring
country is sparsely settled, and there is no dwelling within a
mile of the works. The outlet, therefore, was finally located at
this point.
The next problems considered were the selection of a route
for the outfall sewer between the city and Moon Island and the
location of the pumping-station. As any route would neces-
sarily cross a portion of the harbor near the mouth of Neponset
River, it was thought best to explore the nature of the ground
underlying the harbor in that vicinity. To this end a number
of artesian borings were made from a scow fitted for the pur-
pose. Five-inch or smaller gas-pipe was driven to the required
depth, varying from 20 to 100 feet, and the earth excavated
from within them. In all, 139 such borings were made.
Those on the line selected by the commissioners, between Fox
1

PLATE V
SPECTACLE
VOIR
ISIN
THOMPS
MIDDLE SHAFT
TUNNEL
SHAFT
S QUANTUM
NE
SET
ER
30
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
>
a few days. Fifty bottles were put into the water at Moon
Island, each containing a postal card, which the finder was re-
quested to mail, stating when and where it was found. Ten of
these bottles were picked up within the next three weeks. One
of them was found at Marshfield, about 25 miles south of its
starting-point; another at Salem, about the same distance
north ; a third, 30 miles south-east of Cape Ann, and the re-
maining seven outside of Cape Cod, near Provincetown, Well-
fleet, and Chatham, from 50 to 80 miles distant.
Castle Island would have been much more easily accessible
from the city than Moon Island, but its selection involved sev-
eral serious disadvantages. It belongs to the United States,
and is the site of Fort Independence. Although this old fort
is of little practical value, there were no reasonable grounds
for hope that the government would permit a storage reservoir
to be located on the island. It would have been necessary to
place that structure on the main land in South Boston. The
area available for the purpose would have been restricted on
account of its great cost.
Even if the works could have been
so constructed as to be wholly inoffensive, the natural prejudice
in the community against the proximity of sewage would have
caused great opposition to the building of a reservoir so near
to a densely populated district. Moon Island, on the contrary,
afforded an excellent site for a reservoir. The neighboring
country is sparsely settled, and there is no dwelling within a
mile of the works. The outlet, therefore, was finally located at
this point.
The next problems considered were the selection of a route
for the outfall sewer between the city and Moon Island and the
location of the pumping-station. As any route would neces-
sarily cross a portion of the harbor near the mouth of Neponset
River, it was thought best to explore the nature of the ground
underlying the harbor in that vicinity. To this end a number
of artesian borings were made from a scow fitted for the pur-
pose. Five-inch or smaller gas-pipe was driven to the required
depth, varying from 20 to 100 feet, and the earth excavated
from within them. In all, 139 such borings were made.
Those on the line selected by the commissioners, between Fox
>
BROOKLINE
AVE.
LONGWOOD
CHARLES
HEREFORD
PARKER
MND
BEACON
FAIRFIELD
DARTMOUT
BOYLSTON
ALBANY
DALTON ST
W. CHESTER
E R
COMMERCIA
ST
PRINCE ST.
CHARLESTOY
MINOT
BASHUA ST.
LOWELL
LEVERETT ST.
LIVINGSTON ST.
CANAL
FRIEND
MERRIMAC ST.
EST
BOWDOIN SQ.
NORTH ST
OLD SHORE
LINE
NTON ST
AVE
STATEL ST.
CENTRAL ST
CTON ST
WASHINGT
REVERE ST.
PINCKNEY ST.
MT.VERNON ST.
CHESTNUT ST
BEACON
ST.
SCOLLAY
PARKS
COURT ST
SP
SCHOOL
ST
BELCHER LAND
17
CITY OF BOSTON,
MAIN DRAINAGE.
PLAN SHOWING
MAIN, INTERCEPTING & OUTFALL SEWERS,
B
AND.
OLD SEWER OUTLETS.
OST
SCALE.
IMILE
PEARL
CONGRESS'S
SUMMER ST
.Y.&.N.E.R.R
ר
COMMON
CHARLES
PUBLIC
-GARDEN
ARLINGTON
ST
BOYLSTON ST
WW PARK SQ.
ELIOT ST
ESSEX
ST
KNEELAND ST
BERKE
HAY
R.R
AND
FALMOUTH ST.
HUNTINGTON
PROVIDENCE
COLUMBUS
BACK
ROGERS
STONY BROOK
SEWER
AVE
RUGGLES
BOSTON
R.R
AVE
SHA
AVE
dSWEGO ST
FOUNDR
DOVER ST
FOURT
FIRST
S
OUT
JW. BROADWAY
OLD
H
R.
R.
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DORCHESTER S
LOWLAND ST.
HOMA
TREMONT
PARK
SHAWMUT AVE
WASHINGTON
ST.
OLD SHORE
DORR
COLONY
UNION PK. ST
E.DEDHAM ST
SOUTH
AVE
CONCORD S
CANAL
HARRISON
SWETT
L.CHESTER PARK
CAMDEN
ST
EAST CHESTER 2
MAGAZINE
INNEW
PARK
STON
ELA
BROOK
RNON ST.
DUDLEY
ROXBURY
HAMPDEN
CLAPP
D
ST.
DUDLEY
ST.
ST.
YINTON
HYDE ST
DORCHESTER
BOSTON
WASHINGTON AVE.H
LOC
MT.VERNON
TUNNEL
R
VON
HILLERN
ST.
AVE.
PLEASANT ST
HESTER
FIRST
ST.
E. BROADWAY
E. NINTH
ST.
MT. VERNON
ST.
CALF PASTURE
OLD
LONY
FILTH HOIST
UMFING STATION
FORT
CASTLE
ASLAND
POINT
HARBOR
SHAFT
OLD HARBORNER
DEPOSIE STOWERS
SAVIN
HILL
POINT
ليا
E R
BAY
R
HE
S T
COMME
POINT
MIDDLE SHAFT
TUNNEL
SQUANTUM
BEACH
NEPON SET
RIVER
THOMPSON'S ISLAND
EAST SHAFT
SQUANTUM
END OF TUNNEL
NECK
ISLAND
SPECTACLE
SERVOIR
MOON
FLUME
SQUANTUM
PLATE V
}
PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS.
31
Point and Squantum Beach, showed deep beds of mud under-
laid by sand and gravel ; so that any method of crossing at that
point would have been difficult and expensive. Moreover, Fox
Point was thought to be too near to the valuable residence
property of Savin Hill to make it a suitable place for a pump-
ing-station. Borings at the mouth of the river opposite Com-
mercial' Point also found deep beds of mud, but, the crossing
being much shorter, it would have been comparatively easy to
have constructed a stable siphon on that line. Commercial
Point itself was a fairly good site for a pumping-station, but
would have been somewhat difficult of access from the city.
Ground suitable for tunnelling was discovered between Old
Harbor Point and Squantum Neck. This was the most direct
line from the city to Moon Island, and comparative estimates
showed it to be also the cheapest line. Its chief merit, however,
which caused it to be selected, was that it permitted the use of
Old Harbor Point as a site for the pumping-station. This
point comprises over 100 acres of marsh land, valued by
the city assessors at only $200 an acre. It is itself destitute
of habitations, and sufficiently remote from any to afford assur-
ance that operations carried on there will not be a source of
offence.
Before adopting the tunnel line a plan was considered by
which the sewage, instead of being raised at Old Harbor Point,
was to flow thence by gravitation to a pumping-station at Moon
Island, on a nearly direct line between the two points. The
sewer was to be built above ground and sunk into a trench dug
to an even grade in the bottom of the harbor. To determine
the feasibility of this plan borings were made to test the
nature of the ground on the proposed line. The character of
the ground developed by these borings was not considered very
favorable, and a decision of the Harbor Commissioners requir-
ing the sewer to be placed lower than was considered practi-
cable caused the proposed plan to be abandoned.
Having decided to locate the pumping-station at Old Harbor
Point the routes of the main and intercepting sewers were
next selected. The peculiar geological formation of the region
about Boston, causing frequent elevation of the bed-rock, not
32
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
5
>
>
always shown by surface indications, and the sometimes un-
suspected presence of deep beds of marsh mud, rendered it
necessary to test carefully the nature of the ground through
which it was proposed to build the sewers, since its character
would form such an important element in their cost and sta-
bility. The slowness and expense of artesian methods of
boring precluded their use.. Light auger-rods were therefore
constructed, and it was found that by them the character of the
ground could be ascertained with approximate accuracy and
with little expense or delay. These tools, and the manner of
using them, are shown on Plate IV., Figs. 1 to 3. Including
work done before and after the beginning of construction, more
than 30,000 lineal feet of borings were thus made, at an average
cost of about 25 cents per foot.
There was no trustworthy information extant concerning the
position and condition of the city sewers which were to be inter-
cepted. Careful surveys were, therefore, made of about 50
miles in extent, of such sewers as were in the vicinity of the
proposed intercepting sewers. Plans and profiles of these
were made, with cross-sections and such details of construction
as could be ascertained.
Nearly all buildings in the Back-Bay and South-End districts
of the city are supported on piles. By city ordinance the tops
of the piles are not to be higher than Grade 5, or mid-tide
level; in fact many of them are a foot or two higher. Fears
were expressed that the intercepting system (by doing away
with the semi-daily damming up by the tide of the contents
of the sewers) might lower considerably the soil-water in such
regions, and, by reducing it below the tops of the piles, cause
them to decay and endanger the stability of the buildings sup-
ported by them.
To see if such danger was to be apprehended, it was decided
to produce in one of the Back-Bay sewers the precise condition
which would exist if the new system was constructed, and to
notice the effect upon the soil-water. To this end a steam
pump was put into the Berkeley-Street sewer near the outlet,
and by continual pumping (except at low tide) the sewage
was kept but a few inches deep, as it would be if discharging
1
PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS.
33
9
into an intercepting sewer. Previously 20 pipes had been
driven below the surface of soil-water; some within a few feet
of the sewers, others a few hundred feet away, and still others
several blocks distant. The height of the soil-water standing
in each pipe was measured twice each day during the continu-
ance of the pumping.
The method of making these measurements was ingenious,
and perhaps novel. The elevation of the top of each pipe was
known, and the distance from the top to the surface of water
was taken with a steel tape. To the bottom of the tape was
attached a lead weight, with a needle fixed in its top so adjusted
that the point of the needle was just opposite to the end of the
tape. A small bit of metallic potassium was put on the point
of the needle. The instant this touched the water it ignited
explosively, and the flash and sound could be easily distin-
guished from above. A sketch of the apparatus is shown by
Fig. 7, Plate IV.
It was found that the surface of the soil-water was nearly
level over the whole Back-Bay district, averaging 7.7 feet
above mean low water, and its height, while slightly affected
by local contours of the surface, was independent of the sewers
in its vicinity. For instance, the water in the vicinity of the
Dartmouth-Street sewer was at the same level as that near the
Berkeley-Street sewer, although the latter sewer is two feet
lower than the former. Also it was found that the soil-water
rose and fell, responding quickly to any rain or melting of
snow (the extreme rise due to four inches of surface-water
being one foot), and that the variation was nearly uniform over
the entire district.
Finally it appeared that the pumping, which continued 53
days, affected but siightly, and that only within 100 feet of the
sewer, the soil-water in the vicinity of Berkeley Street. At
the close of the experiment, the sewer resuming its former
conditions, the soil-water in its immediate vicinity rose from
an inch to an inch and one-half, and thereafter fluctuated in
unison with the water in other localities.
The experiment was thought to show that no dangerous low-
34
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
.
ering of the ground-water need be apprehended in consequence
of the adoption of an intercepting system.
The following was the general basis of calculations for
amounts of sewage and sizes of sewers. It was necessary to
assume some limit to the territory which should be tributary
to the intercepting system. A natural limit in this case seemed
to be afforded by the Charles and Neponset Rivers, which, with
Mother Brook connecting them, include an area of about 58 square
miles. Of this area about 46 square miles is high land, 40 or
more feet above low water, and, as suggested by the com-
missioners, drainage from districts above Grade 40 could, if
necessary, be intercepted by a "high-level ” intercepting sewer
and could flow by gravitation to the reservoir at Moon Island.
There remain 12 square miles below Grade 40 which must
forever drain into the " low-level ” system. As, however, it will
be long before the high-level sewer is built, and in the mean
time sewers from areas above Grade 40 must connect with the
low-level system, for purposes of calculation, it was assumed
that 20 square miles would be tributary to the proposed sys-
tem.
The prospective population was estimated at an average of
621 persons to each acre, or 800,000 in all. This estimate of
627 persons to the acre was used in calculations affecting the
main sewer ; but in proportioning branch intercepting sewers
;
greater densities of population were assumed, to provide for
possible movements of population. The amount of sewage per
individual was estimated at 75 gallons, or 10 cubic feet, in each
24 hours. The maximum flow of sewage per second was esti-
mated at one and one-half times the average flow due to 10
cubic feet per day.
On this basis the maximum flow of sewage-proper to be
800,000 x 10
provided for would be
x 1.5 = 138.88 cubic feet
24 x 60 X 60
per second.
This amount was nearly doubled by adding to it 100 cubic
feet per second as a provision for rain-water.
This would rep-
resent a little less than one-fourth inch of rainfall in 24 hours,
per acre of tributary area; but it was intended, in practice, to
a
PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS.
35
admit little, if any, rain from regions where the cellars were
not subject to flooding, and reserve the full capacity of the
sewers and pumps to relieve certain low districts where the
cellars are generally much below high tide, and were often
partly filled with water in time of rain.
For purposes of calculation, therefore, the prospective maxi-
mum flow per second in the main sewer was assumed to be
138.88 + 100 = 238.88 cubic feet per second. The inclination
of the sewer was 1 in 2,500, and it was designed (as were all
of the sewers) to flow about half full with its calculated maxi-
mum amount of sewage. Although this rule required that the
sewers should be larger than they would be if designed to flow
full, it was adopted, because it gave about three feet less depth
of excavation for the whole sewer system, saved three feet lift in
pumping, provided storage-room for large additional amounts
of sewage due to intermission of pumping or to rain, and
afforded more head-room to workmen entering the sewers.
In designing the smaller intercepting sewers the method em-
ployed was somewhat as follows: the districts drained by the
several city sewers were ascertained, and their respective areas
in acres were calculated. The largest population which by any
chance might live on these areas in the future was estimated,
i.e., guessed. The future average amount of sewage-proper
due to such population was doubled for safety, and an addi-
tional amount added for rain, usually equalling that from .25-
inch rainfall in 24 hours. If an intercepting sewer large enough
to carry this total amount when flowing half full would have
been too small to be entered conveniently, its size, or sometimes
only its height, was increased sufficiently to afford convenient
head-room.
Velocities of flow were calculated by the formula V=CVRI,
with Mr. Kutter's coefficients, obtained by using .013 as the
coefficient for roughness.
During the early stages of the work, the City Engineer, Mr.
Davis, made a trip to Europe to examine the foreign sewerage
works of best repute. Information was thus gained which was
used in designing the Boston works.
In July, 1877, the City Engineer reported the results of his
36
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
preliminary survey, and on August 9 of the same year orders
of the City Council were approved, authorizing, and making an
appropriation for, the construction of an improved system of
sewerage, in general accordance with the proposed plan, under
authority of the Act of Legislature.
The City Council committed the charge of building the Main
Drainage Works to a Joint Special Committee on Improved
Sewerage, consisting of three Aldermen, and five members of
the Common Council. This committee changed its member-
ship every year except when one or more of its members were
reëlected and were again appointed on it. By city ordinance
all engineering works are built by the City Engineer. The Main
Drainage Works, therefore, were constructed under the direc-
tion of Mr. Joseph P. Davis, C.E., City Engineer, until his
resignation in 1880, and since that date by his successor in
office, Mr. Henry M. Wightman, C.E.1
1 Since the above was written the city has sustained a great loss in the death of Mr.
Wightman. Mr. William Jackson has been elected City Engineer.
MAIN SEWER.
37
CHAPTER V.
MAIN SEWER.
The main sewer is about 34 miles long, and extends from the
pumping-station at Old Harbor Point to the junction of Hunt-
ington Avenue and Camden Street. Its inclination throughout
its whole extent is 1 foot vertical in 2,500 horizontal. At
the pumping-station the water-line of the invert, i.e., its bot-
tom, is about 14 feet below the elevation of mean low tide. From
this point, in its course towards the city, the sewer passes for
about a mile across the Calf Pasture Marsh, so called. The
surface of this marsh is about six inches above mean high water,
and, the mere rise and fall of the tide being ten feet, the aver-
age depth of excavation required for this section of work was 24
feet. Up to the junction of the South Boston intercepting
sewer the main sewer is ten feet six inches in diameter. It was
founded sometimes upon clay, and sometimes upon sand. .
Figs. 1 and 2, Plate VI., show the usual methods of construc-
tion. Rubble side walls were built for the greater portion of the
distance. Fig. 3 shows the bond used in the spandrels.
On this section occurred the only case during the construction
of the entire Main Drainage Works in which a sewer was
broken so that a portion of it had to be taken down and rebuilt.
At one point, for a distance of 150 feet, the marsh mud, which
usually was from five to ten feet deep below the surface of the
ground, came down below the spring-line of the sewer. Owing
to carelessness, on the part of the contractor, in back-filling
around the haunches, or in withdrawing the sheet planks, the
sewer spread six inches, and sank correspondingly at the crown.
Fig. 4 shows the shape assumed at the point of maximum dis-
tortion. Although even this portion was probably stable, it was
not considered wise to establish a precedent of accepting any im-
perfect work. Accordingly the trench was reopened, the sewer
uncovered, and its arch broken down with sledge hammers.
38
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
accumu-
It was found that the 12-inch Akron drain-pipe built under
the sewer, to facilitate drainage of the trench during construc-
tion, was broken at this point, and the water from it,
lated from 4,000 feet of trench, found an outlet, and poured
over the side walls into the invert. This water was controlled
by pumps, but was found to have washed out a quantity of
sand, causing a considerable cavity under the sewer platform.
The limits of the cavity having been determined, five holes,
ten feet apart on centres, were made through the bottom of the
sewer, and 3-inch wrought-iron gas-pipes were inserted into
them. Two of these pipes were about 30 feet long, and three
others, for vents, were five feet long. Constant streams of
grout, made from 47 casks of neat, quick-setting Portland
cement, were forced under a 25-foot head, through the long
pipes into the cavity until it was filled, as proved by the
cement rising in the short pipes. The grout hardened and
furnished a secure foundation. Special ribs were cut to fit the
invert, which was again arched over and the trench refilled.
Figs. 5 and 6, Plate VI., show methods of connecting man-
holes with the main sewer. These structures are about 400
feet apart, and are placed alternately on one side of and over
the centre of the sewer. At man-holes the arch is supported
by cut-granite skew back stones. At the top of the man-holes
are cast-iron frames supporting circular iron covers. The
covers are perforated for purposes of ventilation. The holes
are quite large, so that they are not liable to become stopped
up. They also taper considerably, being larger below than
they are on top. To prevent road detritus and miscellaneous
rubbish from falling into the sewers, catch-pails are suspended
below the covers to receive whatever may fall through the
holes. The pails are of galvanized iron, well coated with tar.
They can be lifted up, emptied, and replaced, as occasion
demands. Wrought-iron steps were built into the man-holes
during construction. These details are shown on Plate VI.,
Figs. 7 and 8.
Above the point where the South Boston intercepting sewers
join the main sewer the latter is nine feet in diameter. For
about half a mile the ground is high, but a location through

38
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
It was found that the 12-inch Akron drain-pipe built under
the sewer, to facilitate drainage of the trench during construc-
tion, was broken at this point, and the water from it, accumu-
lated from 4,000 feet of trench, found an outlet, and poured
over the side walls into the invert. This water was controlled
by pumps, but was found to have washed out a quantity of
sand, causing a considerable cavity under the sewer platform.
The limits of the cavity having been determined, five holes,
ten feet apart on centres, were made through the bottom of the
sewer, and 3-inch wrought-iron gas-pipes were inserted into
them. Two of these pipes were about 30 feet long, and three
others, for vents, were five feet long. Constant streams of
grout, made from 47 casks of neat, quick-setting Portland
cement, were forced under a 25-foot head, through the long
pipes into the cavity until it was filled, as proved by the
cement rising in the short pipes. The grout hardened and
furnished a secure foundation. Special ribs were cut to fit the
invert, which was again arched over and the trench refilled.
Figs. 5 and 6, Plate VI., show methods of connecting man-
holes with the main sewer. These structures are about 400
feet apart, and are placed alternately on one side of and over
the centre of the sewer. At man-holes the arch is supported
by cut-granite skew back stones. At the top of the man-holes
are cast-iron frames supporting circular iron covers. The
covers are perforated for purposes of ventilation. The holes
are quite large, so that they are not liable to become stopped
up. They also taper considerably, being larger below than
they are on top. To prevent road detritus and miscellaneous
rubbish from falling into the sewers, catch-pails are suspended
below the covers to receive whatever may fall through the
holes. The pails are of galvanized iron, well coated with tar.
They can be lifted up, emptied, and replaced, as occasion
demands. Wrought-iron steps were built into the man-holes
during construction. These details are shown on Plate VI.,
Figs. 7 and 8.
Above the point where the South Boston intercepting sewers
join the main sewer the latter is nine feet in diameter. For
about half a mile the ground is high, but a location through
O
Fig.1
Fig. 2
Fig.5
Fig.4
Fig.7
SECTION AB.
Fig. 12
SIDE ENTRANCE AND BOAT CHAMBER
Fig. 11
Fig.9
Fig. 10
Fig. 14
Fig. 3
AS B
Fig. 6
BOSTON [000]
MAIN DRAINAGE.
MAIN SEWER.
15 FT.
Fig. 16
T
CLAY
MUD
Fig. 13
Fig.15
VENTILATING M.H. COVER
WITH CATCH PAIL.
TOP
Fig.8
BOTTOM
GOVER
Heliotype Printing Co Boston.
PLATE VI.
H
MAIN SEWER.
39
it could not be avoided without making a considerable detour.
For 1,900 feet, in Mount Vernon Street, the sewer was built by
tunnelling through conglomerate rock and coarse sand. The
rock, where it surrounded the tunnel, presented no serious ob-
stacle; but the sand tended to run into the excavation, and re-
quired close sheeting and heavy bracing to support it. Fig.
9, Plate VI., shows the sewer in tunnel on this section. For
several hundred feet the sewer grade was near the surface of
the ledge and, the latter being very irregular and covered with
boulders, tunnelling operations were attended with much diffi-
culty, and several caves occurred. For a length of 160 feet
,
the ground was opened from the top and the sewer was built in
an open trench about 45 feet deep.
The sewer in the tunnel was well built, but after completion,
on removing the pumps so that the water table in the vicinity
was permitted to rise above the sewer, the latter was found to
leak a good deal. The leaks, however, could be successfully
calked. The process consisted in raking out a joint, where a
leak occurred, to the full depth of the brick and driving in
sheet lead for half the depth, the remainder being filled with
cement.
Excepting a section in East Chester Park, from Clapp Street
to Magazine Street, the main sewer was built by contract. The
laying out as a street of East Chester Park, east of Albany
Street, had been contemplated by the authorities for some time,
and action to that end was taken in time to permit the sewer
being located there. The borings on this line showed that there
were beds of marsh mud between Clapp and Magazine Streets
which were from 20 to 86 feet deep below the marsh surface.
As it would have been difficult to build a stable sewer in such
ground, and impossible to prevent one, if built, being destroyed
when the street should be filled over and around it, it was
decided to fill the street to full lines and grades before attempt-
ing to build the sewer.
A contract was accordingly concluded by which the street
was filled with gravel brought by the N.Y. and N.E. Railroad.
So great was the settlement of this filling into the mud that
over 106,000 cubic yards of gravel were required. The marsh
40
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
>
>
level for 100, or more, feet on either side of the filled
street was pushed up by the filling from 8 to 14 feet high. A
surcharge, 20 feet wide on top and 8 feet high, was put upon
the street west of the N.Y. & N.E. Railroad, where the mud
was deepest, to insure prompt settlement.
Building a stable sewer in a street so recently filled being a
difficult operation, requiring methods of treatment which can-
not be determined upon beforehand, it was thought best to
build this section by day's labor.
As a masonry structure would have been broken when the
trench was refilled, a wooden sewer was adopted (Fig. 10,
Plate VI.). This consisted of an external wooden shell, formed
of 4-inch spruce plank, ten inches wide, every fourth plank
being wedge-shaped; the whole securely spiked and treenailed
together and finally lined with four inches of brick or concrete
masonry
The depth of excavation for this sewer was from 32 to 36
feet, and the pressures were so great as to require very heavy
bracing. As many as 60 braces of 8 inch x 8 inch, or heavier
timber, were sometimes used for a length of 18 lineal feet of
trench ; and these, when taken out, were all found to be either
broken or so crippled as to be unfit to use again. Frequently
the earth on one side of the trench was found to be different
from that on the other, which caused very unequal pressures, so
that internal bracing was necessary to maintain the sewer in its
proper shape until the trench had been back-filled.
found necessary to build the shell with a vertical diameter
four inches greater than was required for the masonry lining,
to allow for settlement, change of shape, and compression of
the timber. The vertical diameter inside of the lining was also
.
increased, so that, if in places the sewer should settle as a whole,
the bottom could be brought to the true grade, and still leave
the established sectional area.
The length of this section was 1,894 feet. Ground was first
broken in August, 1879, and the work was completed in Octo-
ber, 1880. For excavating and back-filling the trench, machin-
ery designed by the Superintendent, Mr. H. A. Carson, was
used. The average cost per lineal foot of the completed sewer
It was
MAIN SEWER.
41
was $56. For several hundred feet, where the mud had been
deepest, a continual slight shrinkage and settlement of the
gravel filling under the sewer occurred for a year or more.
The sewer itself, also, settled in a long curve, whose greatest
depth below the original grade line was about 18 inches. A
masonry sewer would have been broken by such movement,
but the wooden one, having considerable flexibility, was appar-
ently uninjured. At present (1885) the street seems to have
assumed a condition of permanent stability.
In East Chester Park, from Magazine Street to Albany
Street, clay was chiefly encountered, and the sewer generally
consisted of a simple ring of brick-work without side walls, and
its construction presented few features of special interest. As
a precaution in passing within 35 feet of a large gas-holder,
tongued and grooved 4-inch sheet planks were driven, and
the trench was back-filled with concrete to the crown of the
sewer arch (Fig. 11). In passing across the old Roxbury
Canal, which had been recently filled by the city, an influx of
tide-water along the loose walls of the canal and through the
filling occasioned some delay and expense. The water was
finally kept out by double rows of tongued and grooved sheet-
piling. A side entrance and boat-chamber (Fig. 12) were built
on this section, at the corner of Swett Street. The latter
structure resembled a very large man-hole, with a rectangular
opening from the street, 11 x 4 feet in dimensions. This was
built to allow the lowering of boats into the sewer.
At Albany Street the East Side intercepting sewer joins the
main, and above this point the latter is again reduced in size, to
eight feet three inches wide by eight feet five inches high. The
extra horizontal course was put in at the spring line because it
was supposed to facilitate dropping and moving the centres.
In East Chester Park, and Washington Street from Albany to
Camden Street, the sewer was built chiefly in clay, and con-
sisted of a ring of brick-work. For about 300 feet, however,
near Albany Street, mud was found, and a foundation, consisting
of a timber platform supported on piles, became necessary
(Fig. 13, Plate VI.).
In Camden Street, from Washington Street to Tremont
42
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
Street, a distance of 1,391 feet, the depth of trench required
would have been 26 feet. Camden Street is rather narrow, and
contains sewer, gas, and water pipes. As good clay was found
at a depth five or more feet above the top of the sewer, it was
thought that it would be as cheap to the city, and decidedly
less annoying to residents on the street, to build the sewer by
tunnelling beneath the surface (Fig. 14). Working shafts were
sunk about 250 feet apart, and headings in each direction driven
from them. At one or two points the miners permitted the
roof of the tunnel to settle slightly, by which the common
sewer above was cracked, and some trouble caused by the
sewage leaking into the tunnel. The main sewer was back-
filled above the arch with clay, packed in under the lagging as
firmly as possible. On the whole the method of construction
was successful, and a well-built sewer was obtained. Its cost
was $22.52 per lineal foot.
At Tremont Street, the Stony-Brook intercepting sewer is
taken in. At this point, as at all other places where intercept-
ing sewers join the main sewer, the grade of the latter rises
abruptly somewhat less than a foot, or enough to maintain the
established inclination on the surface of the sewage at the time
of maximum flow. From Tremont Street to the present end of
the main sewer, at Huntington Avenue, the sewer was built in
open cut (Fig. 15), and for a large part of the distance needed
side walls and piling for its support. Just west of the B. & P.
R.R. another boat-chamber and side entrance (Fig. 16) were
built, and a third side entrance, reached by a stone stairway
leading from the sidewalk, was constructed at Huntington
Avenue.
The total cost of the 3.2 miles of main sewer was $606,031,
being an average of $36.09 per lineal foot.
INTERCEPTING SEWERS.
43
CHAPTER VI.
INTERCEPTING SEWERS.
As before stated, and as shown by the plan (Plate V.), the
South Boston intercepting sewer is the first to join the main
sewer in the latter's course from the pumping-station towards
the city proper. This intercepting sewer, by its two branches,
is intended finally to encircle the peninsula on which South
Boston is situated, and intercept the sewage flowing in the com-
mon sewers, which have heretofore discharged their contents at
nineteen outlets, in the immediate vicinity of a dense popula-
tion.
At the point of junction the grade of the intercepting sewer
is 1.5 feet higher than that of the main sewer, so that the sew-
age in the former shall not be dammed back, and the established
rate of inclination shall be maintained on the surface of the sew-
age in both sewers at the time of maximum discharge. In all
cases where a main drainage sewer joins another the junction
is made at a "bell-mouth” connection chamber, in which the
axes of the sewers meet by lines or curves tangent to each other,
so that the two currents may unite with the least disturbance to
either. Sections of the "bell-mouth” junction of the two
branches of the South Boston sewer, at Hyde Street, are shown
by Fig. 14, Plate VII. On each intercepting sewer, just before
it reaches the main sewer, is built a penstock chamber, con-
taining a cast-iron penstock gate, by which the flow can be cut
off, so that the main sewer can be entirely emptied, should it
ever be desirable to do so. At such times the city sewage
would be discharged at the old outlets, which are all retained
and protected by tide-gates. A sketch of the penstock on the
South Boston sewer is given by Fig. 6.
Up to where it divides this sewer is circular, six feet in
diameter. The average depth of excavation was 20 feet. Clay
or sand was usually found, and the sewer consists of a simple
>
44
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
ring of brick-work, 12 inches thick, though for about 350 feet,
where the sand was wet and inclined to run, abutment walls
of rubble masonry were used. Figs. 12 and 13 show cross-
sections of this sewer. The brick invert was laid with Port-
land cement mortar, one part cement to two parts sand, and the
arch was laid with American (Rosendale) cement mortar, one
part cement to 1.5 parts sand. This was the common practice
in building the main drainage sewers, Portland cement being
used in the inverts, on account of its greater resistance to abra-
sion. When Rosendale cement was used for building inverts,
the proportion required was equal parts of cement and sand.
The inclination of this sewer throughout the greater portion
of its extent is 1 in 2,000, which affords a velocity of flow
sufficient to prevent deposit of sludge, but not sufficient to
keep in suspension sand and road detritus. A sharper
A sharper inclina-
tion would bave been desirable had it been practicable to ob-
tain one.
Few of the main drainage sewers have a greater
inclination than 1 in 2,000, and it was expected from the first
that flushing would occasionally be required to prevent the
accumulation of deposits. To provide for this, iron flushing-
gates are built into the sewers at intervals of about half a mile.
The first flushing-gate on the South Boston sewer is just below
the fork at Hyde Street. A sketch of this gate is given by
Fig. 15. Usually the gate stands above the sewer, in the
man-hole. It is kept vertical by two small stop-bolts at its top.
To flush the sewer the gate is lowered against its seat, built
into the bottom of the sewer, and the sewage accumulates be-
hind it as deep as the gate is high. The stops are then with-
drawn and the gate raised until it clears its lower seat, when it
tilts over into a horizontal position and opens a free passage
for the dammed-up sewage.
The greater part of South Boston is high land, and there are
but few low cellars there which are subject during rain-storms
to flooding at high tide. In order that the full capacity of the
sewers and pumps might be available to relieve other parts of
the city, less favored in this respect, it was necessary to ar-
range that no more than a fixed quantity of sewage should
ever be received by the main sewer from the South Boston
Fig. I
O
Fig. 2
O
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
SECTIONAL ELEVATION
LARGE REGULATOR
Fig.9
PENSTOCK GATE
Fig.6
TO OLD
OUTLET
PLATE VII.
CONNECTION WITH
O
Fig. 07
VALE ST. SEWER
BAGK VIEW.
Fig.8
FRONT VIEW
TIDE GATES.
Fig. 10
Fig.11
SECTION AB.
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
BELL-MOUTH
Fig.
JUNCTION
14
A-
-B
SECTIONAL PLAN
PLAN
BOSTON MAIN DRAINAGE
INTERCEPTING SEWERS.
O2 4 6 8 10
SCALE OF FEET
FLUSHING GATE
Fig.15
Heliotype Printing Co. Boston.
44
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
ring of brick-work, 12 inches thick, though for about 350 feet,
where the sand was wet and inclined to run, abutment walls
of rubble masonry were used. Figs. 12 and 13 show cross-
sections of this sewer. The brick invert was laid with Port-
land cement mortar, one part cement to two parts sand, and the
arch was laid with American (Rosendale) cement mortar, one
part cement to 1.5 parts sand. This was the common practice
in building the main drainage sewers, Portland cement being
used in the inverts, on account of its greater resistance to abra-
sion. When Rosendale cement was used for building inverts,
the proportion required was equal parts of cement and sand.
The inclination of this sewer throughout the greater portion
of its extent is 1 in 2,000, which affords a velocity of flow
sufficient to prevent deposit of sludge, but not sufficient to
keep in suspension sand and road detritus. A sharper inclina-
tion would have been desirable had it been practicable to ob-
tain one.
Few of the main drainage sewers have a greater
inclination than 1 in 2,000, and it was expected from the first
that flushing would occasionally be required to prevent the
accumulation of deposits. To provide for this, iron flushing-
gates are built into the sewers at intervals of about half a mile.
The first flushing-gate on the South Boston sewer is just below
the fork at Hyde Street. A sketch of this gate is given by
Fig. 15. Usually the gate stands above the sewer, in the
man-hole. It is kept vertical by two small stop-bolts at its top.
To flush the sewer the gate is lowered against its seat, built
into the bottom of the sewer, and the sewage accumulates be-
hind it as deep as the gate is high. The stops are then with-
drawn and the gate raised until it clears its lower seat, when it
tilts over into a horizontal position and opens a free passage
for the dammed-up sewage.
The greater part of South Boston is high land, and there are
but few low cellars there which are subject during rain-storms
to flooding at high tide. In order that the full capacity of the
sewers and pumps might be available to relieve other parts of
the city, less favored in this respect, it was necessary to ar-
range that no more than a fixed quantity of sewage should
ever be received by the main sewer from the South Boston
!
!
I
!
:
1
1
INTERCEPTING SEWERS.
45
>
a
intercepting sewer. To accomplish this a "regulator” was
*
built into the intercepting sewer just below its last connection
with a common sewer, at Kemp Street.
A sectional plan and elevation of this machine, and of the
chamber containing it, is given by Fig. 9, Plate VII. As will
be seen, the apparatus is very simple, and consists of stop-
planks, closing the sewer from its top down to about the
ordinary dry-weather flow line, the sewer below the planks
being lined with a cast-iron gate frame, or seat, curved to fit
the invert, and also vertically to correspond with the curve of
motion of a cast-iron valve, which plays up and down in front
of it. The valve is held by two cast-iron levers, pivoted by a
3-inch wrought-iron shaft in two bearings, the other ends of the
lever being connected by vertical arms to a 3-inch square bar.
To the ends of this bar are fastened two boiler-plate floats,
placed in wells on either side of the sewer. To avoid dis-
turbance to the motion of the floats, by waves caused by the
rush of sewage under the valve, water is brought to the wells
through a 5-inch pipe, as shown, from a point 50 feet below
the regulator.
The connection between the valves and the floats can be so
adjusted that the former will begin to close when the surface of
sewage in the sewer has reached any desired height. As the
floats rise the valve descends until the opening below it is just
sufficient to let enough sewage pass to maintain the allowed
depth of flow in the sewer. Should the amount of rain-water
from low districts, reaching the main sewer through other
intercepting sewers, exceed the capacity of the pumps to con-
trol it, the main sewer fills, and its sewage backs up into the
South Boston sewer, and still further raises the floats. The
opening under the stop-planks is thus entirely closed, and all
of the common sewers above discharge at their old outlets, and
continue to do so until the amount of water reaching the pumps
can be controlled by them.
Above where this sewer divides, at Hyde Street, the branch
which turns to the right, and skirts the southerly margin of
South Boston, is egg-shaped, four feet six inches high by three
feet wide (Fig. 11, Plate VII.). After passing under the
>
46
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
Old Colony Railroad the shape is changed somewhat (Fig. 3).
At Vinton, Vale, and other streets common sewers are inter-
cepted. Fig. 7, Plate VII., shows the connection with the
Vale-Street sewer, and may stand as a type of such connections
between common and intercepting sewers, whenever no regula-
tion of the amount to be received from the former is required.
Nearly every individual case presented special conditions, which
necessitated some modification of the method of construction;
but the general plan was the same in most cases, and its features
are shown in this case.
A sump hole, two feet deep, into which the sewage falls, is
first built in the common sewer.
Into the bottom of this sump
is built a short section of iron pipe (Fig. 5), from 12 to 24
inches in diameter, protected by a cast-iron flap-valve. Ordi-
narily this valve stands open, but can be closed if it is desired
to break the connection between the two sewers. The bottom
of the sump, around the pipe, is rounded off with strong Port-
land cement concrete, so that there shall be no corners in which
deposits can lodge. The sewage passes to the intercepting
sewer through a short branch connecting with the lower end of
the iron pipe.
Beyond the sump the common sewer is provided with a
chamber containing a double set of tide-gates.
These gates
give a clear opening of from two to four feet diameter. Each
set of gates is hinged to a cast-iron ring, or gate seat (Fig. 8),
which is built into the brick-work. The two wooden gates close
against each other. To make tight joints the bearing surfaces
of the gates are covered with strips of rubber about three-
eighths of an inch thick. The gates are inclined somewhat, so
that they are self-closing.
From the main sewer to the Old Colony Railroad this inter-
cepting sewer was built by contract, at an average cost of $12.68
per
lineal foot. From the railroad to H Street it was built by
day's labor, and cost $13.25 per lineal foot. On Ninth Street,
between Old Harbor Street and G Street, for a distance of
about 800 feet, the sewer location crossed a beach which was
several feet below high-tide level. No coffer dam or other
protection was used in this place, but construction was carried
.
INTERCEPTING SEWERS.
47
on only when the tide was down. When the sea rose it over-
flowed and filled the trench. When it again fell the water in
the trench was let off, through the sewer already built, to pumps
at the pumping-station, and work was resumed. From H
Street to N Street, on Ninth Street, the sewer was built by
contract. For about 1,000 feet, near K and L Streets, the
average depth of the trench was about 27 feet. The sewer was
nearly circular, three feet wide and three feet two inches high
(Fig. 1, Plate VII.). This section was among the earliest built,
and its design is not in accord with later practice. It might have
been made much more convenient for workmen to enter, at slight
additional expense, by giving it a greater vertical diameter. Its
fall is 1 in 1,6663.
From the point of division on Hyde Street the sewer which
turns to the left, and follows the westerly shore of South Boston,
is egg-shaped, five feet six inches by four feet nine inches, up to
the Old Colony Railroad crossing, on Dorchester Avenue. A
timber platform and rubble masonry side walls were required for
the entire distance, and the usual cross-section of this sewer is
shown by Fig. 10, Plate VII. This section was built by con-
tract. Its length is 3,350 feet; the average depth of excavation
was about 24 feet, and the average cost per lineal foot was
$16.85.
After taking in the B-Street sewer the intercepting sewer
changes its shape (Fig. 3), and continues in Dorchester
Avenue, passing under the N.Y. & N.E. Railroad, and turns
into Foundry Street, which it follows to its end, at the corner
of Dorchester Avenue and First Street. Considerable difficulty
was encountered in passing under the abutments of the bridge
on Dorchester Avenue, over the N.Y. and N.E. Railroad.
These were underlaid by running sand, and the northerly abut-
ment over the sewer, which had been built without mortar, had
to be taken down. Under the tracks of the same railroad,
head-room being limited, the shape of the sewer was altered
(Fig. 2), so that there should be no danger of its interfering
with, or being injured by, repairs to the road-bed. This section
of sewer is 2,820 feet long, and its average cost per foot was
$19.25.
48
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
The second large intercepting sewer which enters the main
sewer had its point of connection at the intersection of East
Chester Park and Albany Street. It is called the East Side
intercepting sewer, and is located in streets following the east-
erly margin of the city proper for a distance of about 27 miles.
In Albany Street, from East Chester Park to Dover Street, a
distance of 4,524 feet, the sewer is nearly circular, with a
vertical diameter of five feet eight inches, and a horizontal one
of five feet six inches. The inclination is 1 in 2,000. The
average depth of excavation for this section of work was 24
feet, and, as marsh mud and peat extended from near the sur-
face of the ground to a depth always considerably below the
bottom of the sewer, piles were required to furnish a secure
foundation. A timber platform was fastened to the tops of the
piles, and on the platform the sewer, with its rubble masonry
abutment walls, was built. The bottom of the excavation was
about 6.5 feet below the elevation of low tide, and considerable
trouble was experienced from sea-water making its way into
the trench, especially in places where old sea-walls and other
such obstructions were encountered. The mud on the sides of
the trench exerted much lateral pressure, and close sheet-piling
and heavy bracing were necessary. Opening so deep a trench
in such material drained the water out of the adjacent soil, ren-
dering it spongy and somewhat compressible, so that the whole
street settled and had to be resurfaced and repaved. This sec-
tion was built by contract. One firm of contractors gave up. the
job, and the work was re-let under provisions of the contract. The
average cost per lineal foot of the completed sewer was $26.16.
The first common sewer taken in by the intercepter is that
on Concord Street. This sewer drains a district in which the
cellars are not subject to flooding from rain-water during high
tides. It was not necessary, therefore, to let this sewer dis-
charge into the intercepter an amount of sewage in excess of
its ordinary maximum dry-weather flow, and temporarily, during
rain-storms, the whole dilute contents of the sewer could, with-
out injury, be permitted to discharge into the bay at the old
outlet. An arrangement to effect this was desirable, because,
during very heavy rain-storms, the whole capacity of the inter-
1
INTERCEPTING SEWERS.
49
cepting sewer might be needed to afford relief to sewers drain-
ing low districts beyond Concord Street.
Accordingly the connection between this sewer and the
intercepting sewer was made through a chamber containing a
small regulating apparatus, designed to control or cut off the
flow automatically. Figs. 1 and 2, Plate VIII., show sec-
tions of this apparatus and its arrangement. Eight similar
appliances, with slight modifications in the methods of arrange-
ment, were used in connection with the same number of common
>
sewers.
The operation of the apparatus will be understood from an
examination of the figures. Under ordinary circumstances the
sewerage falls into a sump, and thence passes to the regulating
chamber, which it enters through a cast-iron nozzle. This nozzle
is circular, 12 inches in diameter at its upper end, and rec-
tangular 20 X 6 inches at its orifice. In front of the orifice
plays a cast-iron valve, moved by a float in a tank set in the floor
of the chamber. The water in the tank stands at the same
elevation as that in the intercepting sewer, a 4-inch iron pipe
connecting one with the other. The apparatus can be adjusted
so that the valve will begin to close and cut off the flow of
sewage when the water in the intercepting sewer reaches any
desired depth. When not cut off, the sewage flows around the
tank and passes on through an opening at its further end.
The second common sewer taken in is that in Dedham Street.
This sewer drains a district which used to suffer greatly from
flooding during rain-storms. In order to afford relief this sewer
was connected directly with the intercepter by a branch two feet
in diameter, the inlet to which is never closed.
The third sewer taken in is that in Union Park Street. The
district drained by it has suffered but slightly from wet cellars,
and that only during severe storms and very high tides. The
flow from this sewer was regulated in the same manner as that
from the Concord-Street sewer, but the apparatus was
adjusted that it cuts off the flow later than in the case of most
other sewers, and only when the intercepting sewer is nearly
full.
The fourth common sewer met with is that in Dover Street.
SO
50
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
This drains a low district, and a free connection, two feet in
diameter, was made with it. According to the usual practice
in such cases this sewer would have been connected with the
intercepter at or near the point in Albany Street where their
two locations intersect. But it was found in examining the
city sewers, with reference to connections with them, that the
Dover-Street sewer was not in condition to be intercepted at
any point east of Harrison Avenue. Between that street and
its outlet it is a rectangular wooden structure, 5 X 6 feet in
dimensions, placed close to an old stone retaining-wall and
surrounded by loose stone ballast. It is considerably broken,
so that the tide-water from the bay which ebbs and flows about
the wall and in the ballast has free access to the sewer, and
would have flowed into the intercepting sewer, and so
reached the pumps. From Harrison Avenue westerly, the
Dover-Street sewer was built of brick, and was tight so that sea-
water could be excluded from it by tide-gates. Accordingly
the connection was made west of Harrison Avenue, and a 2 X 3
feet oval branch sewer (Fig. 3), 588 feet long, was built from
that point to convey the sewage to the intercepting sewer at
Albany Street.
Above Dover Street are few districts which suffer from flood-
ing. Accordingly a large regulating apparatus, to control the
flow from above, was built into the intercepting sewer at this
point. It resembled that on the South Boston sewer, before
described, and shown on Plate VII. by Fig. 9.
From Dover Street to its upper end on Atlantic Avenue the
East Side sewer was built by day's labor, under a superintend-
ent appointed by the city. This was done because above
Dover Street the sewer location was. confined to crowded
thoroughfares, in which peculiar management was required to
prevent serious obstruction to travel and to the business of
abutters; and also because, operations being principally car-
ried on in filled land, beds of dock mud, old walls, wharves,
and other obstructions were continually encountered, requiring
frequent changes in methods of construction which could not be
foreseen and provided for in the specifications of a contract.
From Dover Street the sewer location extends in Albany
a
TIDE
COMMON
SEWER
SECTION
GATES
B
INTERCEPTING
SEWER
COMMON
SEWER
TO STORM OUTLET
A
SUMP
ON LINE
Fig.1
PLAN OF REGULATOR
REGULATOR
GENERAL PLAN OF
CONCORD ST. CONNECTION
Fig. 2
-B, FIG. 2.
SECTION A-B.
Fig.10
SECTIONAL
ELEVATION.
O
Fig.3
SEWER
SECTION.
Fig.4
O
C
SIDE VIEW.
Fig. 6
Fig.5
Fig.7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
IDE GATE
TIDE GATE
Fig. 13
SUMPTO
REGULATOR
INTERCEPTING
SEWER
COMMON
A-SEWER
TIDE GATES
PLATE VIII.
TO STORM
OUTLET -B
TIDE GATES.- CLINTON ST.
Fig.11
Fig. 12
INTERCEPTGE
SEWER
SECTION A-B.
a
Fig. 14
Fig.15
BOSTON MAIN DRAINAGE,
INTERCEPTING SEWERS.
SECTIONAL PLAN.
FALMOUTH ST. SEWER.
5
10
15
20 FEET
50
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
This drains a low district, and a free connection, two feet in
diameter, was made with it. According to the usual practice
in such cases this sewer would have been connected with the
intercepter at or near the point in Albany Street where their
two locations intersect. But it was found in examining the
city sewers, with reference to connections with them, that the
Dover-Street sewer was not in condition to be intercepted at
any point east of Harrison Avenue. Between that street and
its outlet it is a rectangular wooden structure, 5 X 6 feet in
dimensions, placed close to an old stone retaining-wall and
surrounded by loose stone ballast. It is considerably broken,
so that the tide-water from the bay which ebbs and flows about
the wall and in the ballast has free access to the sewer, and
would have flowed into the intercepting sewer, and so
reached the pumps. From Harrison Avenue westerly, the
Dover-Street sewer was built of brick, and was tight so that sea-
water could be excluded from it by tide-gates. Accordingly
the connection was made west of Harrison Avenue, and a 2 X 3
feet oval branch sewer (Fig. 3), 588 feet long, was built from
that point to convey the sewage to the intercepting sewer at
Albany Street.
Above Dover Street are few districts which suffer from flood-
ing. Accordingly a large regulating apparatus, to control the
flow from above, was built into the intercepting sewer at this
point. It resembled that on the South Boston sewer, before
described, and shown on Plate VII. by Fig. 9.
From Dover Street to its upper end on Atlantic Avenue the
East Side sewer was built by day's labor, under a superintend-
ent appointed by the city. This was done because above
Dover Street the sewer location was confined to crowded
thoroughfares, in which peculiar management was required to
prevent serious obstruction to travel and to the business of
abutters; and also because, operations being principally car-
ried on in filled land, heds of dock mud, old walls, wharves,
and other obstructions were continually encountered, requiring
frequent changes in methods of construction which could not be
foreseen and provided for in the specifications of a contract.
From Dover Street the sewer location extends in Albany
INTERCEPTING SEWERS.
51
Street to Lehigh Street, at which point it enters private land, and
crosses the freight and switch yards of the Boston and Albany,
and Old Colony Railroads, to Federal Street, near the bridge,
a total distance of 2,331.5 feet. In Albany and Lehigh Streets
are the tracks of a Freight Railway Company, and in the rail-
road yards are about 40 lines of rails in constant use, which
it was very important should not be disturbed. The whole
section of work is in filled land, underlaid by beds of mud, from
5 to 20 feet deep, below the bottom of the sewer, which is
itself several feet below the level of low tide. At different
points obstruction in the shape of old walls and wharves were
encountered, which admitted sea-water freely to the trench, so
that, as a rule, work could only progress during low stages of
the tide.
The sewer is oval, five feet high (Fig. 4), and generally
required piling for its support. It is built partly of wood, lined
with two inches of concrete, and partly of brick-work resting on
a solid cradle of wood, six inches thick. Travel upon the streets
was not interrupted, and with considerable difficulty the freight-
railway tracks were supported and maintained. As it would
have been impossible to have had an open trench through the
Albany and Old Colony Railroad yards without interfering with
their traffic, operations at that point were carried on entirely
below the surface. The tracks were supported by stringers,
.
and the spaces between them floored over. By the use of
special machinery all the earth excavated or refilled, as well as
materials for constructions, was conveyed by tracks 'suspended
below the floor. The trench was well braced, and its sides pro-
tected by lag-sheeting, which, together with the piles driven to
support the sewer, were all put in place without encroaching
upon the surface. It is believed that not a single train was
delayed, nor any inconvenience caused, by these operations.
The average cost of this section of sewer was about $31.26 per
lineal foot.
In Federal Street, and Atlantic Avenue to its end at Central
Street, the intercepting sewer is oval, four feet six inches high by
two feet eight inches wide. Fig. 5, Plate VIII., shows the usual
mode of construction. Federal Street contained double horse-
>
52
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
railroad and single freight-railway tracks, and beneath its sur-
face were one sewer, two water-pipes, and two gas-pipes.
Beds of dock mud extended from 5 to 20 feet below the bottom
of the new sewer, and old dock walls and timber structures
were frequently encountered. A location on the east side of
the street was found to be most practicable, and the sewer was
built by methods which left the roadway open for travel. By
flooring over the trench at intervals, passages were maintained
through the excavating machine (shown on Plate XXV.) to the
yards and wharves bordering Fort Point Channel.
The freight-railway tracks were shifted towards the centre
of the street, and were used during the day for the passage of
horse-cars in one direction. Bricks, cement, and other material
were piled on the outer edges of both sidewalks where they
would cause least inconvenience, and always so as to leave a
clear passage-way four feet wide. Endeavors were made to
cause the least possible annoyance to corporations and individu-
als; and in general these efforts seemed to be appreciated and
reciprocated by the public, so that complaints were rare.
This section of work was 5,159 feet long. The average depth
of excavation was about 21 feet, and the average cost of com-
pleted sewer was $15.06 per lineal foot. The Stony-Brook in-
tercepting sewer joins the main sewer at the intersection of
Camden and Tremont Streets. This sewer intercepts the sew-
age which formerly emptied at seven outlets, into Stony Brook,
and thence found its way into the Back Bay. In Tremont and
Cabot Streets, from Camden to Ruggles Street (Plate V.), a
distance of 2,135 feet, the sewer was built by contract. The
rate of inclination is 1 in 700, and the average depth of exca-
vation required was 21 feet. The sewer is nearly circular, four
feet six inches wide by four feet eight inches high, and is chiefly
founded on clay, so that side walls were only needed for about
300 feet, and the average cost per lineal foot, including inspec-
tion, was $11.97. The customary iron penstock gate was built
into the sewer just above the bell-mouth connection chamber by
which it joins the main.
As the territory drained by the sewers which empty into
Stony Brook is high land, a large automatic regulating appara-
INTERCEPTING SEWERS.
53
tus, similar to the one shown on Plate VII., was built into the
intercepting sewer at Ruggles Street, by means of which the
flow is partly or wholly cut off during severe and continuous
rain-storms. Above the regulator is a three-way bell-mouth
chamber (Fig. 10, Plate VIII.), from which radiate three
principal branch sewers. The centre or main branch, about 4}
feet in diameter, is 1,700 feet long, and intercepts the sewage
formerly discharging into the brook by outlets at Elmwood and
Hampshire Streets. This sewer passes twice under the brook,
at so low an elevation that it preserves its regular grade and
shape. The other two branches are built just large enough to
enter, being 2 X 3 feet, egg-shaped, with the smaller end
down. These also cross twice under the brook, at Tremont
Street and at Ruggles Street. Including the regulating cham-
ber, and all sewers above it, this section of work was built by
the day, under the City Superintendent, Mr. H. A. Carson.
There were built in all 4,229 lineal feet of sewers, including 415
feet of 15-inch pipe. The average cost per foot of the whole
was $14.30. A considerable portion of the 2 x 3 feet sewers
was built during the winter of 1880–81. The sewers were
from 14 to 19 feet below the street surface, and the excavation
was done by tunnelling from pits about 10 feet apart. The
outlets of the city sewers being below the level of high tide, in
order to prevent back-water reaching the intercepting sewer, it
was necessary to build gate-chambers just beyond the points
of interception, each chamber containing a double set of tide-
gates.
The last of the large intercepting sewers joins the main sewer
at its present end at the intersection of Camden Street with
Huntington Avenue (Plate V.). It is commonly called the
)
West Side intercepting sewer, and is located in streets border-
ing the westerly margin of the city proper, and intercepts the
sewage which formerly discharged into Charles River. This
sewer is about 37 miles long, and its inclination from end to
end is 1 in 2,000.
From the main sewer to Beacon Street, and in that street to
Charles Street, a distance of 9,325 feet, the West Side sewer
was built by day's labor, at an average cost of $13.35 per lineal
54
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
foot. This section of work includes, besides the customary
man-holes, six common-sewer connections, five small regulators,
one side entrance, one penstock, and three flushing-gates. The
usual form of this sewer is shown by Fig. 8, Plate VIII. It is
egg-shaped, five feet six inches high by four feet nine inches wide.
It will be noticed that the usual position given to an egg-shaped
sewer is reversed in this case, the larger end of the egg forming
the invert. This position was adopted because, while affording
convenient head-room, it kept the flow line as low down as was
practicable. As the flow in this sewer is always a foot or
more deep, the hydraulic mean depth, and consequently the
velocity of flow, is greater than it would have been had the
smaller end of the sewer been below.
A case of slight injury to this sewer may be worth noticing.
When the sewer was built on the line of Falmouth Street that
street had not yet been filled and graded, and the mud and peat,
which underlay the marsh surface in that locality, sometimes ex-
tended down below the top of the sewer. About a year after-
wards the street was graded with gravel about seven feet high
above the original surface of the marsh over the sewer. One
side of the street was filled before the other, and the unequal
pressure which resulted was transmitted to the sewer, and
caused its arch to bulge, as shown by Fig. 12. Fortunately the
amount of distortion was not sufficient to endanger the sewer's
stability, and the crack was pointed with Portland cement.
In Hereford Street, for a distance of 282 feet, the sewer lo-
cation passed under a freight-yard of the Boston & Albany
Railroad, in which were about 20 lines of track. Piles were
driven and stringers placed to support these tracks, and nearly
all of the sewer building operations were carried on beneath
the surface of the ground, so that the traffic of the railroad was
not interfered with. At this point, and beyond the railroad
location for a total length of about 800 feet in Hereford Street,
a common sewer was built in the same trench, directly above
the intercepting sewer. This was done by an arrangement with
the City Sewer Department, which designed and paid for the
upper sewer.
A cross-section of the two sewers, showing their
arrangement, is shown by Fig. 9.
INTERCEPTING SEWERS.
55
In Beacon Street, for a distance of 590 feet in the vicinity of
Exeter Street, 22 old stone walls, from five to twelve feet thick,
were encountered and had to be cut through. These walls con-
stituted the sluice-way of the old mill-dam, and their removal
caused considerable delay. The cost of excavation per lineal
foot of trench, 20 feet deep in this street, varied from $3.94 to
$ $14.49. The section from Camden to Charles Street was
built in 1878. During a portion of the season work was car-
ried on day and night at two different points. The largest
.
number of men and boys employed at any one time was 369.
The rate of progress varied greatly; where no special obstacles
were met, 108 feet of completed sewer was built each 24
hours.
On Beacon Street the large common sewers in Hereford,
Fairfield, Dartmouth, and Berkeley Streets are intercepted.
The sewage from each of these sewers passes to the intercept-
ing sewer through a chamber in which is a small automatic
regulating apparatus, similar to the one shown on Plate VIII.,
so adjusted as to cut off the flow whenever the water in the
intercepting sewer exceeds an established depth. The sewers
just mentioned are too low to pass over the intercepting sewer,
and a somewhat different method of construction was necessary
in connecting them. The arrangement at Berkeley Street is
shown by Fig. 13, Plate VIII.
A secondary intercepting sewer was built in Brimmer Street,
which collects all of the sewage flowing westward from Beacon
Hill, and conveys it to the principal intercepting sewer in Bea-
con Street. For the sake of economy and simplicity the old
outlets of the common sewers in Revere, Pinckney, Mt. Ver-
non, Chestnut, and Beacon Streets were abandoned, and the
total flow from these sewers, including rain, is taken by the new
Brimmer-Street sewer, a single storm overflow being provided
at Back Street. The construction of the Brimmer-Street sys-
tem involved the building of 1,456.5 feet of oval brick sewers,
varying from 2 X 3 feet to 3 x 4 feet 6 inches in diameter;
also the rebuilding of about 556 feet of common sewers, which
were found to be too low or otherwise defective. The flow
from the Brimmer-Street sewer into the intercepting sewer in
a
56
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
Beacon Street is regulated in the same manner as that from the
ordinary city sewers.
A little beyond Brimmer Street a large common sewer, which
comes from the south across the Public Garden, is intercepted.
This drains what is called the Church-Street district, compris-
ing low territory, in which are many cellars which used often
to be inundated. Sewage from this sewer, therefore, is taken
directly into the intercepting sewer without the intervention
of any regulating apparatus.
On Charles Street, from Beacon to Cambridge Street, a dis-
tance of 1,832 feet, the sewer was built by contract. It is egg-
shaped, 4 X 4.5 feet in diameter (Figs. 6 and 7), and cost
$10.10 per lineal foot. This was the only section of the West
Side sewer which was built by contract. In excavating the
trench many of the hollow-log water-pipes of the old Jamaica
Pond Aqueduct Company were found in a perfect state of pres-
ervation. A house-drain was found which the drain-layer had
connected with one of these water-pipes, although the street
sewer was but a few feet distant. The log had but three inches'
bore, and, of course, led to no outlet.
At the intersection of Cambridge and Charles Streets a large
automatic regulating apparatus, similar to the one shown on
Plate VII., was built into the sewer, to control the flow from
above. The excavation in which the chamber for this appa-
ratus was built was 30 feet square ; but, by flooring over the
top of the excavation, and supporting the various lines of street-
railway tracks at that place, travel was not impeded, all build-
ing operations being carried on below the surface of the street.
From Cambridge to Leverett Street, a distance of 2,150 feet,
the intercepting sewer is oval, four feet six inches by three feet
in diameter. It is of brick-work, eight inches thick, and usu-
ally required a timber cradle-support. The work on this section
presented the usual difficulties met with in excavating through
filled land, in the way of old obstructions and the free access of
tide-water. By a rather curious coincidence, for a distance of
about 500 feet, the remains of an old wharf or bulkhead were
found, with longitudinal rows of piles within the trench in such
positions that, by cutting them off at the proper elevation, they
.
INTERCEPTING SEWERS.
57
served as a support for the sewer, in the place of new piles which
would otherwise have been necessary.
Seven hundred and one
feet, in all of the Fruit-Street and Livingston-Street sewers,
which were too low to be intercepted, were replaced by 2 X 3
feet oval brick sewers. The private sewer from the Massachusetts
General Hospital was also too low to be intercepted. This was
found to be a rectangular wooden scow, 2.5 X 2.5 feet in diam-
eter, with its bottom at low-tide level. The Trustees of the
hospital themselves replaced it with a 10-inch drain-pipe at a
higher elevation.
From Charles Street to its upper end at Prince Street, a dis-
tance of 3,571 feet, the West Side sewer maintained, with rare
exceptions, an even size, of three feet wide and four feet six
inches high. The arch consisted of eight inches of brick, and
the invert was generally made with four inches of brick, resting
on a timber cradle, also four inches thick. The common sewer
in Lowell Street, which was a large, flat-bottomed wooden scow,
was too low to be intercepted. It was accordingly abandoned,
and all branch sewers and house-drains were connected directly
with the intercepting sewer. To facilitate making these connec-
tions the intercepting sewer was located exactly on the line of
the old sewer. The top planks of the latter were removed, but
its side planks were retained, and the new sewer, with its width
reduced to two feet eight inches, was built between them. The
flow of sewage was maintained during the construction through
channels above the floor of the old sewer and below the bottom
of the new one, which was supported on timber saddles (Fig.
14, Plate VIII.).
Causeway Street is one of the most crowded thoroughfares of
the city. It contains two lines of track for horse-cars and one
for freight-cars. On its north-westerly side are the depots of
three railroads, with no outlet for their passengers and freight
except into this street. The tracks of another railroad cross
the street. The territory traversed by the street is all made
land, consisting of loose materials filled upon a mud bottom.
It was with some apprehension of trouble that work was
begun on this section. The most difficult feature of the work
was so to conduct it that travel should not be seriously impeded.
58
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
Owing to the skill and care of the superintendent and his subor-
dinates, and to the appliances used for handling the earth and
other material, the sewer in this street was built within four
months, without closing any portion of the street to travel, and
with the minimum of inconvenience to the public. At street-
crossings and entrances to railroad-yards work was carried on
below timber platforms, or bridges, without encroaching upon
the street surface. In crossing the Boston and Maine Railroad
tracks, the excavating apparatus, with its steam-engine, was so
elevated as to leave head-room for the passage of trains.
Plate IX. is from a photograph taken at this point.
As a precaution, where the foundation seemed insecure, the
vertical diameter of the sewer was increased by six inches, so
that, should slight unequal settlements occur, the invert
the invert may be
brought to its true grade without lessening the desired size of
the sewer.
For about 76 feet, to avoid interfering with the
street surface, the intercepting sewer was built entirely within
an abandoned common sewer (Fig. 15, Plate VIII.). At the
upper end of the intercepting sewer, at Prince street, the grade
of the invert is about four feet above mean low water, which is
the highest elevation of any portion of the Main Drainage Sys-
tem. At this point a direct connection with the harbor has
been made, which is closed under ordinary circumstances by a
three feet square penstock gate. By opening this gate at the
time of high tide the sewer can be thoroughly flushed.
TCHBURG RAILROAD
Causeway St.
near Box M. R P..
GAC LINNESVUT
Aug. 12
1884
DEPOTS
23
OTS
PLATE IX.

HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
Building the Intercepting Sewer in Causeway Street.
PUMPING-STATION.
59
CHAPTER VII.
PUMPING-STATION.
As before stated, and as shown by the plan (Plate V.), the
Main Drainage Pumping-Station is situated at Old Harbor
Point, on the sea-coast in Dorchester, about a mile from any
dwelling. In flowing by gravitation to this point the sewage
has descended, so that it is from 11 to 14 feet below the eleva-
tion of low tide. To reach its final destination it must flow
about 2} miles further, to Moon Island, and be high enough,
after arriving at the storage reservoir on the island, to be let
out into the harbor at the time of high water. That it may do
this it must first be raised by an average lift of 35 feet.
The essential parts of the pumping-station are: a filth-
hoist (so called), where the sewage passes through screens to
remove solid matters which might clog the pumps ; pump-
wells, into one or more of which the sewage can be turned ;
pumping-engines to raise the sewage; an engine-house to pro-
tect the engines; a boiler-house, containing boilers to furnish
steam-power; a coal-house to store a supply of coal; and a
dock and wharf, where vessels bringing coal can be unloaded.
The position and arrangement of these principal structures and
apparatus are shown on Plate X.
The filth-hoist is a solid masonry structure, extending from
the surface of the ground down to below the main sewer. Its
inside dimensions are 25 x 32 feet, and its exterior walls are from
4 to 5 feet thick, founded upon two courses of 10-inch timber.
In excavating for building the filth-hoist, the ground, which
consisted of wet sand, was held by round wooden curbs. The
total depth of excavation was 35 feet, and the upper 12 feet
were dug without bracing to natural slopes. Below this three
tiers of 4-inch sheet planks, each 10 feet long, were driven, and
were braced by circular ribs. The three curbs were 71.61
and 57 feet in diameter, respectively, and by this method of
60
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
bracing an unobstructed space was secured for building the
masonry
As will be seen by referring to Plates X. and XI., the main
sewer passes through the westerly foundation wall of the filth-
hoist. At this point the sewer has granite voussoirs cut to
form a bell-shaped opening. Facing the sewer opening are two
gate openings, protected by iron penstock gates, 7 x 6.5 feet
each, through one or both of which the sewage flows. These
gates are counterbalanced and are moved by hydraulic pressure
derived from a city water-pipe. The pressure is sufficient to
move them freely; but to start them when down, with a head of
water against them, a hydraulic force-pump is added, by means
of which the initial pressure can be increased to any extent re-
quired. Beyond the gates the structure is divided longitudinally
by a brick partition wall into two parts, in each of which are
chambers containing two independent cages, or screens, one
before the other. The cages are rectangular in shape, 7 feet 8
inches high, 7 feet 34 inches wide, and 3 feet 44 inches deep.
They are shown in detail by Fig. 4, on Plate XIV. Their
backs, sides, and tops are formed of 4-inch round iron rods,
with 1-inch spaces between them. The cages are counterbal-
anced, and are raised and lowered by four small steam-engines.
The steam for these engines, as well as for heating purposes,
is brought underground from the boiler-house.
structure of the filth-hoist is 30 x 37 feet outside dimensions,
and is built of quarry-faced granite dimension-stones, lined
inside with brick. A view of the outside of this building is
shown at the left side of Plate XVII. Plate XII. is from a
photograph taken inside of the filth-hoist when one pair of cages
was raised. It gives a general idea of the arrangement of the
hoisting machinery.
After passing through the cages the sewage is conveyed by
one or both of two sewers, nine feet in diameter each, to galleries
on either side of the engine-house substructure, from which
galleries it can be admitted through gate openings to one or
more pump-wells, situated between the galleries. The bottom
of the pump-wells is 19.5 feet below low-tide level and 36.5
The super-

PLATE X.
DE
SE
CONDUIT
COAL RUN
DOCK
Heliotype Printing
60
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
bracing an unobstructed space was secured for building the
masonry
As will be seen by referring to Plates X. and XI., the main
sewer passes through the westerly foundation wall of the filth-
hoist. At this point the sewer has granite voussoirs cut to
form a bell-shaped opening. Facing the sewer opening are two
gate openings, protected by iron penstock gates, 7 x 6.5 feet
each, through one or both of which the sewage flows. These
gates are counterbalanced and are moved by hydraulic pressure
derived from a city water-pipe. The pressure is sufficient to
move them freely ; but to start them when down, with a head of
water against them, a hydraulic force-pump is added, by means
of which the initial pressure can be increased to any extent re-
quired. Beyond the gates the structure is divided longitudinally
by a brick partition wall into two parts, in each of which are
chambers containing two independent cages, or screens, one
before the other. The cages are rectangular in shape, 7 feet 8
inches high, 7 feet 34 inches wide, and 3 feet 41 inches deep.
They are shown in detail by Fig. 4, on Plate XIV. Their
backs, sides, and tops are formed of 4-inch round iron rods,
with 1-inch spaces between them. The cages are counterbal-
anced, and are raised and lowered by four small steam-engines.
The steam for these engines, as well as for heating purposes,
is brought underground from the boiler-house.
structure of the filth-hoist is 30 X 37 feet outside dimensions,
and is built of quarry-faced granite dimension-stones, lined
inside with brick. A view of the outside of this building is
shown at the left side of Plate XVII. Plate XII. is from a
photograph taken inside of the filth-hoist when one pair of cages
was raised. It gives a general idea of the arrangement of the
hoisting machinery.
After passing through the cages the sewage is conveyed by
one or both of two sewers, nine feet in diameter each, to galleries
on either side of the engine-house substructure, from which
galleries it can be admitted through gate openings to one or
more pump-wells, situated between the galleries. The bottom
of the pump-wells is 19.5 feet below low-tide level and 36.5
The super-
LOW WATER
14 FT. BELOW
MAIN SEWER
FILTH HOIST
田
​CAGES
CAGES
CITY OF BOSTON
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS
O
PUMPING STATION.
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 FT.
5-
10
15
20 25 30 METRES.
COAL
BIN
COAL
BIN
TRACK
N
CHIMNEY
COAL
COAL
COAL HOUSE
ENGINE HOUSE
WORTHINGTON
PUMPS
FOR STORM DUTY-
BOILER
TRACK
COAL
COAL
HOUSE
LEAVITT PUMPS
FOR HIGH DUTY
SALT
WATER
WELL
PROPOSED EXTENSION OF BUILDINGS
4 1 1 10
FORCE
MAINS
SALTWATER
CONDUIT
ELEVATED COAL RUN
SEA WALL
SEA WALL
WHARF
DOCK
BA
Heliotype Printing Co. Boston.
PIPE CHAMBER
A
DEPOSIT
SEWERS
14 FT. ABOVE.
LOW WATER
PLATE X.
S
14-FT. BELOW
LOW WATER
GATES
CAGES
SECTION THROUGH
CITY OF BOSTON.
MAIN DRAINAGE.
SECTIONAL VIEW OF
FILTH HOIST AND ENGINE HOUSE.
SCALE OF FEET.
ENGINES FOR
RAISING CAGES.
CAGES
1,0
2,0
3,0
SCALE OF
METRES.
2
4
S
6 7
9
10
STORM DUTY PUMPING ENGINES.
FORCE MAINS
FILTH HOIST AND CAGES.
SECTION THROUGH PUMP WELLS.
203
HIGH DUTY PUMPING ENGINES.
O
IGATE TO
PUMP WELL
FORCE MAINS
odo
DEPOSIT
SEWERS
14 FT. ABOVE LOW WATER.
SECTION THROUGH PIPE CHAMBER.
SECTION THROUGH SIDE GALLERY.
Heliotype Printing Co. Boston.
PLATE XI.
PUMPING-STATION.
61
feet below the surface of the ground. From the wells the sew-
age is raised by the pumps to its required elevation.
The complete design of the pumping-station, as indicated on
Plate X., consists of an engine-house, two boiler-houses, and a
coal-house, so arranged as to include a court-yard. The build-
ings are to be of dimensions suitable for containing eight pump-
ing-engines with their boilers and other appurtenances. Only
the portions of these buildings shown on the plan by full lines
are at present constructed or needed.
The foundation walls of the engine-house aggregate about
350 feet in length. They are 37.5 feet in height and nine feet
thick at the bottom, where they rest on a timber platform, 24
inches thick, which also extends under the whole building, and
furnishes a foundation course for the piers which support the
engines. To build the exterior walls trenches 16 feet wide
were first excavated. A core of earth was left inside these
trenches until the walls had been erected, when it was removed
to make place for the pump-wells and engine foundations. The
exterior retaining and foundation walls were built of granite,
and, although called rubble masonry, yet, owing to the sizes
and shapes of stones used and the care taken in selecting and
laying them, the work more nearly l'esembles a fair quality of
roughly coursed block-stone work.
The pump-wells and engine foundations are built chiefly of
brick, but contain in addition about 300 dressed granite stones.
These stones are used for copings, as bearings for holding-down
bolts, for lining gate and other openings, etc., etc. There are
,
nine iron gates, with suitable attachments and shafting, operated
by two small steam-engines. Eight of these gates, 4 feet 94
inches by 6 feet 37 inches each, control the flow of sewage from
the side galleries into the four pump-wells. Another gate, 4 X
4 feet square, controls the admission of salt water from the salt-
water conduit.
This last-mentioned structure, as shown by the plan (Plate
X.), is a solid masonry conduit, with its bottom six feet below
the elevation of low tide, and connects tide-water at the dock
with one of the engine-house galleries. Its office is to conduct
salt water to the engine-house for use in the condensers, and
62
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
also to furnish an additional supply of water to the pumps for
flushing or other purposes, whenever the amount of sewage re-
ceived from the main sewer is insufficient for such purposes.
As has been stated, the sewage is elevated to heights (de-
pending at any time upon the depth of sewage in the reservoir)
which average about 35 feet.
As the city sewers receive rain-water, and as it is desired to
take as much of this as possible, especially from certain districts,
it follows that during short periods of time, when it rains, very
much greater pumping capacity is needed than is usually suffi-
cient. There must, therefore, be a pump, or pumps, to run
continuously, and others to run only when it rains or thaws.
The chief item of expense in pumping is the cost of fuel.
For the sake of economy the pumping-engines for continuous
service must do their work with as little consumption of fuel as
possible, and to accomplish this an expensive machine can be
afforded. For the engines which run only occasionally cheaper
machines are more economical, the saving in interest on the first
cost more than compensating for the extra fuel consumed by
them. The pumping plant of the Boston Main Drainage Works
includes two expensive high-duty engines and two cheaper lower-
duty engines.
The high-duty engines were designed by Mr. E. D. Leavitt,
Jr., on general specifications prepared by the City Engineer,
Mr. Davis. They were built by the Quintard Iron Works, of
New York, and cost about $115,000 each. A plan and elevation
of one of them is given on Plate XIII.
As will be seen, it is a compound beam and fly-wheel engine,
working two single-acting plunger-pumps. The steam cylin-
ders are vertical and inverted, their axes coinciding with those
of the pumps below them, the pistons of the engines and
plungers of the pumps being connected in the same line with
the ends of the beam.
In designing these engines particular attention was given to
the following conditions:
First. The distribution of the weight of the engine so as
not to produce concentrated pressure on any part of the foun-
dations.
Je
PLATE XII.

HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
Interior of Filth-Hoist with
one pair of cages raised.
1
HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
13
LEAVITT PUMPING ENGINES.
,
:
를
​PUMPING-STATION.
63
Second. Great strength in the details and combinations of
the parts, to render the liability of breakage a minimum.
Third. A proportion of the wearing surfaces such as will
allow of an uninterrupted running for extended periods, with
the least wear.
Fourth. Easy accessibility of all the parts for examination,
repairs, and renewals.
Fifth. An adaptation of the pumps and their valves to the
peculiar duty required of them, i.e., to allow the passage of
rags, sticks, and such other small bodies as will not be detained
by the filth-hoist; and, in addition, a construction which will
admit of the easy removal of an entire pump or any of its
parts, without disturbing any important part of an engine.
Sixth. A high degree of economy in the consumption of
coal.
The following are a few of the leading dimensions :
Diameter of high-pressure cylinder, 25] inches.
Diameter of low-pressure cylinder, 52 inches.
Diameter of plunger, 48 inches.
Stroke, 9 feet.
Distance between centres of cylinders, 15 feet 2 inches.
Radius of beam to end centres, 8 feet 3 inches.
Radius of crank, 4 feet.
Diameter of fly-wheel, 36 feet.
Weight of fly-wheel, 36 tons.
Nominal capacity, 25,000,000 gallons a day.
Speed for capacity, 11 strokes per minute.
Steam at a pressure of about 100 pounds is admitted from
the supply-pipe, A (see Plate XIII.), through the side-pipe, B,
to the steam-chests of the high-pressure cylinder, C. The dis-
tribution of steam is effected by gridiron slide-valves, having a
short, horizontal movement imparted by revolving cams, D,
fixed on a horizontal shaft, E, running along the bases of the
cylinders, and driven by the crank-shaft through suitable gear-
ing, F. The steam is cut off by the further revolution of the
The cut-off is adjustable, and controlled by the gov-
ernor,
G.
After expanding to the end of the stroke the steam passes
cam.
64
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
through the exhaust steam-chests to reheaters, H. These are
cast-iron boxes, each containing about 750 k-inch brass tubes,
two feet nine inches long. These tubes are filled with high-
pressure steam, and in circulating about them the working
steam is thoroughly dried.
From the reheaters the steam is admitted to the low-pressure
cylinder, I, where further expansion takes place. Thence it
passes to the condenser, J, where it is condensed by salt water
from a rose jet. K is the air-pump, and L the outboard
delivery-pipe.
The pumps, M, are hung to heavy girders supporting the
engines by cast-iron hangers, N. A part or the whole of the
weight of the pumps can also be supported by the wheels, O,
resting on very strong cast-iron beams, P, built into the ma-
sonry on either side of the pump-wells. By disconnecting
their hangers, the pumps, supported entirely by these wheels,
can be run back on the beams (which then serve as tracks),
and can be hoisted out of the pump-wells without interfering
with the fixed parts of the engine.
At Q are side galleries, through either of which the sewage
reaches the gateways, R, leading into the pump-wells. In front
of these gateways are iron gates, not shown on the plate, which
admit or exclude the sewage. S S are the plungers. UU are
man-holes. T is the force-main. The discharge from one
pump passes through the delivery-chamber of the other.
The interior construction of the pump is shown by Fig. 1
on Plate XIV., which is a vertical section through the pump
under the high-pressure cylinder. The plunger is represented
as just completing its down stroke. The suction-valves (of
which there are 36 to each pump) are closed, and the delivery-
valves (27 in number) are wide open, to permit the discharge
of the sewage displaced by the plunger. In the other pump,
at the same moment, the plunger would be completing its up-
ward stroke, and the action of the valves would be reversed.
The valves are of somewhat novel construction, and are
shown by a section of a portion of one of the valve-plates, and
the whole of one valve (Plate XIV., Fig. 2). As will be seen,
they are simply rubber flaps, 4-inch thick, with wrought-iron
а
BOSTON MAIN DRAINAGE,
LEAVITT PUMPING-ENGINE.
0122
67
SCALE OF FEET.
Heliotype Printing Co. Boston.
A
Q
R
P
Dg D
GF
D
E
C
SCALE OF METRES.
B
S1
N
T
U
M.
Σ
00
P
Σ
S1
N
U
Σ
KL
P
T
20
Q
PLATE
XIII.
!
V
--4-0
SUCTION VALVES
PLUNGER
LEAVITT PUMP
Fig. 1
LUNGER
DELIVERY
DETAIL OF
PUMP VALVES
Fig.2
SUCTION
DELIVERY
3-9
-11-0"--
L
FRONT ELEVATION
PLAN
腐
​TOP
BOTTOM
FILTH CAGES
Fig.4
FOOT VALVE
WORTHINGTON PUMP
Fig. 3
CITY OF BOSTON,
MAIN DRAINAGE.
PUMPS AND FILTH CAGES.
-7-8-
K-
SIDE
PLATE XIV
要
​PUMPING-STATION.
65
v
backs and washer plates, the rubber faces bearing on cast-iron
seats inclined at an angle of 450. The valves form their own
hinges, and open against guards or stops faced with leather.
The clear opening is 41 X 13} inches. Pieces of board 10
inches wide and 24 inches long have passed through these valves.
The ordinary working duty of these engines is nearly or
quite 100,000,000 foot-pounds to each 100 pounds of coal.i
The two pumping-engines for storm service were built at the
Hydraulic Works, Brooklyn, L.I., by the firm of Henry R.
Worthington, of New York, from their own designs, and cost
$45,000 each.
They are of the Worthington duplex, compound, condensing
type. Each machine consists in reality of two distinct com-
pound engines coupled together, each engine working a double-
acting plunger-pump. The capacity of each double engine is
25,000,000 gallons of sewage a day raised against a total head
of 43 feet. This requires about twelve double strokes a minute
and a piston speed of about 115 feet per minute.
Steam at from 40 to 50 pounds is carried full pressure
through the stroke of each high-pressure cylinder. Thence it
passes through reheaters to the adjoining low-pressure or ex-
pansion cylinders, and is expanded during the reverse stroke. It
is then admitted to the condenser and condensed by a jet of salt
water. The steam cylinders are 21 and 36 inches in diameter
respectively. They are steam-jacketed all over and suitably
coated and lagged. The stroke is four feet.
The steam-valves are moved by a novel and ingenious con-
trivance, called by the makers "the hydraulic link.” Each
engine has two small vertical cylinders, in which are plungers
worked from the air-pump bell-crank. These plungers force
water forward and backward through pipes leading to
cylinder in front of the high-pressure ste:im-chest. In this
R
a
1 Two duty trials, of 24 hours' duration each, have been made recently of one of the
Leavitt pumpiny.engines. These tests were very carefully conducted, and all fuel burned
under the boiler was charged, no deductions being made for ashes and clinkers. In the
first trial steam required for the fecil-piunp was supplied from a scparate boiler. Making
no deduction for this, the duty developed was a little over 125,000,000 foot-pounds for
each 100 pounds of coal. In the second trial the same boiler supplied steam for the
pumping-engine and the feed-pump, and the duty developed was about 122,000,000 foot-
pounds.
66
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
.
>
cylinder is a piston connected with the main valve-stem of the
engine, and the pressure imparted by the water alternately to
opposite sides of the piston moves the valve-stem and effects
the steam distribution.
There are two pumps to each machine. Fig. 3, Plate XIV.,
is a section through the pumps of one engine. Each pump is
double-acting, being divided transversely in the middle by a
ring which packs the plunger. The plunger is hollow, 45
inches in diameter, and has a 4-foot stroke. It displaces its
bulk of sewage at each stroke in either direction. The positions
of the valves, suction, and delivery chambers are indicated by the
section. The valves are similar to those of the Leavitt engines.
The engines and pumps are compact, and very conven-
iently arranged for inspection of all their parts. A fair idea of
their appearance can be obtained from Plate XV., which is a
photograph taken inside the engine-house. The guaranteed
duty of these engines is 60,000,000 pounds of sewage raised 1
foot high by the consumption of 100 pounds of coal.
To supply steam for the four engines there are four boilers,
of a nominal capacity of 250 horse-power each. They were
built by Kendall & Roberts, of Cambridge, Mass., and cost
about $9,500 each.
The boilers are of the horizontal fire-box, tubular form, and
are made of homogeneous steel having a tensile strength of not
less than 60,000 pounds per square inch, an elastic limit of
37,000 pounds, and an elongation of 30 per cent. The shell is
16 inch, and the tube-sheets are 1 inch thick. The length over
,
all is 39 feet 10 inches. There are 132 tubes, 3-inch internal
diameter, 15 feet long.
Each boiler has two fire-boxes, 31 feet wide, 5 feet high, and
11 feet long. At the ends of the fire-boxes is a combustion
chamber four feet long.
The smoke-flues return into chambers containing flue-beaters,
composed of 80 seamless brass tubes, 24 inches in diameter and
15 feet long. The heaters are on a level with the boiler-house
floor, and can be run out from their chambers for cleaning or
repairs. From the heaters the smoke passes by brick flues
under the floor to the chimney.
DDOLIC
LIDOLCE
HUHE
RL
1
1
PLATE XV.

HELIO1 YPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
Interior of Engine-House, showing Worthington Pumping Engines.
PLATE XVII.

HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
Main Drainage Pumping Station.
Side View.
.
PUMPING-STATION.
67
The chimney has a circular flue, 66 inches internal diameter
and 140 feet high.
Among the minor engines and pumps appertaining to the
pumping-station are four engines for raising and lowering the
filth-cages; two engines for moving the gates in the engine-
house galleries; two pair of double-acting steam-pumps for
feeding the boilers ; two double-acting steam-pumps for supply-
ing salt water to the condensers; one large steam-pump for
emptying the pump-wells and galleries in the engine-house.
The buildings are warmed by a system of steam-pipes and
radiators, and are lighted by gas made on the premises from
gasoline.
The coal-house is 129 X 59.5 feet in internal dimensions.
It contains six coal-bins, or pockets, with a combined capacity of
about 2,500 tons of coal. These bins are 23 feet high, and are
built with solid walls formed of 2 x 6 inch spruce lumber,
planed to an even thickness, and spiked flatwise on each other,
- a method of construction similar to that used in building grain
elevators. The coal-house floor is made of Portland cement
concrete. Iron cars are used for bringing coal from the bins
to the boilers, and suitable tracks, turn-tables, and scales are
provided.
To furnish access to the pumping-station for colliers and
other vessels, a channel one-half of a mile long was dredged out
to the ship-channel in Dorchester Bay; 380 feet of dock-wall
and a wharf 280 feet long were constructed. To facilitate the
unloading of coal a coal-run, supported on a trestle 27 feet high,
connects the wharf with the coal-house, and extends over the
tops of the bins within the house.
Above their foundations all buildings at the pumping-station
were designed and built by the City Architect's Department.
A front view of the main building is given by Plate XVI.
(frontispiece), and a side view by Plate XVII. This building
cost about $300,000.
68
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
CHAPTER VIII.
OUTFALL SEWER.
The sewage is pumped through 48-inch iron force mains
(Plates X. and XI.) into what is called the pipe-chamber. At
this point the sewage reaches its greatest elevation, and is high
enough to flow into the reservoir at Moon Island. The pipe-
chamber is a granite masonry structure, 51 feet long inside,
resting on a foundation bed of concrete, 24 inches thick.
The walls are 21 feet high, from 4 to 7.5 feet thick, and contain
more than 100 dressed stones. The force mains from the four
pumps already provided pass through the westerly wall of the
pipe-chamber, and four more short sections of 48-inch pipes
are also built into that wall, to connect finally with the four
additional pumps, which it is expected may be needed in the
future.
From the pipe-chamber the sewage passes into what are
called the deposit sewers, and through them flows nearly a
quarter of a mile to the west shaft of the tunnel under Dor-
chester Bay. These sewers are supported and protected by a
gravel pier or embankment, built from the original shore line
at the engine-house out to, and including, the tunnel shaft.
Plate XVIII. gives a general view of this pier from its outer
end. The picture is a reproduction of a photograph taken
during the winter when the bay was frozen over.
A cross-
section of this pier is shown by Fig. 5, Plate XIX. It is
built of gravel, which was mostly dredged from the harbor.
On its northerly or most exposed side the pier is protected by
a riprap embankment, ballasted with broken stones and oyster-
shells. The southerly slope is ballasted and paved with stone,
and the easterly end of the pier is protected by a retaining-
wall (Fig. 4) of cut-stone masonry, laid in mortar and
backed with concrete, the whole resting on a pile foundation.
In all there were used in building this pier about 41,000 tons
PLATE XVIII.

HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
View of Old Harbor Pier and Pumping Station, in Winter.
|
OUTFALL SEWER.
69
of riprap, 16,000 yards of ballast, 120,000 yards of gravel,
600 yards of dimension stone, and 650 piles. The pier was
built by contract, and its total cost, excluding that of the sewer,
was $142,064.97.
The general character of the deposit sewers is shown by
Fig. 7. As will be seen, they consist of a monolithic struct-
ure of concrete, forming two conduits, each 16 feet high and 8
feet wide. This height is necessary to accommodate the daily
variations in the elevations of the surface of the sewage due to fill-
ing and emptying of the reservoir at Moon Island. The sewers
are dammed at their lower ends to maintain a depth of from 8
to 10 feet, in order that the velocity of flow through them may be
very sluggish, so that any suspended matters may be deposited
here before reaching the tunnel. They are provided with gates
and grooves for stop-planks, so that the sewage can be turned
through either or both sewers, and either can be entirely emp-
tied if necessary.
The whole structure contains about 10 cubic yards of con-
crete to the lineal foot, or over 12,000 yards in all. The
bottom portion up to the straight walls is formed of Rosendale
cement, sand, and stone, in the proportion of each, respect-
ively, of 1, 2, and 5. Above this elevation, for the outer side
walls, the same proportion is maintained; but the cement used
was a mixture of 1 part Portland and 2 parts Rosendale.
For the concrete forming the centre wall and top arches only
Portland cement was used. The best Rosendale and
very
fine
ground Portland cement were procured for the work. The
sand was screened on the spot from the gravel forming the pier,
and a portion of the stone was obtained in a like manner. А
still larger proportion of the stone came from the tunnel exca-
vation, being brought in lighters from the middle shaft and
passed through a stone-crusher. Machine concrete mixers
were used, into which the cement, sand, and stones, in proper
proportions, were continuously shovelled.
The concrete was rammed thoroughly in 6-inch courses.
Long sticks of timber were embedded in each layer of concrete
while it was being rammed into place, and were removed after
it had set, and before the next layer was added. The spaces
70
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
occupied by the sticks formed grooves, into which the succeeding
layers bonded. In cutting through one side of this structure six
months after its completion the whole mass was found to be
perfectly homogeneous, and lines of demarcation between the
different layers could not be detected.
The bottoms of the sewers are lined with one layer of hard-
burned bricks to resist erosion when the sewers are cleaned.
The sides are plastered with a 3-inch coat of Portland cement
mortar. The arches are of long radius and but 13 inches thick.
As they were to be loaded at once, they were tied, as shown, by
14-inch wrought-iron rods, spaced five feet apart. Brick man-
holes were built at intervals of 300 feet.
Comparatively heavy matters, such as gravel and sand, settle
almost at once at the west end of the deposit sewer. Lighter
matters travel a little further; but only a very light semi-fluid
precipitate is ever found at the easterly ends of the sewers, near
the shaft.
The best way to clean out this deposit was long considered,
and the following plan was finally adopted: A large wooden
tank was built near the end of the pier, just outside of its
southerly slope, about 120 feet distant from the sewers (Figs.
3, 5, and 6, Plate XIX.) It is supported on piles, its floor
being three feet above high water and one foot lower than the bot-
toms of the sewers. One end of this tank is connected with the
deposit sewers by two 6-inch iron pipes, the other end is con-
nected with the chamber about the tunnel-shaft by a 12-inch
pipe. By means of stock-planks the surface of water is made to
stand about three feet higher in the deposit sewers than it does
in the shaft-chamber. Circulation is thus established from the
deposit sewers through the 6-inch pipes into the tank, and
thence through the 12-inch pipe to the shaft, and a part of the
sewage goes to the tunnel through this by-pass.
The 6-inch pipes leave the deposit sewers near their bot-
toms, and the sewage which enters the pipes draws sludge along
with it and again deposits it in the still water of the tank. The
tank is 10 feet wide, 15 feet high, and 50 feet long, and will
hold about 150 yards of sludge. It bas on its seaward side
three gate-openings, terminating in cast-iron nozzles, 12 inches
E-
SECTIONAL PLAN ON LINES E.F.G.H.K.L.
FIG.1
ASTE SEWER.
-B
A--
C-
WEST
SHAFT
FLUSHING
GATE.
DEPOSIT
SEWERS.
WASTE
WEIR
WASTE SEWER,
CHAMBER CONNECTING DEPOSIT SEWERS
WITH WEST SHAFT OF TUNNEL
STOP PLANKS.
WEST
SHAFT.
SECTIONAL ELEVATION ON LINES A.B.C.D.
FIG. 2
--L
-D
CITY OF BOSTON
MAIN DRAINAGE
OUTFALL SEWER
PIER
DEPOSIT SEWERS
16 PIPES
12 PIPE
WASTF
OUTLET
WAL
SLUDGE TANK.
OLD HARBOR PIER PLAN AT END.
FIG. 3
END WALL OF PIER.
FIG. 4
OLD HARBOR PIER CROSS SECTION.
FIG. 5
SLUDGE TANK.
FIG. 6
91-80
TRANSVERSE SECTION OF DEPOSIT SEWERS
AND END VIEW OF SCRAPER.
FIG. 7
LONG. SECTION OF DEPOSIT SEWER
SHOWING SCRAPER.
FIG. 8
PLATE XIX
OUTFALL SEWER.
71
in diameter. When the tank is full of sludge a scow is laid
alongside it, and the nozzles are connected with the interior of
the scow by means of canvas tubes. The gates are then opened,
and the sludge flows from the tank into the scow.
In order to draw down to the 6-inch pipes the sludge which
has been deposited at the upper ends of the deposit sewers
scrapers are used. These consist of floating rafts (Figs. 7 and
8, Plate XIX.), made of 12-inch hollow iron tubes, to the bot-
toms of which are hung wooden aprons, a little less wide than
the sewers. The aprons are weighted so that their lower edges,
which are provided with broad iron teeth, sink somewhat into
the sludge. The current in the sewers carries the whole
apparatus down stream, and the sludge is scraped and flushed
before it.
The deposit sewers connect with the tunnel shaft at a masonry
chamber built about the latter (Figs. 1 and 2, Plate XIX.).
At the ends of the sewers are placed gates 7 x 8 feet in size.
These gates maintain a depth of eight or more feet in the sewers.
They are so arranged that on tripping a latch they can swing
open and empty suddenly the liquid contents of the sewers into
the tunnel, producing temporarily a strong flushing velocity.
Immediately about the shaft is a wrought-iron cage, to prevent
any bulky object which may fall into the sewers from reaching
the tunnel.
The shaft chamber is encircled by two 64-feet"waste sewers,”
into which the deposit sewers can overflow above waste weirs,
or with which they can directly connect instead of discharging
into the tunnel. The waste sewers unite just east of the shaft-
chamber and pass to an outlet built through the sea-wall at the
end of the pier. Should the tunnel ever be emptied for inspec-
tion sewage can temporarily be pumped into Dorchester Bay
through this outlet. Above the shaft chamber is a brick gate-
house of ornamental design, built by the City Architect.
The second section of outfall sewer comprises the tunnel
under Dorchester Bay. Exploratory borings made on the
tunnel line during the preliminary survey showed that the sur-
face of bed rock was but little below the bottom of the harbor,
from Squantum to about the middle of the bay. From that
72
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
a
a
point westwardly towards Old Harbor Point the rock dipped
rapidly, so that under the pumping-station its surface is 214
feet below the surface of the ground. The surface of the rock
is somewhat shaken, and iinmediately above it is a water-bearing
stratum of sand, gravel, and boulders. Above this, clay extends
nearly to the harbor bottom, which is composed of a bed of mud
of varying thickness.
The clay is of uniform character, and contains occasional
veins and pockets of sand. Using reasonable precautions a
tunnel could be safely and expeditiously built in it. The per-
vious stratum over the rock and the demoralized upper portion
of the rock itself were not at all favorable for tunnelling opera-
tions, and could only have been penetrated with extreme pre-
caution and a considerable chance of failure. The rock itself
was well adapted for tunnelling. It consists of a succession of
clay-slates and conglomerates, and belongs to the series known
as the Roxbury "pudding-stone” beds.
When the trough in which these beds lie was formed they
were subjected to great pressures, which crumpled and tilted
them, and produced many faults, fissures, and joint planes.
The fissures were filled solidly from below, and few shrinkage
seams were found sufficiently open for the passage of water
from above. The existence of the joint planes, especially in
the clay-slates, greatly facilitated the breaking and removal of
the rock.
As at first designed the tunnel was to start from a shaft 100
feet deep at Old Harbor Point and be built in the clay for about
2,100 feet, when it would enter the rock and continue in it to
its end, at Squantum. Further consideration of the difficulty
and possible danger of passing gradually from soft ground into
rock, and of tunnelling for several hundred feet wholly or
partly through very wet and loose material, led to locating the
west shaft at such a distance from the shore that rock could be
reached at a practicable depth and the tunnel could be safely
built wholly within it.
The average elevation of the tunnel is 142 feet below low
water (Plate XX., Fig. 1). The total length through which
the sewage flows is 7,160 feet.
flows is 7,160 feet. Of this distance 149 feet is in
OUTFALL SEWER.
73
the west shaft, 6,088 feet is nearly horizontal between the west
and east shafts, and 923 feet is in the inclined portion leading
from the bottom of the east shaft to the end of the tunnel, on
Squantum Neck.
To facilitate construction there were three working shafts
about 3,000 feet apart.
The tunnel was built under a contract which was drawn with
great care. The contractor was first to build, in accordance
with plans furnished, three timber bulkheads, or piers, to pro-
tect the shafts. Inside of these bulkheads he was to sink iron
cylinders, constituting the upper portions of the shafts. These
cylinders were paid for by the lineal foot, and the contractor
was permitted and required to build as much of the shafts as
possible in this way, loading and forcing the iron to the greatest
attainable depth. Below the cylinders the shafts could be ex-
cavated of any desired size and shape. The tunnel, also, could
he excavated of any size, provided that both it and the shafts
were finally lined with a 7£ feet diameter circular shell of brick
work, 12 inches thick, backed with brick or concrete masonry
to the sides of the excavation. Bricks and cement were to be
purchased from the city at stipulated prices. The completed
tunnel was to be paid for at the proposed price per lineal
foot.
Great stress was laid upon the precautions to be adopted to
prevent delay and damage arising from an influx of water into
the shafts. Appliances to control any such influx were to be
kept in readiness, and, should these prove insufficient, the
plenum process, or use of compressed air within the shafts,
was to be resorted to.
The work was let Oct. 29, 1879, and the contractor at once
proceeded with the building of the bulkheads. These were
alike, and consisted (Fig. 2, Plate XX.) of wooden boxes 20
feet square inside, formed of large oak piles, driven two feet
on centres, capped and braced with hard-pine sticks, and tied
diagonally at the corners with 2-inch iron bolts. The boxes
were lined inside with 4-inch tongued and grooved sheet-piling,
and the spaces between the sheet planks and cylinders were
filled with puddled clay. The tops of the bulkheads were eight
74
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
feet above mean high water, and the contract price for them
was about $2,500 apiece.
Having completed the bulkheads the cylinders were sunk
inside of them. Each cylinder (Plate XX., Fig. 3) consisted
.
of a circular shell of cast-iron, 9.5 feet inside diameter, with 13
inches thickness of metal. They were cast in sections, five
feet long, and united by 13-inch bolts passing through inside
flanges. The abutting ends of the sections were faced, and the
bolt-holes, of which there were 30 in each flange, were drilled
to a templet, so that the sections were interchangeable. The
bottom section of each cylinder had its lower 10 inches cham-
fered off to a cutting edge. The contract price for furnishing
the cylinders, which weighed a ton to the foot, was $88 per
lineal foot.
At the east and middle shafts the cylinders were easily
forced down to the rock, at depths below the surface of the
ground of 21 and 38 feet respectively. It was known that it
would be impossible to drive the cylinder at the west shaft down
to the rock. By weighting it with about 180 tons of iron dross
it was finally forced into the clay to the depth of about 60 feet
below the harbor bottom. Below this point a square shaft, 10
feet across, was excavated with great ease in plastic clay, pene-
trated with occasional veins of fine sand, but yielding little
water (Plate XXI., Fig. 1).
The timbering of this shaft was hastily and, as it seemed to
the engineers, carelessly done, the timbers being insecurely
braced, and cavities being continually leſt outside of them.
The engineer in charge consulted the City Engineer as to the
possibility of requiring greater caution in doing this work. It
was decided, however, that the spirit of the contract would not
permit interference with the contractor's method of building this
portion of the shaft.
No difficulty was encountered until the rock was neared, when
water, to the amount of 10,000 gallons an hour, broke in from
below, and, no provision having been made for its removal, filled
the shaft. Pumps were obtained and the shaft emptied, when
it was found that the water, following the cavities behind the
lining, had softened the clay and loosened the timbering, so that
>
WEST SHAFT
CLAY
SLATE
CITY OF BOSTON MAIN DRAINAGE.
OUTFALL SEWER.
-
DORCHESTER BAY TUNNEL.
CONGLOMERATE
3255.32
MIDDLE SHAFT
LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF TUNNEL
FIG. I.
SLATE
2833.88
-
T
2_100
18
EAST SHAFT
INCLINE
M.H.W.
CLAY
20-0
9'-6"
PLAN
SECTION
SIDE ELEVATION
HALF SECTION HALF PLAN
IRON CYLINDERS
BULKHEADS ABOUT
FIG. 2.
SHAFTS
FIG. 3.
5-0"
PLATE
XX
SQUANTUM
OUFTALL SEWER.
75
it was in very bad shape. About 40 feet in length of the shaft
had to be retimbered, the old sticks being cut out with chisels.
The work was not accomplished without great difficulty.
Although the quantity of water to be dealt with was not great,
the cramped dimensions of the shaft afforded little room for
the pumps, or opportunity for supporting them. When these
gave out, as they occasionally did, the shaft filled with water,
causing considerable delay and damage. To counteract a
downward pressure exerted by the clay upon the timber lining,
a portion of it was suspended by heavy wire cables from the
cylinder above. During all these operations the whole shaft,
including timbered portion and cylinder, also the surrounding
clay and the bulkhead above, were in motion, settling slowly.
By the time the shaft had been firmly founded on the rock the
pile bulkhead had settled nearly five feet.
After the shafts had been sunk and secured the excavation
for the tunnel proper encountered no serious obstacles. The
work was carried on at six different headings. From the mid-
dle and east shafts work progressed in both directions, and
from the west shaft and the upper end of the incline at Squan-
tum single headings were driven.
The incline descends one foot vertical in six feet horizontal.
At this point a heading was driven downwards for about 400
feet and then stopped, owing to the difficulty and expense of
removing the water which accumulated at its face. At the
middle shaft power-drills driven by compressed air were used,
and at other points hand drilling was employed.
There was not much difference as to either expense or rapid-
ity in the two methods. By either an advance of four feet was
considered a fair day's work. The chief merit of the air-drills
seemed to be that they were not demoralized by pay-days, and
never struck for higher wages.
Various forms of nitro-glycerine were employed as explo-
sives, and no casualty occurred through its use.
The average
diameter of the excavation (Plate XXI., Fig. 2) was about 10.2
feet, approximating very well to the 9.5 feet required to receive
the final brick lining. The excavated material, amounting to
about 25,000 yards in all, was deposited around the shafts,
76
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
forming small islands. The maximum amount of water leaking
into the tunnel at any time was 64,000 gallons an hour.
The headings between the east and middle shafts met Jan.
24, 1882, and those between the middle and west shafts met
June 22, 1882. Lining the excavation with brick-work began
March 10 of the same year. Projecting portions of rock were
first trimmed off, so that room for a solid brick lining, 12 inches
thick, laid in courses, could always be obtained. Rosendale
cement mortar was used, composed of equal parts of cement and
sand. All spaces between the coursed lining and the sides of
the rock excavation were solidly filled with masonry, principally
brick-work. The amount of backing thus required to make solid
work averaged about three-fourths of a yard per lineal foot. Fig.
5, Plate XXI., is a section of the tunnel at the point of maximum
size where the largest amount of backing was needed. In all,
7,416,000 bricks and 23,377 barrels of cement were used in
building the tunnel. About 12 lineal feet of tunnel could be
completely lined in 24 hours, at any one point.
In putting in the lining, iron pipes were built into the brick-
work (Plate XXI., Fig. 3) wherever necessary to furnish out-
lets for the water, which would otherwise have washed out the
mortar. Some of these pipes were afterwards plugged, but
most of them were left open. The pressure of the water when
kept from entering the tunnel was about 64 pounds per square
inch, and it was not practicable to build brick masonry which
should be water-tight under such a pressure.
When the tunnel
is in use the pressure of the sewage within it is somewhat
greater than that of the water outside the lining, so that leak-
age would be outwards, except that the particles in the sewage
will quickly clog any fine holes in the masonry.
Some experiments were made to determine to what extent
the porosity of the brick lining could be destroyed by silting
from without.
An iron pipe extending up the east shaft was
connected at its lower end with the pipes built through the
brick-work, and water containing clay, cement, and fine sawdust
was forced outside the lining.
The finer portions of these materials came through holes and
cracks in the joints of the masonry. Fine holes were thus filled
SLATE ROCK
SECTION OF WEST SHAFT
FIG. 1.
GR.-140.57
CLAY
MEAN HIGH WATER
MUD
MEAN LOW WATER
GR. O.
תב
FIG. 2.
AVERAGE SECTION OF TUNNEL
BOSTON MAIN DRAINAGE.
DORCHESTER BAY TUNNEL.
METHOD OF CONTROLLING WATER
WHILE BUILDING LINING
FIG. 3.
TRANSVERSE SECTION OF MIDDLE SHAFT
FIG. 4.
SLATE ROCK
MUD
CLAY:
DETAIL SECTIONS OF EAST SHAFT
SHOWING BEAMS AND GUIDES
TUNNEL SECTION
AT POINT OF MAXIMUM EXCAVATION
SUMP
TUNNEL
FIG. 5.
GR.-143.
FIG. 6.
M.H.W.
M.L.W.
GR. O.
SECTION OF EAST SHAFT
FIG. 7.
INCLINE I IN 6.
SLATE ROCK
MUD
CLAY
PLATE XXI
OUTFALL SEWER.
77
and leakage through them prevented. Holes of apparent size
were calked with lead. By these means the leakage into the
inclined portion of the tunnel was reduced from 2,200 to 500
gallons an hour. It was not, however, considered practicable,
except at considerable expense, thus materially to reduce the
leakage; and, in view of its slight importance in respect to the
use of the tunnel, the attempt was given up.
The west shaft was lined with brick-work. The middle shaft
was abandoned, its only purpose having been to facilitate con-
struction. The arch of the tunnel where it passes under this
shaft was made three feet thick, and a counter arch, two feet
thick, was built over it to resist upper pressure, in case the
tunnel should ever be filled suddenly after having been pumped
out for any purpose.
The shaft itself was not filled up, but
near its top an arch was built to prevent any heavy substance
ever falling down it (Plate XXI., Fig. 4).
The east shaft was lined throughout. A large Cornish min-
ing pump has been purchased, and is to be set up at this shaft
as soon as certain legal complications affecting the city's right
to the location shall have been settled. This pump will have
sufficient capacity to empty the tunnel, including the leakage
into it, within 48 hours. It is to be set up as a precaution, as
it did not seem wise to leave any portion of the work entirely
inaccessible. , Should the tunnel ever be pumped out at this
point it would first be filled with salt water, so that no possible
nuisance could be created by the operation.
A sump, or well-hole, seven feet deep, from which to pump, was
built under the east shaft (Plate XXI., Figs. 6 and 7). Pairs
of cast-iron beams were built into the lining from the bottom of
the shaft to its top. To these are bolted two sets of upright
iron guides. One set of these will hold in place the rising col-
umn of the pump, and the other set will serve for an elevator,
to be used in visiting the pump and tunnel.
It was thought that, should deposits occur in the tunnel, they
might be removed by passing a ball, somewhat smaller in diame-
ter than the tunnel, through it. To guide this ball past the east
shaft, four wooden guides, suitably shaped, were built in place
>
78
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
at that point. Appliances for handling such a ball were pro-
vided at the two ends of the tunnel.
The tunnel was practically finished July 25, 1883. Its com-
pletion required the removal of all elevators, pumps, pipes, etc.,
used in constructing it and the closing up with masonry of all
pump-wells, except the one before referred to, at the east shaft.
This work was attended with considerable anxiety, as the pump-
ing capacity of the three shafts was but little more than was
necessary to control the leakage of water.
The finishing and removals were successfully accomplished
by systematic and careful management. The last shaft to be
cleared was the east shaft, and it was necessary to isolate it from
the rest of the tunnel by a timber bulkhead, behind which the
water entering the tunnel accumulated while the pumps and
their appurtenances were being removed. By the time the shaft
was clear the tunnel was two-thirds full of water. The bulk-
head was so made and fastened in place that on tripping a catch
it fell apart into three pieces, which were hauled out by ropes
attached to them.
The contract price for the shafts, exclusive of iron, was $86,
and for the tunnel $48, per lineal foot. The contractor lost
money, and after about two years abandoned his contract,
alleging his inability to complete it for the prices therein stipu-
lated. He offered to complete the tunnel for prices about one-
half greater than those before agreed upon. Considering that
he had the requisite plant on hand, and had acquired valuable
experience concerning the character of the work and the best
methods of conducting it; and also considering that the bad
reputation which the tunnel would have, if abandoned, would
probably deter other bidders from making reasonable offers,
it was thought for the best interests of the city to make a second
agreement with the same contractor, which was accordingly
done. The final total cost of this section of work, including
inspection and all incidental expenses, was $658,489.97, amount-
ing to about $92 per lineal foot of tunnel.
The methods of alignment employed by the engineers in
immediate charge of the tunnel, while not entirely novel, may
be of sufficient interest to be mentioned. The west shaft was
>
OUTFALL SEWER.
79
a
its cage.
out of plumb, so that by dropping plumb-lines a base only 5.7
feet long could be obtained. This by itself would have made accu-
rate alignments tedious. Moreover, each shaft contained about
six lines of steam, water, and exhaust pipes, besides guides for
As the shafts were 160 feet deep, were dripping with
water, and had currents of air produced by hot-pipes and leak-
ages of steam, it would have been necessary to protect plumb-
lines by tubes for the whole depth of the shafts. At the west
shaft it would have been impracticable to use such tubes, as
they would have been directly in the way of the cage.
On account of the difficulty attending the use of plumb-bobs
the line was transferred below by means of a large transit
instrument set up at the top of the shaft. The telescope,
having been set on line, was directed down the shaft, and a fine
string, extending about 100 feet into the tunnel, was ranged in
line. The string was illuminated by light reflected from a
mirror placed beneath it. Communication between the engi-
neers at the top and at the bottom of the shaft was maintained
by the use of hand telephones.
At first the line within the tunnel was produced by means of
instruments; but, as the headings advanced, the ventilation be-
came so bad that at times a light distant only 75 feet could not
be seen.
The line was then produced by stretching a stout
linen thread, about 600 feet long, and taking offsets to it. The
success attending these methods of alignment was very gratify-
ing, as the headings met without appreciable error.
Should a "high-level” intercepting sewer ever be built to
conduct a part of the city's sewage, by gravitation, to Moon
Island, it is expected that it will join the present system, on
Squantum Neck, at the further end of the tunnel. To provide
for such a contingency the present outfall sewer is much
increased in size beyond this point, being 11 X 12 feet in
dimensions.
The connection between the tunnel and the outfall sewer
beyond is made in an underground chamber (Fig. 1, Plate
XXII.). From this chamber, also, branches a short section of
sewer with which to connect the future "high-level” system,
should it ever be built. The chamber is covered by a substan-
९
80
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
а
tial brick building, and a flight of stone steps leads to a land-
ing in the sewer below. The floor of the building is supported
on iron beams, and can be taken up so that boats can be low-
ered into the sewer, and a flushing-ball can be taken out. To
facilitate these operations the roof was made exceptionally
strong, and from it was hung an iron track supporting a traveller
and blocks capable of lifting five tons.
As far as the easterly shore of Squantum Neck the outfall
sewer (Figs. 4, 6, and 7, Plate XXII.) was built partly in rock
excavation and partly in embankment. In the latter case the
sewer is tied through its arch by 12-inch iron rods, 8 feet apart.
These are designed to prevent the possibility of distortion, due
to movements of the bank below the sewer, or on the side of it.
The ties will, doubtless, rust out in time, but not before the
need of them is over.
From Squantum to Moon Island an embankment (Plate
XXII., Fig. 5) was built. It is a mile long, from 20 to 30
feet high, 20 feet wide on top, and about 120 feet at its base.
Up to the established sewer grade the embankment was chicfly
built of dredged gravel, and, above that height, of material ob-
tained in excavating for the reservoir on Moon Island. Up to
six feet above high water the slopes are protected by ballast and
riprap. In all, about 141,000 yards of dredged gravel, 260,000
yards of other earth, 20,000 yards of ballast, and 54,000 tons
of riprap were used in building the embankment.
About 4,100 feet in length of the site of the embankment
consisted of beds of mud, from 10 to 40 feet deep. It was
hoped that the filling would displace this mud and reach hard
bottom. It did so at a few points, but not as a rule. As an
experiment an attempt was made to assist this action by explod-
ing dynamite cartridges under the embankment. No results of
importance were thus obtained; but the experiment demon-
strated the resistance of the mud to displacement and the prob-
able future stability of the embankment.
Broad plates, with vertical iron rods fastened to them, were
placed near the bottom of the bank on its centre line, and the
amount of settlement as filling progressed was noticed. After
the bank was completed slight settlements still continued. It
TUNNEL
CONNECTION GHAMBER.
HIGH LEVEL
SEWERS.
BRANCH FOR:
0,9
OUTFALL
SEWER
Fig.3
MUD
PLATE XXII.
Fig. 1
EMBANKMENT BETWEEN SQUANTUM AND MOON ISLAND
Fig.5
FLUME
Fig.2
1
BOSTON MAIN DRAINAGE
OUTFALL SEWER
„,0,11
SECTION IN EXCAVATION.
Fig.4
Fig. 6
SECTION IN EMBANKMENT.
0,11-
Fig.7
80
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
a
>
tial brick building, and a flight of stone steps leads to a land-
ing in the sewer below. The floor of the building is supported
on iron beams, and can be taken up so that boats can be low-
ered into the sewer, and a flushing-ball can be taken out. To
facilitate these operations the roof was made exceptionally
strong, and from it was hung an iron track supporting a traveller
and blocks capable of lifting five tons.
As far as the easterly shore of Squantum Neck the outfall
sewer (Figs. 4,6, and 7, Plate XXII.) was built partly in rock
excavation and partly in embankment. In the latter case the
sewer is tied through its arch by 14-inch iron rods, 8 feet apart.
These are designed to prevent the possibility of distortion, due
to movements of the bank below the sewer, or on the side of it.
The ties will, doubtless, rust out in time, but not before the
need of them is over.
From Squantum to Moon Island an ernbankment (Plate
XXII., Fig. 5) was built. It is a mile long, from 20 to 30
.
feet high, 20 feet wide on top, and about 120 feet at its base.
Up to the established sewer grade the embankment was chiefly
built of dredged gravel, and, above that height, of material ob-
tained in excavating for the reservoir on Moon Island. Up to
six feet above high water the slopes are protected by ballast and
riprap. In all, about 141,000 yards of dredged gravel, 260,000
yards of other earth, 20,000 yards of ballast, and 54,000 tons
of riprap were used in building the embankment.
About 4,100 feet in length of the site of the embankment
consisted of beds of mud, from 10 to 40 feet deep. It was
hoped that the filling would displace this mud and reach hard
bottom. It did so at a few points, but not as a rule. As an
experiment an attempt was made to assist this action by explod-
ing dynamite cartridges under the embankment. No l'esults of
importance were thus obtained; but the experiment demon-
strated the resistance of the mud to displacement and the prob-
able future stability of the embankment.
Broad plates, with vertical iron rods fastened to them, were
placed near the bottom of the bank on its centre line, and the
amount of settlement as filling progressed was noticed. After
the bank was completed slight settlements still continued. It
>
1
1
1
1
i
OUTFALL SEWER.
81
was, therefore, thought more prudent to postpone building a
structure for some years, or until there was assurance
that the bank had assumed a condition of permanent stability.
For temporary use, therefore, a wooden flume (Fig. 2, Plate
XXII.) was substituted for the masonry sewer at this point.
The flume is located outside of the embankment, and 200 feet
south of it. It is supported on piles, in bents ten feet apart,
generally with three piles to the bent. In all, about 1,300 piles
were driven, some of them to a depth of 40 feet.
The flume proper consists of a wooden box, six feet square.
Its sides, top, and bottom are formed of Canadian white pine,
three inches thick, planed all over. The planks, except a
single filling in course on each side, are all of even width, so
as to allow breaking joint. They are grooved on each edge,
and also on their ends (Fig. 3), for 11 x 4-inch tongues.
The box is surrounded, at intervals of three feet four inches, by
square frames of spruce timber, mortised together and tightened
with bolts and wedges.
The pine and spruce were fitted at the mills, so as to go to-
gether with the least possible further fitting. As much as 250
feet in length was assembled and spiked in a single day. After
completion the whole was given two coats of cheap paint. The
total cost of the flume was a little under $10 per lineal foot.
From the further end of the flume the outfall sewer (Fig.
6) extends up to and in front of the storage reservoir.
2
82
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
CHAPTER IX.
RESERVOIR AND OUTLET.
MOON ISLAND is distant about a mile from the main land. It
comprises about 36 acres of upland, surrounded by about 145
acres of beaches and flits. The easterly end of the island rises
to an elevation about 100 feet above tide-water. On the west-
ern or landward side is another smaller area of rising ground,
about 45 feet high. Between these two portions of high land
was a valley, crossing the island from north to south, whose
central portion was but a few feet above the level of high water.
In this comparatively low land the reservoir is situated.
Plates XXIII. and XXIV. give views of the reservoir and
its surroundings, reproduced from photographs. The former
was taken from the high part of the island just east of the res-
ervoir. It shows the embankment between Moon Island and
Squantum, and also the flume, parallel to and south of the
embankment. Near the centre of the plate the pumping-station
can be dimly discerned, although partly hidden by a clump of
trees on Thompson's Island. Plate XXIV. gives a nearer
view of the reservoir, looking eastward. It shows one basin
partly filled with sewage.
The reservoir, as at present built, covers an area of about
five acres. It is expected that in the future, when the amount of
sewage to be stored shall have increased, it will be necessary to
extend and enlarge the reservoir to about double its present
capacity. The portion already built is so located and arranged
that the contemplated extension can readily be made on the
south side of the present structure.
The site for the reservoir was prepared wholly by excavating.
On the centre line of the valley this excavation was about ten
feet deep, while on the east and west sides the cutting in places
was forty feet deep. A drive-way surrounds the reservoir, and
the banks are sloped back from it. The excavated material
PLATE XXIII.

HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
View of Reservoir and Outfall Sewer, looking towards City.
PLATE XXIV.

HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
Storage Reservoir
at
Moon Island.
1
1
1
RESERVOIR AND OUTLET.
83
was chiefly hard clay ; but a bed of gravel and sand was found
near the centre of the valley, which, in places, went 20 feet
below the reservoir bottom. Part of the reservoir, therefore,
is founded on clay, and another smaller part on sand and gravel.
The earth was dug by steam-excavators, and was carried
away in cars by locomotives. It was used for building the
upper portion of the embankment between the island and main
Jand. As more earth was needed for this purpose than could
be supplied from the reservoir excavation a further quantity
was borrowed from the island in such places and to such lines
and grades as partly to prepare the site for the proposed future
extension of the reservoir. In all, about 283,000 cubic yards
of material were taken from the island, and the contractor's
price for digging and disposing of it averaged about 59 cents
per yard.
The retaining-walls of the reservoir (Fig. 2, Pl. XXVI.) are
17.5 feet high, and from 6 feet 10 inches to 7 feet 10 inches
thick at the base. They are classed as rubble-stone masonry
laid in mortar, and are built of split and quarry stone mostly
brought from granite quarries in Maine. On top of the walls
are large coping-stones with pointed surfaces. The rubble
stones were laid in somewhat uneven courses. The reservoir is
divided into four basins, of nearly equal area by three division
walls (Fig. 3), built of the same class of masonry as that
forming the retaining-walls. Rosendale cement mortar, made
with one part of cement to two of sand, was used in building
rubble-stone masonry. The contractor's price for this class of
masonry was $7.47 per cubic yard.
The floor of the reservoir consists of a bed of concrete, nine
inches thick (Fig. 6, Plate XXV.). The lower five inches was
made with Rosendale cement, sand, and pebbles, in the propor-
tion of one, two, and five parts of each respectively. In the
upper four inches of concrete Portland cement was substituted
for Rosendale. The floor of each basin was shaped into alter-
nate ridges and gutters. The gutters are paved with bricks
set on edge.
Considering the distance of Moon Island from habitations,
it did not seem that any just cause for complaint would be
>
84
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
occasioned if the reservoir were left uncovered, and, therefore,
no roof was built over it. But, to provide for any future contin-
gency which might require it to be covered, foundation blocks
were built into the floor, on which piers to support a roof can
hereafter be built, if needed. These foundation blocks are
spaced 20 feet apart in one direction, and 30 feet in the other,
and consist of granite stones 3 feet square and 18 inches thick.
They are rough pointed on top and are bedded in concrete.
They cost, laid, $7.25 each.
The reservoir was divided into four distinct basins, in order
that one or more of them might be kept empty for cleaning, or
some similar purpose, while the others were in use. Under
such conditions, however, there might be danger that water
from a full basin would find its way down through the thin
sheet of concrete under it, and, passing below the division wall,
would blow up the floor of an adjacent empty basin. This
would be especially apt to occur where the basins and walls are
underlaid by the previous bed of gravel before referred to.
To diminish the liability to such a catastrophe, beneath all
walls, not founded on clay, was driven a solid wall of tongued
and grooved 4-inch sheet-piling. This protection penetrated
the gravel stratum and entered the clay below it. As an addi-
tional precaution at such places a line of 10-inch drain-pipe
was laid just below the floor on each side of the division wall.
These drains were connected with others surrounding the
reservoir outside of the retaining-walls. The drains within
the reservoir also have 10-inch safety-valves opening into the
basins. The drain-pipes were laid with open joints, and were
surrounded, below the concrete, with dry-laid ballast and peb-
bles. Water accumulating beneath the floor of any basin has
free access to the drain under that basin. Should any water
find its way under a division wall it is immediately intercepted
by the line of pipe just beyond the wall. Should a drain under
an empty basin become gorged for any reason, the water is
discharged into the basin, through the safety-valve, before suffi-
cient head has accumulated to endanger the concrete.
The northerly 100 feet of each division wall, being the end
nearest to the discharge sewers, is made hollow, and 1.75 feet
RESERVOIR.
FIG. 1
GALLERY
E
BOSTON MAIN DRAINAGE
SEWERS ABOUT RESERVOIR.
OUTFALL: SEWER.
DISCHARGE
SEWERS.
SECTION A.B.C.D. THROUGH OUTFALL AND DISCHARGE SEWERS.
RESERVOIR./
H
0
DISCHARGE
SEWERS.
GUTTER
OUTFALL SEWER.
FIG. 4
SECTIONAL PLAN THROUGH OUTFALL SEWER.
TB
A
GATE HOUSE.
HHHHHHHH!
C
115
H
H
PLATE XXV.
FIG. 2
SECTION E.F. THROUGH GALLERY.
НА
M
WASTE WEIRS.
H
K
GALLERY.
DISCHARGE
L
SEWERS.
FIG. 5
N
SECTIONAL PLAN THROUGH DISCHARGE SEWERS.
FOUNDATION STONE.
GUTTER
SECTION ACROSS FLOOR OF RESERVOIR.
FIG.3
SECTION G.H.K.L. THROUGH WASTE WEIRS
10
15
20
SCALE OF FEET FOR FIGS. 1, 2 AND 3.
25
50
75
SCALE OF FEET FOR FIGS. 4 AND 5.
10
FIG. 6
SCALE OF FEET FOR FIG. 6.
M
RESERVOIR AND OUTLET.
85
>
lower than the rest of the reservoir walls (Plate XXV., Fig.
4). Long chambers are thus formed, open on top, but other-
wise enclosed within the walls. These chambers connect di-
rectly with the discharge sewers, and through them with the
harbor. These portions of the division walls serve as waste
wiers, by which the sewage in the basins can overflow, if, owing
to negligence on the part of the employés, the gates which
empty any basin should not be opened before the basin be-
comes too full.
The arrangements by which the sewage is turned from the
outfall sewer into the reservoir and is again permitted to empty,
through the discharge sewers, into the harbor, will be under-
stood from an examination of Fig. 1, Plate XXV., which is a
transverse section of said sewers. The upper sewer in the fig-
ure is a continuation of the outfall sewer, and extends along the
whole front of the reservoir. Immediately below it are the dis-
charge sewers, which also extend along the front of the reser-
voir, and, also, about 600 feet beyond it out into the sea.
In the side of the outfall sewer are 20 3 x 4 feet, cut-stone
gate openings. Only eight of these are at present provided with
gates, the others being bricked up until an increased amount of
sewage and an extension of the reservoir shall require their use.
In the side of the discharge sewer nearest the reservoir are also
20 gate openings, of which 12 are provided with gates. The
two discharge sewers are connected directly by 11 large trans-
verse passages. The amount of masonry contained in and
surrounding the sewers equals that contained in all of the res-
ervoir walls.
Between the sewers and the reservoirs is what is called the
six-foot gallery. This serves as a protection for the gates
a
against frost and as a foundation for a gate-house above. The
hollow division-walls between the basins extend across the gal-
lery and divide it into four sections, corresponding with the
four basins of the reservoir. Brick brace-walls, about 10.5
feet apart, are thrown across from the sewers to the reservoir
wall.
The 20 gates, with their frames and seats, are made of cast-
iron. The frames were cast in one piece and closely fitted to
86
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
a
the openings prepared in the masonry. They are secured to the
stone by 7-inch anchor-bolts, let in 4} inches and fastened with
brimstone. The seat of each gate is a separate piece of cast-
.
iron, planed ſ inch thick, fastened to its frame with screw
rivets, and scraped true and straight. Fastened to each side of
,
the frame is a guide, which holds the valve in its proper posi-
tion while moving. The face of the valve is planed and scraped
to fit the facing of the frames, so that there shall be no leak-
age. The valve is pressed tight to its seat by means of adjust-
able gibs, which bear against inclined planes, cast on the
guides.
The gates are made by lifting-rods and screws, connected
with suitable brackets, gearing, and clutches, above the floor
of the gate-house (Plate XXV., Fig. 2). A main line of shaft-
ing, from 2 to 34 inches in diameter, extends the whole length
of the gate-house, or about 575 feet. The clutches for each
gate are thrown in and out by a hand lever, and also by the
gate itself when it reaches either end of its course. The 20
gates, with all their appurtenances and the gearing and shafting
for operating them, cost, in place, about $12,000.
To furnish power both a steam-engine and a turbine wheel
are provided. The latter, which is most commonly used, is
21 inches in diameter, and is placed in a well near the north-
easterly corner of the reservoir. It takes water either from
the reservoir or from the outfall sewer, and drains into the dis-
charge sewers. Under ordinary circumstances it furnishes
without expense ample power for moving the gates, running
pumps, and other necessary operations, and requires no atten-
tion beyond opening and shutting the gates leading to it.
The engine, which is seldom used, is of 30 horse-power. To
furnish steam for it and also for heating in winter there are two
upright tubular boilers. The machinery and gates are pro-
tected by suitable brick buildings, designed and built by the
engineers. The principal one of these, called the Long Gate-
House, extends for 575 feet along the front of the reservoir.
Connecting with it, at the north-easterly corner of the reservoir,
is another larger building, containing engine, boiler, and coal
A chimney, 40 feet high, is also built.
>
1
1
rooms.
CITY OF BOSTON
MAIN DRAINAGE.
DISCHARGE SEWERS BEYOND RESERVOIR
SHOWING
PIER AND COFFER DAM.
க க
12 0-
10 11 12 FT,
SCALE OF FEET.
FIG. 1.
100.M.
二二二
​O
SCALE OF METRES.
3 M.
PLATE XXVI.
212
H. W.
22K
口
​32
SHE
EKEK
255 FF
263
FIG. 2.
FIG. 3.
FIG.4.
RETAINING WALL OF RESERVOIR
GENERAL SECTION.
DIVISION WALL
ON PERVIOUS MATERIAL.
HOLLOW DIVISION WALL
SECTION M. N.PL. XXV.
1
RESERVOIR AND OUTLET.
87
>
The sewage flows through the gates in the outfall sewer
into the six-feet gallery, whence it passes through openings in
the reservoir wall into the reservoir. There it accumulates
during the latter part of ebb-tide and the whole of the flood-
tide. Shortly after the turn of the tide the lower gates are
opened, and the sewage flows from the reservoir, through the
gallery, into the discharge sewers, which conduct it to the out-
let.
That portion of the discharge sewers beyond the reservoir
was called the Outlet-Sewer Section, and was built under a
separate contract. There are two sewers of brick and concrete
masonry (Fig. 1, Plate XXVI.), each 10 feet 10 inches high,
by 12 feet wide inside. They extend from the reservoir about
600 feet out into the sea, where there is five feet depth of water
at low tide. The bottoms of the sewers are 1.5 feet above the
elevation of low water. The arches, 12 inches thick, were laid
with Rosendale cement mortar, and the inverts and sides with
Portland cement mortar. In the top of each sewer are built
three large vent holes, to relieve the arch from any pressure of
air due to a succession of waves entering the sewers.
The immediate outlet consists of a cut granite pier-head laid
in mortar. In this are chambers containing grooves for gates
and stop-planks. The stones forming the pier-head are quite
large, in order to withstand waves and ice. Several of them
weighed about eight tons each. Most of the horizontal joints
are dowelled, and the vertical joints of the coping-stones are
secured by gun-metal cramps.
The sewers are covered by an earth embankment, with its
side slopes protected by ballast and riprap. This embankment
constitutes a pier extending into the harbor, and its top is
ballasted and surfaced for a roadway. Near the end of the pier
is a strong wharf, about 40 feet square, supported by oak piles.
This is used for landing coal and other supplies.
To facilitate construction on this section the site of the work
was enclosed by building about 1,100 feet of coffer-dam around
it. The dam consisted of two rows of spruce piles, ten feet apart,
the piles in each row being spaced six feet on centres. Inside
the piles were rows of 4-inch tongued and grooved sheet piling.
88
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
The dam was tied across with iron bolts and was filled with
earth. When pumped out it proved to be very tight, and en-
abled the work inside it to proceed without interruption. After
the sewers were built and covered, the dam was cut down below
the surface of the embankment slopes. The total cost of this
outlet section was $96,250.
The top of the reservoir floor is about one foot below the eleva-
tion of high water. The paved gutters are a little lower, and in-
cline nearly a foot from the back of the reservoir to its front. This
insures there being a good current in them when the reservoirs
are nearly emptied, so that the light deposit of sludge which has
been precipitated upon the bottom of the reservoir is mostly
washed into the discharge sewers.
To assist in cleansing the basins a system of pipes and hy-
drants furnishing salt water under pressure is provided. The
water is drawn from the sea to a pump in the engine-house,
which forces it about the reservoir. A 4-inch pipe, with
double hydrants, about 75 feet apart, is laid through the
middle of each basin. A line of hose can be connected with
any hydrant, and a fire-stream directed against any part of the
floor or side walls. The pump can also be used to pump sewage
with which to irrigate the banks and grounds surrounding the
reservoir.
To obtain fresh water for domestic purposes, and for the
boilers, the high portion of the island has been encircled with
ditches which collect rain-water and conduct it to a cistern
holding 75,000 gallons.
Within the gate-house is provided an automatic recording
gauge, moved by clock-work, and connected with floats in the
The records traced by this machine furnish a perfect
check on the vigilance of the employés. Each day's record
shows, by inspection, the hours at which the gates were opened
and closed, and the height of tide.
The total expenditure by the city on account of Main Drain-
age Works, from the beginning of the preliminary survey, 1876,
to the present time, is about $5,213,000.
sewers.
DETAILS OF ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION.
89
CHAPTER X.
DETAILS OF ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION.
ABOUT one-half of the work required to complete the Main
Drainage System was done by contract, and the rest by day's
labor, under superintendents appointed by the city. The general
rule by which it was decided whether any given section of work
should be built by contract, or not, was this : if the work was of
such a nature that its extent and character could be determined
in advance, so that full and explicit specifications for it could be
drawn, it was let out by contract to the lowest responsible bid-
der. If, on the other hand, all of the conditions liable to affect
the work could not be ascertained, so that it was anticipated
that modifications in the proposed methods of construction might
prove necessary or desirable, the work was done by day's labor.
Thus, wherever in suburban or thinly populated districts the
character of the earth to be excavated was supposed to be of
uniform quality, most of the sewers there located were built
by contract. Those located in crowded thoroughfares, where it
was necessary to interfere as little as possible with the use of
the street, and those in places where there was liability of en-
countering deep beds of mud, old walls, wharves, and other
obstacles, were built by day's labor.
There was little difference in the quality of the work obtained
by these different methods of construction. The contract work
was built under more favorable conditions, and as a whole is
somewhat superior to the other. It also, as a rule, cost much
less. Several reasons can be given for this fact. The physical
conditions were generally more favorable. Low prices were
obtained through competitive bids. Most of the contractors
made no profit; some even lost money. The contract work
was largely done during the first few years of construction,
when all prices were lower; while the bulk of the work
done by day's labor was built later, when prices for labor and
90
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
materials had risen. The wages paid city laborers were fixed
by the City Council, and were always higher than the market
rates. At times the city superintendents were not untrammelled
in respect to hiring and discharging their employés.
Sixteen sections of sewer were let by contract. In two
cases the contractors failed, and the sections were relet.
In
four other cases the contractors abandoned their work, which
was completed by the city, by day's labor. In connection with
the Main Drainage system about 50 more contracts were made
for materials and machinery, and for construction and work
other than sewer building. These contracts were drawn by the
engineers.
In preparing a contract for building a sewer the object kept
in view was to describe only the general character of the work,
and to leave for further decisions, as construction progressed,
the exact shape, methods of construction, and amounts and
kinds of materials to be used. That this might be done with-
out unfairness to the contractor the precise character (but not
the amount) of every kind of work and material, which might
be called for, was specified, and a price was agreed on for each.
Should anything not specified be called for, the contractor
agreed to furnish it at its actual cost to him, plus 15 per cent.
of said cost.
This is a convenient form of contract, because it permits the
engineer to modify his methods of construction whenever ex-
perience shows that a change is desirable. One kind of mate-
rial can be substituted for another; cradles, side-walls, and
piling can be added or discarded. Rather more opportunities
for contention are afforded by this form of contract than by a
simpler one; but, on the whole, it was considered the best for
our purposes.
Contract work was carefully watched, an inspector being
continually on the ground. Great care was taken to select
suitable men for such positions. They were all experienced
masons, and were paid $4.00 or more a day.
A daily force account was always kept, both of work done
by the city and that built by contract. This recorded the number
of hours' labor of every class and the amount of material which
DETAILS OF ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION.
91
entered into each part of the work, so that its cost could be
ascertained. On contract work this record proved very useful,
because it furnished conclusive evidence in any case of disa-
greement as to quantities or cost.
All materials were carefully inspected for quality. Especial
care was exercised in inspecting bricks and cement. About
50,000,000 of the former and 180,000 casks of the latter
material were used in building the works. It was required that
the bricks should be uniform in size, regular in shape, tough,
and burned very hard entirely through. Bricks with black
ends were not excluded if otherwise suitable. No machine-
made bricks were accepted, as they were usually found to have
a laminated structure. A moderate proportion of bats was
allowed, but only in the outer ring of the covering arch. From
the accepted bricks the most regular were culled out for inside
work. Bricks from different localities varied considerably in
size, and this fact, so often disregarded, was taken into account
in making purchases for the city. For instance, 1,175 Bangor
bricks were required to build as much masonry as could be
built with 1,000 Somerville bricks.
A requirement that no bricks should be used which would
absorb more than 16 per cent., in volume, of water, although
not always enforced, was occasionally found useful, because it
permitted the rejection of bricks made of light, sandy stock,
which were, however, perfectly hard and shapely. The fol-
lowing was the method employed in testing for porosity: The
brick to be tested was first dried thoroughly by artificial heat,
and then weighed. Next it was put in a pan containing one-half
inch of water and allowed to soak for 24 hours, the pan being
gradually filled, by adding water from time to time until the
brick was covered. When thoroughly soaked it was again
weighed, both in water and in air. The difference between the
weights dry and soaked, in air, was the weight of water ab-
sorbed, and the difference between the weights of the soaked
brick, in air and in water, was the loss of weight in water, i.e.,
the weight of a bulk of water equal to that of the brick;
then
was the proportion, in volume, of
water absorbed by the brick.
The weight of water absorbed
The loss of weight in water
92
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
९
Natural "Rosendale” cement was chiefly used on the work,
but about 26,000 barrels of Portland cement and a little Roman
cement were also used. Portland cement mortar was often used
in building the inverts of sewers and, in general, where there
was liability to abrasion or where especial strength was needed.
It was often mixed with Rosendale cement, in order to make
a somewhat stronger mortar. Very quick-setting Roman
cement was used for stopping leaks, and was also mixed with
other cements for wet work, because it would set at once and
keep the mortar from being washed down before the stronger
cements had hardened.
In Appendix A are given a full account of the methods em-
ployed for testing cement, and also the results derived from
the tests made for experimental purposes. One advantage
resulting from the careful and systematic testing was that manu-
facturers and dealers were themselves careful to offer or send
no cement but that which they felt confident would be accepted.
During the first year or two much of the cement offered was
rejected, but later very little of it proved unacceptable.
In
making contracts for cement a standard of strength and fineness
was seldom given. It was simply stipulated that the cement
should be, in every respect, satisfactory to the engineer, and,
if not satisfactory, should be rejected.
In one contract, however, for 5,000 barrels of Portland ce-
ment, a certain fineness and strength were required. As some
of the specifications of this contract are believed to be novel and
practically useful, they are here cited : –
Fineness. The cement to be very fine ground, so that not over fifteen
(15) per cent. of it will be retained by a certain sieve deposited in the office
of the City Engineer of Boston, said sieve having 14,400 meshes to the
square inch.
Strength. The cement when gauged with three parts by measure of
sand, to one part of cement; formed into briquettes having a breaking area
of 24 square inches ; kept 28 days in water and broken from the water, to
have a tensile strength of 150 lbs. per square inch.
Price. We agree to receive as full payment for the satisfactory delivery
of said cement, subject to its fulfilment of the foregoing requirements, as
determined by the City Engineer of Boston, the sum of three dollars ($3.00)
per cask delivered and accepted.
We further agree, that, shall the cement, or any portion thereof, fail to
DETAILS OF ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION.
93
fulfil the above-mentioned requirement as to fineness, but shall nevertheless
be accepted by the city, we will receive as full payment for said cement, or
said portion thereof, a sum to be determined by the City Engineer, by
deducting from the full price, of three dollars ($3.00) per cask, the sum
of two cents ($0.2) per cask for each per cent. greater than 15 per cent.
that is retained by the sieve before mentioned.
Contractors were required to use only clean, sharp, coarse
sand for making mortar. On city work, if clean sand was not
conveniently accessible, a moderately dusty or dirty sand was
considered almost as good, and quite good enough. So, also,
in making concrete, contractors were obliged to use screened
sand and stone; but a city superintendent might mix his cement
directly with the gravel dug from the bank, if it was more con-
venient and cheaper to do so. Comparative tests of concrete
made by these different methods failed to distinguish any supe-
riority in one over the other.
The city sewers were so low that the intercepting sewers,
which had to be lower still, required unusually deep trenches.
The average depth of cut for the whole system was more than
21 feet. The bottom of these trenches was generally several
feet below the elevation of low tide. As the new sewers fol-
lowed the margins of the city near the sea, tide-water frequently
found access to the trenches, so that construction could only
proceed during a few hours at about the time of low tide, when
the leakage of water could be controlled. Sometimes the trench
could not be kept entirely free from water. Many of the streets
traversed by the sewers were underlaid by beds of mud. Gen-
erally the mud was not so deep but that an unyielding founda-
tion could be secured by driving piles through the mud down
into the hard ground beneath. Sometimes, however, the mud
was so deep that hard bottom could not be reached by piling.
It was under such conditions that the use of wood to form
the whole, or the lower part, of the sewer was resorted to.
Wood was no cheaper in itself than masonry; but a wooden
sewer could be built very much more rapidly than a brick one,
and could be built by unskilled laborers. Also, a wooden
invert could be fastened in place, if necessary, under a foot or
two of water. Moreover, a wooden sewer, fastened by spikes
94
MAIN DRAIN AGE WORKS.
>
and oak treenails, possessed considerable elasticity, and could
settle slightly in places, or assume an undulating form, without
breaking.
Therefore, under conditions such as those just mentioned,
the use of wood to form the shell of a sewer was often resorted
to. There were disadvantages attending this mode of con-
struction. The elasticity which permitted the sewer to bend
longitudinally without breaking, also made it tend to yield trans-
versely, sinking at the crown and bulging at the sides, when-
ever the earth outside was at all compressible. It was not easy
to prevent the wooden shell from leaking badly, especially at
the end joints. All wooden sewers had to be lined with brick-
work, or concrete, to make them smooth and tight; but putting
such lining inside of a leaky sewer is a somewhat tedious and
difficult operation.
The tops of most of the intercepting sewers are several feet
below the level at which ground water stands in the earth about
them. Great pains were taken to insure every joint being
thoroughly filled with mortar, and the arches were always plas-
tered outside with a half-inch coating of cement mortar. By
such means the greater part of the system was made perfectly
tight and dry. In places, however, especially where there were
slight settlements and cracks, a considerable amount of leakage
occurred. All leaky joints were calked as well as possible.
Various materials were used for this purpose. Among them
were neat cement; cement mixed with grease or with clay ;
oakum ; dry pine wedges, and sheet lead. By one or several of
hese methods the leakage could either be entirely stopped or
reduced to an insignificant amount.
A considerable item in the total cost of building the inter-
cepting system was the expense incurred in repairs to street
surfaces and paving, over the sewers.
The trenches were so
large and deep that the backfilling, often of a peaty consist-
ency, could not be sufficiently compacted by ramming or pud-
dling, but continued to settle for a year or more after the
sewer was built.
As it was necessary to keep the surface in a
safe and reasonably smooth condition the portion over the
trench was sometimes repaved three, or even more, times before
DETAILS OF ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION.
95
it would remain permanently in place. Where the earth un-
derlying the street was of a peaty nature it would be rendered
spongy and compressible by its water draining out into the open
trench during construction. Then the whole street surface,
including sidewalks and sometimes even adjacent yards, would
settle out of shape and need repairing.
Another source of expense and trouble was the breaking of
house-drains where they passed across the sewer trench, due to
the settlement of the backfilling. The intercepting sewers
were frequently, indeed generally, built in streets which
already contained a common sewer. The house-drains from
one side of the street crossed the trench of the intercepting
sewer. These drains were maintained, or replaced, as securely
as possible, but many of them were afterwards broken. These
were generally found to be sheared off on the line of the sides
of the excavation, and the portion within the trench sunk bodily,
half a foot or so, below the rest.
As a rule the streets in which sewers were built were kept
open for traffic. When the trench was in the middle of the
street, passage-ways for vehicles were maintained on both sides
of it, even when the width between sidewalk curbs was only 26
feet. This was accomplished by the use of an apparatus for ex-
cavating and backfilling, invented by the superintendent, Mr.
H. A. Carson, and afterwards patented by him. Various merits
are claimed for it, but the chief advantage in its use at Boston
was, that by it sewers could be built with very little encroach-
ment on the surface of the street. Views of the apparatus are
given on Plate XXVII. Although a patented article, a brief
description of it seems proper, since it was used in building
more than one-half of the intercepting sewers.
In its general features the apparatus consisted of a light
frame structure, extending longitudinally over the sewer trench
from a point in advance of where excavation had begun to
another behind where the trench was completely back filled.
All operations, therefore, were carried on beneath the machine.
Excavation proceeded under the forward portion of the frame,
the sewer was built under the central portion, and backfilling
progressed near the rear. A double-drum hoisting-engine was
96
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
carried on a platform at the front end of the frame. From
the top of the frame were suspended iron tracks, on which were
travellers, moved backwards and forwards by wire ropes lead-
ing to the engine. A number of tubs, loaded by the diggers in
front, were hoisted simultaneously by the engine, and run back
to be dumped over the completed sewer. They were then
returned and lowered to the points whence they had been
taken, by which time a second set of tubs had been filled ready
for hoisting.
Any surplus earth was dumped through a hopper into carts
which were backed under the machine. When it was neces-
sary to furnish a passage across the work the trench was bridged,
and the frame trussed. When one section of excavation was
completed the whole apparatus, which rested on wheels, was
pulled forward 30 or more feet by its own engine. The aver-
age total length of one apparatus was 200 feet, and its total
weight about 10 tons.
Sewer-building, done by the city, was frequently carried on
through the winter months. Contractors, on the other hand,
were not allowed to lay masonry between November 15 and
April 15. The temperature at the bottom of a deep trench was
.
always considerably higher than that at the surface of the ground;
so that it was only when the mercury was at ten or more de-
grees (F.) below the freezing-point that work was suspended.
Much extra precautionary work was needed. Bricks were
steamed in a close box before using ; sand and water were
warmed, and completed work was protected by coverings of
straw or sea-weed. Winter work was not economical, and was
resorted to chiefly for the purpose of employing laborers, who
otherwise might have been idle.
Experience is probably a better guide to designing stable
sewers than are theories concerning lines of pressures and geo-
static arches. The physical conditions which determine the
direction and amount of the earth pressures are seldoin the same
in the case of any two sewers. They differ at different points
about the same sewer, and often are not alike on both sides of
one sewer. The best that can be done is to judge as well as
possible of the character of the ground to be penetrated, and
TRENCH MACHINE
PLATE XX VII
DIAGRAM MACHINE
MAIN
CITY OF BOSTON
DRAINAGE
Fig. 1
MT. VERNON ST. 1883.
添
​KEEP TO THE RIGHT
e
Fig. 2
STOP
e
PLANKS
Fig. 3
ह
Fig. 4
Heliotype Printing Co. Boston.
DETAILS OF ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION.
97
begin to build such a sewer as has proved stable under similar
conditions. The sewer should then be examined carefully,
during and after loading, for signs of weakness.
In the case of the main drainage sewers such examinations
were made graphically, by taking diagrams of their inside
shape. These diagrams were taken by the aid of a machine
shown on Plate XXVII. It consisted of a light frame, which
could be so fixed against the masonry that its centre should be
in the axis of the sewer. A movable arm was then rotated
radially from the centre, with its outer end bearing lightly
against the inside perimeter of the sewer. At the centre of the
machine was a disk, on which was placed a sheet of paper. A
pencil point, attached to the rotating arm, traced upon the
paper a diagram, showing the shape of the sewer and its varia-
tion, if any, from the established form.
The shape and amount of any distortion suggested the cause
which produced it, and the remedy to be applied. The most
common causes were too early removal of centres ; too rapid
or unequal loading; the use of improper material for backfilling
about the sewer; insufficient ramming of backfilling against the
haunches; with drawing sheetplanks after backfilling ; inherent
weakness in the design of the sewer. Such error's could be
corrected and the design of the structure could be modified
until the diagrams taken from the sewer were found to corre-
spond with its proper shape.
The Main Drainage System is so arranged that any principal
portion of it can be isolated and emptied for inspection and re-
pair. Any intercepting sewer can be thus isolated by closing
the penstock gate at its lower end, and also the inlet-valves
connecting it with the common sewers, the latter then discharg-
ing at their old outlets. By closing the gates at the ends of all
intercepting sewers the main sewer can be emptied. Wher-
ever an opportunity for isolating a small portion of the works
might prove desirable, but the use of iron gates for such pur-
pose would have entailed unwarranted expense, as a cheaper
substitute, grooves of iron or stone were built into the masonry
for stop-planks. Such grooves for stop-planks were always
built above any iron gates, to afford a means of access in case
98
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
of needed repairs. Where slight leakage could be afforded, a
single pair of grooves was considered sufficient. Where a
tight dam was desirable, a double set of grooves was provided,
so that a double set of stop-planks, with an inside packing of
clay, could be used. Some hundreds of stop-planks, of differ-
ent lengths, are kept in readiness. Their form is shown on
Plate XXVII. They are made of hard-pine planks, from three
to five inches thick, planed and oiled.
The connections between the common sewers and the inter-
cepting sewers were usually made during the construction of
the latter. The valves of the inlet-pipes, built into the common
sewers, were closed and made tight by a little cement around
their edges. By raising these valves the connection between
the old and new system could at any time be established.
WORKING OF THE NEW SYSTEM.
99
CHAPTER XI.
WORKING OF THE NEW SYSTEM.
JANUARY 1, 1884, the connections between the common and
intercepting sewers were first opened. Pumping began at the
same time, and the sewage was sent to the reservoir at Moon
Island, and thence discharged into the Outer Harbor. Connec-
tion with about one-half of the common sewers was made on
that day, and most of the others were connected within a month
thereafter; so that by February, 1884, nearly all of the city
sewage was diverted from the old outlets. The upper portion
of the West Side intercepting sewer, in Lowell and Causeway
Streets, was built in 1884. The common sewers, tributary to
it, were intercepted as construction progressed. A common
sewer draining a portion of Dorchester, intercepted by the main
sewer at East Chester Park just east of the N.Y. & N.E.
Railroad, was not connected until early in 1885.
Although the whole intercepting system, therefore, was not
entirely completed until the present year, yet the greater part
of it has been in operation for fifteen months, - a long enough
period to afford a fair indication of its practical working, and of
the results which will be derived from it.
As elsewhere stated the Main Drainage Works were designed
and built to correct two principal evils inherent in the old system
of sewerage. These were :
First. The damming up of the common sewers by the tide,
by which, for much of the time, they were converted into stag-
nant cesspools, and the air in them was compressed, and to find
outlets was driven into house-drains and other openings.
Second. The discharge of the sewage on the shores of the
city in the immediate vicinity of population, thereby causing
nuisances at many points.
The first of these evils has been entirely corrected by the new
system. The old sewers now have a continual flow in them,
а
100
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
>
independent of the stage of the tide, as has been ascertained by
frequent observations, and also from the testimony of drain-lay-
ers, who formerly were only able to enter house-pipes into the
sewers when the latter were empty at low tide, but now can
make such connections at any time.
The new system has also substantially remedied the second
evil. From the moment that any of the city sewers was con-
nected with an intercepting sewer, the sewage which had before
discharged on the shore of the city was diverted, and has since
been conveyed to Moon Island and emptied into the Outer Har-
bor at that point.
It is true that about twenty-four times during the past year,
or an average of twice a month, during rain-storms and freshets,
the amount of water flowing in the sewers has exceeded the
capacity of the pumps. At such times the excess has been dis-
charged at the old sewer outlets. But this occasional and tem-
porary discharge of very dilute sewage does not seem to have
occasioned any nuisance. Examinations and inquiries concern-
ing the condition of the shores and docks at the sewer outlets
have shown that water, once continually foul, has become pure,
bad odors have ceased, and fish have returned to places where
none had been seen for years. The stenches, referred to by the
City Board of Health (p. 13), which formerly, at times, were
prevalent over the city, were not noticed during the past year.
The attempt to relieve certain low districts, subject to flooding
of cellars during rain-storms at high tide, by discriminating in
favor of such districts in respect to the interception of storm-
water, has met with marked success. No case of flooding in such
districts has been reported since the sewers draining them have
been connected with the intercepters; and many cellars, which
used often to be filled several feet deep with water, are known
to have been perfectly dry during the past year.
Building the intercepting sewers has also dried cellars in other
parts of the city in a way which was not at first anticipated.
When land on the shores of the city was reclaimed for building
purposes, most of the old walls and wharves were covered up by
the new filling. Tide-water followed along any such structures
through the ground, and entered cellars lower than high-tide
WORKING OF THE NEW SYSTEM.
101
level. The new sewers were generally built along the present
margins of the city, and in digging deep trenches for them the
old structures found were cut off and removed. The backfilled
earth in the trenches forms an impervious dam surrounding the
city, beyond which tide-water cannot pass.
The sewers have been examined frequently since they went
into operation. The average depth of dry-weather flow in the
intercepting sewers is from ten to twenty inches, so that they
can be entered on foot. So, also, can the main sewer above
Tremont Street, and, sometimes, above Albany Street. Below
that point the dry-weather flow is from two to three feet deep,
necessitating the use of a boat.
The velocity of flow in the sewers varies from about two feet a
second upwards. An attempt was made to measure the velocity
at several points with a current meter. While integrating, the
meter could be rarely kept under water longer than ten seconds
at a time without danger of its being clogged by paper, hair,
and similar substances. By the use of a stop-watch the instru-
ment could be removed for cleaning and again immersed without
interfering with the experiment. The inclination of the surface
of the sewage, though approximately the same as that of the
sewer, was seldom precisely the same, and the observations
were not sufficiently exact, in any case, to determine just what
inclination then existed. The mean velocity at the points of
measurement were, however, accurately ascertained, and the
results may be of sufficient interest to cite.
In the case of a 4 x 4.5 feet sewer (Fig. 7, Plate VIII.), with
an inclination of 1 in 2,000, flowing 1.23 feet deep, the mean
velocity was 1.9 feet per second. This sewer had some gravel
on its bottom. In the case of a 4.75 X 5.5 feet sewer (Fig. 8,
Plate VIII.), with an inclination of 1 in 2,000, the depth was
1.45 feet, and the mean velocity was 2.45 feet per second. In
a 4.5 feet circular sewer, with an inclination of 1 in 700, and
depth of 1.15 feet, the mean velocity of flow was 2.56 feet per
second. In the case of an 8.25 feet circular sewer (Fig. 14,
Plate VI.), the inclination being 1 in 2,500 and the depth 1.76
feet, the mean velocity was 2.59 feet per second, sufficient to
keep in suspension and carry along all sewage sludge. Most of
102
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
the city sewers, when first intercepted, were found to contain
deposits of sludge varying from a few inches to several feet in
depth. All these deposits were carried into the intercepting
sewers, and the sludge reached the pumping-station and was
pumped up into the deposit sewers.
into the deposit sewers. Gravel, stones, and brick-
bats also were swept along and taken out at the filth-hoist.
Fine sand, however, did not move so freely, but settled in
ridges here and there, and had to be removed by hand.
The bottoms of the sewers are, as a rule, perfectly clean. No
slime accumulates there, or, if it ever begins to grow, it is at
once scoured off by the attrition of moving particles. The sides
of the invert below the surface of the water have a thin coating
of slime, making them very slippery. The arch and the portion
of the invert above the water exposed to the air are clean, and
often quite dry. In some portions of the sewers earthy accre-
tions form on the arch. Where the sewer is surrounded by
marsh mud these are turned black by sulphuretted hydrogen,
sometimes they are colored yellow by iron, often they appear
as white stalactites. In clayey soil the arch seems to be about
as clean as when laid.
The atmosphere in the sewers is not offensive, although a
faint sewage smell can be detected on first entering them. For
the first eight months after the sewers went into operation they
were not ventilated at the man-holes. This was because it was
known that much sludge would be turned into them from the
common sewers, and it was feared the smell from it might be
noticed. Finally the ventilating covers, shown on Plate VI.,
were put in place. No smell has ever been noticed from them,
and they considerably improved the condition of the atmosphere
in the sewers, which is now quite fresh and hardly at all dis-
agreeable; not so much so, for instance, as is that in most rail-
way carriages after an hour's use. The temperature of the sew-
age varies from 500 to 65° F., and that of the air in the sewers
from 40° to 60° F., depending upon the outside temperature.
A small force of men has been constantly employed, during
the past year, in caring for the main and intercepting sewers.
This force has consisted of a foreman, one carpenter, and four
laborers. They have also done minor items of work and repairs
WORKING OF THE NEW SYSTEM.
103
.
which might properly be charged to construction. After every
rain, whenever there was any likehood that water might have
overflowed at the old outlets, all of the tide-gates have been
visited. As a rule they are found to be quite tight. Occa-
sionally one pair of a set (but never both pairs) are found to be
leaking somewhat at high tide. This is caused by rags, corks,
pieces of wood, or other such matters, catching near the hinges.
At such visits the gates are washed clean, the hinges greased,
and the iron-work examined for traces of incipient rust.
Some of the tide-gates were made of white-pine and some of
spruce. A few of the latter, which have been in place for three
years, already show signs of decay. These are inside gates
situated above the elevation of mean tide, so that they are com-
paratively seldom wet. To replace them creosoted lumber
will probably be used. The rubber gaskets, fastened to the
gates, are in perfectly good condition after about three
years' use. They were made of what was called by the manu-
facturer "pure rubber; ” but, as they cost 75 cents a pound,
when crude rubber was selling at more than a $1.00 a pound,
they probably merely contained a larger percentage of that
material than is usual in rubber goods. They were made with
special reference to resisting the effects of sewage and grease.
.
The penstocks, flushing gates, and regulators are also in-
spected periodically. Moving parts are cleaned, slushed, and
moved, so as to insure their being in good working condition.
The iron, when carefully painted, does not appear to suffer
from rust. About once in eight months it receives a coat of
asphaltum paint. Duplicates are provided of all pins and other
small parts, so that these can be taken to the yard to be warmed
and recoated. The chains attached to the inlet-valves, by which
they are lifted, are most subject to rust. These are frequently
changed and taken to the yard, where, after being cleaned and
scraped, they are warmed in a furnace and coated with hot pitch.
The catch-pails under the ventilating man-hole covers are
emptied as occasion demands. In some localities, and at some
seasons, pails will be filled in less than a month. Others will
not require attention for three months. Men drive along the
sewer line with a cart, remove a man-hole cover, lift out the
104
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
>
pail, empty its contents into the cart, and again replace the pail
and cover. A few extra pails are carried in the cart, so that
if any one of those in use shows signs of rust it can be replaced
by another, and be taken to the yard for cleaning and recoating.
The filth-hoist at the pumping-station seems satisfactorily to
answer the purpose for which it was designed. In dry weather
the cages are raised three times a day, and the average daily
yield from them is about 16 cubic feet. The matters inter-
cepted are rags, paper, corks, half lemons, lumps of fat, dead
animals, pieces of wood, bottles, children's toys, pocket-books,
and such-like miscellaneous articles, which by accident or design
are thrown into house-pipes. Comparatively little solid fecal mat-
ter is caught, as most of it dissolves before reaching this point.
When it rains, and deposits are scoured out of the old sewers,
very much more filth is caught in the cages. The amount some-
times equals three or four cubic yards in 24 hours. At such
times it is necessary to raise and clean the cages every half-hour
during the night as well as in the day, in order to prevent their
becoming clogged and backing up the sewage in front of them.
At first what was removed from the cages was buried in pits
near the pumping-station. This not being considered a satis-
factory method of disposal, an attempt was made to burn the
filth in the furnaces under the boilers. It was found that the
filth, as taken from the cages, contained so much water that
the fires were injured. Accordingly a simple press, like a cider-
.
press, was procured, by which most of the water was pressed
out. The comparatively dry cakes remaining after pressing
are now burned without injuriously affecting the furnace fires.
The two high-duty " Leavitt ” pumping-engines and the two
storm-duty " Worthington ” pumping-engines have all been run
more or less during the past year. Any one of them is able to
pump the ordinary dry-weather flow of sewage. As a rule one
of the Leavitt engines is kept running ; should it rain, and addi-
tional pumping capacity be needed, the second Leavitt engine
is, by preference, started; if still more capacity is needed, the
Worthington engines are started. When the amount of water
arriving by the sewer decreases, the Worthington engines are
first stopped.
R
>
WORKING OF THE NEW SYSTEM.
105
The average daily quantity of sewage pumped in dry weather
is about 24,000,000 gallons, and the average number of tons of
coal consumed in doing the work is about 31. This, with
some steam used for other purposes, gives a working duty in
the case of the Leavitt engine of about 95,000,000 pounds
raised 1 foot high by the consumption of 100 pounds of coal.
The Worthington engines, under similar conditions, show a
working duty of somewhat more than 50,000,000 foot-pounds.
The following table gives the results of the first year's pump-
ing, beginning with February, 1884, when the works had got
fairly into operation : -
RAINFALL.
MONTH.
PER
CENT.
DAILY
AVERAGE
GALLONS
PUMPED.
DAILY
AVERAGE
POUNDS
OF COAL.
GALLONS
PUMPED
PER POUND
OF COAL.
OF
1884.
Inches.
Number
of Days
it Rained.
ASHES.
February
25,777,360
14,028
15.8
1,836
5.74
20
March
32,437,379
18,880
14.8
1,709
4.86
19
29,949,356
15,671
16.2
1,913
4.76
17
.
April
May
June.
25,121,056
13,127
15.6
1,915
3.31
11
26,712,298
13,265
16.5
2,015
4.01
7
25,900,400
13,529
19.2
1,912
4.25
17
31,674,621
14,704
16.0
2,174
5.01
14
July
August
September
October
28,412,431
11,099
12.1
2,568
.31
8
.
27,601,557
13.3
2,698
3.17
13
.
November
10,206
8,985
10,181
8.0
3,073
3.03
9
27,501,283
30,883,501
.
December
7.2
2,885
4.46
15
1885.
January
11,448
38,498,668
7.2
3,265
5.33
.
9
.
.
It will be seen that the daily average, as given, is larger than
the dry-weather flow, because it includes the extra quantities
pumped during rains. The largest day's work thus far has
been 81,280,883 gallons, but for a few hours this rate has
been much exceeded. Until August, 1884, the pumping was
not done economically. At that time a change was made in
106
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
or
the management of the station, with a considerable increase in
economy. A further gain was made in November, 1884, by
substituting bituminous coal for anthracite, which had pre-
viously been used. The former coal makes more steam, and
costs about $1 less a ton. The comparatively low duty shown
by the table for December is due to the fact that the Worth-
ington engines were largely used during that month, while a
temporary building over the Leavitt engines was being taken
down.
There are no means for determining accurately the actual
amount of the city water-supply in the district whose sewers
are tributary to the Main Drainage System. But it is evident
that even in dry weather the amount of sewage reaching the
pumping-station by the main sewer is greater than the water-
supply of the districts drained by it. The excess is not con-
stant; sometimes it is estimated to be 10 per cent. of the
whole, and at other times it is probably 25 per cent.,
even more. This excess comes from several sources. Many
dwellings and factories in sewered districts have private water
supplies. Breweries, and other similar large establishments,
contribute largely in this way. A single sugar-refinery was found
to pump and use, daily, about 1,000,000 gallons of salt water,
all of which properly might have gone back into the harbor,
but was, instead, turned into the sewers. In the spring, when
the ground is full of water, much of it leaks into the common
sewers, and is by them carried to the intercepters. Sea-water
also, at high tide, finds its way along some of the old box-sew-
ers, and leaks into them back of the tide-gates. It will prob-
ably prove to be true economy to rebuild many of the old
sewers, in whole or in part.
The permanent working force employed at the pumping-
station at present is as follows:-
1 Chief Engineer,
3 Assistant Engineers,
9 Oilers,
3 Firemen,
3 Coal-passers,
1 Clerk.
>
WORKING OF THE NEW SYSTEM.
107
>
The men employed in the filth-hoist, included in the above,
rank as oilers. The administration at this point is, of course,
not as economical as it would be if there were a uniform
constant amount of work to be done.
The deposit-sewers have perfectly answered their purposes
in arresting all heavy matters contained in the sewage. The
cross-sectional area of these sewers is so large and the resulting
velocity of flow is so sluggish, even when four pumps are run-
ning, that all suspended matters subside before reaching the
tunnel. Sand and gravel are deposited at once, as soon as they
enter the sewers; lighter substances are carried a little farther;
but only floating matters or those having about the same specific
gravity as water, remain in suspension long enough to reach the
farther end of the sewers.
As elsewhere stated, the sludge, contained by the common
sewers at the time connection was made between them and
the intercepting sewer, passed to the pumping-station and was
pumped into the deposit sewers. The amount of this was
12,000 cubic yards or more. The best way of removing it was
long considered, and it was only in the autumn of 1884 that
the appliances described in Chapter VIII. were adopted and
constructed. When the six-inch pipe connecting one deposit
sewer with the sludge-tank was first opened, the deposits near
where the pipe entered the sewer were drawn into the tank,
which in the space of two days was filled with about 100 yards
of sludge.
The floating scrapers (Plate XIX.) were not completed un-
til the winter. They work very well, with a combined scrap-
ing and flushing action, and by their use the sand and gravel
deposits can be moved from one end of the sewer to the other.
The sludge-tank was filled a second time, principally with clear
sand, when operations were stopped by the harbor's freezing
The bay remained closed by ice until early in March,
when the removal of the deposits was again resumed. It seems
probable that this method of removal will prove as satisfactory
as any which could be adopted.
As the tunnel is 142 feet below the harbor, and has been con-
stantly full of sewage since pumping began, there has been no
over.
108
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
a
a
:
opportunity for inspecting it. For the first few months of 1884,
before all of the city sewers had been intercepted, a compara-
tively small amount of sewage was pumped, especially at night.
At such times the velocity of flow through the tunnel was very
slight, often less than one-half of a foot a second. Occasionally
pumping would be stopped for a few hours at night, to allow the
sewage to accumulate. At present the ordinary flow in the tun-
nel is seldom faster than one foot a second. As the sewage takes
from two to four hours to pass through the tunnel, at these slow
velocities, it was to be expected that deposits would occur there.
To ascertain the extent of such deposits, and whether they
were likely to become permanent, some experiments were made.
These were based upon the following laws:-
That the flow through the tunnel is produced by the difference
in elevation of the water at its two ends ;
That the amount of this difference is a measure of the fric-
tional resistance which the tunnel opposes to the flow of the
sewage;
That, in proportion as the water-way of the tunnel is ob-
structed by deposits, the resistance, and therefore the difference
in elevation of the water at its two ends, will be greater than
they would be if the tunnel was clean.
The method of making the experiment was as follows:
The quantity of water passing through the tunnel was ascer-
tained by pump measurement, with allowance for slip. The
difference in elevation at the two ends of the tunnel was deter-
mined by means of sliding gauges, with knife-edges where they
came in contact with the surface of the water.
The coefficient was then calculated for the formula
V
V=CV RI or C=
V RI
in which
V=Velocity in feet per second
Hydraulic mean radius =
wet perimeter
head
I = Sine of inclination =
length
C = A coefficient ascertained by experiment.
-
-
area
R=
WORKING OF THE NEW SYSTEM.
109
As the tunnel is circular, 7.5 feet in internal diameter, the
value of R, corresponding to the full cross-sectional area, is 1.875
feet. Experiments on the flow of water in the Sudbury-river
Conduit,' which was a brick structure like the tunnel, gave a
coefficient corresponding to R = 1.875, of about 137. It was
not anticipated that the coefficient found for the tunnel, even
when it was clean, would be quite so large as that of the con-
duit; since the surface of the former is somewhat rougher, and
some loss of head would be occasioned by changes in direction
at bends and by obstructions at the east shaft.
It was also expected that the coefficient would vary somewhat
with the velocity and with the dilution of the sewage. Under
the most favorable circumstances, with the tunnel free froin
deposits, the coefficient would approximate 137, being that
found by the experiments above mentioned.
The full area of the tunnel was used in determining the values
of V and R. This assumed that the tunnel was clean. Should
the coefficient be found to be much lower than that anticipated
it would show that the aforesaid assumption was incorrect, and
that the area of the tunnel was partly obstructed.
Whatever was the true value of the coefficient, its increase or
decrease, as determined by successive experiments under the
same conditions, would show whether the amount of deposit in
the tunnel was becoming less or greater.
Arrangements are provided for flushing the tunnel by running
four pumps simultaneously, salt water being admitted to the
pump-wells to supply any deficiency of sewage. The volume
pumped is generally at the rate of about 114,000,000 gallons
per day, which give a velocity of about four feet per second
through the tunnel.
The first flushing with four pumps was done June 12, 1884.
Just previous to this time, by two measurements on different
days, the loss of head through the tunnel was ascertained to be
about.54 of a foot, and the values of C were found to be 80 and
82. On June 13, the day after flushing, an experiment, with
the same conditions as those previously made, gave a loss of
head of .30 of a foot, and a value of C= 110.
1 Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. XII., No. CCLIII.
110
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
-
This value was still too low to indicate an entirely clean tun-
nel, but showed that the water-way had been increased by a
removal of a portion of the deposit by the flushing. This was
known to be a fact, since the sludge scoured out by the flushing
had been observed in the reservoir. Inspection showed that
the deposit carried into the reservoir was of a very light nature,
containing soft mud, horse-manure, water-logged match-ends,
bits of lemon-peel, paper, and similar substances.
Beginning in June, 1884, flushing with four pumps has been
done regularly about once a fortnight. At four different times
measurements to determine the value of C have been made
during the flushing. At such times the velocity of flow is high,
and from 75 to 80 per cent. of the volume pumped is clean salt
water, affording conditions favorable for obtaining a high co-
efficient. The values of C, derived from these several experi-
ments, were as follows:
June .12, 1884. C= 129.
Oct. 20, 1884. C = 120.7.
Jan. 15, 1885. C= 146.3.
Feb. 16, 1885. C= 146.6.
The last two experiments were made on days following periods
when the quantity of sewage pumped had been unusually large,
on account of rain and melting snow, which may account for the
largeness of the coefficients. There may, also, have been some
unusual slip in the valves. There can be little doubt, however,
that at this time the water-way of the tunnel was not appreci-
ably obstructed.
Since these were experiments on the flow through a large pipe
they may have some general interest for engineers, and their
details are given in the following table :
NOTE. — Two experiments made since the first edition was printed give the following
results: -
Aug. 28, 1885. C= 117.8.
Sept. 25, 1885. C= 121.5.
In these two experiments the quantity of water flowing was measured in the reservoir,
the height of the sewage in the sewers being kept constant. In previous experiments the
values of C were based upon pump measurement, with a small allowance for slip. Dur-
ing the week preceding the experiment of Oct. 20, trials were made to ascertain the
slip of each pump, and the results obtained on that day are probably trustworthy. The
results of the experiments of Jan. 15 and Feb. 16 are now known to be too large, the
rubber valves of the pumps having begun to wear out at this time, causing a large slip.
WORKING OF THE NEW SYSTEM.
111
1.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
9.
10.
REMARKS.
Number of Ex-
1.
June 6, 1884,
7166 feet.
7.5 feet.
0.520 feet.
.00007256
1.875 feet.
41.06
0.929
79.95
Sewage.
2.
66
9,
66
0.566
.00007894
44.08
0.998
82.00
3.
66
6
3.648
o 12,
66
.0005091
176 24
3.988
129.05
20 to 25 per cent.
sewage ; 75 to 80
per cent. salt water.
4.
66
16 13,
66
0.297
.0000414
42.64
0.965
109.66
Sewage.
5.
66
Oct. 20,
66
66
4.165
.0005812
173.56
3.929
120.67
20 to 25 per cent.
sewage; 75 to 80
per cent. salt water.
66
66
6.
Aug. 28, 1885.
3.975
.0005547
66
167.78
3.798
117.78
66
66
66
7.
3.680
.0005135
Sept. 25,
66
166.51
3.769
121.46
NOTE. - In the first four experiments the quantities in column 5 are the total differences in elevation of the water surface at the two ends of the tunnel, less
a correction for loss of head at entrance. In ihe remaining experiments the head, a short distance below the entrance to the tunnel, was taken, and no cor-
rection was required. The tunnel has one quarter-turn of 9.75 feet radius and one angle of 23% degrees. These increase the resistance somewhat. On the
other hand, the farther end of the tuunel enlarges gradually as a diverging tube, which facilitates the flow.
112
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
a
The wooden flume between Squantum and Moon Island has
been watched carefully during the past year. It was at first
tight, but the effect of the summer's sun lying on one side of it
tended to make the planks shrink and warp somewhat, so that
leakage occurred in some places. These were stopped by
tightening the bolts and wedges, and by fastening the corner
bottom planks to the sides with lag screws. To guard against
the sun the flume was given a second coat of paint. Putting a
cheap roof over it would, doubtless, prolong the duration of its
effective service.
When the sewage in the reservoir is low the flume runs about
half-full. As the basins fill, the depth of flow increases until
finally it runs entirely full, acting as a pipe. The ordinary
velocity of flow is about three feet a second, or less as the
depth increases. Twice a day, when the reservoir is flushed, as
described later on, the current through the lower end of the
flume attains the remarkable velocity of about seven feet a sec-
ond. This velocity is sufficient to remove stones and brick bats.
Nevertheless the flume is not clean. From its bottom up to
the ordinary flow line the sides are covered with a slimy deposit
from one-eighth to one quarter of an inch in thickness. Above
the middle and on the top there is also some slime, but not so
much as below. The condition of this sewer is commended to
the attention of those sanitarians who are accustomed to repre-
sent flushing as a certain remedy for the accumulation of slime
in pipes.
Some experiments we made to determine the value of C in
the formula V=CNRI as applied to the flume. In one trial,
the flume flowing about half-full with sewage, the value of R
was 1.45 feet, the velocity was 2.94 feet a second, and the value
of C was found to be 116.9. In a second trial, under similar
conditions, the following values were obtained : R=1.41; V=
2.87; C= 116.6. In a third trial, when four pumps were running
. ,
and the flume was flowing full, 75 to 80 per cent. of the water
pumped being clean salt water, the values of R, V, and C, respect-
ively, were 1.5, 4.80, and 134.8. It will be noticed that the
value of R was about the same in the last trial as in the first two,
but that the value of C was very much greater. It is thought that
-
a
WORKING OF THE NEW SYSTEM.
113
this
may be due to the fact that the first trials were made with
clear sewage, whereas, in the case of the last trial, the water
was comparatively clean. It seems reasonable to suppose that
some head would be expended in maintaining in suspension the
solid particles contained by the sewage. The subject is worthy
of further investigation, it because concerns the applicability to
the flow of sewage of hydraulic formulæ derived from experi-
ments on the flow of clean water.
The reservoir has a capacity of 25,000,000 gallons. As sew-
age is stored in it for about ten hours at a time, between the
end of one period of discharge and the beginning of another, the
basins, as a rule, have been filled only about half-full during
the past year.
The process of discharging is begun about one
hour after the beginning of ebb tide. By this time the surface
of the sea is as low as the bottom of the reservoir, and a good
harbor current is setting outwards past the outlet.
Water is
admitted to the turbine, and by the power transmitted from it
the upper gates in the outfall sewer are first closed.
The sew-
age then arriving is thus stored in the sewer, and its surface
rises several feet. Meantime the lower gates in the discharge
sewer are opened, and the sewage in the reservoir flows through
them to the outlet. Under ordinary circumstances the basins
are emptied in about thirty minutes.
There is left in the basins a thin deposit of semi-fluid mud,
generally about one-quarter of an inch thick, but in greater quan-
tity after storms. To remove this, flushing is first resorted to.
During the past year four brick partition-walls were built across
the gallery between the sewers and the reservoir. One of these
was built opposite the middle of each basin. As soon as a basin
is empty an upper gate is opened on one side of the dividing
wall just mentioned, and the lower gates on the other side of
it. The sewage, which has by this time accumulated to a
considerable depth in the outfall sewer, passes through the
openings into one side of the basin, and flows with moderate
force up the gutters to the back retaining-wall. As the gutters
fill the sewage overflows across the ridges and down the gutters
on the other side of the basin. Much of the sludge is in this
way washed off into the gutters and carried into the discharge
114
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
sewers. The flushing is done alternately from one and the
other side of the basin.
If a basin cannot thus be entirely cleaned men descend into
it with broad wooden scrapers, convex on one side, to fit the
gutters, and flat on the other. With these the mud is scraped
into the gutters and pushed down into the gallery, whence it
is washed out into the sea at the next time of discharge. Such
cleansing operations occupy about one-half hour for each basin,
and are not especially disagreeable for the men.'
When the sides of a basin need cleaning the pump in the
engine-house is started, and one or more lines of hose are
coupled to the hydrants on the 4-inch pipe fastened to the floor
in the middle of each basin. The pump will give two strong
fire streams with sufficient force to wash off any crust which has
hardened on the walls. The streams can also be used in con-
nection with scraping and washing the floors of the basin.
The first sewage which discharges at the outlet contains a
considerable amount of sludge which has settled in the
gallery and discharge sewers, and gives to the effluent a dark,
muddy appearance. After a few minutes the color is somewhat
lost, and the effluent looks like moderately dirty water.
Its effect in discoloring the salt water, and its course as it
joins the current out of the harbor, can be plainly noticed.
Being fresh water it rises to the surface, and when a half-mile
from the outlet seems to lie on top of the salt water in a
stratum but a few inches thick. The greasy nature of the sew-
age tends to quiet the ripples commonly seen on the surface of
the harbor, so that the area affected by the discharge is plainly
determined. From experiments with floats it is known that
the sewage travels nearly five miles, following the Western Way
and Black-Rock Channel out to the vicinity of the Brewster
Islands. By the time it has travelled a mile from the outlet
most of the color is lost, and by the time it has gone two miles
(before passing Rainsford Island) not the slightest trace of it
can be distinguished.
1 Since this was written slight changes have been made in the method of flushing the
floors and gutters, which render the operation so effective that it is no longer necessary
to send men into the basins to clean them.
WORKING OF THE NEW SYSTEM.
115
When the works went into operation, and for the first nine
months thereafter, there were no gates near the outlet at the
end of the discharge sewers. As a consequence the last por-
tion of sewage from the reservoir, filling the discharge sewers,
flowed out into the harbor slowly as the tide fell. This was
the dirtiest part of the sewage, because it contained scourings
from the basins. By referring to the plan (Plate V.) it will be
seen that a cove was formed between the island and the pier
containing the discharge sewers. In this cove a foot or more
of sludge accumulated. A thin layer of sludge also formed on
A
the beach between the outlet and the extreme point of the
island. This last-named deposit was only found between the
levels of the mid-tide and low water.
In winter no smell comes from these deposits, and in sum-
mer none is noticed except during low tide. On three occa-
sions last summer, when the wind was from the east, the
smell was so strong as to be noticed at Squantum, a mile
away.
In hopes of preventing, or at least lessening, the formation
of such deposits, a set of gates have been placed in the cham-
ber at the outlet. By these the sewage filling the discharge
sewers is held back until the beginning of the succeeding dis-
charge, when it is forced out into a good current. These gates
have not been in place long enough to show how much they
will accomplish ; but, should objectionable deposits still continue
to form on the island, it is thought that an effectual remedy
can be provided. This will consist in building a solid bulk-
head wall near the line of low water, from the outlet to the
extreme easterly point of the island. Such a structure could
be built for $30,000.
No trace of the sludge has been found on the shores in any
other part of the harbor. Very little smell emanates from the
reservoir in cool weather; not enough to be perceptible at a
contractor's boarding house, about 200 feet distant. In sum-
mer the smell is more noticeable ; but not nearly so much so as
is that arising from the deposits of sludge on the beach.
As a whole the Main Drainage System works well, and no
radical defect has been detected in any portion of it. It is not
116
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
claimed that, by itself it furnishes a perfect system of sewerage
for the city. Many defective house-drains and common sewers
still exist, and must in time be replaced; but the new system
provides an outlet for the rest, without which other reforms
would be comparatively useless.
By building the Main Drainage Works Boston has taken
the first, most essential step in the direction of efficient sew-
erage.
1
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX A.
RECORD OF TESTS OF CEMENT MADE FOR BOSTON
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1878-1884.'
The Main Drainage Works chiefly consist of brick, stone, and con-
crete masonry Abut 180,000 barrels of cement were required to
build this masonry; and to insure its stability and durability, it was
necessary that the cement should be of good quality. From the start,
therefore, means for determining the qualities of all cements used or
offered for use were provided. A room was set apart for these opera-
tions and an inspector appointed to conduct them.
The tests were devised, principally, in order to determine three
points, namely:-
1. The relative strength and value of any cement as compared
with the average strength and value of the best quality of similar
kinds of cements.
2. The absolute and comparative strength and value of mortars of
different kinds made from the same cement.
The effect produced upon the strength of any cement-mortar
by different conditions and methods of treatment.
This knowledge was chiefly sought by observations of the tensile
strength of the cements and mortars tested. Reasons for adopting
the tensile test were, that it required comparatively light strains to
produce rupture; that, as it was universally used, it afforded results
which could be compared with those of other observers; and, finally,
because the tensile stress is precisely that by which the mortar of
masonry, in most cases of failure, actually is broken.
All the particles of any cement are of appreciable size, and its
strength as a mortar depends on the extent to which the particles ad-
here, at their points of contact, to each other or to some inert substance.
This adherence may be overcome and the mortar broken, either by
pulling the particles apart by tension, or by pushing them past each
3.
1 A paper presented to the American Society of Civil Engineers.
120
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
other by compression. The effect upon the adhering quality of the
particles is not very different in the two operations; but in the latter
the friction of the particles against each other must also be overcome,
which requires the application of very much more force. Transverse
tests are only tensile tests differently applied, and shearing produces
a stress intermediate to tension and compression. When masonry is
strained one part of it is in tension, another in compression, and, as
mortar yields more readily to tensile stress, failure generally occurs
by rupture of the joints in tension.
Briquettes for testing, with a breaking section of one square inch,
were first used ; but it was thought that these, from their small size,
were liable to be strained and injured by handling in taking them
from the moulds and transferring them to the water. A larger pat-
tern, with a breaking section one and one-half inches square, or two
and one-quarter square inches, was finally adopted. Comparative
tests with briquettes of one inch and two and one-quarter inches sec-
tion respectively indicated that there was little, if any, difference in
their strength per square inch.
The shape of the briquette adopted is shown by Fig. 2, Plate XXVIII.
Fig. 1 of the same plate shows the brass moulds in which the mortar
was packed to form the briquettes. These moulds proved very sat-
isfactory. They were strong, and easily clamped and opened. The
clamp consisted of a piece of brass wire riveted loose in the project-
ing lug of one branch of the mould, and binding by friction when
turned against the wedged-shaped lug on the other branch. If a fast-
ening worked loose a single tap of the hammer would tighten it. All
breaking loads were reduced to pounds per square inch of breaking
section by multiplying by four and dividing by nine.
Before testing a cement its color was first observed. The absolute
color of a natural cement indicates little, since it varies so much in
this particular. But, for any given kind, variations in shade may indi-
cate differences in the character of the rock or in the degree of burn-
ing. With Rosendale cements a light color generally indicated an
inferior or underburned rock. An undue proportion of underburned
material was indicated in the case of Portland cement by a yellowish
shade, and a marked difference between the color of the hard-burned,
unground particles retained by a fine sieve and the finer cement which
passed through the sieve.
The weight per cubic foot was also sometimes ascertained. As this
would vary with the density of packing, a standard for comparison
was adopted, which was the density with which the cement would
pack itself by an average free fall of three feet. The apparatus used
BRASS
MOULO.
BRIQUETTE.
TUBE AND BOX
FOR WEIGHING CEMENT.


FIG. 3.
AUGER
SCOOP
FIG.7.
FOR TAKING SAMPLES FROM BARRELS.
BARREL OF CEMENT
60 PER CENT FINE
BARREL OF CEMENT
90 PER CENT FINE
SAND
SAND
CEMENT
CEMENT
FIG.9.
PLATE XX.VIII.
FIG. I.
PATOF CEMENT
TESTED FOR CHECK CRACKS.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 4.
PAN FOR KEEPING BRIQUETTES.
FIG. 6.
LIGHT & HEAVY WIRES.
Fig. 5.
FIG. 8.
IOPER CENT
40PER CENT
9OPER CENT
60PER CENT
FIG.10.
|
1
APPENDIX A.
121
is shown by Fig. 3, Plate XXVIII. The cement was placed in a
coarse sieve on the top of a galvanized iron tube, and, the sieve being
shaken, the cement sifted through the tube into the box below. This
box held exactly one-tenth of a cubic foot when struck level with its
top.
The weights per cubic foot as determined by this method varied
considerably with different kinds and brands of cement, and some-
what with different samples of the same brand. The averages were
as follows:
TABLE No. 1.
.
Rosendale
Lime of Teil
Roman
A fine-ground French Portland
English and German Portlands
An American Portland
49 to 56 pounds.
50
54
60
77.5 to 87
95
.
The following table shows the effect of fine grinding upon the
weight of cement. It gives the weight per cubic foot of the same
German Portland cement, containing different percentages of coarse
particles, as determined by sifting through the No. 120 sieve :
•
66
66
.
.
TABLE No. 2.
O per cent. retained by No. 120 sieve — W't per cubic foot . . 75 pounds.
10
• 79
20
. 82
30
. 86
40
. 90
06
.
It was
soon discovered that there was no direct ratio between
weight and strength. As a general rule, subject to exceptions,
heavy cement, if thoroughly burned and fine-ground, was preferred
to light cement. Fine-ground cements were lighter than coarse-
ground and underburned rock lighter than well-burned. While color
and weight by themselves indicated little, yet, considered together
and also in connection with fineness, they enabled the inspector to
guess at the character of a cement, and suggested reasons for high
or low breaking. A cement which was light in color and weight,
and also coarse-ground, would be viewed with suspicion.
The test of fiveness, which followed, was considered of great
importance, as showing the quantity of actual cement contained in a
barrel, and its consequent value. Small scales were used, made
122
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
for this purpose by Fairbanks & Co. One-quarter of a pound of
the sample was weighed out and passed through the sieve. The
coarse particles retained by the sieve were returned to the scales,
whose balance-beam carried a movable weight, and was graduated
in percentages of one-quarter pound. The percentage of coarse
particles retained by the sieve could thus be read directly from the
beam.
Standard sieves, varying from No. 50 to No. 120, were used. The
number of meshes to the lineal inch in any sieve is commonly sup-
posed to correspond with its trade number. As sold, however, they
vary somewhat, and the number of wires is generally less, by about
ten per cent., than the number of the sieve. A No. 50 sieve com-
monly has about 45 meshes to the inch, and a No. 120 about 100, or
a few more. In important contracts, where a certain degree of fine-
ness was called for, it was customary carefully to compare two sieves
and retain one, which was specified as the standard, while the other
was delivered to the manufacturer for his guidance.
In accordance with common practice the No. 50 sieve was first
used. It was soon discovered, however, that so coarse a sieve did
not always give a correct indication of the fineness of the cement.
This was especially true of Portland cements. Some brands, chiefly
German, were evidently bolted by the manufacturers with special
reference to tests by this sieve, in which they would leave no
siduum. Yet the bulk of such cements, while containing no very
coarse particles, might prove quite coarse when tested by the No.
120 sieve.
It is obvious that pieces of burned cement slag one-fourth of an
inch in diameter would have no cementing quality, and the same is
true of particles one one-hundredth of in inch in diameter. At pre-
cisely what smaller size the particles begin to act as cement it was
impossible to determine. Those retained by a No. 120 sieve, in which
the open meshes are approximately one two-hundredth of an inch
square, were found to have some slight coherence, even after washing
to remove the finer floury cement which was sticking to them. It was
also found that the No. 120 sieve was about as fine a one as it was
practicable to use, on account of the time required to sift the cement
through it. It was, therefore, adopted as a standard.
Assuming (what was only approximately verified by experiments
on tensile strength) that only what passed through this sieve had real
value as cement, and that the rest was not very different from good,
sharp sand, the difference in the quantity of actual cement obtained
in purchasing barrels 60 and 90 per cent. fine, respectively, is shown
re-
|
其
​PLATE XXIX
500
400
NEAL PORTLAND CEMENT
300:
200H
NEAT ROSENDALE CEMENT
100
o
SO
60
TENSILE STRENGTH IN (BS. PER SQ.IN.
VERY FINE
14
AGE IN DAYS WHEN BROKEN.
FIG.I.
FIG. 2.
KIND OF SAND USED.
400
FINE
MEDIUM
VERY
COARSE
MIXED
300
PORT CEMENT, SAND 2, MONTHS.
200!
TROS. CEMENT, SAND 1.5, 9 MONTHS.
PORT. CEMENTI, SAND 2,2 WEEKS.
ROS. CEMENT LISAND 2.5. IMONTH
100
IROS. CEMENT I SAND 1.5,1 WEEK.
o
APPENDIX A.
123
>
by Figs. 9 and 10, Plate XXVIII. This has an important bearing
on the proportion of sand to be added in practical use ; for when
mortar is mixed for use in the proportion of one barrel of cement
to two of sand, if there be nine parts of cement and one of sand in
the barrel of cement itself, the actual proportion in the mortar will
be .9 to 2.1 or 1 to 2.33. If there be only six parts of cement and
four of sand in the barrel of cement the resulting proportion in the
mixture will be .6 to 2.4 or 1 to 4.
Fine cement can be produced by the manufacturers in three ways:
by supplying the mill-stones with comparatively soft, underburnt
rock, which is easily reduced to powder; by running the stones more
slowly, so that the rock remains longer between them; or by bolting
through a sieve and returning the unground particles to the stones.
The first process produces an inferior quality of cement, while the
second and third add to the cost of manufacturing.
The extra cost, as estimated by a firm of English manufacturers,
of reducing a Portland cement from an average of 70 per cent. fine,
tested by No. 120 sieve, to 90 per cent. fine, was 18 cents per barrel.
The price at which 5,000 barrels of their ordinary make, 70 per cent.
fine, were offered, delivered on our work, was $2.82 per barrel. The
same cement, ground 88 per cent. fine, was delivered for $3 a barrel.
On the foregoing assumption of the value of fine and coarse particles
the city, by accepting the first offer, would have obtained in bulk
3,500 barrels of actual cement and 1,500 barrels of sand for $14,100.
By accepting the second offer it obtained in bulk 4,400 barrels of
cement and 600 of sand for $15,000; that is, the 900 additional
barrels of cement cost $1 a barrel. Experiments illustrating the value
of fine grinding, and further comments, will be given later.
Tests were made both of neat cement and of cement mixed with
sand in different proportions. The latter were preferred, because they
showed the strength and value of the mortars used in actual work. It
was found also that the strength of briquettes made of neat cements
did not always indicate the capacity of these cements to bind sand,
or the strength of the mortars made with them. This is illustrated
by experiment No. 10, on page 127.
The greater the proportion of sand in the mortar tested the more
accurately was the actual cementing quality of the cement indicated.
As, however, very weak mixtures took a long time to harden, and were
liable to injury from handling, one part cement to three parts sand
was adopted as the usual mixture for testing Portland cements, and
one to one and one-half or two for American cements. Occasionally
when testing large quantities of some well-known brand, the object
>
124
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
a
being to see that a uniform strength was maintained, it was found
sufficient, and simpler, to omit the sand and make the briquettes
of cement only.
In making mortars for testing, rather coarse, clean, sea-beach sand
was used.
The subsequent strength of the briquettes depended largely upon
the amount of water with which they were gauged. The highest re-
sults were obtained by using just enongh water thoroughly to dampen
the cement, giving the mass the consistency of fresh loam, .which be-
came pasty by working with a trowel. For ordinary testing sufficient
water was added to make a plastic mortar, somewhat stiffer than
is commonly used by masons. Different cements varied in the
amounts of water needed to produce this result. As a rule American
cements needed more water than Portland, fine ground more than
coarse, and quick-setting more than more slow-setting cements.
Experiment No. 9, page 127, shows the comparative strength of mor-
tars gauged with different percentages (in weight of the cement) of
water. The standard adopted was 25 per cent. for Portland cement
and 33 per cent. for Rosendale ; but these amounts were increased or
diminished by the operator to suit the circumstances, his aim being to
obtain mortars of unvarying consistency.
The way in which the test briquettes were made was as follows:
the moulds, having been slightly greased inside to prevent the mor-
tar sticking to them, were placed on a polished marble slab. This
support for them was used because it was easily cleaned and the mor-
tar did not stick to it. Experiment No. 6, page 124, shows that the
use of porous or of non-porous beds to support the moulds does not
materially affect the strength of the mortars. The requisite amounts of
cement and sand for one briquette were weighed out and incorporated
dry in a mixing-pan. The proper amount of water was also weighed
out and added, and the mass worked briskly with a small trowel until
of uniform consistency. A brass mould was half filled with the mor-
tar, which was rammed into place by the operator with a small wooden
rammer, in order to displace any bubbles of air which might be con-
fined in it. The mould was then filled to its top with the remaining
mortar, which was in turn rammed down. Finally the mortar was
struck even with the top of the mould and given a smooth surface
by the trowel.
The amount of mortar packed in the mould, and the consequent
density of the briquette, would vary with any variation in the degree
of force exerted by the operator in ramming. This variation was re-
duced to a minimum by always mixing a fixed amount of mortar,
APPENDIX A.
125
-
>
1
which was barely more than sufficient to fill one mould. Irregularities
in ramming would thus be detected by variations in the amount of
surplus mortar, and could be checked. An attempt was made to
do away wholly with this element of uncertainty by pressing the
mortar into the moulds with certain fixed pressures. Apparatus was
devised and used for this purpose, but was finally abandoned on ac-
count of the length of time required for its use.
The initial energy of the cement- that is, the length of time after
mixing before it "set" — was determined by noting the length of
time before it would bear “the light wire ” of 1 inch in diameter
loaded with 1-pound weight, and also “ the heavy wire" 24 inch in
diameter loaded with 1-pound weight. At the former time the cement
was said to have begun to set, and at the latter it was entirely set.
Different kinds and brands of cement varied greatly in the time after
mixing when they would bear the wires. Some brands of English
Roman cement would set in two minutes, and some of Portland re-
quired over 12 hours. Cold retarded the setting, and fresh-ground
cements set quicker than older ones. No direct relation was estab-
lished between initial energy and subsequent strength. By judicious
mixing of quick and slow setting cements a mixture could be ob-
tained which would set within any desired period.
As soon as the briquettes were hard enough to handle without injury,
which, with different cements and mixtures, varied from five minutes
to twelve or more hours, they were removed from the moulds and
placed in numbered pans filled with water. Before removal each
briquette had marked upon it, with steel stamps, the name of the
cement, date of mixing, and a number by which it could be further
identified. The inscription might read thus :-
66 Alsen 1-3. May 17, 1880. 47.”
Records were also kept in books and on blanks provided for the
purpose. The briquettes were kept in the pans, covered with water,
until they were broken. Their age when broken varied from 24 hours
to five years.
In testing a well-known American cement, of generally uniform
quality, if it were an object to save time, the comparative excellence
of the samples could be sufficiently determined by a 24 hours' test of
briquettes made of neat cement. Under similar conditions neat Port-
land cement could be tested in seven days. To test mortar of either
kind of cement took a week, or, better, a month ; especially if there
was a liberal proportion of sand.
The probable value of an untried brand of cement could hardly
126
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
>
>
be ascertained with certainty in less than a month, and not always
then. To illustrate the occasional need of long-time tests, a case may
be cited.
A new brand of cement, made by some patent process, was offered
for use on the work. When tested it set up well, and at the end
of a week the neat cement had a tensile strength of 184 pounds per
square inch. In a month this had increased to 267 pounds, indicating
a strength equal to that of a low-grade Portland cement. At this
time there was nothing in the appearance of the briquettes to indicate
any weakness. Yet, after about six months, they fell to pieces, and
had entirely lost their cohesive quality.
The briquettes were broken by a machine made for the Department
by Fairbanks & Co. It worked with levers, acting on a spring bal-
ance, which was tested from time to time, and found to maintain its
accuracy.
During the progress of the work the following brands of cement
were submitted for approval, and were tested with more or less thor-
oughness : -
Old Newark, Newark and Rosendale, Norton, Hoffman, Old Rosen-
dale, New York and Rosendale, Lawrenceville, Rosendale, Arrow,
Keator, Howe's Cave, Rock Lock, Buffalo, Cumberland, Round Top,
Selenitic, Vorwholer, Star, Dyckerhoff, Alsen, Hemmor, Bonnar,
Onward, Burham, J. B. White, Knight, Bevan & Sturge, Brooks,
Shoobridge & Co., Leavitt, Grand Float, Diamond, Spanish, Red
Cross, La Farge, Lime of Teil, Saylor, Coolidge, Walkill, Cobb,
Abbott.
The following is a record of the more instructive tests made for
experimental purposes. Nearly all of them were made with special
reference to the work then in hand to elucidate some practical ques-
tions affecting the purchase, testing, or use of the cements needed for
building purposes. The names of the brands of cement tested in the
several experiments are generally omitted. This is in order to avoid
any unwarranted use of the results as recorded.
The figures given in the tables always represent average breaking
loads in pounds per square inch of breaking section.
EXPERIMENT No. 1.
Of natural American cements the Rosendale brands (so called) are
the only ones which find a sale in the Boston market, and they were
chiefly used on the work. Imported Portland cements were also
largely used. It was important, therefore, to ascertain the actual and
,
APPENDIX A.
127
comparative strengths of these cements. The following table gives
results compiled from about 25,000 breakings, of 20 different brands,
and fairly represents the average strength of ordinary good cements
of the two kinds. Some caution, however, is necessary in using the
table as a standard in which to compare other cements. Quick-
setting cements might be stronger in a day or week, and show less
increase in strength with time. Fine-ground cements would probably
give lower results tested neat, and higher ones with liberal propor-
tions of sand.
TABLE No. 3.
ROSENDALE CEMENT.
NEAT CEMENT.
CEMENT, 1;
SAND, 1.
CEMENT, 1;
SAND, 1.5.
CEMENT, 1;
SAND, 2.
CEMENT, 1;
SAND, 3.
CEMENT, 1;
SAND, 5.
s 1 Day.
1 Wk.
1 Mo.
6 Mos.
12 Mos.
| 1 Wk.
E I Mo.
6 Mos.
12 Mos.
1 Wk.
1 Mo.
6 Mos.
12 Mos.
! 1 Wk.
1 Mo.
6 Mos.
12 Mos.
1 Wk.
Son 1 Mo.
| 6 Mos.
12 Mos.
1 Wk.
1 Mo.
6 Mos.
| 12 Mos.
71 92 145 282 290
56 116 190 256
41 95 155 230
24 60 125 180
14 35 80 121
5 16 46 80
PORTLAND CEMENT.
NEAT CEMENT.
CEMENT, 1;
SAND, 1.
CEMENT, 1;
SAND, 1.5.
CEMENT, 1;
SAND, 2.
CEMENT, 1;
SAND, 3.
CEMENT, 1;
SAND, 5.
| 1 Day.
Wk.
| 1 Mo.
6. Mos.
12 Mos.
| 1 Wk.
1 Mo.
6 Mos.
12 Mos.
: | 1 Wk.
: 1 Mo.
| 6 Mos.
: 12 Mos.
| 1 Wk.
1 Mo.
6 Mos.
12 Mos.
| 1 Wk.
1 Mo.
6 Mos.
12 Mos.
| 1 Wk.
1 Mo.
en 6 Mos.
| 12 Mos.
102 303 412 468 494 160 225 347 387
126 163 279 323
95 140 198 257
55 88 136 155
The table is instructive in several ways. It shows that Portland
cement acquires its strength more quickly than Rosendale ; that both
cements (but especially Rosendale) harden more and more slowly as
the proportion of sand mixed with them is increased ; that, whereas
neat cements and rich mortars attain nearly their ultimate strength in
six months or less, weak mortars continue to harden for a year or more.
The table shows the advantage of waiting as long as possible before
loading masonry structures, and the possibility of saving cost by using
less cement when it can have ample time to harden. It also shows
that Portland cement is especially useful when heavy strains must be
withstood within a week.
128
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
EXPERIMENT No. 2.
These series of tests are like the preceding ones, except that a
single brand of cement was used in making each.
The average
breaking loads per square inch were obtained from a less number of
briquettes (about 500 in all); mortars with larger proportions of sand
were included in the series, and the tests were extended for two years.
TABLE No. 4.
PORTLAND CEMENT MORTAR.
Age when
Broken.
Neat
Cement.
Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1;
Sand, 2. Sand, 4. Sand, 6. Sand, 8. Sand, 10. Sand, 12.
One week.
295
166
89
50
33
23
17
One month.
341
243
132
88
67
50
41
Six months.
374
343
213
149
98
76
51
Two years ·
472
389
226
159
98
49
31
ROSENDALE CEMENT MORTAR.
Age when
Broken.
Neat Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1;
Cement. Sand, 2.
Sand, 4. Sand, 6. Sand, 8. Sand, 10. | Sand, 12.
One week .
24
7
5
One month.
83
33
17
8
5
Six months .
172
93
62
50
33
21
Two years .
211
90
56
33
22
20
The tables show that considerable strength is acquired in time, even
when a very large proportion of sand is used; also, that most mortars
increase very little, if any, in tensile strength after six months or a
year. They become harder with time, but also become more brittle
and probably less tough. Specimens of mortar two years old, or
more, break very irregularly.
EXPERIMENT No. 3.
The rate at which Rosendale and Portland cements, respectively,
increase in strength during the first two months after mixing is very
different, and has some bearing on their use, and more on the inter-
pretation of tests of them made within that period. The curves (Fig.
APPENDIX A.
129
1, Plate XXIX.), which indicates this rate of increase, were compiled
from tests with neat cement. It is probable that tests with mortar
would give somewhat similar results. By comparing the two curves it
appears that after 24 hours Rosendale cement has about three-fourths
of the strength of Portland. While the latter increases greatly in
hardness during the next few days, the energy of the former becomes
dormant, so that at the end of a week the Portland cement is more
than three times as strong as the Rosendale. During the second
week the Portland cement increases more slowly, and the Rosen-
dale continues nearly quiescent. At about this period, and for the
next six weeks, the Rosendale cement gains strength, not only rela-
tively, but actually faster than the Portland, so that when two months
old the former has one-half the strength of the latter. After two
months the relative rate of increase and the comparative strength
of the two cements remain nearly unchanged. A series of tests with
a Buffalo cernent, and one with a Cumberland cement, gave results
similar to those with Rosendale cement.
EXPERIMENT No. 4.
For making tests it is not always convenient to obtain sand of uni-
form size, and still less so to obtain such sand in sufficient quantities
for use in work. The curves (Fig. 2, Plate XXIX.) record some tests
made to determine the effect of fineness and of uniformity of size
in sand upon the strength of mortars made with it.
The curves show that for comparative tests it is advisable to have
sifted sand of nearly uniform size; that mortars made with coarse
sand are the strongest, and that the finer the sand the less the
strength. It also appears that mixed sand, i.e., unsifted sand con-
taining a mixture of particles from coarse to fine, makes nearly as
strong a mortar as coarse or medium coarse sand. For use in work,
therefore, it is well to avoid fine sands; but it is not necessary to
have sand of uniform size, or to sift out a moderate proportion of
fine particles.
EXPERIMENT No. 5.
As some experimenters on cement use a test briquette with a break-
ing section of 1 square inch, and others one with a section of 24
square inches, the following experiment was made to determine the
difference, if any, in the strength acquired by the same mortars
moulded into briquettes of these different sizes. Two series of tests
were made, in the same way, with the same mortars. In one series
the briquettes had a breaking section of 1 square inch, and in the
130
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
other the section was 24 square inches. The results are given in the
following table, in which the figures represent breaking loads in
pounds per square inch, and are averages from five breakings :
TABLE No. 5.
ROSENDALE CEMENT.
PORTLAND CEMENT.
Neat Cement.
Cement, 1;
Sand, 1.5.
Neat
Cement.
Cement, 1;
Sand, 1.5.
1 Day.
1 Week.
1 Month.
6 Months.
1 Week.
1 Month.
6 Months.
1 Week.
1 Month.
6 Months.
1 Week.
1 Month.
6 Months.
1-inch Section.
49 83 156 286 27 53 236 309 460/657 60 96 175
24-inch Section
49 78 173 258 27 62 311 347 391 578 | 67 108 230
As is usual, the breaking loads are somewhat irregular, the inch
section excelling at some points and the larger section at others.
The experiment, however, seems to indicate that neither size will, as
a rule, give higher results than the other.
EXPERIMENT No. 6.
Some experimenters have thought it important to place the moulds
in which the mortar is packed for testing upon a porous bed, such as
blotting-paper or plaster. Others use a non-porous bed of glass,
slate, or marble. The following series of tests were made to dis-
cover the effect of these different modes of treatment.
The figures
in the tables represent breaking loads, in pounds, per square inch,
and are averages of about ten breakings : —
TABLE No. 6.
ROSENDALE CEMENT.
Mixture.
Kind of Bed.
One Week.
One Month.
Six Months.
One Year.
Marble
95
151
228
325
Neat.
Plaster
106
178
303
316
Cement, 1.
Marble
44
107
210
251
Sand, 1.5
Plaster
62
120
219
265
APPENDIX A.
131
A CUMBERLAND CEMENT.
Mixture.
Kind of Bed.
One
Day.
One
Week.
One
Month.
Six
Months.
One
Year.
Marble .
128
133
142
231
241
Neat.
Plaster .
147
165
176
244
257
Cement, 1
Marble .
107
161
275
339
.
Sand, 1.5
Plaster.
128
166
299
345
.
.
Cement, 1
Marble .
85
134
201
292
.
Sand, 2
Plaster
111
148
241
294
.
Cement, 1
Marble.
40
94
162
163
Sand, 4
Plaster.
46
91
164
170
•
GERMAN PORTLAND CEMENT.
Mixture.
Kind of Bed.
One Week.
One Month.
Six Months.
One Year.
Cement, 1.
Marble
259
367
390
Sand, 1.
Plaster
213
376
411
.
.
Cement, 1.
Marble
176
256
346
345
.
Sand, 2.
Plaster
196
258
326
357
Marble
141
225
250
313
Cement, 1.
1
Sand, 3.
Plaster
147
220
258
312
Marble
103
157
240
274
.
Cement, 1.
Sand, 4.
Plaster
120
150
233
264
Cement, 1.
Marble
82
108
182
213
.
.
Sand, 5.
Plaster
103
140
193
197
.
Making allowance for a few irregularities, it appears from the fore-
going tables that the use of a porous bed gives slightly higher
results for the first one or two months, but that the difference disap-
pears or becomes insignificant with age.
132
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
EXPERIMENT No. 7.
It is a well-recognized fact that in experimenting with cements, even
when great care is exercised, individual specimens break very irregu-
larly, and that results even approximately conforming to theory can
only be obtained from averages from a large nuniber of breakings.
The personal equation of the operator, and the degree of force with
which he presses the mortar into the moulds, is one factor in pro-
ducing irregular results. To do away with this a machine for packing
the moulds was devised and used for a time. By this the mortar was
pressed into the moulds by a metallic plunger, acting with definite
pressures, varying from 50 to 400 pounds.
The machine-made briquettes broke with somewhat greater uni-
formity than band-made ones. So much more time was required to
make briquettes with this machine that it was found to be impracti-
cable to employ it for general use.
EXPERIMENT No. 8.
By the sea it is frequently convenient to mix mortar with salt-water.
Brine is also used in winter as a precaution against frost. This
experiment was made to obtain the comparative effect of mixing
with, and immersing in, fresh and sea water respectively. The tests
were made upon a Rosendale mortar, mixed one part cement to one
part sand, and an English Portland mortar, one part cement to two
parts sand. The figures are averages of about ten breakings, and
give the tensile strength in pounds per square inch with the different
methods of treatment and at different ages.
Except for some irregularity in the breakings for one year (which
may have been due to the manipulation), the table indicates that salt,
either in the water used for mixing or that of immersion, has no impor-
tant effect upon the strength of cement. Salt-water retards the first
set of cement somewhat.
TABLE No. 7.
>
ROSENDALE CEMENT MORTAR,
1 To 1.
PORTLAND CEMENT MORTAR,
1 TO 2.
Fresh Water.
Fresh.
Salt.
Salt.
Mixed with.
Fresh. Fresh.
Salt.
Salt.
Fresh Water.
Salt.
Fresh.
Salt.
Immersed in.
Fresh.
Salt.
Fresh.
Salt.
122
191
40
126
247
310
.
48
135
250
263
50
114
243
224
One week
One month
Six months
61
126
224
217
151
213
314
342
152
203
277
346
149
200
264
295
245
.
One year
231
PLATE X X X
500
ONE
SIX
NEAT PORTLAND CEMENT,
MONTHS.
400
YEAR.
ONE
ONE
MONTH.
300
WEEK.
200
SLIGHTLY DAMAR
DAMP.
STIFF PASTE.
MEDIUM SOFT.
GROUT.
THIN GROUT.
100
400
WEAT ROSENDALE CEMENT,
TENSILE STRENGTH IN LBS. PEA SQ. IN.
YEAR
300
ONE
MONTHS.
SIX
200
SLIGHTLY DAMP.
DAMP.
VERY STEEL
STIFF PASTE.
MEDIUM SOFT
SOFT.
ONE
MONTH.
100
ONE
DAY.
O
15
30
35
.20
25
40
45
50
PER CENT OF WATER OF MIXTURE IN WEIGHT OF CEMENT,
APPENDIX A.
133
EXPERIMENT No. 9.
This was an experiment to determine the relation existing between
the stiffness of cement mortar when first mixed and its subsequent
strength. The stiffness depends on the proportion of water used in
mixing, and varies somewhat with different cements. Natural Ameri-
can cements take up more water than Portland cements, and fine-
ground more than coarse cements. Many series of tests bearing on
this point were made. The results obtained from two of the more
complete series are shown by the curves on Plate XXX. The cements
used in these tests were a rather coarse English Portland and a fair
Rosendale. Each of the points in the curves represents an average
from about ten briquettes. The cements were tested neat, and the
amounts of water used were different percentages, by weight, of the
amounts of cement. The resulting stiffness of mortar is indicated on
the curves. This varied from the consistency of fresh loam to a fluid
grout. The time of settling is greatly retarded by the addition of water.
The curves show that from 20 to 25 per cent. of water gives the
best results with Portland cement, and from 30 to 35 per cent. with
Rosendale; that the differences in strength due to the amount of water
are consi
rable at first, but diminish greatly with age; that soft
mortars, even when semifluid, like grout, attain considerable strength
in time.
EXPERIMENT No. 10.
From the first it was observed that fine-ground cements were less
strong when tested neat, and stronger when mixed with sand, than
were coarse cements. A few examples of this are given below. In
the first table a coarse English Portland cement is compared with a
fine-ground French Portland. The per cent. of each retained by the
fine No. 120 sieve is given, and the tensile strength, in pounds, per
square inch at the end of seven days.
TABLE No. 8.
Parts of Sand to 1 part of
Cement.
Kind of Cement.
Per Cent.
retained by
No. 120 Sieve.
0
2
3
4
5
English Portland'.
37
319
125
89
59
43
French Portland.
13
318
205
130
114
86
134
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
Such examples could be multiplied. German Portland cements
were commonly finer ground than English, and, as a rule, were no
stronger or less strong, tested neat, but were much stronger with
liberal proportions of sand. In the following table two lots of the
same brand of English Portland cement are compared. The coarse
cement was the ordinary make of the manufacturers ; the fine cement
differed in no particular from the other except that it was ground
more slowly and finer to meet the requirements of a special agree-
ment. The age of the samples when broken was 28 days: -
TABLE No. 9.
Parts of Sand to 1 part of
Cement.
Kind of Cement.
Per Cent.
retained by
No. 120 Sieve.
0
3
5
Ordinary Cement
35
403
105
68
Fine-ground Cement
12
304
180
96
Different brands of Rosendale cement varied considerably in their
fineness. Those of the best reputation would leave from 4 to 10 per
cent. residuum in the No. 50 sieve ; other brands would leave in the
same sieve from 10 to 23 per cent. In the following table is com-
pared the average tensile strength obtained from experiments with
three of the finer-ground brands, and also with three other brands of
good reputation, but more coarsely ground. The age of the speci-
mens was one week :
TABLE No. 10.
Parts of Sand to 1 part of
Cement.
Kind of Cement.
Per Cent.
retained by
No. 50 Sieve.
0
1.5
2
Fine Rosendale
6
92
41
25
Coarse Rosendale .
17
98
29
16
.
The foregoing experiments show that it is impossible, by tests on
the tensile strength of neat cements alone, to judge of their value
APPENDIX A.
135
in making mortars, for practical use; also, that fine-ground cements
make stronger mortars than do coarser ones.
A number of series of tests were made of cements which had been
sifted through sieves of different degrees of fineness, and had thereby
had different percentages of coarse particles removed from them.
The results from these experiments were quite uniform, and showed
that, in proportion as its coarse particles were removed, a cement
became more efficient for making mortars with sand. The following
table gives the results obtained from one such series of tests made
with an English Portland cement. In the experiment comparison is
made between the strength of mortars made with the ordinary cement,
unsifted, as it came from the barrel, and those made with the same
cement after having been sifted through Nos. 50, 70, 100, and 120
sieves, which, respectively, eliminated more and more of the coarse
particles. The per cent. of particles which would still be retained by
the fine No. 100 sieve, after sifting through the coarser sieves, is
given in the second column of the table. There is included in the
table an extra coarse cement, which was made so by adding to unsifted
cement a certain amount of the coarse particles taken from the sifted
cements. The tensile strength is given in pounds per square inch.
2
TABLE No. 11.
ONE WEEK.
ONE MONTH.
Six MONTHS.
ONE YEAR.
KIND OF CEMENT
USED IN MAKING
MORTARS.
PER CENT. OF PARTI.
CLES RETAINED BY
No. 120 SIEVE.
Parts of Sand to 1 part of Cement.
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
Cement with coarse par-
ticles added
55
72 39 32 19 117 80 67 40 210 135 122 84 200 128 112 92
Ordinary Cement
sifted
un
33
129 92 58 43 197 143 109 88 311 236 183 136 288 247 168 165
Cement which passed No.
50 Sieve
28
159 97 67 47 210 158 125 102 324 246 190 146 328 249 214 170
Cement which passed No.
70 Sieve
18
163 117 82 65 239 168 151 112 338 256 225 173 342 295 230 193
Cement wbich passed No.
100 Sieve.
8
177 123 84 73 255 185 156 122 257 288 239 182 382 307 257 215
Cement which passed No.
120 Sieve
0
198 154 95 86 271 200 161 132 379 320 238 196 386 316 262 218
136
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
>
In a similar series of tests with Rosendale cement mortars the
increase in strength obtained by substituting fine for coarse particles
in the cement was much less marked. The coarse particles were
softer than those from Portland cement, and had, in themselves, some
power of cohesion.
As previous tests had shown that fine-ground
Rosendale cements were stronger, with sand, than coarse-ground, it
was assumed that the superiority was due not so much to the absence
of palpably coarse particles, as to the fact that the bulk of the cement
was more floury, and thus better adapted to coating and binding the
particles of sand. Probably natural American cement is as much
improved as is Portland cement by fine grinding ; but in the case of
the former there would not be the same relative advantage in bolting
out the coarse particles after grinding.
The following series of tests may be of interest on account of the
age of the specimens. The mortars were made with an English
Portland cement, both unsiſted as taken from the cask, and also
after it had been siſted through the No. 120 sieve, by which process
about 35 per cent. of coarse particles was eliminated :
TABLE No. 12.
NEAT CEMENTS.
CEMENT, 1; ŞAND, 2. CEMENT, 1; SAND, 5.
KIND OF CEMENT.
2 Years.
4 Years.
2 Years.
4 Years.
2 Years.
4 Years.
Ordinary Cement, un-
sifted
603
387
339
493
182
202
Cement which passed
No. 120 Sieve
374
211
478
580
250
284
This table also shows that fine cements do not give as high re-
sults, tested neat, as do cements containing coarse particles, even
coarse particles of sand. It also shows (what is often noticed) that
neat cements become brittle with age, and are apt to fly into pieces
under comparatively light loads.
The series of tests which follows was made for the purpose of as-
certaining what value, if any, for cementing purposes, was possessed
by the hard, coarse particles of Portland cement. Mortars were
made with an ordinary English Portland cement, and compared with
similar mortars made with the same cement, after sifting through the
No. 120 sieve, which retained 33 per cent. of coarse particles.
PLATE X X XI

100
ALLT SANDAGRINDS SMOOTH.
90
09
PORTLAND CEMENT
MORTAR
ABRASVON.
70
TO
60
50
RESISTANCE
40
OF
30
SCALE
20
SANDGRINDS
SMOOTH.
1
Á SAND PULLS OUT.
MORE SAND
PULLSTOUT.
CEMENT GRINDST
SMOOTH
NEARLY ALL SAWD
GRINDS SMOOTH.
MORTAR
SOMEY SAND
GRINDS.
CEMENT
GRINDS.
WEARLY/ALL SA VD
PULLS OUT.
CRUMBLES
MORTAR CRUMBLES. NEARLY ALL AND
PULLS OUT.
4 0 4 3을 ​3 25
2
1
с
PARTS OF SAND TO ONE PART OF CEMENT
PARECEMENT
APPENDIX A.
137
TABLE No. 13.
ONE WEEK.
ONE MONTH.
Six MONTHS. ONE YEAR.
KIND OF CEMENT.
Parts of Sand to one part of Cement.
0 2 3
0
2
3
0 | 2
3
0
2
Ordinary Cement unsifted
353 139 86279 201 142 438 323 253 444 343 271
Cement which passed No. 120
Sieve .
311 187 132 243 275'201 268 367 310 306 434 333
As usual, the coarse cement was stronger neat, and weaker with
sand. Assuming that the 33 per cent. of coarse particles retained
by the sieve had no value as cement, acting merely as so much sand,
and assuming also that all which passed through the sieve was good
cement, it follows that the ordinary unsifted cement with two parts of
sand, made a mortar in which the proportion of real cement to sand
was .76 to 2.33, or about 1 to 3.5. Hence the mortar made with
fine cement and three parts of sand should be as strong, or a little
stronger, than that made with the coarse cement and two parts of
sand. It will be seen that the results in the table sustain the assump-
tion very well.
If, then, the coarse particles are assumed to act merely as so much
sand, it will not lessen the efficiency of the cement to remove its
coarse particles, and to substitute actual sand in their place. This
was done in making the following series of tests. One set of bri-
quettes was made with ordinary cement, and another set with the
same cement, from which 33 pe cent. of coarse particles had been
removed and replaced with fine sand.
TABLE No. 14.
ONE WEEK. ONE MONTH.
Six MONTHS.
ONE YEAR.
Parts of Sand to one part of Cement.
KIND OF CEMENT.
2
3
3
2
3
2
3
Ordinary Cement, unsifted
139
86
201
142
324
253
343
271
Cement with 33 per cent.
coarse particles removed
and fine sand substituted.
101
67
160
100
253
206
305
240
138
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
These briquettes refused to break in accordance with the theory,
and the assumed hypothesis was not verified. It is evident that, for
making mortar, the coarse particles of Portland cement are superior
to ordinary sand, but much inferior to fine cement. In the mortars
made with the cement in which the coarse particles had been replaced
with fine sand, the real proportions of cement to sand were 1 to 3.5
and 1 to 5. It will be noticed that the tensile strength was not re-
duced in like proportion.
EXPERIMENT No. 11.
While building masonry laid in American cement mortar it is some-
times desirable to increase the strength of the mortar temporarily or
in places. Rich Portland cement mortars are expensive, and those
with large proportions of sand are too porous for many purposes.
The desired strength can be gained by using, instead of the simple
American cement, the same cement mixed with a percentage of strong
Portland cement.
The following series of tests was designed to ascertain the compara-
tive strength of mortars made with a Rosendale cement, an English
Portland cement, and also a mixture composed of equal parts of
each :
TABLE No. 15.
Kind of Mortar.
1 Week.
1 Month.
6 Months.
1 Year.
Rosendale Cement, 1; Sand, 2
26
60
125
180
Rosendale Cement, 0:6; } Sand, 2
79
138
268
273
.
0.5
Portland Cement, 1; Sand, 2 .
126
163
279
323
In the foregoing tests the mortar made with mixed cement had an
unexpected strength, approximating to that of mortar made with pure
Portland cement. In the following series of tests of mortars made
with lime of Teil, a fine-ground French Portland cement, and the
lime and cement mixed, the strength of the mortar made with the
mixture is almost exactly a mean between those of the other two mor-
tars, as also the cost of the mixed cement is a mean between the costs
of the other two.
APPENDIX A.
139
TABLE No. 16.
Kind of Mortar.
1 Week.
1 Month.
6 Months.
1 Year.
Lime of Teil, 1; Sand, 2.
40
65
150
195
Lime of Teil, 0.5, \ Sand, 2 .
Portland Cement, 0.5, S
100
135
255
290
Portland Cement, 1; Sand, 2
170
265
350
365
The best Portland cements sometimes do not set within an hour,
which precludes their use for wet-work. In such cases quick-setting
cement should be added to them. Roman cements can be procured
which will set in from one to five minutes. Mixtures of Roman and
Portland cements were often used on the Main Drainage Works. Such
mortars would set about as quickly as if made with Roman cement
alone, and would acquire great subsequent strength, due to the Port-
land cement contained in them. This was proved by many experi-
mental tests.
It is probable that mixtures of any good cements can be used with-
out risk; but before adopting any novel combination it would be wise
to test it experimentally.
EXPERIMENT No. 12.
Engineers are accustomed to require that only clean sand and water
shall be used in making mortar. Occasionally these requirements
cause delay and extra expense. This experiment was designed to
ascertain how much injury would be caused by the use of sand con-
taining moderate proportions of loam. In mixing the mortar for
these briquettes, sand containing 10 per cent. of loam was used in the
place of clean sand. Each figure in the table is an average (in pounds
per square inch) of ten breakings.
TABLE No. 17.
ROSENDALE CEMENT, 1; SAND, 1.5; LOAM, .15.
One Week.
One Month.
Six Months.
One Year.
21
46
200
221
The tests do not give very decisive results. For one week and one
month the breaking loads are not much more than one-half what
140
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
For six months and a
would have been expected with clean sand.
year they are fully equal to ordinary mortar.
EXPERIMENT No. 13.
This experiment was similar to the foregoing one, except that clay,
instead of loam, was added to the mortar. Clay, when dissolved or
pulverized, consists of an almost impalpable powder, with particles
fine enough to fill the interstitial spaces among the coarser particles
of cement. By adding clay to cement mortar a much more dense,
plastic, and water-tight paste is produced, which was occasionally
found convenient for plastering surfaces or stopping leaky joints.
Each figure in the Portland cement series of tests is an average from
about fifteen briquettes ; those in the Rosendale cement series are
averages from ten briquettes.
TABLE No. 18.
ROSENDALE CEMENT.
Cement, 2; Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1;
Clay, 1. Clay, 1. Sand, 1.5.
Sand, 1.5; Sand, 1.5; Sand, 1.5;
Clay, 0.15.
Clay, 0.3. Clay, 0.45.
1 week
32
23
50
52
34
33
1 month
108
52
123
116
101
100
.
6 months.
303
206
217
248
247
236
1 year :
208
209
262
290
265
261
.
PORTLAND CEMENT.
Cement, 2; Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1; Cement, 1;
Clay, 1.
Clay, 1. Sand, 2.
Sand, 2; Sand, 2; Sand, 2;
Clay, 0.2.
Clay, 0.4.
Clay, 0.6.
1 week
185
192
150
197
185
145
.
1 month
263
271
186
253
245
203
6 months.
348
322
320
361
368
317
1 year .
303
301
340
367
401
384
The tests seem to show that the presence of clay in moderate
amounts does not weaken cement mortars.
APPENDIX A.
141
: It was feared that the presence of clay in mortars exposed to the
weather might tend to make them absorb moisture and become disin-
tegrated. To ascertain whether this would be so, sets of briquettes
were made, one set of Portland cement and sand only, the other con-
taining also different amounts of clay. They were allowed to harden
in water for a week, and were then exposed on the roof of the office
building for two and one-half years, when they were broken. All of
the briquettes appeared to be in perfectly good condition, with sharp,
hard edges. Their average tensile strengths in pounds per square
inch are shown in the following table :
.
60
66
TABLE No. 19.
Portland Cement, 1; Sand, 2
Clay, 0.5 .
1.0
1.5
2.0
66
402
262
256
182
178
66
.
The mortars with clay show a very fair degree of strength, and the
tests confirm the belief that the presence of clay works little, if any,
harm. Tests of mortars made with lime and clay also gave favorable
results. Such mortars would stand up in water. The subject is
worthy of further investigation.
EXPERIMENT No. 14.
Occasionally, for stopping leaks through joints in the sewers, it
was found convenient to use cement mixed with melted tallow. The
tallow congealed at once and held the water while the joint was being
calked. Briquettes made of melted tallow mixed with Portland ce-
ment and sand, equal parts, acquired in 1 week, a tensile strength
of about 40 pounds to the inch. After a month, six months, and a
year, they were little, if any, stronger. It was thought that possibly
the ammonia in the sewage might gradually saponify and dissolve out
the grease, leaving the mortar to harden by itself. Briquettes of
cement and tallow were kept in water, to which a little ammonia was
added from time to time. After a year or two the briquettes had
swelled to about double their former size, but the cement had acquired
no strength.
EXPERIMENT No. 15.
Having occasion to build with concrete a large monolithic structure,
in which a flat wall would be subjected to transverse stress, it was
considered necessary to make experiments, to find the comparative
142
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
resistance to such stress of concrete made with different cements and
with different proportions of sand and stone.
The cements used in the tests were an English Portland and a
Rosendale, both good of their respective kinds. Medium coarse pit
sand was used, and screened pebbles about an inch or less in diameter.
The beams were ten inches square and six feet or less long. They
were made in plank moulds resting on the bottom of a gravel-pit
about four feet deep. After the concrete had hardened sufficiently
the moulds were removed, and the undisturbed beams buried in the
pit and left for six months exposed to the weather. They were then
dug out and broken, with the results given in the table. The total
breaking loads are given, including one-half of the weights of the
beams, which averaged about 150 pounds per cubic foot. The con-
stant, c, is obtaindd for the formula :
w=centre breaking load in pounds.
d= depth of beam in inches.
dº Xb
Xc, in which
b breadth of beam in inches.
1
l=distance between supports in feet.
W =
C= a constant.
Since c has an average value, and there were generally more beams
of one length than the other, the value of c as given does not exactly
correspond with either load in the table.
TABLE No. 20.
AVERAGE CENTRE BREAKING
PROPORTION OF MATERIALS.
WEIGHT IN POUNDS.
Average
Average
Modulus of
Dist. between Dist. between
Value of c
Rupture in
Cement.
Sand.
Stone.
in Pounds.
Supports.
Pounds.
Supports.
2' 4%".
5'.
Rosendale,
1
2
5
1,782
690
67
3.7
1
3
7
Beams broke in handling.
.
Portland, 1.
7
3,926
1,995
176
9.8
.
1.
9
3,648
146
8.1
.
1.
11
2,822
1,190
112
6.2
The table shows that concrete has a rather low modulus, especially
when made of Rosendale cement. When transverse stress is to be
opposed it is very important to give ample time for the concrete to
harden.
APPENDIX A.
143
EXPERIMENT No. 16.
Many of the main drainage sewers were either built or lined with
concrete, which was always smoothly plastered with a coat of mortar.
It was important that this surface coat should be especially adapted
to resist abrasion. This experiment was made to ascertain the best
mixture for the purpose.
Different mortars were formed into blocks
1} inches square, and, after hardening under water for 8 months,
were ground down upon a grindstone. The blocks were pressed upon
the stone with a fixed pressure of about 20 pounds. A counter was
attached to the machine, and the number of revolutions required to
grind off 0.1 inch of each block was noted. The cements used in the
test blocks were a rather coarse English Portland and a fair Rosendale.
The curves (Plate XXXI.) show the results obtained. In making
these curves the resistance to abrasion opposed by the Portland cement
mortar in the proportion of one part cement and two parts sand is
assumed to be 100, and the resistance of other mortars is compared
with it. The effect of the grinding upon the test blocks is noted on
the curves, and explains the somewhat striking results.
It appears that cements oppose the greatest resistance to abrasion
when combined with the largest amount of sand which they can just
bind so firmly that it will grind off and not be pulled out. A little
less or a little more of sand may greatly lessen the resistance. For
any given cement the proper amount of sand would, probably, have
to be ascertained by experiment.
។
EXPERIMENT No. 17.
It is a prevalent belief among masons that cement, even when it
contains no free lime, and does not check, expands considerably after
setting. It is stated that brick fronts laid with cement mortar (espe-
cially of Portland cement) have been known to bulge, and even rise,
owing to expansion in the mortar. Experiments were made to ascer-
tain what truth there was in this belief. Several dozens of glass lamp-
chimneys were filled with mortars made of various brands of American
and Portland cements, both neat and with different admixtures of
sand. The chimneys were immersed in water, and, without exception,
began to crack within three days. New cracks appeared during the
following ten days, after which time hardly a square inch of glass
remained which did not show signs of fracture. This showed that
the cement certainly expanded, though very slowly, and that the ex-
pansion continued for about two weeks. None of the cracks opened
144
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
appreciably, however, so that the amount of expansion, which was
evidently slight, could not thus be even approximately determined.
A number of 10-inch cubes were then made of similar mortars, with
small copper tacks inserted in the centres of all the sides. Some of
these cubes were kept in the air, and others immersed in water, and
the sizes of all of them were measured frequently by callipers during
six months. The increase in size did not in any case exceed .01 inch,
and may have been less. This indicated that, while cement mortars
do expand, the increase in bulk in any dimension does not exceed .001
part of that dimension, and is too slight to be of consequence. In
the case of the walls before referred to, supposing them to have been
80 feet high, with five 4-inch joints to each foot, the total height of
mortar would have been 100 inches, and the extreme expansion of the
whole could only have been .1 inch. It is probable that the appar-
ent rise was merely a difference in elevation caused by settlements of
partition or side walls laid with weaker and compressible mortar.
EXPERIMENT No. 18.
It having been reported that cement mortars in contact with wood
had sometimes been found to be disintegrated, as if they might have
been affected by the wood acids, this experiment was made to see if
any such effect could be detected. About a dozen boxes were made,
each formed of five different kinds of wood, viz., oak, hard-pine, white-
pine, spruce, and ash. The boxes were filled with different cement
mortars, and were some of them submerged in fresh and others in salt
water. Briquettes were also made of cements mixed with different
kinds of sawdust. At the end of a year no effectſ upon the cements
could anywhere be detected.
EXPERIMENT No. 19.
Engineers are accustomed to insist on cement mortars being used
before they have begun to set, and on their being undisturbed after
that process has begun. With cements that set quickly workmen are
tempted to retemper the mortar after it has begun to stiffen. Some
experiments were made on mortars which were undisturbed after
first setting, and others which were retempered from time to time.
Unfortunately all of the conditions of these tests were not accurately
recorded, and the results are not considered trustworthy. The fol-
lowing series of tests, which represent an extreme case not met with
in actual practice, may be of interest.
APPENDIX A.
145
A mortar, made of one part of Portland cement and two parts of
sand, was allowed to harden for a week. It was then pulverized, re-
tempered, and made into briquettes. These subsequently acquired
the following tensile strength in pounds per square inch:
.
.
1 week .
1 month
6 months
2 years .
7
13
49
93
Under the circumstances it is somewhat surprising that the mortar
developed as much strength as it did. Good tests to elucidate this
subject are much needed.
EXPERIMENT No. 20.
A brand of 66 Selenitic cement was offered for use on the work,
and was said to possess great merits. It was made by treating an
ordinary American cement by a patented process. It was tested by
comparing it with an untreated sample of the same cement of which
it was made. The following are the results of the tests :
TABLE No. 21.
Mixture.
Kind of Cement.
1 Day.
1 Week.
1 Month.
6 Months.
1 Year.
Neat.
Untreated.
124
135
140
164
186
Cement.
Selenitic
149
168
171
282
273
Cement, 1
Untreated.
122
176
296
316
Sand, 1, 5 . Selenitic
120
158
276
356
Cement, 1
Untreated.
92
154
259
305
Sand, 2.
Selenitic
103
133
226
276
Cement, 1
Untreated.
38
87
158
168
.
Sand, 4.
Selenitic
49
97
167
164
.
•
The breakings are somewhat irregular, but seem to show that this
cement was made somewhat stronger by the selenitic process of
treatment when tested neat, but was little, if at all, improved for use
as a mortar ; not enough, certainly, to compensate, for the higher cost.
APPENDIX B.
REVIEW OF ACTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL IN
REGARD TO THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
The defects of the sewerage system of Boston and the necessity
for a radical change were brought to the attention of the City
Council in various ways, for a number of years preceding the year
1875. The State Board of Health referred to the subject in their an-
nual reports as seriously affecting the sanitary interests of
1873. the city, and requiring immediate attention. In 1873 the
following order was passed (July 14) by the City Council:-
-
Ordered, That the Committee on Sewers be requested to examine into the
present system of sewerage in this city, and report to the City Council whether
any improvement of the present sewerage facilities is necessary for the protection
of the public health.
In pursuance of this order the Committee on Sewers reported
September 1, following (City Doc. 94); but, judging from their
report, they did not consider that any improvement in the ex-
isting sewerage system was required, as they endeavor to show that
it was sufficient and served its purpose as well as almost any
other in existence. To quote from the report, the committee
state that “Our system of drainage is as perfect, though not so
complicated, as that of any other city. We are favored by location
with generally good grades and outlets to deep water, and though
we have no long lines composed of huge sewers with their many
branches, with pumping-works and flushing apparatus, yet the re-
moval of the sewage from the house to the ebbing tide in the harbor
is rapid and complete ; and that is a perfect system.”
After comparing the system of Boston with that of other cities in
the country, the committee conclude their report by stating that
Everything which appears necessary to the public health or conven-
ience will be carried out by the Department as soon as it is possible
APPENDIX B.
147
or expedient.” The report is signed by Aldermen James 1873.
Power, Alanson Bigelow, and Thomas Gaffield.
Notwithstanding the reassuring tone of the report of the Committee
on Sewers, complaints continued, and the defects and dangers of the
drainage system of our city were still commented upon in various
ways. The Boston Board of Health, in their annual report,
presented to the City Council in August, 1874 (City Doc. 1874,
63), in discussing the subject, state :
The whole system of sewerage is clearly wrong. Our beautiful city is almost
encircled by the mouths of sewers discharging their contents into shoal water or
upon flats, the sewer gases rendering the atmosphere for some distance about the
wharves absolutely dangerous to breathe. About these wharves are large num-
bers of laborers, whose duties are always there; and within range of these gases
are thousands of dwellings. Should not all the sewers be turned south-easterly,
into deep water? Or would it be more feasible to construct a large marginal
sewer, into which all others should discharge their contents, and this one carried
away into deep water from a point nearest the bay? These are important ques-
tions, and deserve to be carefully considered, requiring, as it seems to us, the
immediate investigation of experienced engineers.
There are large neighborhoods in the city entirely destitute of sewers, or any
proper means of getting rid of their vault, sink, or cesspool drainage, and much
sickness exists in these places in consequence.
There are also, in various parts of the city, low marsh lands, which are un-
healthy; in the Charlestown District there are 200 acres; in Brighton, 400; in
West Roxbury, 127. There are more than 200 acres of land east of Hampden
Street, in Ward 13, that ought to be raised; a large portion of the territory east
of Harrison Avenue, between Dedham and Northampton Streets, is too low. So
is the Berlin-street territory, and it has caused us a great deal of trouble. The
territory bounded by Swett, Hampden, Foundry, and Gerard Streets should be
raised. And we respectfully submit that no marsh land should be allowed to be
inhabited, nor a building be allowed to be placed on it, until proper and sufficient
drainage is provided. We mean drainage independent of sewerage. If we stop
to reflect how greatly health and comfort are affected by undrained land we shall
easily see that such spots should not be inhabited. There are a great many
vacant lots of land in the city without any drainage, and the city should neither
cause nor allow water from the streets to flow upon these lots.
We are satisfied that all sewers should discharge their contents into deep
water, and as far out into the harbor as possible, and in no instance should the
mouth of a sewer be exposed, even at the lowest tide.
In December of the same year the Board of Health presented a
special communication on the subject to the City Council (City
Doc. 112), and as the communication, without doubt, occupies an
important place in this review, affecting the initiatory steps taken by
the City Council for improving the sewerage system, it is reprinted
here entire :
>
148
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1874.
OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH,
Boston, Dec. 17, 1874.
To the Honorable City Council :-
GENTLEMEN,
Although in our annual report of 1873, and again in 1874, we
called the attention of your honorable body to the great importance of a change
in our system of sewerage, we deem it of such vital importance to the health and
comfort of the city at large, but more especially to certain portions of it, that
we venture again to urge the subject in a special communication.
There are several places in which the evil is already so great that we mention
them in particular.
First. The old Roxbury Canal, crossing under Albany Street, near Chester
Park.
Second The Stony-brook Sewer, discharging upon the Back-bay flats.
Third. The Muddy-brook Sewer, between Brookline Avenue and Downer
Street, in Ward 15.
Roxbury Canal, so called, leads in from the South Bay, is about 50 feet wide
and 2,000 feet long, reaching nearly to Harrison Avenue. The tide flows in and
out, but sluggishly. Into these three or four large sewers pour their contents,
and when the tide recedes there is left but very shoal, filthy water, through which
the foul gases from the putrid bottom can be seen bubbling into the atmosphere.
At low tide a considerable portion of this filthy bottom is left bare, giving off the
most sickening and even dangerous effluvia into a thickly populated neighbor-
hood. In Northampton Street, Chester Park, Springfield Street, Harrison
Avenue, Albany Street, and especially at the City Hospital, where there is a daily
average of 230 patients who require pure air, the stench from the Roxbury Canal
is often observed and exceedingly annoying.
The Stony-brook Sewer, which conveys the sewage of more than half of the
former city of Roxbury, or now about 30,000 inhabitants, terminates at the
west side of Parker Street, where, at low tide, this immense sewage is left to
trickle over the muddy flats, about 100 acres in extent, to the Charles River
beyond. Before this sewage has reached a point where it can diverge from
the wharves of the city, it will have travelled more than one-half of the circum-
ference of the city proper, catching at the bridges, wharves, and upon the flats
in its course.
An order has recently been passed by the City Council to extend the channel
of the Stony Brook, so as to prevent the discharge of the sewage upon the flats
next Parker Street.
In addition to the Stony-brook Sewer there are eight others opening into
Charles River above Cambridge Bridge, which, with their open mouths at low
tide, discharging their gases into the atmosphere, and their contents into shoal
water or upon flats, are doing a great share in making the atmosphere of that
part of the city skirting the river and Back Bay at times absolutely unfit to
breathe.
The Muddy-brook Sewer, coming from Brookline, is very large, opens under
Brookline Avenue, near Tremont Street, and is then an open sewer in the
immediate rear of dwelling-houses between Brookline Avenue and Downer
Street for a distance of 600 feet, and then crosses the avenue again into the
town of Brookline. The water in this brook gets very low in summer, leaving
but little besides the sewage-matter to flow through it. The stench from this is
very bad, and the people who live near it justly complain. This sewer ought to
APPENDIX B.
149
be covered at once, for a distance of about 600 feet, to prevent evil 1874.
results which must inevitably come from its present condition.
The places mentioned, although the worst, are not all to which we invite
attention. The city proper, being nearly surrounded by tide-water and flats, is
to the same extent literally fringed with the open mouths of sewers, discharg-
ing their gases into the atmosphere, and their other contents upon the shoals,
which are left bare next the sea-wall and under the wharves by the receding tide.
The result is, that at low tide, and especially in summer, about the wharves
and skirts of the city, where thousands of the laboring classes must work during
the day, and many more will resort for a cool breeze in the evening, the air,
instead of being pure and cool from the water, as it should be, is polluted and
made dangerous by the foul breath of the sewers.
That our prevalent summer diseases are largely influenced by this poisoned
atmosphere there can be no sort of doubt. The best remedy for the evil com-
plained of may not be so apparent as the evil itself. We beg to suggest, how-
ever, that whatever disposition is ultimately made of the sewage, whether carried
inland and utilized, or seaward and lost, it would not be discharged at all points
in the circumference of our city. If it is to be discharged into the sea — - and
this for Boston seems the most practicable — there should be the least possible
number of outlets, and those well out into the channel of the harbor. We
believe the time has come when large main sewers, which can be relied on for
the next century, to collect and convey the sewage of all others to a proper place
for disposal, or to the sea, should be laid. We believe that the very best
interests of the city, public economy, and the public health, would be well served
by beginning this work with the least necessary delay.
The discharge of sewage into the Charles River and the South Bay is a con-
stantly growing evil, which already annoys and discomforts many, and, if per-
mitted to go on, must soon exert a very serious influence upon the health of the
entire city. This danger can be averted by carrying the sewage of the city
proper, of East Boston and Charlestown District, by one large main from each,
fully into the channel of the harbor, where, in deep water and strong currents,
the material will be so dissipated and acted upon by the salt-water as to become
harmless and unobjectionable to the senses before it can be lodged about the city
by flood tide. That of South Boston and of the Highland and Dorchester districts
should be carried well into deep water in Dorchester Bay.
To carry out these suggestions would require surveying and advice of com
petent engineers, who would carefully consider and report not only the best
course and plan for these mains, but what they would need to be, without alter-
ation, for the next fifty or one hundred years.
There are many places within the limits of the city, especially in the newly
annexed territory, where, although a supply of water has been furnished, there
are no means of getting rid of it after it has done its service, and the result is a
perfect saturation of the soil about the dwellings, etc., by the vast overflow of cess,
pools and vaults. Typhoid fever and other preventable diseases are frequent in
these places, and we fear must continue to be until proper sewerage is instituted.
While it is to be regretted that water-pipes have anywhere preceded the laying
of sewers, it is but fair to say that the supply of pure water from the pipes, in
some of the sections referred to, had become a necessity, and the people would
have suffered, but in a little different way, without it.
150
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1874, In many instances the well-water gets vitiated in quality, or defi-
cient in quantity, and the supply from the pipes becomes a great
blessing.
We would respectfully recommend all possible hastening of the sewers, and a
halting of the water-pipes in those sections where the two are not now associated.
THE BOARD OF HEALTH,
By A. W. BOARDMAN,
Chairman.
The communication was referred to the Committee on Sewers; but
as the municipal year was just at its close the matter went over,
without any definite action thereon, to the committee of the
1875. succeeding year. The committee of 1875, — Aldermen
Thomas B. Harris, James Power, and Clinton Viles, -in-
stigated by the communication coming to them as unfinished business
from their predecessors, presented an order in the Board of Alder-
men, Feb. 23, 1875, which was amended somewhat and adopted
March 1, in the following form:
Ordered, That His Honor the Mayor be hereby authorized to appoint a com-
mission, to consist of two civil engineers and one competent person skilled in the
subject of sanitary science, to report upon the present sewerage of the city; the
discharge of sewers into Charles River, Stony Brook, South Bay, or Dorchester
Bay; the necessity of any high-water basin on the site of the present full basin,
for flushing purposes; the expediency of relieving the sewers at the South End by
pumping; and to present a plan for the outlets and main lines of sewers for the
future wants of the city; and report, if it is expedient, in connection with the
proposed works, to provide for any water-basins or marginal drive-ways, as orna-
mental and sanitary features of the city; and also an approximate estimate of
the expense of any place, or places, for a system of sewerage submitted by
them; the expenses to be paid from the appropriation for sewers.
In pursuance of this order His Honor Mayor Samuel C. Cobb ap-
pointed E. S. Chesbrough, of Chicago; Moses Lane, of Milwaukee ;
and Charles F. Folsom, M.D., of Boston, to serve as members of
the commission. Their report was submitted (City Doc. 3,
1876. of 1876), and in it they recommended the construction of
two intercepting sewers, one for the north side of Charles
River, and the other for the south side, discharging at Shirley Gut
and Moon Island, respectively; the total estimated cost of the
combined system being $6,551,064.
This report was referred, January 13, to a joint special committee,
consisting of Aldermen Alvah A. Burrage, Solomon B. Stebbins, and
Thomas J. Whidden, and Councilmen Eugene H. Sampson, J. Homer
Pierce, Warren K. Blodgett, Marcellus Day, and Albert H.
?
APPENDIX B.
151
Taylor. A remonstrance from George B. Emerson and 1876.
others was received May 4, 1876 (City Doc. No. 59)
against the adoption of the plan of the commissioners, and requesting
that additional investigations be had upon the subject. Petitions in
favor of the plan proposed were received, June 12, from Edward
H. Clarke and others, members of the Suffolk District Medical
Society, and Jesse L. Nason and others, citizens and property-
holders in Boston, representing that a new system of sewerage was
of paramount importance, and praying that action be taken at the
earliest possible day to secure to the city the benefits of the same.
The special committee presented a preliminary report, February
14, 1876, advising immediate application by the City Council to the
General Court for authority to take land required for the construc-
tion and maintenance of the proposed new sewer, and the following
orders, submitted by the committee, were passed, namely:-
incy;
Ordered, That His Honor the Mayor be requested to petition the General
Court, at its present session, for the passage of an act authorizing the city of
Boston to take such land as may be needed for the construction and maintenance
of a main sewer, across or under tide-water, to that part of the town of Quincy
known Squantum, and from thence to Moon Isla in said town of
also for authority to take land for the purpose of establishing pumping-works
and reservoirs in the city of Boston and said town of Quincy.
Ordered, That His Honor the Mayor be requested to petition the General
Court, at its present session, for the passage of an act regulating the construction
and maintenance of sewers by the combined action of adjoining municipalities.
Acting under authority of the orders, the Mayor made application
in due form to the Legislature, and in compliance with his petition
the desired authority was obtained in the following act:
[CHAPTER 136.]
AN ACT TO EMPOWER THE CITY OF BOSTON TO LAY AND MAINTAIN A MAIN
SEWER, DISCHARGING AT Moon ISLAND IN Boston HARROR, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows :-
SECTION 1. The city of Boston shall have authority, in addition to the
powers now possessed by it, for the purpose of laying and maintaining a main
sewer running south-easterly from direction of Charles River, to build and
maintain wharves, pumping-works, and reservoirs for said sewer, on the main
land at or near the mouth of Neponset River, thence to conduct said sewer, by
means of a siphon or tunnel under the bottom of the harbor, at or near the
mouth of said river, to that part of the town of Quincy called Squantum; thence
along or across said Squantum and the flats adjacent thereto to Moon Island.
Said city shall also have authority to build and maintain a reservoir or reser-
152
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1876. voirs at Moon Island, and other works essential to a proper and con-
venient discharge of the contents of said sewer. In any construction
over tide-water said city shall be subject to the direction of the harbor commis-
sioners in the manner pointed out in chapter four hundred and thirty-two of the
acts of the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Sect. 2. The city of Boston shall have authority to take such lands, build-
ings, wharves, and structures, as may be necessary to accomplish the objects
of the preceding section; and all damages to private property, or for lands,
buildings, wharves, or structures taken under this act, shall be ascertained as
prescribed in chapter forty-three of the General Statutes, and paid by the city
of Boston.
Sect. 3. The city of Boston and the town of Brookline may contract with
each other for the use and support in common of the city sewer now con-
structed in Beacon Street in Boston, and leading into Charles River, and for
the building by said town at its sole expense within the limits of said city of a
sewer about nine hundred feet in length from the town line to connect the
town drains with such city sewer, and for the support, at the joint and equal
expense of each, of the outlet of the sewer and the carrying the same out farther
into Charles River if necessary; they may also contract with each other for the
building and support in common of a new covered channel for Muddy River,
such new channel to run from Tremont Street along the line of division between
said city and town, and to empty into the channel of Muddy River east of Aspin-
wall Avenue. If it shall be necessary to take land for the purpose of carrying out
the provisions of this section, said city and said town, each within its own ter-
ritory, may take such land as may be necessary, and persons aggrieved by such
taking shall have their damages ascertained and paid, and all the proceedings
shall be conducted in conformity to the laws applicable to the laying out town-
ways in said town, and highways in said city.
Approved April 11, 1876.
.
Subsequently, June 12, 1876, the committee submitted their report
(City Doc. No. 66) upon the subject-matter that had been referred
to them.
In it they recommended the adoption of the commissioners' plan
so far as it applied to the territory south of Charles River, stating that
66 Present necessities would be met by the construction of a main
intercepting sewer from Tremont Street to Moon Island.
The application of the system to the district north of Charles River
will require the coöperation of adjoining municipalities, and, as the
necessities are not so pressing in that lccality, it may be deferred for
the present."
The estimated cost of the main intercepting sewer recommended by
the committee was $3,550,070. They also suggested that an immedi-
ate appropriation be made for preliminary surveys, and their sugges-
tions were embodied in the following orders, which accompanied their
report:-
APPENDIX B.
153
Ordered, That the Auditor of Accounts be, and he hereby is, au- 1876.
thorized to transfer from the Reserve Fund the sum of $40,000, to con-
stitute a special appropriation for the purpose of making surveys and plans, and
of procuring estimates for an improved system of sewerage for the city of Boston.
Ordered, That a joint special committee, consisting of three members of the
Board of Aldermen, with such as the Common Council may join, be appointed
to take charge of the construction of a main intercepting sewer from Tremont
Street to Moon Island, together with a main outfall sewer, and the necessary
reservoir and pumping-works connected therewith, substantially according to
the plan recommended by the Commissioners on the Sewerage of Boston, in
City Document No. 3, 1876; and said committee shall have authority to employ
such assistants as may be needed to enable the City Engineer to perform the
preliminary work required to carry out said plan; the expense therefor to be
charged to the special appropriation for that purpose.
Messrs. Blodgett and Taylor dissented from the recommendations
of their associates on the committee. The report and orders were
referred to the Committee on Finance.
The latter committee reported, July 3, recommending the passage
of the following as a substitute for the foregoing orders :
Ordered, That the Auditor of Accounts be, and he hereby is, authorized to
transfer from the Reserve Fund the sum of $40,000, to constitute a special ap-
propriation for the purpose of making surveys and plans, and of procuring
estimates for an improved system of sewerage for the city of Boston, and that
said appropriation be expended under the supervision and direction of the Joint
Special Committee on Improved Sewerage.
This order provoked considerable discussion in the two branches of
the City Council, upon the general subject of sewerage (See City
Council Proceedings, 1876, pp. 406-409, 421-425, 436-439), but was
finally adopted July 17, 1876, after being amended by inserting after
the words “ city of Boston,” the words “ on a line from Tremont
Street to Moon Island, and also on a line from said street to deep
water, east of Castle Island.”
The City Engineer, under the committee's direction, assumed
charge of the work contemplated in the order, and a few days later
he appointed Mr. Eliot C. Clarke as principal assistant in immediate
charge of the preliminary surveys, etc., and work was commenced
thereon without delay.
Mayor Frederick O. Prince, in his inaugural address to 1877.
the City Council of 1877, in referring to the subject of
sewerage,
said:
No subject at this time claims so large a share of your serious consideration
as that of sewerage. The health, prosperity, every interest, in fact, of our
people depend upon it.
154
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1877. Do you expect Boston to maintain its present position among the
other cities of the country? Do you wish her to increase in wealth,
in commercial importance, in political influence, to be what we claim she is, the
model metropolis? See to it, then, that she shall have pure, as well as free, air
for the lungs of her people.
The importance of perfect sewerage and good drainage, cleanliness, and ven-
tilation cannot be overstated.
The instructive letter of our fellow-citizen, the eminent Dr. Edward H.
Clarke, upon this subject, addressed to the meeting of citizens held at Faneuil
Hall in June last, assures us that “defective sewerage and imperfect drainage
are sapping the health of the city.”
In July last an appropriation of $40,000 was made to obtain accurate
surveys, and procure true estimates of the cost of constructing works
substantially upon the plan recommended by the commissioners. If this plan
should be adopted it would, without doubt, give us a perfect system of sewerage
for an indefinite time, however large our population may be. The cost of the
works, or of any works which would secure the desired result, would be great;
but I am sure that any additional taxation which they might require would be
cheerfully submitted to by our tax-payers, because the adequate sewerage is a
necessity; and whatever necessity demands it vindicates.
With the advent of the year 1877 and the new City Council a
special committee 1 was appointed to resume charge of the work,
deriving their authority from the following order, passed February
10, viz. : -
Ordered, That the Joint Special Committee on Improved Sewerage take
charge of all matters relating to an improved system of sewerage, with authority
to employ such assistants as may be needed to enable the City Engineer to per-
form the preliminary work now in progress; the expense therefor to be charged
to the special appropriation for that purpose.
The work of making surveys and examinations was accordingly
carried forward without interruption, and on July 9 the City Engineer
reported to the committee that he was in a position to recommend a
definite scheme, with estimates of its cost.? As this report is of
special value, from its relation to the original scheme as adopted by
the City Council, extracts are presented herewith covering the leading
points.
The Engineer states :
The investigations have now been carried so far that I am in position to rec-
ommend a definite scheme, and to give a preliminary estimate of its cost; and,
understanding that it is the wish of your committee that a report should be
made at once, I respectfully submit the following:
A few days after the above order was approved Mr. Eliot C. Clarke was
appointed principal assistant, to take charge of the surveys; and his report,
which accompanies this, will show what work has been done in the office and
1 See Appendix C for list of committees.
2 See Appendix, City Doc. No. 70, 1877.
APPENDIX B.
155
in the field. There remains for me, therefore, little else than to state 1877.
what conclusions have been arrived at, and to give the estimates of
cost of the various schemes that have been considered.
All the schemes are alike in their main features, and correspond with that
proposed and recommended by the commission appointed in 1875 to report upon
the present sewerage of the city, and to present a plan for its improvement.
These features are: a system of intercepting sewers along the margin of the
city, to receive the flow of the existing sewers; a main sewer, into which the
former empty, and which, crossing the city, leads to a pumiping-station; pump-
ing-machinery to raise the sewage matter some thirty feet; an outfall sewer
leading from the pumps to a reservoir situated at some favorable point for dis-
charge; and a reservoir from which the sewage, accumulated during the latter
part of ebb and the whole of flood tide, is to be let out into the harbor during
the first two or three hours of the ebb.
In all the schemes it is assumed that at some future day a system of high-level
intercepting sewers will be added, which will conduct to the outfall all sewage
that can be delivered at the reservoir without pumping.
The Commissioners (Mr. E. S. Chesbrough, City Engineer of Chicago; Mr.
Moses Lane, City Engineer of Milwaukee; and Dr. C. F. Folsom, Secretary of
Massachusetts State Board of Health) state in their report (City Document No.
3, 1876) what the evils are in the existing sewerage system that require remedy,
and give the reasons why a plan of the above description is recommended. While
it will be needless to go over the whole ground here, it may be well to call atten-
tion to one or two of the more striking points.
In the existing system the sewage is discharged through some seventy differ-
ent outlets along the shore lines of the city, and a number of these outlets may
be said to be in the very heart of the city, — such as those which empty into the
Roxbury Canal, South Bay, and Fort Point Channel.
As the borders of the sewered portions of Boston consists largely of broad
strips of made land, filled to level planes only six or eight feet above mean high
tide, the sewers are necessarily built with slight grades, and are so situated as to
be tide-locked a large portion of the time. They discharge during the latter part
of the ebb and the first part of the flood tides, so that the sewage, instead of being
swept out into the harbor and there diffused, is carried inland, and such portion
as will deposit in still-water is thrown down at the turn of the tide upon the
broad areas of flats 'that exist within and around the city. This intermittent
discharge produces other serious evils. During the time the sewage is accumu-
lating in the sewers there is very little current in them, and, in consequence,
deposits are formed which are not readily removed, and, when putrefaction be-
gins, are the source of dangerous gases. Again, as the sewage accumulates and
rises in the sewers the gases are compressed, and, since adequate ventilation is
not provided, are liable to be forced through the house-drains into the houses.
The more important objects to be attained by an improved system of sewerage
are, then, an uninterrupted removal of all sewage-matter from the vicinity of
inhabited districts, and a discharge of this matter at such a point and under such
conditions that it shall not be brought back to be thrown down on our shores.
The order of the City Council refers to two points of outlet only; but after its
passage other points were urged as possessing merit, and the committee thought
it would be best to give them some attention, since so doing did not seem to be
at variance with the spirit of the order.
156
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1877. Four points of discharge have therefore been considered, viz. :
Spectacle Island.
Thompson's Island.
Castle Island.
Moon Island.
From these four points experiments with floats were made, to determine the
direction and the force of the tidal currents, and to furnish a means of judging
if the suspended matter of the sewage would be deposited where it would injure
the ship channels or cause a nuisance.
Passing the Engineer's discussion of the first three points we come
to the fourth as being specially favored by him, and quote the fol-
lowing: -
MOON ISLAND.
The float experiments show a good current setting by the head of Moon
Island and passing out to the sound through Black Rock Channel.
The pole floats (which were usually about fourteen feet long and were used
to obtain the mean velocity of the current) passed to the north, and the surface
floats to the south, of Rainsford Island.
The northerly channel is the deeper one, and the one the strongest currents
follow.
It would seem that for the first two or three hours of ebb tide the waters of
Dorchester Bay discharge chiefly through the opening between Thompson's
Island and Squantum Head, thus producing a strong current close in land on the
north shore of Moon Island, at just the time it is proposed to discharge the
sewage. This current, passing around Moon Head, meets another from Quincy
Bay, and the two uniting pass out through Black Rock Channel, as before de-
scribed. This union of the two currents is a very favorable condition, since the
inner edge of the more northerly one becomes the thread of the combined cur-
rents; and, therefore, any matter discharged off the north point of the island will
follow the deepest part of the channel and meet with the highest velocities; at
least, whatever the cause, floats which were started comparatively near the shore
at the point where it is proposed to discharge the sewage followed the thread of
the current after leaving Moon Head.
A large number of experiments were made at this place, and for a detailed
statement of the conclusions drawn from them I would refer you to Mr. Clarke's
report. It will be sufficient to remark here that they clearly demonstrate that
Moon Island is a favorable point for discharge.
Two plans, with this island for their outlet, have been studied; one known as
the Old Harbor Point scheme, the other as the Commercial Point scheme. They
differ chiefly in the location of the pumping-stations and of portions of the main
and outfall sewers, these differences in location causing, however, a difference
in some of the details, more particularly in the method of crossing the navigable
waters lying between Boston and Quincy.
The main sewer in both schemes begins on Camden Street, near Huntington Ave-
nue, and follows Camden and Northampton Streets to Albany Street, from whence
it will take one of two courses, to be determined hereafter, one through Swett
Street and the proposed East Chester Park extension, to a point about 700 feet
APPENDIX B.
157
east of the New York & New England Railroad; thence through pri- 1877.
vate property to the corner of Boston and Mt. Verdon Streets; the
other, through Hampden Street, Norfolk Avenue, Clapp Street, and private
property to the same point; thence it follows Mt. Vernon Street to a point about
600 feet beyond Dorchester Avenue, there turning to the right and running to a
point near Crescent Avenue and the Old Colony Railroad. At this place the lines
in the two schemes separate. In the Old Harbor Point scheme, the sewer, pass-
ing under the Old Colony Railroad, traverses the long stretch of marsh land
known as Cow Pasture to Old Harbor Point, where is located the pumping-station.
A good foundation in clay is found for the sewer and pumping machinery at a
convenient depth under the Cow-pasture marsh, and no piling will be required.
The outfall sewer leaves the point in a tunnel and passes under the navigable
waters of Dorchester Bay, a distance of 7,920 feet, to Squantum Head. Here
it rises to the surface, crosses Squantum Neck, and passes over the body of
water between the Neck and Moon Island, to the reservoir on the island. A
portion of the distance after leaving the Neck, where there is mud bottom, it is
carried on a pile foundation, the remainder of the way on an embankment. For
the whole of this distance beyond the Neck it is to be covered with a heavy
embankment, heavily paved and riprapped where necessary.
The reservoirs will discharge through capacious outlet sewers carried well out
into the tidal current.
The estimated cost of the Old Harbor Point scheme is as follows:-
Intercepting sewers .
Main sewer
Pumping-station, filth-hoist, and force-mains
Sea-walls, filling, shaft-chamber, flushing-tank, etc.
Outfall sewer, including tunnel
Reservoir and connections
Outlet sewer
Pier, box sewers, and connections
Dwellings for reservoir men, and other buildings
Extra, for relaying existing sewers, etc.
$706,000 00
565,000 00
390,000 00
155,000 00
848,000 00
421,000 00
28,000 00
64,000 00
20,000 00
100,000 00
$3,307,000 00
Add 10 per cent. for superintendence and contingencies . 330,700 00
Land damages
$3,637,700 00
75,000 00
$3,712,700 00
This estimate does not include the cost of land along East Chester Park ex-
tension, but does include the cost of filling 675 feet in length of that street to the
full width and grade.
The more important advantages of this scheme are:-
First. A favorable point for the location of a reservoir and the discharge of
sewage.
Moon Island is remote from any considerable population, present or prospec-
tive; therefore neither the presence of the reservoir nor the discharge of sewage
there can have any effect upon the value of real estate.
158
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1877. The sewage will enter favorable currents, which follow channels
entirely outside inner harbor.
Second. The location of the pumping-station is also remote from any lands
that would be liable to be depreciated by its presence, and is such that ample
room can be had at moderate cost.
Third. The lines which the main sewer follows are such as to occasion com-
paratively little inconvenience during construction. After leaving Albany Street,
if East Chester Park extension is followed, but one important line of travel will
be interfered with, namely, Dorchester Avenue.
The chief objection to it is the siphon in the tunnel under Dorchester Bay.
This feature is objectionable on account of difficulty of construction, and of the
special appliances to keep it from silting up. A great deal of thought has been
given to the latter point, and various methods for preventing deposit, and for
flushing-out deposits, when they do occur, have been considered. The method
finally adopted for purposes of the estimate is a large, covered flushing-tank at
the west shaft, into which the sewage will be pumped, and afterwards let
through the siphon with a velocity sufficient to prevent deposit, or to remove any
that may exist. At the east end a sump is provided, into which heavy matter, if
any should find entrance to the tunnel, will be swept thence to be dredged up
through the east shaft. European experience in the use of siphons for sewerage
purposes may show that so much in the way of precaution is unnecessary; if so
the plans can be modified.
The Commercial Point scheme, having also its proposed outlet at
Moon Island, is described by the Engineer; the estimated cost
being $4,372,300.
Comparing the two schemes, i.e., the Commercial Point and Old
Harbor Point, he states in conclusion, that
The difficulties to be met in the construction of the Commercial Point scheme,
taken in connection with the excess of cost and other matters of less importance,
render it inferior to the Old Harbor Point scheme; I would therefore recom-
mend this latter as the best of the three, all things considered.
The report of the Assistant Engineer, Mr. Eliot C. Clarke, in
charge of the surveys, and also “ A Report on the Geology of the
District traversed by the Surveys for the Tunnel from Boston to Moon
Island,” prepared by Prof. N. S. Shaler, accompanied the Engineer's
report. (See Appendix, City Doc. No. 70, 1877.)
Acting upon the recommendations made by the Engineer the com-
mittee presented their report to the City Council July 12, and, after
reviewing the origin and progress of the work thus far, they state :
At the beginning of the present year the undersigned were appointed to take
charge of the work of making the preliminary examinations for an improved
system of sewerage, and it has been performed under their direction until the
present time.
The results are clearly set forth in the reports of the City Engi-
neer and the principal assistants in charge, which are hereto appended, together
APPENDIX B.
159
1877.
with a report from Professor N. S. Shaler, who was consulted with
regard to the geological questions which arose during the progress of
the survey.
Your committee believe that it is unnecessary to present any argument to
prove the necessity of adopting a comprehensive system of sewerage for this city.
The ground has been fully covered by former reports upon the subject. In such
matters great reliance must be placed upon the opinions of persons who have
made sanitary science a study; and, if the mass of testimony which has been
presented from time to time be reviewed, it will be seen that the evils arising
from defective sewerage are discernible in this city to an alarning extent.
While it is not assumed that an improvement in the system of sewerage will
secure to us complete immunity from disease, it is believed that it will remove
a powerful agency for evil. Aside from questions of health, it is well known
that great discomfort is occasioned to the residents of many parts of the city,
who are compelled to inhale the odors occasioned by the present method of dis-
charging our sewerage. It is believed that the necessity of the improvement will
be admitted, whatever differences of opinion there may be as to the proper
method of relief.
The plan for an improved system of sewerage which is now presented has the
indorsement of the best engineering talent in the country. It is the result of a
careful study of the different systems of sewerage now in practical operation,
and an application of the best features of such systems to meet the present and
future wants of Boston. It is unnecessary for your committee to attempt to
explain the details of the proposed plan; for that they refer to the reports and
plans of the engineers. It will be seen that the plan agrees in all its essential
features with the one originally recommended by the Commissioners.
Your committee have made a careful study of the scheme, and are convinced
that it presents the only practicable method of effectually removing the evils
which are inseparable from our present system. It appears to be the only
feasible method of securing the conditions demanded of a complete system of
sewerage, viz. : the immediate and uninterrupted removal of sewage from the
vicinity of our dwellings to a point from whence it will not return.
The report was signed by all the members except Councilman
Blodgett, who dissented from the recommendations of the others.
The committee recommended the passage of the following
orders :
Ordered, That the City Treasurer be, and he hereby is, authorized to borrow,
under the direction of the Committee on Finance, the sum of three million seven
hundred and twelve thousand seven hundred dollars ; the same to constitute a
special appropriation for the construction of an improved system of sewerage.
Ordered, That the Joint Special Committee on Improved Sewerage be author-
ized to contract on behalf of the City of Boston for the construction of an im-
proved system of sewerage, having its pumping-station located at Old Harbor
Point and its outlet at Moon Head, with all the reservoirs, pumping-works, and
other appliances essential to the proper operation of said system, substantially
in accordance with the plans made by Joseph P. Davis, City Engineer, and as
authorized by an Act of the Legislature entitled “ An Act to empower the City
160
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1877. of Boston to lay and maintain a main sewer discharging at Moon
Island in Boston Harbor, and for other purposes,” being Chapter 136
of the Acts of the year 1876; the expense thereof to be charged to the appropria-
tion for Improved Sewerage.
The orders were referred to the Committee on Finance, and that
committee reported July 19 recommending the negotiation of a loan
to the amount of $3,712,000. Interesting discussions of the subject
took place in the two branches while under consideration (see City
Council Proceedings, 1877, pp. 544,559,567,569–577), and in August
the orders were finally passed.
This action of the City Council marks another important stage in
our review of the work, as the city was thereby fully committed
to the task of improving the sewerage system, and a definite plan
was adopted.
By an order passed October 8, the City Engineer was allowed four
months' leave of absence, for the purpose of visiting Europe, and
examining the sewerage systems in use there ; and the sum of
$5,000 was allowed from the appropriation to defray his ex-
penses, and Assistant Engineer Henry M. Wightman was empowered
to perform the Engineer's duties during his absence.
December 27 a memorial from the Boston Society of Architects
was received, and referred to the committee, wherein it was repre-
sented that the proposed new sewerage system would cause serious
injury to the foundations of buildings on the Back-Bay territory by
reducing the grade of the ground-water in that section to a point
below the heads of the piling on which the buildings stood. The
memorial was accompanied by a communication from E. S. Ches-
brough stating that the apprehended evils could be averted by
making the proposed sewer water-tight, and thus avoiding drainage
from the surrounding soil.
During this year rooms were procured at No. 74 Tremont Street
for the Improved Sewerage Department, and land was also purchased
at Old Harbor Point as a location for the proposed pumping-station
in connection with the work. Considerable portions of the con-
struction-work were let out by the committee to different contractors,
and good progress was made before the year closed.
Mayor Henry L. Pierce, in his inaugural address to the
1878. City Council in 1878, referred to the subject, and said : –
The intercepting sewerage system, for which an appropriation was made last
summer, and on which work has already begun, originated in the conviction of
APPENDIX B.
161
our citizens that some better method was needed than already existed 1878.
for the removal of the city's sewage.
While it is not claimed that the completion of this work will furnish a perfect
system of sewerage, since the ordinary drains and sewers are to some extent de-
fective in construction and arrangement, yet it seems to be the first and most
important step in that direction, affording, as it will, an outlet into which the
existing sewers can at all times freely discharge, and without which it would be
almost useless to attempt to improve them.
By an order passed January 16 the committee were appointed
to take charge of the Improved System of Sewerage, and they
were clothed with the same powers as were exercised by their
predecessors.
The committee having assumed charge of the work, under the
authority conferred upon them, very little action relating to the
subject appeared on the part of the City Council for that year.
Questions of expediency as to the best method of carrying the work
forward, whether by contract or day-labor, were discussed, and an
order was passed in April allowing the committee to exercise their
own judgment in particular cases.
By an order passed March 8 the committee were authorized to
expend the sum of $14,775, as their proportion of the cost of extend-
ing Hereford Street from Commonwealth Avenue to Boylston Street,
owing to the fact that the intercepting sewer was to be built in that
street.
Orders were passed to take land for purposes of constructing the
new sewer as follows:
Old Harbor Point, February 9.
Boston & Albany Railroad, June 21.
Boston & Providence Railroad, June 21.
Calf Pasture, July 16.
Clapp Street, September 27.
Hyde and Wendell Streets, December 13.
The committee were authorized to modify contracts entered into by
them in behalf of the city, under the following order, passed August
31, namely:-
Ordered, That, whenever in the opinion of the Joint Special Committee on
Improved Sewerage it may be for the interest of the city that any contract
entered into by said committee should be modified or abrogated, the said com-
mittee be, and they are hereby, authorized to modify or abrogate such contract,
and enter into new contracts as they may deem expedient.
162
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1879. The committee were appointed, as usual, in 1879, and the
same powers were conferred upon them as were exercised by
their predecessors in regard to carrying the work forward, employing
labor, and also in regard to making and modifying contracts.
An order was presented in the Common Council February 27
requesting the committee to commence work as soon as possible, and
providing that all the work, except such as was under contract, be
done by day-labor. This order was referred to the committee for
their consideration, and April 24 two reports were received on the
subject. (See City Doc. 58.) The majority were in favor of con-
structing the sewerage-work by day-labor, so far as it was found
expedient to do so, in the belief that the work could be done as
cheap, if not cheaper, by that method than by contract, and with
more satisfactory results. They state in their report that, —
The contract system is left open to many grave objections. The competition
is so great that contracts are taken at extremely low prices, and the contractor
is forced, as a measure of self-protection, to cheapen his work in every possible
way. In the matter of materials it requires constant watchfulness to prevent
the use of such as are improper, and the city is put to the expense of employing
inspectors, in order to prevent imposition.
But it is in regard to the employment of labor that the greatest grievance
exists. No control can be exercised over contractors in this respect. They
employ whomsoever they please and at any price they see fit. It makes no dif-
ference whether the laborer is a citizen of Boston or a non-resident, so long as he
can be hired for the lowest possible sum. Hence the constant complaints that
come to the city authorities of the employment of the men from other places upon
what is regarded as city work, and the cutting down of the prices of labor with
what is thought to be the connivance of the city.
Your committee submit that if the work were to be done by the city many of
these difficulties would be removed. In the first place, the work of superin-
tendence could be performed at no greater expense than is now incurred for the
employment of inspectors of contract-work. The materials can be purchased by
the city as low, if not lower, than by contractors. The employment of labor
will be under the direct control of the City Council, who can see to it that none
but citizens of Boston are employed.
9
They recommended the passage of the following order :-
Ordered, That the Joint Special Committee on Improved Sewerage be au-
thorized to construct Section 4, Main Intercepting Sewer, by day-labor, and to
purchase such materials and supplies, and to employ such agents, as may be
necessary therefor; the expense to be charged to the appropriation for Improved
Sewerage.
APPENDIX B.
163
The minority of the committee, Messrs. Stebbins and 1879.
Mowry, dissented from the views of their associates, and
opposed the system recommended by them, as being the most ex-
pensive generally. In their report they claim, —
That in the construction of any extensive public work the same can generally
be effected at much less expense, as also more expeditiously, under the contract
system than by the adoption of any other method, and it is claimed that ex-
perience has proved this proposition to be correct. Especially has this been the
case in connection with the construction of the intercepting sewer, now being
laid in connection with our System of Improved Sewerage, as the cost of con-
structing said sewer under the contract system has been less by from twenty-
five to thirty per cent. than it would have been provided said construction had
been accomplished by day-labor. We therefore claim that if said intercepting
sewer can be constructed at less expense to the city by the adoption of the con-
tract system (provided such construction is effected in a workmanlike and satis-
factory manner), it would be an unpardonable breach of trust to recommend the
adoption of a more expensive method of construction, unless certain contingencies
or emergencies necessitated the adoption of the latter method.
>
The matter provoked a great deal of discussion in the two branches
of the City Council, and the order accompanying the majority report
was finally rejected, June 3, by the Board of Aldermen. A similar
order, however, was in the meantime introduced in the Common
Council covering work upon the main intercepting sewer, and, after
being amended, was passed, June 4, in the following form, viz. :
Ordered, That the Committee on Improved Sewerage be empowered to
construct a portion of the main intercepting sewer by day-labor, if they shall
deem it expedient and for the best interest of the city to do so; and that in case
they decide to build any portion of said sewer by day-labor, said committee be
instructed to allow the superintendent in charge thereof to employ men of his
own selection, who shall be citizens of Boston, without interference or dictation
from the committee.
A report was submitted by the committee May 29, in compliance
with an order passed May 13, giving a statement in detail of the
expenditures on account of the work to that time. (See City Doc.
69, 1879.)'
An order was introduced in the Common Council August 26 fixing
the minimum price for laborers on the work at $1.50 per day, and,
after being discussed at some length and amended, it was passed in
1 A general statement of expenditures follows the review, see p. 190.
164
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1879. the branch where it originated, but it was finally rejected
by the Aldermen.
Under authority of an order passed March 24 the Mayor petitioned
the General Court for authority, on the part of the city, “ to conduct
the main sewer in a nearly direct line from Old Harbor to Moon
Island, instead of by way of Neponset River and Squantum,” as
provided in the Acts of 1876, Chap. 136. In compliance with the
Mayor's petition the following Act was passed : -
[CHAPTER 230.]
AN ACT IN ADDITION TO " AN ACT TO EMPOWER THE CITY OF Boston TO LAY
AND MAINTAIN A Main SEWER, DISCHARGING AT Moon ISLAND, in Boston
HARBOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.”
Be it enacted, etc., as follows :
SECTION 1. The city of Boston shall have authority, in addition to the
powers now possessed by it, for the purpose of laying and maintaining a main
sewer running south-easterly from the direction of Charles River, to build and
maintain wharves, pumping-works, reservoirs, and other structures on the main
land, at or near the shore of the Calf Pasture, so called, in Dorchester Bay;
thence to conduct said sewer, by means of embankments and of a tunnel or
siphon, not less than six thousand five hundred feet long, under the bottom of
the harbor to the part of the town of Quincy called Squantum; thence along or
across said Squantum, and the flats and waters adjacent thereto, to Moon Island;
or said city may build the sewer or siphon under the bottom of the harbor, on a
nearly direct line from said Calf Pasture, to Moon Island. Said city shall have
authority to build and maintain a reservoir or reservoirs, a pumping-station,
wharves, and dwelling-houses, and such other works as are essential to a proper
and a convenient discharge of the sewage at Moon Island. Said city shall have
further authority to connect Moon Island with Squantum by means of a bridge
or embankment to be used as a road-way. In any construction over tide-water
said city shall be subject to the direction of the harbor commissioners in the
manner pointed out in chapter four hundred and thirty-two of the acts of the
year eighteen hundred and sixty-nine.
Sect. 2. The city of Boston shall have authority to take such lands, build-
ings, wharves, and structures as may be necessary to accomplish the objects
of the preceding section; and all damages to private property, and for lands,
buildings, wharves, or structures taken under this act, shall be ascertained as
prescribed in chapter forty-three of the General Statutes, and paid by the city
of Boston.
SECT. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved April
16, 1879.]
Orders to take land for the purposes of the sewer were passed as
follows: Old Colony Railroad Company, April 18; Squantum and
Moon Island, September 19. (See Doc. 91, 1879.)
APPENDIX B.
165
Mayor Prince, in his inaugural address to the City 1880.
Council, in 1880, referred to the work in the following
manner :-
The work has been well and economically constructed.
In view of the apprehensions which have been from time to time expressed
touching the efficiency of this sewer in accomplishing its objects, it must be
gratifying for you and your constituents to know that the able and experienced
civil engineer, who is charged with this important work reports that after due
consideration of the objections occasionally urged against the system, “Nothing
has yet arisen to cause a doubt that the plan proposed is the proper solution of
the sewerage problem at Boston and will afford the required relief."
The committee was appointed at the beginning of the year, and by
an order passed February 20 were given the same powers as their
predecessors, and the work progressed under their direction with
but very little interference on the part of the City Council.
An order was passed February 20 allowing the sum of $3,000 to
Hoblitzel & Co., from the amount retained by the city on their
contract for building Section 5, main intercepting sewer.
The following order was passed May 5:-
Ordered, That the Committee on Improved Sewerage, acting under the
advice of the City Solicitor, be authorized to purchase of Howard A. Carson
and George H. Norman the right to use, in such departments of the city as may
be necessary, the excavating machinery patented by said Carson; the expense, not
exceeding $2,500, to be charged to the appropriation for Improved Sewerage.
7
An order was passed November 13 to take certain land in Quincy
for sewer purposes.
(See City Doc. 128.)
By an order passed December 29 the committee were authorized
to alter or modify the existing contract with R. A. Malone for build-
ing the Dorchester-Bay tunnel to such extent as they might deem
expedient.
1881.
Mayor Prince made reference to the work in his inaugural
address in 1881, and said :
No unforeseen difficulties in the construction have been encountered, and
there is every reason to expect the successful accomplishment of this part of the
sewer scheme.
All the work has been well done, and it is gratifying to know that
has cost
less than the present prices for labor and materials.
The Engineer does not doubt that this system of sewers will “ ultimately
accomplish all that has been claimed for it.”
166
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1881. The usual order for the appointment of the committee was
passed January 3, and the committee were subsequently au-
thorized to resume the work by an order passed January 28.
The matters coming before the City Council this year were chiefly
in regard to modifications of contracts entered into in behalf of the
city by the Committee on Improved Sewerage. The contracts
modified by the City Council's consent were that of R. A. Malone, for
building the Dorchester-Bay tunnel, and the contract with William
C. Poland & Son, for building Section 3, outfall sewer, and Moon-
island reservoir.
The committee were directed to report on these matters, and also
in regard to the work under H. A. Carson's superintendence, and the
following reports were accordingly submitted October 31. (See Doc.
135.)
DORCHESTER-BAY TUNNEL.
The Committee on Improved Sewerage, who were directed to report what
progress has been made in the construction of the Dorchester-Bay tunnel, and
whether the contractor for building said tunnel surrendered his original contract,
and was given a new contract for completing the work, without bonds being
required for the performance of the same, beg leave to report as follows:-
The three tunnel shafts, with their surrounding bulkheads and iron cylinders,
are completed, with the exception of some brick lining. Of the total length of
tunnel, amounting to 7,004 lineal feet, 5,329 feet are excavated, and the excavation
of the remainder is at present progressing at the rate of about 200 feet per
month.
Mr. Malone, the contractor for building the tunnel, in a communication to
your committee, dated June 16, 1881, abandoned his contract, alleging his
inability to complete it for the prices therein stipulated. Pending the action of
the committee, to prevent damage to the work already accomplished, Mr. Malone
continued to prosecute it. By the terms of the contract, as construed by the
Corporation Counsel, two courses were open to the committee, – either to finish
the work by day-labor, or to enter into a new contract for its completion, either
with Mr. Malone or other parties. Mr. Malone offered to complete the work for
prices about one-half greater than those of his previous contract. Considering
the fact that Mr. Malone had the requisite plant on hand, and had acquired
valuable experience concerning the character and best methods of conducting
the work, and also that the bad reputation which the tunnel would have jf
abandoned, would probably deter other bidders from making reasonable offers,
it was thought for the best interests of the city to allow Mr. Malone to continue
to carry it on, - especially as his prices seemed reasonable to the committee and
the Engineer, and were not in excess of figures of cost derived from the force-
account kept by the city.
A new contract was therefore made with Mr. Malone for completing the
tunnel. This contract was not accompanied by a bond – Mr. Malone not being
APPENDIX B.
167
in a position to furnish one. It should be understood, however, that 1881.
the bond upon the original contract has been in no way vitiated or
impaired, the sureties having agreed that their liability should not be affected
by these proceedings; and the amount of this bond, together with the reserve
held back under the first contract, is still applicable to making good the loss in-
curred by the city through the abandonment of the original contract.
For the Committee,
LUCIUS SLADE,
Chairman.
THE POLAND CONTRACT.
The Committee on Improved Sewerage, who were directed to report what
progress has been made in the construction of the works at Moon Island, under
the contract with William C. Poland & Son, and also whether said contractors
have surrendered their contract, beg leave to report as follows :
The following tabulated statement will show the approximate total quantities
of different classes of work required by Mr. Poland's contract, and the amounts
now done as per Engineer's estimate, dated October 21, 1881:
Amount Done.
Class of Work.
Earth-work
Masonry
Ballast
Riprap
Lumber
Drain-pipe .
Brick gate-houses
Total Amount.
369,100 cubic yds.
59,520
23,000
55,000 tons.
336 M.
2,000 feet.
2.
201,827 cubic yds.
4,461
10,865
15,470 tons.
170 M.
0 feet.
0.
By the terms of the contract the masonry of the reservoir, and the easterly
two thousand feet of sewer, should be coinpleted November 15, 1881. About
one-twentieth part of the masonry is in place, and no part of the sewer is yet
built. A large part of the cut-stone, for the reservoir and its adjuncts, is on the
ground. The reservoir proper is about one-half excavated. The total value of
the contract, as estimated from the contractor's bid, is $620,943.50. The value
of work now done, according to the Engineer's approximate estimate of October
21, 1881, is $133,268.19.
The contract has not been surrendered; but the work is not now, nor has it
been for some time past, progressing in a satisfactory manner. In view, how-
ever, of the fact that the Dorchester-Bay tunnel could not be completed in the
time originally intended, your committee have not until now thought it neces-
sary to take vigorous measures to forward the completion of the Poland con-
tract. Arrangements are now in progress which, it is intended, shall result in
an energetic prosecution of the work in the future.
For the Committee,
LUCIUS SLADE,
Chairman.
168
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1881,
THE CARSON CONTRACT.
The Committee on Improved Sewerage, who were directed to report what
part of the work under their charge is being constructed by day-labor, in differ-
ent sections of the city, under the superintendence of H. A. Carson, beg leave
to report that Mr. Carson is superintending the construction of two sections of
sewer, both in Albany Street. One is an extension of the south-side intercepting
sewer in Albany Street, from its present terminus at Dover Street, through
Albany and Lehigh Streets to Federal Street; the other is a sewer which takes
the drainage of the Hampden and Northampton Street districts, and conveys it
to the intercepting sewer.
For the Committee,
LUCIUS SLADE,
Chairman.
An order was introduced in the Board of Aldermen at their meet-
ing April 11 (see City Council Proceedings, p. 214) requesting
the Committee on Improved Sewerage " to submit in print a full
and explicit account of all the circumstances attending the negotia-
tions for pumping-engines, particularly with reference to the rejec-
tion of the engines made by Mr. George H. Corliss, and alleged
to have been built under the implied contract with said commit-
tee.” This order, after considerable discussion, was rejected by the
Aldermen, but was afterwards reconsidered and passed. (See
Proceedings, pp. 295, 316, 322.) The report of the committee not
appearing, a second order calling for the report was presented at
the meeting of the Aldermen October 10, and passed, but was indefi-
nitely postponed in the Common Council November 10; and the
same action was taken by the Council regarding orders adopted by
the Aldermen for the appointment of a special committee to prose-
cute the investigation called for in the previous order. (See Proceed-
ings, pp. 662, 663, 724, and 681, 690.)
An order was introduced at the Aldermen's meeting November 7
proposing the appointment of a commission, consisting of three per-
sons, who, in conjunction with the Superintendent of Sewers and the
City Engineer, should constitute - a board to be known as Sewer
Commissioners, who shall take charge of all matters pertaining to
the Sewer Department of the city, including the construction of the im-
proved system of sewerage." (See Proceedings, p. 722.) This order
was referred to the Special Committee on Commissions and Boards,
who reported, November 28, in favor of the establishment of a Board
of Commissioners, consisting of three persons, one to be appointed
APPENDIX B.
169
by the Mayor and one to be elected by the City Council 1881.
from each of the two branches, " said Board to have charge
of all matters connected with the construction of the improved sys-
tem of sewerage.” But the municipal year being then so near its
close the whole subject went over by reference to the next City
Council.
The committee were appointed in 1882 and resumed work 1882.
under authority conferred upon them by the usual orders.
An order was passed March 25 requesting the Board of Health
" to consider and report whether the proposed discharge of sewage
into Dorchester Bay will be prejudicial to the health or comfort of
the inhabitants of South Boston.” In pursuance of this order the
Board of Health submitted their report upon the subject April 27.
After referring to the surroundings of Old Harbor Point, the pro-
posed point of discharge of sewage into the Dorchester Bay, and the
various attendant circumstances that should be taken into consider-
ation in discussing the question, the Board state that.
There will, in this case, be some deposit of sewage sludge about the outfall of
the sewer and for a short distance from it; and, in time, it will undoubtedly be
the cause of a local nuisance. But that this sewage will make its way across
the channel and find lodgment on South Boston flats, or that the result of collec-
tion at the sewer outfall, in two or three years, will be sufficient to reach and
harm or discomfort the inhabitants of South Boston, is improbable. If, on the
other hand, discharge is made into the channel at the end of the pier, for two or
three years, and only on the ebbing of the tide, there is no reason to expect any
effect, local or diffused, which will be prejudicial to the health or comfort of the
inhabitants of any section of the city or adjoining territory. On the contrary,
we have every reason to say that the immediate use of this intercepting sewer is
not only necessary to relieve the wretched unsanitary condition of other parts of
the city, but that its use will materially improve the sanitary condition of South
Boston itself. (See Proceedings, 1882, p. 222.)
The report was referred to the Committee on Improved Sewerage,
with instructions to give a public hearing on the subject. Opposition
was immediately developed to the proposed scheme of discharging
the sewage into Dorchester Bay. A remonstrance from the Boston
Asylum and Farm School at Thompson's Island was received May
1, and referred to the committee.
While the matter was under consideration by the committee, some
of the citizens who were opposed to the scheme, applied to the
Legislature for relief, and procured the passage of the following
act forbidding the discharge of sewage into Dorchester Bay:-
170
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1882.
[CHAPTER 256.]
AN ACT FOR THE PRESERVATION OF Boston HARBOR, AND OF
HEALTH IN THE CITY OF Boston.
THE PUBLIC
Be it enacted, etc., as follows :
SECTION 1. No part of the contents of the main sewer, now or hereafter to be
constructed, running south-easterly from the direction of Charles River in the
city of Boston, shall be discharged at or near the shore of the Calf Pasture, so
called, in Dorchester Bay, or at any place in Boston Harbor or vicinity except
at Moon Island. The Supreme Judicial Court, or any justice thereof, upon the
petition of not less than ten taxable inhabitants of the city of Boston, may
estrain by injunction, or otherwise, any violation of the provisions of this act.
Sect. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved May 26,
1885.]
m
By the passage of this Act the action of the committee was antici-
pated, and they were relieved from further consideration of the
subject.
At the meeting of the Aldermen April 17 the committee made a re-
quest for an additional appropriation of $1,500,000. A statement from
the City Engineer accompanied the committee's request, and as it
describes the condition of the work at that period, and sets forth in
detail the various causes that had operated to occasion the necessity
for an additional appropriation, it is herewith presented :-
IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, April 17, 1882.
The Joint Special Committee on Improved Sewerage respectfully represent
that an additional appropriation will be needed to complete the work under their
charge.
The following is a summary of the state of the appropriation at the present
time:-
APPROPRIATIONS.
Preliminary surveys
Construction
$40,000 00
3,713,000 00
.
$3,753,000 00
Preliminary surveys
Construction.
EXPENDITURES.
$25,214 22
2,553,902 37
Amounts carried forward,
$2,579,116 59 $3,753,000 00
APPENDIX B.
171
Amounts brought forward,
Less stock on hand
1882.
$2,579,116 59 $3,753,000 00
23,012 12
2,556,104 47
.
.
Balance
Amount called for by existing contracts .
$1,196,895 53
812,982 53
Balance on hand
$283,913 00
The estimated amount required to complete the work, in
addition to what is now under contract, is
Less balance on hand
$1,613,134 20
283,913 00
Deficit
$1,329,221 20
The following is a schedule of expenditures to March 1, 1882, inclusive :-
Intercepting sewers
Main sewer
Pumping-station
Sea-walls, Old Harbor pier, etc.
Dorchester-Bay tunnel
Section 3, outfall sewer and reservoir
Connecting with old sewers
Land damages
Superintendence and contingencies
.
$552,850 53
590,529 56
581,854 16
143,216 87
333,408 87
122,263 35
22,047 77
68,848 28
138,882 98
Gross expenditures
Less stock on hand
$2,553,902 37
23,012 12
Net expenditures
$2,530,890 25
.
There will also be required for settlement of land damages and unsettled
claims, connecting sewers at North End, running pumping-engines for temporary
discharge of sewage into Dorchester Bay, and other items of expense not directly
connected with the work of construction, a sum sufficient, in the opinion of the
committee, to call for an additional appropriation of $1,500,000.
The accompanying communication from the City Engineer states at length
the reasons for the increased cost of the work above the original estimates. It
will be seen to be chiefly due to the rise in materials and labor, changes in plans
of construction, rendered necessary to make the system conform to the best
practice of modern sanitary engineering, and the expense of overcoming unfore-
seen difficulties in the work of construction. Although there is an apparent
balance of $283,913, yet the greater part of this amount is required to complete
172
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1882. work now in progress, and the committee do not feel authorized to
enter upon the new work necessary to utilize that already completed
or commenced until further provision has been made therefor by the City
Council.
Respectfully submitted,
LUCIUS SLADE,
WILLIAM WOOLLEY,
CHARLES H. HERSEY,
MALCOLM S. GREENOUGH,
THOMAS J. DENNEY,
FRANK F. FARWELL,
NATHAN G. SMITH,
PRENTISS CUMMINGS.
APPENDIX.
OFFICE OF City ENGINEER, City Hall,
Boston, April 14, 1882.
To the Joint Special Committee on Improved Sewerage : -
GENTLEMEN, - As I am now able to estimate with approximate accuracy the
final cost of the new sewerage system, I herewith submit for your consideration
a statement of the present condition of the improved sewerage appropriation, the
amount already expended, balance reinaining, estimated expenditure in the
future, and the further appropriation which will be necessary to complete the
system as proposed.
By an order, approved June 17, 1876, there was appropriated the sum of
$40,000 for a preliminary survey, to determine the practicability and approximate
cost of a system of intercepting sewers for Boston. There was spent for this
survey $25,214.22, leaving a balance unexpended of $14,785.78. By an order
approved August 9, 1877, there was appropriated for the construction of an im-
proved system of sewerage the sum of $3,713,000. The City Auditor, in his
accounts, united the two appropriations under one head, entitled “Improved
Sewerage,” making the total appropriation on that account $3,753,000. As, how-
ever, the balance in cash to be transferred from the appropriation for a prelimi-
nary survey was only $14,785.78, the net appropriation available for Improved
Sewerage construction was $3,727,785.78
March 1, 1882, there had been expended, chargeable to Improved Sewerage,
the sum of $2,530,890.25, leaving a balance of $1,196,895.53. At the same time
there existed contracts calling for payments in the sum of $912,982.53. This
sum deducted from the balance of appropriation remaining leaves a second
balance of $283,913, which is the amount available for construction not covered
by existing contracts.
The estimated cost of such construction, necessary to complete the system, is
$1,613,134.20. Deducting from this sum the available balance of $283,913,
there is left $1,329,221.20 to be provided for otherwise than from the present
appropriation.
APPENDIX B.
173
That the committee may understand why the work has cost so much 1882.
more than was at first estimated I present herewith a comparison of
the estimate of July, 1877, with the present estimate, showing the increased
expenditure for each item, and also offer some explanation of the reasons for
such increase :
Comparison of Estimates of July, 1877, and March, 1882.
ITEMS.
Estimates
July, 1887.
Estimates
March, 1882.
Increase.
Intercepting sewers
$706,000 00
$95,250 53
$801,250 53
595,389 47
Main sewers
565,000 00
30,389 47
390,000 00
999,857 25
609,857 25
Pumping-station, filth-hoist and force-mains .
Sea-walls, filling, shaft-chamber, flush-tank,
etc. .
360,681 93
205,681 93
Outfall sewer,
including tunnel
282,415 97
1,130,415 97
505,045 72
Reservoir and connection
155,000 00
848,000 00
431,000 00
92,000 00
20,000 00
100,000 00
74,045 72
8,000 00
Outlet sewers, pier, box sewers, etc. .
Dwellings at Moon Island
100,000 00
20,000 00
120,000 00
Connecting existing sewers
20,000 00
$3,307,000 00
330,700 00
$4,632,640 87
368,529 95
$1,325,640 87
37,829 95
Superintendence and contingencies
$3,637,700 00
$5,001,170 82
$1,363,470 82
Land damages
75,000 00
78,843 28
3,848 28
Total
$3,712,700 00
$1,367,319 10
$5,080,019 10
23,012 12
Deduct stock on hand
23,012 12
$5,057,000 98
$1,344,306 98
Estimated total cost and increase over esti-
mate of July, 1877. .....
Deduct excess of net appropriation over esti-
mates of July, 1887
15,085 78
Estimated deficit in appropriation . .
$1,329,221 20
INTERCEPTING SEWERS.
The increase in this item amounts to about 134 per cent., and is wholly due to
the increase in cost of labor and materials. The cost of a sewer depends almost
entirely upon the prices paid for common labor and for bricks and cement. At
174
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1882. the time the original estimate was made these prices were low, and
there seemed no reason to anticipate an early advance. In fact, how-
ever, the whole work of construction has been carried on during a rising market,
and on that account the contractors, almost without exception, have lost money.
One-half in number of those having sewer contracts have been unable to fulfil
their contracts, and several have gone into bankruptcy. On p. 6 is given a table
of the principal items of cost entering into sewer-building, comparing the prices
paid during the first years of construction with present prices :
Item.
Former Price.
Present Price.
.
Labor, per day
Bricks, per M.
Cement, per bbl.
Lumber, per M..
.
$1 25
7 26
90
13 10
Increase per cent.
.40
.52
.50
.21
$1 75
11 00
1 35
15 90
MAIN SEWER.
The increase in this item amounts to but 5 per cent., and is more than covered
by extra work not contemplated by the original estimate. As stated when the
first estimate was made, it was intended to cover the cost of filling 675 feet of
East Chester Park extension to its full width and grade. In fact, 1,700 feet in
length of this street was so filled, and in addition the extension of Mt. Vernon
Street across the Calf Pasture was graded for a length of 4,100 feet. The actual
cost of sewer-construction was below the first estimate. This was due to the
fact that the contracts for this work were among the earliest let, and nearly the
whole sewer was completed before the extreme rise in prices. The contractors
for three sections of main sewer were unable to complete their contracts, and
one went into bankruptcy.
PUMPING-STATION, Etc.
Nearly one-half of the increase in cost of the whole system occurs in this
item, and is due, in part, to the higher rates paid for labor and materials, but
chiefly to the fact that the original estimate for this portion of the work was
much too small. The principal items of expense at this point are as follows:-
.
2 pumping-engines .
2
4 boilers .
Force-mains
Foundations, wells, and filth-hoist.
Buildings (Architect's estimate)
Chimney
Gates, and other machinery
$215,000 00
90,000 00
38,800 00
17,142 29
314,300 00
175,000 00
6,250 00
35,000 00
Total
$894,492 29
In addition to the above are the salt-water conduit, the connection-chamber,
and many other minor appurtenances. It would have been impossible to procure
APPENDIX B.
175
these necessary items for any approximation to the $390,000 pro- 1882.
vided by the first estimate.
The work at this point has been done by day's labor under a superintendent
appointed by the committee. Work done by the day is usually more expensive
than contract-work; but it is also, usually, more sure, safe, and thorough. It
may be doubted whether excavations of such magnitude, depth, and difficulty
could have been made by contract without a single accident or mishap, or whether
such thorough workmanship could have been obtained except by the method
employed.
SEA-WALLS, FLUSHING-TANK, ETC.
The increase in this item is very large, and is due to a radical change of plan
adopted shortly after the first estimate was made. That estimate contemplated
a tunnel-shaft on or near the main land. It was decided, however, in order that
the tunnel might be wholly in rock, and also that the sewage, before entering it,
might deposit any heavy matters held in suspension, to build the shaft 1,200 feet
or more from the shore. At this point it was practicable to reach bed-rock. To
convey the sewage to the shaft it was necessary to build elevated sewers, sup-
ported by a pier extending from the shore out to and around the shaft. The
increase in this item represents very nearly the cost of this pier.
OUTFALL SEWER, INCLUDING TUNNEL.
The work covered by this item was originally let for a sum within the first
estimate ; but the rise in prices obliged the contractors to abandon their contracts,
and the work had to be relet for prices much greater than the previous ones.
RESERVOIR.
This work also was let for a sum within the original estimates, and has been
relet at greatly advanced prices. The cost of the reservoir proper has been
somewhat lessened by leaving off its roof, which was at first thought necessary.
On the remaining items the increase is slight, and is due to the general causes
mentioned before. In the original estimate the item “Superintendence and
contingencies” was made equal to 10 per cent. of the estimated cost of the
work. For the work already done the amounts chargeable to this account are
less than 6 per cent. of the expenditure. Should a similar rate be maintained
there will be a gain in this item instead of a loss, but for a conservative estimate
it has been assumed to be 10 per cent. on future work.
It is believed that the present estimate is ample to complete the system as
proposed.
This estimate is based on the present rate of wages and price of materials.
Should, therefore, any considerable advance in these occur, the expenditure for
work not already contracted for will be correspondingly increased. This
estimate does not include the cost of running the pumping-engines longer than
will be necessary to thoroughly test them, nor does it include any extraordinary
contingencies, such as expensive lawsuits, heavy payments for land damages, etc.
Respectfully submitted,
HENRY M. WIGHTMAN,
City Engineer.
176
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1882. The matter was referred to the Committee on Finance,
who reported favorably thereon in a report presented to
the Board of Aldermen April 24. They recommended that the
required amount of $1,500,000 be raised by loan, and the orders
for the purpose, accompanying their report, were adopted May 13.
An order was passed September 19 authorizing a modification of
the contract with N. F. Palmer & Co., for furnishing pumping-engines
at Old Harbor Point.
The following order was passed November 17, but the com-
mittee failed to present any report in response thereto :-
Ordered, That the Committee on Improved Sewerage be requested to consider
and report upou the expediency and cost of constructing a temporary wooden
conduit, or otherwise connecting the Dorchester-Bay tunnel with Squantum
Point, for the discharge of sewage in that locality, until the reservoir at Moon
Island is completed; also, if expedient, to report the time required to construct
and put in operation such temporary conduit or connection.
1883.
In 1883 the work of the Improved Sewerage was referred
to by Mayor Palmer, in his inaugural address, as fol-
laws :
The city is to be congratulated on the approaching completion of the New
and Improved System of Sewerage. Speaking generally, it may be said that
the whole system will be sufficiently advanced during the coming year to be
made available for removing the most noticeable causes of nuisance in our
present sewerage system. There will then remain to be built extensions of the
intercepting sewers, to take the sewage from the north end of the city proper
and the easterly portions of South Boston. The work thus far has cost some-
what more than was at first estimated, owing to the greatly enhanced prices of
labor and materials since the preliminary estimates were made.
The total expenditures chargeable to this account, including the draft for
January, 1883, is $3,388,045.89.
>
The committee were appointed at the commencement of the year
1883, and resumed work under authority of the orders passed by the
City Council in the customary form.
A petition was received in the Board of Aldermen March 26 from
Charles Linehan for relief under his contract for building Section 4,
and claiming compensation for extra work. The petition was referred
to the committee.
An order was passed June 30 to cancel the bond of R. A.
APPENDIX B.
177
Malone, the contractor for building the Dorchester-Bay tun- 1883.
nel, upon his releasing all claims against the city on account
of his contract.
Also an order to páy C. W. Parker & Co. the sum of $25,000,
from the amount retained on their contract for building Section 3,
outfall sewer, and Moon-island reservoir ; and, by an order passed
December 15, a further allowance of $30,000 was made to said
Parker & Co.
The following order was introduced in the Common Council
March 8, and, after provoking considerable discussion, was passed
March 14 :
>
Ordered, That in the employment of laborers by the Committee on Improved
Sewerage there shall be no discrimination made against any residents of
Boston.
No other matters of importance were acted upon by the City
Council this year.
At the meeting of the Board of Aldermen December 31 Alderman
Lucius Slade, the chairman of the committee, addressed the Board on
the subject of the practical completion of the works and their going
into operation the following day. He gave the following history of
the work:-
-
Mr. CHAIRMAN, – To-morrow, the first day of January, 1884, the improved
system of sewerage will go into operation, and, as I have been connected with
the work, as a member of the committee, ever since the construction was com-
menced, I may be permitted to make a statement in regard to this great under-
taking. In the first place let me say that the committee felt that it was desirable
to put the system into operation at the earliest possible moment. And, there-
fore, although much remains to be done before the original plan will be com-
pleted, they decided to start the works at this time.
This scheme of improving the sewerage of the city was the outgrowth of a
feeling of general dissatisfaction with the practice of discharging sewage into the
docks and upon the flats surrounding our water-front, thereby creating a great
and constantly increasing nuisance, which threatened soon to become intolerable,
and also from the fact that it had become the conviction of scientific men that
the practice of retaining refuse-matter in tide-locked sewers, from which noxious
gases were generated that penetrated into our houses, was rapidly increasing the
death-rate of the city, this increase being due to the prevalence of what are
known as "filth diseases,” which are directly traceable to emanations from de-
fective sewers.
The first step toward the improved system was taken in 1873, when the
Committee on Sewers were requested to examine the existing system and report
what measures were necessary for the public health. The committee reported
178
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1883. that everything which appeared to them necessary to the public health
and convenience would be carried out by the Sewer Department as
soon as it was possible and expedient.
Here the matter rested until 1875, when the Mayor was authorized to appoint
a commission to present a plan for an improved system of sewerage, and Messrs.
E. S. Chesbrough, Moses Lane, and Dr. C. F. Folsom were appointed commis-
sioners. Messrs. Chesbrough and Lane were engineers, eminent in the pro-
fession, and Dr. Folsom was a scientific expert on the subject of sanitary
matters, being recognized as one of the highest authorities on that subject. In
1876 the commissioners made their report. They pointed out the evils which
existed in consequence of the way in which our sewers had been built, without
a definite comprehensive system. They set forth the necessity of carrying the
sewage away from the city before it had an opportunity to become dangerous to
health by putrefaction. They showed that there were three ways in which we
failed to accomplish this. First, the refuse did not always pass from the house-
drains into the sewers, because the latter may be filled at high tide; the sewage
may even be forced up the drains into the houses. Secondly, the sewers are not
emptied promptly, because the tide or the tide-gates prevent it. In such case,
the sewage being stagnant, a precipitate falls to the bottom of the sewer, and the
slow and gradual emptying of the sewer as the tide falls does not produce scour
enough to remove it. This deposit remains with little change, in some places,
for many months. Third, when the sewage once reaches the outlets of the
sewers it is again delayed there, to decompose and contaminate the air. They
enunciated, as the cardinal principle of good sewerage, that the sewage should
start from the houses and go in a continuous current, without stopping until it
reaches its destination, either in deep water or upon the land.
To accomplish this result, after an exhaustive consideration of the subject,
the commissioners recommended the present intercepting system, or, as it is
better known, the improved system of sewerage. The opinions of these eminent
gentlemen, expressed after a thorough study of the situation, attracted universal
attention, and called for prompt action on the part of the City Council. Their
report was referred to a Joint Special Committee, who in due time reported the
orders necessary to carry the recommendations into effect.
Application was made to the General Court for the required legislation, and an
act was passed authorizing the city to lay and maintain a main sewer discharging
into Boston Harbor. An appropriation of $40,000 was made for the purpose of
making preliminary surveys and preparing plans, etc., and an engineering force
was immediately organized to make the surveys. In 1877 the City Engineer
reported the result of the surveys. He indorsed the recommendation of the
commissioners in regard to locating the works at Old Harbor Point and Moon
Island.
The committee reported to the City Council in favor of constructing the
works in accordance with the recommendations of the Engineer, and a loan of
$3,713,000 was authorized. The committee soon after advertised for proposals
for constructing certain portions of the work, and the first contracts were
'awarded on ()ctober 9, 1877.
In order to combine the results of the best engineering practice of this
country and Europe the City Engineer was granted leave of absence, for the
purpose of visiting Europe and studying the different foreign systems. This
APPENDIX B.
179
visit led to radical changes in some portions of the plans, all of which 1883.
tended greatly to increase the efficiency of the works; and it is be-
lieved that the system now about to go into operation is the most perfect of its
kind in existence.
A statement of the difficulties encountered and overcome in the construction
of this great work would occupy too much of your time. It is sufficient to say
that in the course of the work problems were presented which were new to engi-
neering science, and which required the greatest talent and skill to solve
successfully. That this was done is ample proof of the ability of those who had
charge of the work. Let me briefly, and without going into technicalities,
endeavor to give a description of the system which is now about to go into
operation, and which is designed to carry out the recommendation of the
commissioners, as expressed in the report I have already alluded to, — the
immediate removal of sewage from the vicinity of our habitations.
The Improved System of Sewerage may be divided into four principal parts:-
1. The main and intercepting sewers, which convey the sewage to the pump-
ing-station.
2. The pumping-station, where the sewage is raised.
3. The outfall sewer, by which the sewage is conveyed from the pumping-
station to Moon Island.
4. The reservoir at Moon Island, in which the sewage is to be stored, and
from which it is emptied during the early ebb tide.
The intercepting sewers follow the marginal streets of the city as far as prac-
ticable, and, intercepting the existing street sewers near their outlets, convey
the sewage to the main sewer, which extends from the junction of Camden
Street and Huntington Avenue to the pumping-station. The existing street
sewers are joined to the interceptiny sewers by small branches provided with
gates to regulate the flow. The old outlets of existing sewers are, for the most
part, kept open for use as storm overflows, those below tide level being provided
with gates to prevent the tide from flowing in. The intercepting sewers are
provided with flushing-gates for cleansing purposes, and with manholes and
ventilating shafts at frequent intervals. Regulating-gates are also placed at
their junction with the main sewer, to control the flow of sewage.
The main and intercepting sewers are about 15 miles in length. The
sewage flowing into the intercepting sewers from the street sewers is conveyed
in a continuous stream to the pumping-station at Old Harbor Point. At the
pumping-station the sewage when it leaves the main sewer first passes through
the filth-hoist, where all floating objects which would be liable to injure the
pumps are intercepted. It then passes into the pump-wells, and from them is
raised by the pumping-engines to a height of about 40 feet, and discharged
through iron pipes into the connection-chamber, which forms the beginning of the
tank sewer. The tank sewer is the commencement of the outfall sewer. It
receives and conducts the sewage to the west shaft of the Dorchester-Bay tunnel.
Here the sewage descends the west shaft a distance of about 160 feet, and
pursues its course under Dorchester Bay until it reaches Squantum, where it
rises to about its former level into another section of the outfall sewer. This
tunnel was practically the key to the whole scheme. Here is where the greatest
180
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
It may
1883, difficulties met with in the course of the work were encountered and
successfully overcome, in spite of the prophecies of those doubters
who believed that the construction of such a work was impossible.
These difficulties will never be fully appreciated except by those who watched
the progress of the work from day to day, as I, in the capacity of chairman of
the committee, was compelled to do.
well be imagined that the drifting
of a tunnel for a distance of about one mile and a quarter through solid rock, at
a depth of 150 feet below the surface of Dorchester Bay, was a work which
demanded indomitable energy and perseverance to carry it to a successful con-
clusion. When it leaves the tunnel the sewage passes through another section
of the outfall sewer which conducts it to Moon Island.
On account of the difficulty of getting a suitable foundation this part of the
sewer is not yet completed, so for the present the sewage will be conveyed to
Moon Island in a temporary wooden flume constructed for the purpose. On
arriving at Moon Island the sewage reaches the Reservoir Division. During
the three hours of ebb tide it flows continuously through the outfall and dis-
charge sewers into the tidal currents, which convey it beyond the limits of the
harbor. If received at any other time it is stored in a massive masonry reservoir,
covering 45 acres of ground, and having a capacity of 25,000,000 gallons, where
it is retained until the ebb tide, and then, together with sewage flowing in the
outfall sewer, is discharged into the channel.
Next to the water-works, the system of sewerage which we put into operation
to-morrow is the most important public work ever undertaken in this city, both
as regards its magnitude and the purpose it is intended to accomplish. It is the
only work of the kind on this continent, and if it succeed, as I believe it will,
in removing the evils from which we have so long suffered, it cannot fail to
prove a great benefit to the community. I am also glad to be able to say that
no additional appropriation will be required to complete the work.
I have watched the progress of the work from day to day, and can testify to
the faithful manner in which it has been done, and I also wish to express my
appreciation and admiration of the talent and courage displayed by Mr. J. P.
Davis, our former City Engineer, and his successor, Mr. H. M. Wightman, in
overcoming all difficulties and carrying the work forward to a successful termi-
nation. Nor should I forget to bear witness to the ability and faithfulness of Mr.
E. C. Clarke, the principal Assistant Engineer, and Messrs. S. H. Tarbell and
H. A. Carson, the Superintendents, who have contributed so much to the satisfac-
tory performance of the work. I can conceive of no more valuable or useful
New-Year's gift that could be made to the public than this great work, a work
which cannot fail to be a great blessing to the community.
Mayor Martin referred to the Improved Sewerage Works,
1884. in his inaugural address before the City Council of 1884,
as follows:-
The main drainage work, or improved system of sewerage, which has been
in process of construction for several years, went into successful operation on
the first instant. A full description of this important work having been lately
given to the public it is unnecessary for me to enter into details here. The
APPENDIX B.
181
practical working of the system will be observed with great interest, 1884.
and if it meet the expectations of its projectors, and relieve the city
from the great evil of defective sewerage, the work will be a monument to the
ability of those who designed and those who constructed it.
The usual order was passed at the beginning of the year for the
appointment of the committee, and authorizing them to resume the
work.
An order was passed March 8 providing " that the expenses
incurred by the committee in maintaining and operating the works
under their charge be paid from the appropriation for Improved
Sewerage.”
Also, on March 8, an order was passed to allow the payment of
a further advance of $10,000 to C. W. Parker & Co., in addition to
the amount previously allowed them from the sum reserved on their
contract for building Section 3, outfall sewer, and Moon-island
reservoir.
The following order was introduced in the Common Council,
September 11, and also in the Board of Aldermen September 28,
namely:
Ordered, That the Committee on Improved Sewerage be authorized to pur-
chase a parcel of land in Calf Pasture, near the pumping-station, at Old Harbor
Point, containing 45,709 square feet, as shown on a plan thereof in the office of
the City Engineer, at the rate of five cents per square foot; the expense to be
charged to the appropriation for Improved Sewerage.
The order was passed by the Aldermen November 10. Upon
reaching the Common Council it was pretty carefully considered, and
recommitted December 11 to the Committee on Improved Sewerage
to ascertain and report whether the land in question could be taken
by right of eminent domain. The committee reported December 18,
and presented an opinion of the Corporation Counsel to the effect
that the city had no authority to take the land for the purposes pro-
posed. The order then went over by assignment to the last meeting
of the Common Council, January 1, 1885, and a motion made at that
meeting to take it up for consideration was lost.
An order was introduced in the Common Council June 12, 1884,
by the committee authorizing them to purchase of Paul Butler and
Henry W. Hunt the tract of land known as Squantum Head for the
sum of $47,000. The committee were divided, however, regarding
182
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1884. the expediency of making the purchase, and the order,
after being pretty thoroughly discussed, was finally re-
jected June 19.
A communication was received from Henry Guild, by the Board of
Aldermen, September 29, calling attention to an alleged nuisance, by
reason of the very offensive odor from the sewage at Moon Island
and Squantum. The communication was referred to the Committee
on Improved Sewerage, and they submitted a report on the subject,
October 13, stating that the odor complained of undoubtedly came
from a small cove adjacent to the mouth of the discharge sewer, and
extending to Moon Island ; that the sewage-matter was carried into
this cove by the water currents, and when the flats were exposed at
low tide the offensive odor arose. They recommended as a remedy
for the evil complained of that a dike be built across the entrance to
the cove, at an estimated cost of $25,000. There being no provision
in the Improved Sewerage appropriation for the extraordinary ex-
penditure of such an amount, the report was referred to the Commit-
tee on Finance to provide the required sum ; but that committee
failed to report upon the subject.
An order was passed October 25 to pay to the Builders' Iron Foun-
dry of Providence, R.I., an instalment of $3,300 from the amount
reserved on their contract for furnishing machinery for the east shaft.
An order was passed December 29 requesting the Mayor “to
petition the General Court for authority to take from time to time
such additional lands as the City Council may deem necessary for
the purposes of extending and carrying out the system of improved
sewerage,” and also December 29 an order authorizing the commit-
tee to arrange for a visit of the City Council to the works, Tuesday,
the 30th of December. Other matters presented to the City Council
were simply claims of laborers and others.
President John H. Lee, of the Common Council of 1884, in his
valedictory address to that body, thus refers to the Improved Sew-
erage works:
The new intercepting sewer system was put in operation January 1, 1884, and
has so continued during the year. Certain of the higher level sewers of the
system, which were not built wh the works were started, have been completed
the past season. The permanent buildings at the pumping-station, and much
other work at that place and at Moon Island, have also been finished during the
same time. With the exception of the erection of the east shaft pumping-
machinery, removal of old buildings, finishing of roadways and grounds, and
APPENDIX B.
183
some other minor details, the whole work may be said to be substan- 1884.
tially completed.
The year's operation of the system has demonstrated its efficiency in relieving
the docks and bays from the nuisances formerly caused by the discharge of
sewage into them, and in preventing the damming up by the tide of the city
sewers, by which, during the greater part of the day, they were converted into
stagnant cesspools. The system, although not designed to prevent wet cellars
in the low sections of the city, has, nevertheless, relieved to a great extent the
districts which formerly suffered the most from this cause.
Careful examinations made from time to time, during the year, have shown no
evidence of deposits in the channels of the harbor through which the sewage
discharged at Moon Island is conveyed to the sea by the tidal currents, nor is
there any evidence of its fouling the shores of the islands or main lands in its
passage.
The tunnel under Dorchester Bay, which it was thought might be impaired in
its efficiency by deposits of sludge, is apparently free from such accumulations,
or, if they exist, they do not furnish any appreciable obstacle to the flow of the
sewage through it.
It would not, however, be safe to run this important section of the system
without provisions for its periodical examination; and for this purpose the pump-
ing machinery for emptying it, which is to be erected at the east shaft, has been
purchased, and is in readiness for setting up as soon as the rights to take the land
necessary for the purpose can be procured.
Notwithstanding the complicated nature of the machinery and constructions
connected with this new system of works, every portion of them has worked,
from the start, on January 1, in the most efficient manner. No accident has
occurred of any importance, nor any of any kind which has delayed or pre-
vented the working of the system for a day. Of course this is largely due to the
careful and intelligent management of the works, for which the Engineer's
Department is responsible, under the direction of the Joint Special Committee
on Improved Sewerage.
Mayor Hugh O'Brien referred to the subject in his inau-
gural address to the City Council, January 4, as follows:
1885.
The Improved System of Sewerage, or, as it should be more properly called,
the Main Drainage System or Works, which has been in process of construction
since October, 1887, is practically completed. Although certain portions of the
works were unfinished at the commencement of the year it was decided to put
in operation the completed portions on January 1, 1884. The pumps were,
therefore, started for continuous duty on that date, and have run without inter-
ruption since. The results of the year's operations have been very satisfactory.
The sewage of the city has been removed from places where it formerly created
nuisances, and has all been discharged into the outer harbor at Moon Island.
The water in the bays and docks around the city has again become pure, as
evidenced by its being frequented by fish, which for years have been unable to
live in it on account of the sewage contamination. The offensive odors formerly
184
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1885. prevalent over the city during the summer were not noticed during the
past season. In many portions of the city the cellars have been relieved
from the periodical flooding caused by the surcharging of the sewers during storms
and by the leakage into them of the tide-water; and, although the system was not
built as a remedy for this evil, it furnishes a means by which it can be remedied
in the future. Although the operation of the new system has been satisfactory,
even more so than could have been anticipated, in view of the magnitude of the
works, the complication of the machinery for operating them, and the difficulties
inherent in every new work, yet the benefit to be derived from it is not so com-
plete as it should be. The old system — if such a combination of sewers, many
of which are badly designed and defectively constructed, can be called a system
– is in such a condition that the sewage, before it reaches the intercepting
sewers of the new system, is full of noxious gases. These gases are given off by
the sewage in its passage to the intercepter and during its flow through it, and find
their way into the houses and streets, carrying with them the germs of disease.
No remedy short of entire reconstruction of the defective sewers will prove
effective. Some of them discharge at points too low to be intercepted, or even
to empty at ordinary low tide; some of them have too slight a gradient to prevent
deposits; and some of them have settled in such a manner as to make pockets
into which the sludge settles and decomposes. That a system of sewerage shall
be so constructed as to convey the contaminated fluids emptied into it to the
point of discharge before decomposition has rendered them dangerous is an
axiom of sanitary engineering.
In the Main Drainage Works the city has the basis for the best system of
sewerage that modern science has yet been able to devise for similarly situated
communities, and it should complete the work by adapting the old system to the
new, so as to form one harmonious whole. To effect this a complete survey of
the old sewers should be made, and, after a thorough study of the subject, plans
should be devised for remedying the defects mentioned. The reconstruction of
the defective portions of the system must necessarily be gradual. In the mean-
time the question arises, “Under whose direction should this work be undertaken,
and in whose charge shall the new work be placed?” It seems proper that the
new system should remain as at present, under the immediate supervision of
the Engineer's Department, as its successful operation depends upon intelligent
engineering care, which can best be given by those who have constructed it.
It would also appear that the Engineer's Department is the proper department,
under the city ordinances, to make the surveys and plans for adapting the old
system to the new, and to have charge of such constructions as may be required.
Admitting these views of the subjects, why should the sewerage system of the
city be under two independent heads? It is not to be expected that they will
work in harmony, and by their inharmonious working the city is subjected to
unnecessary expense in the construction of sewers which may have to be
rebuilt to conform to a proper system.
Under whatever Board, or commission, or committee, the sewerage system
may be put, the entire work should be in the immediate charge of the Engineer's
Department, as it was previous to 1869; and that department should be held
responsible for all constructions connected with it. It should also be rewem-
bered that the new Main Drainage Works contemplate, and were designed and
APPENDIX B.
185
built for, a high-level sewer, which should intercept the sewage of the 1885.
high portions of Dorchester, Roxbury, etc., and convey it to Squantum,
where a connection-chaniber has been built, and beyond which point the system
is large enough for both the low-level and high-level sewage, except as to reser-
voir capacity, which is to be made larger. In order that the sewerage system of
these high-level districts should be properly designed and executed, this pro-
vision in the new Main Drainage Works should be borne in mind, and, that a
great deal of unnecessary expense in this direction may be avoided, a careful
survey and study of the whole of these districts should be made, and any sewers
built should be so constructed as to be, ultimately, the most economical for con-
nection with the high-level sewers of the Main Drainage Works.
The special committee was appointed, as usual, to take charge of
the work, and by an order passed February 12 they were authorized
to operate the Main Drainage Works? during the year.
The portion of the Mayor's message above quoted was referred, on
recommendation of the Committee on Mayor's Address, to a special
committee, consisting of Aldermen Allen and Mullane, and Council-
men Brown, Denney, and Keliher, to consider and report upon the
expediency of consolidating the Improved Sewerage and Sewer depart-
ments. Their report was presented to the Aldermen at the meeting
June 8, and in it they state that
They have given the subject careful consideration, and have listened to the
views of the officials and committees in charge of the two departments. The
1 Henry M. Wightman, the City Engineer, died April 3, at 8.30 P.M. He had held the
position since 1880, being elected to fill the vacancy in the office occasioned by the resignation
of Joseph P. Davis. Prior to 1880 Mr. Wightman occupied the position of Assistant Engineer
for a number of years, and had served the city in humbler positions, connected with the Engi-
neer's Department, since his boyhood. He was closely identified with the Main Drainage Works,
and the most difficult and important portions of the work were carried forward under his direc-
tion. He was a man of marked ability, and thoroughly devoted to his duties, and by his death
the city sustained the loss of a valuable and efficient public official.
The following resolutions of respect were unanimously adopted by the City Council,
namely:-
Resolved, That the City Council of Boston has learned with sorrow and regret of the death
of Henry M. Wightman, City Engineer.
Resolved, That the City Council hereby expresses its appreciation of the long-continued and
valuable services rendered by Mr. Wightman to bis native city. His ability and fidelity have
been conspicuous throughout his official career, and his public service has been characterized by
the strictest integrity. The important engineering works which he has successfully completed
will endure as public memorials of his professional skill, while the recollection of the sterling
and admirable traits of character which he possessed in such an eminent degree will be cher.
ished in the memories of all who have been connected with him in the public service.
Resolved, That the City Clerk be instructed to transmit a copy of these resolutions to the
family of the deceased.
(See Proceedings, pp. 243, 259.)
William Jackson was elected City Engineer, to fill the vacancy occasioned by Mr. Wightman's
death.
186
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1885. general sentiment, as expressed by the gentlemen who appeared be-
fore the committee, was in favor of consolidating the two departments,
although they did not state exactly the time or the manner in which the con-
solidation should be effected. Your committee, on their own part, concur sub-
stantially in the opinion voiced by the representatives of the two departments,
and they would accordingly report that, in their opinion, the consolidation should
take place at the earliest possible time.
1
The report was accepted by the City Council, and, at the meeting
of the Aldermen June 15, the following order was introduced by
Alderman Welch :
>
Ordered, That the care and maintenance of all sewers now in charge of the
Committee on Improved Sewerage be placed in charge of the Sewer Depart-
ment.
This order was laid on the table, but taken up at the meeting on
July 6 and passed. In the Common Council it was laid over from
time to time, and, at the meeting December 3, was referred to the
next City Council, and the reference was concurred in by the Alder-
men at their meeting December 7.
The following order was passed March 4: --
Ordered, That the Committee on Improved Sewerage be authorized to sell,
either by public or private sale, as said committee may deem best for the interests
of the city, all the old machinery, tools, and materials that are no longer required
for the use of the department; the proceeds of said sale to be credited to the
appropriation for Improved Sewerage.
The following order was presented in the Board of Aldermen by the
committee March 23 relating to a matter that failed of adoption by
the City Council of the previous year, namely :-
Ordered, That the Committee on Improved Sewerage be authorized to pur-
chase a parcel of land in the Calf Pasture, so called, near the pumping-station
at Old Harbor Point, containing 45,709 square feet, as shown on a plan thereof
in the office of the City Engineer, at the rate of five cents per square foot; the
expense to be charged to the appropriation for Improved Sewerage.
The order was passed by the Aldermen March 30, and was made
the subject of discussion in the Common Council (see Proceedings,
p. 291); but after a visit by that body to the locality, April 30, they
APPENDIX B.
187
concurred with the Aldermen at a meeting on the same 1885.
date, and the order received the Mayor's approval May 5.
At the meeting of the Aldermen March 30 the following order to
print the history of the works was presented by Alderman Donovan,
as recommended by the Committee on Improved Sewerage, viz. :
Ordered, That the Committee on Improved Sewerage be authorized to pre-
pare and print a history of the Improved System of Sewerage, and that 1,500
copies be printed; the expense, not exceeding the sum of $1,500, to be charged to
the appropriation for Improved Sewerage.
>
The order passed in the Board of Aldermen, but, being amended in
the Common Council, it was indefinitely postponed upon the return to
the Aldermen. A new order of the same tenor was introduced at the
meeting of the Common Council April 30, and referred to the Com-
mittee on Improved Sewerage. The committee reported back favor-
ably thereon May 7, and the order was passed by the Council
on that date, concurred in by the Board May 11, and approved May
13. A subsequent order was passed Sept. 22 authorizing the Clerk
of Committees to prepare and print 1,000 additional copies of the
report, with this review as an appendix, and the number was in-
creased to 1,200 by an order passed October 19.
A request was received May 11 in the Board of Aldermen, from
the Committee on Improved Sewerage, for an additional appropriation
of $250,000, setting forth that such sum would be required to com-
plete the work. (See Doc. 62.)
The matter was referred to the Committee on Finance, who reported
back May 25 recommending the negotiation of a loan to the amount
of $200,000, and the required order was passed June 9.
The Titus claim, which has become somewhat celebrated, was in-
troduced at the meeting of the Aldermen April 20, in the form of a
petition of Lillie B. Titus and another, asking that the sewerage works
at Moon Island be properly fenced, and this petition was referred to
the Committee on Improved Sewerage. The committee made a re-
port June 22, in the form of the following order :
Ordered, That there be allowed and paid to Lillie B. Titus the sum of $15,000,
upon her giving to the city a release and discharge, satisfactory to the Corpora-
tion Counsel, of all claims on account of the taking of a certain parcel of land,
taken as belonging to Barnabas Davis, trustee under the will of James Huckins,
consisting of land upon the main land at Squantum, so called, and of Moon
Island, and the Little Moon Island, with the beach and flats around and adjoining
the same, and more particularly described in paragraph 3 of City Document 92
188
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1885. of 1879; and also a conveyance of all her right, title, and interest in
said real estate ; and that His Honor the Mayor be authorized to re-
lease to said Lillie B. Titus, in a manner satisfactory to the Corporation Counsel,
all the interest which the city may have acquired by said taking, in Little Moon
Island, and the bars and flats adjacent thereto; the real estate, island, bars, and
flats referred to being shown on a plan made by William Jackson, City En-
gineer, dated June 15, 1885, and deposited in the office of the City Engineer;
said sum to be charged to the appropriation for Inproved Sewerage.
The order was tabled and the opinion of the Corporation Counsel
was called for in relation to the rights of the city of Moon Island,
under the order of taking, and the following opinion was received
August 17, viz. (see Doc. 117): -
CORPORATION COUNSEL'S OFFICE,
2 PEMBERTON SQUARE, Boston, Aug. 1, 1885.
To the Honorable the Board of Aldermen :-
The order relating to Moon Island and other lands, referred to me by the
Board, proposes to pay L. B. Titus $15,000, and to release to her“ all the interest
which the city may have acquired by said taking (of Sept. 19, 1879, City Doc. 29
of 1879) in Little Moon Island, and the bars and flats adjacent thereto," upon
her giving to the city (Item 1) “a release and discharge satisfactory to the
Corporation Counsel, of all claims on account of the taking of a certain parcel
of land” described in the order; and (Item 2) “ “conveyance of all her
right, title, and interest in said real estate.”
Referring to Item 1, I have to report that Mrs. Titus has no legal claim
against the city on account of the taking therein mentioned, and that the pro-
posed release and discharge of all claims on account of that taking would be of
no value, and should not be regarded as any consideration for the proposed
payment.
That taking was made in 1879. A remedy, and the sole remedy, for damages
therefor, in case the parties could not agree, was provided by the statute, and
even if the city had paid no damages, all claims under that statute were long since
barred. But the fact is, though not material in law, that the parties did agree,
and the city did pay $25,000 to the owners, who (Mrs. Titus being one of them)
executed a release to the city in which they acknowledged the receipt of said
sum“ in full compensation for the lands and rights aforesaid, and for all claims
for damages for said taking thereof, and for building said sewer and said Im-
proved System of Sewerage.
In regard to the second item, namely, “a conveyance of all her right, title,
and interest in said real estate," I observe that the " said real estate ” includes
Little Moon Island; and the effect of the order, if carried out, would be to give
to the city the fee of that island, and to Mrs. Titus the rights acquired therein by
the city, an exchange of interests which would be of no benefit to either
party.
With reference to Moon Island, I find that Mrs. Titus derives her title from
the will of James Huckins, through a deed from Barnabas Davis, trustee, which
APPENDIX B.
189
recites that the estate conveyed is “subject to the easement and 1885.
rights of the City of Boston, taken in the same for the purpose of
maintaining a system of improved sewerage, by virtue of the Act of the Legisla-
ture of 1876, Chapter 136.” This leads to the question, What are the rights of
the city to which Mr. Titus' estate is thus subject?
The claim that the city has only a right of way on Moon Island has no legal
foundation. A great public work was to be undertaken, and the Legislature gave
to the city the right to take such lands as might be necessary to accomplish that
work. The statute made the city the sole judge of the necessity. In the ex-
ercise of its powers it has taken Moon Island, and has acquired an absolute right
to make all uses of it, directly or incidentally conducive to the advancement of the
public benefit contemplated by the statute. The powers of the city in this direc-
tion have not been exhausted. If the city should find it necessary to build other
reservoirs, or to make other uses of the land taken, for purposes incident to the
maintenance of the sewer and the discharge of the sewage, it may do so. Tech-
nically, this right is called an easement, but for all purposes for which the land
was taken the easement is as good as the fee. To illustrate : It is just as large
an interest as the city acquired when it took lands for the water-supply and works
on the Sudbury River. The question of damages done by the taking is rarely, if
ever, affected by the fact that the fee of the land is not taken. The easement is
regarded as perpetual and practically exclusive. In the case of a taking of land
for supplying a city with water, the Supreme Court, through Chief-Justice
Chapman, has said: “In thus taking the land the company (city) may reserve
to the owner such rights of way, or uther rights, as they may think proper, and the
record will show that they are reserved. Such reservations may diminish his
claim for damages, but no rights which are not thus reserved will exist. A parol
assent that he may have a right of way, or pasturage, or tillage, may be revoked
by the city; and a present intent of the city to use a part of the land merely for
a cart-way, expressed by mere parol, may be changed at their pleasure. If they
lay their pipes upon the land they may decide how far below the surface they
shall be laid, and may vary the depth as they shall think proper; and, when they
have dug their ditch for the purpose, they may decide whether or not to fill it,
and make the surface smooth, so that it can be used as a way. And, as they can-
not now foresee what their future necessities or interests may be, it is important
for them to limit their rights as little as possible. Probably it is with this view
that they have omitted to make any reservation.” (Ham v. Salem, 100 Mass.,
350.)
I think that the city acquired similar rights by the taking of Moon Island,
and that Mrs. Titus holds the bare fee subject to these rights.
It should be remembered that the city holds this land as the agent of the pub-
lic for the public use for which it was taken, and that land so used is not liable
to taxation. If the city should purchase the fee, it would not thereby acquire
the right to use any part of the island for other purposes without rendering the
part so used liable to taxation by the assessors of Quinry, like other real estate
not exempted. When the city took Moon Island it was assessed for $4,500.
In 1883 the valuation was reduced to $4,000. In 1884 the quantity of land was
put down by the assessors at 20 acres, and, upon the petition of Mrs. Titus, the
valuation was again reduced to $3,000.
190
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1885. With reference to the communication from Mrs. Titus, dated July
16, 1885, I am of opinion that no action is necessary, as the city has
the right to remove earth, sand, and gravel from one part of the land taken to
another, for the construction of works essential to a proper and convenient dis-
charge of the contents of the sewer.
Very respectfully,
E. P. NETTLETON,
Corporation Counsel.
In the mean time His Honor the Mayor transmitted the following
notice which he had received from the petitioner, viz. :
To the City of Boston, Hon. Hugh O'Brien, Mayor of said Boston:
You are hereby notified that said city of Boston will be held strictly respon-
sible by me for any and all acts of trespass and injury done by said city's ser-
vants and agents to the real estate belonging to me, and known as Moon Island,
situated in the town of Quincy, County of Norfolk, and Commonwealth of
Massachusetts; that I refuse to permit said Boston to use or take any earth,
gravel, or soil from said Moon Island, or change the present position and loca-
tion of the same, or to dig up or wash away the realty for any purpose what-
ever, either to fill any place or to abate any nuisance at or near said Moon
Island, or at any place.
The said Boston's easement in said Moon Island does not warrant any such
use of the soil. You will please take notice that I shall hold said Boston re-
sponsible for all illegal or wrongful acts of its servants and agents, and shall
take such legal steps to prevent the same as I am advised are proper in the
premises.
I respectfully ask and notify you to stop the trespassing upon and misusing
of said property immediately, and not to use the same for purposes and in a
manner not justified or warranted by said Boston's easement.
Very respectfully yours,
L. B. TITUS.
Boston, July 16, 1985.
9
The whole matter was discussed at length by the Aldermen at the
meetings September 14 and 21 (see Proceedings, pp. 552, 556,
576, 577), and the original order was passed by the Allermen,
after being amended by inserting after the word “her,” in the
second line, the words - vacating and abandoning all suits already
commenced.”
Upon reaching the Common Council the matter was referred to the
Committee on Judiciary, on certain legal questions that arose regard-
ing the authority of the Common Council in the matter. That com-
APPENDIX B.
191
1885.
mittee reported the following opinion of the Corporation
Counsel, October 22, viz. :-
:
CORPORATION COUNSEL'S OFFICE,
2 PEMBERTON SQUARE,
Boston, Oct. 1, 1885.
W. H. H. EMMONS, Esq., Chairman of the Judiciary Committee : –
Dear SIR, – You inquire whether, in my opinion, the order to pay Lillie B.
Titus $15,000 requires for its passage the concurrence of the Common Council.
I answer Yes; first, because it contemplates a settlement of claims against the
city for past action of the City Council, to wit, the taking of land in 1879 for the
Improved Sewerage System; and, second, because it proposes to release the city's
interest in a part of the land so taken. These are questions which are clearly
not within the exclusive jurisdiction of one branch of the City Council. The
Statute of 1885, Chapter 249, to which reference has been made, has no bearing
upon this order. That statute authorizes the Board to take land; this order
looks to a settlement of claims already taken.
In last week's proceedings of the Council I am reported to have said to Mr.
Fisk that I thought it would not be necessary to have the concurrence of the
Council upon this order. This was either a slip of Mr. Fisk’s tongue or of the
reporter's pen. I have not seen Mr. Fisk in this connection, nor have I ever for
a moment hesitated to say that the order would require the concurrence of the
Common Council.
Very respectfully,
E. P. NETTLETON,
Corporation Counsel.
Consideration of the subject was resumed at the meeting of the
Common Council November 12, and, after extended discussion, the
order was passed in concurrence. (See Proceedings, pp. 718 – 723.)
The order failed of approval by His Honor the Mayor, and the fol-
lowing veto message, stating the reasons for disapproval, was received
by the Aldermen at their meeting November 16 :
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, November 16, 1885.
To the Honorable Board of Aldermen :
GENTLEMEN, — I return to the branch in which it originated the order to pay
Lillie B. Titus the sum of $15,000, and submit the following reasons for with-
holding my signature from the same :-
1. The taking of Moon Island by the city in 1879, u nder the authority of the
Legislature, gave to the city the right to use it for all purposes incident to the
construction and maintenance of the system of sewerage contemplated by the
Statute of 1876. For all damages incident to that taking, the city, in December,
1881, paid the owners $25,000. They have made no further claim on account of
192
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1885. that taking, and the Corporation Counsel informs me that it is not
possible to maintain any further claim on that account.
The release of all claims for such taking, as provided in the order, would
therefore be of no benefit to the city, and cannot be regarded as any consideration
for the proposed additional payment of $15,000.
2. The “ vacating and abandoning of all suits already commenced” is named
in the order as another consideration for the payment of $15,000. There is, in
fact, but one suit pending, an action in which damages are claimed for the
removal of gravel and loam from Moon Island, and used in the construction on
the works at Old Harbor Point and Calf Pastures. This claim appears to be
grossly exaggerated. The City Engineer informs me that the material removed
was measured, and that instead of there being - tens of thousands of squares,”
as stated in the course of the discussion in the Common Council, there were in
fact but 623 cubic yards of gravel and 5,779 cubic yards of loam so removed;
that is less than 80 squares of gravel, and less than 725 squares of loam.
The Corporation Counsel informs me that the city had the right to use this
material, and that the action cannot be maintained.
But, supposing it can be maintained, the damages provable cannot exceed
$1,000. When the city paid the owners $25,000, they gave a receipt for that
sun and acknowledgment "in full compensation for the lands and rights afore-
said, and for all claims for damages for said takings thereof, and for building
said sewer, and for said Improved System of Sewerage, and it was fully intended
and understood that the city should be thereby released from every liability to
suit by the owners, for any use it night make of the island in connection with
its system of sewerage, at least so long as no nuisance was created. If more
money is to be paid on this account the order should contain some proviso that
shall protect the city from future as well as pending suits.
3. There remains, then, as the principal, if not the only consideration which
the city is to receive for its payment of $15,000, “a conveyance of all her right,
title, and interest in said real estate.” I am unable to see how the ownership of
the fee in this island can be of any value to the city. The only use the city has
for the island is in connection with its Improved Sewerage System. For that use
the rights which it has already acquired are ample. The Corporation Counsel
says in his opinion : “ In the exercise of its power it (the City) has taken Moon
Island, and has acquired an absolute right to make all uses of it, directly or indi-
rectly conducive to the advancement of the public benefit contemplated by the
statute.”
Moreover, if the city should purchase the fee, it would not thereby acquire
the right to use any part of the island for other purposes, without rendering the
part so used liable to taxation by the assessors of Quincy. And, though the valua-
tion was put down by the assessors last year to $3,000, upon the petition of Mrs.
Titus for a reduction of valuation, I do not see how the city could hereafter
object to a valuation at such larger sum as it may volunteer to pay for it. I do
not think it advisable to thus expose the city to an annual tax forever upon a
mere title which will be of no benefit.
4. Irrespective of other considerations, as the city is under no present neces-
sity of acquiring the fee of the island, it seems to me a sufficient objection to the
payment of so large a sum of money, that the valuation put upon it by the owner
herself before the Assessors was less than $1,000.
APPENDIX B.
193
5. There is a legal objection to the order in its present form, which 1885.
has been before pointed out by the Corporation Counsel. The convey-
ance, which by the terms of the order Mrs. Titus is to give to the city, includes
the fee of Little Moon Island. This, if carried out, would impose upon the city
an additional liability to taxation, while, at the same time, by the release which
the Mayor is authorized to make, it would be deprived of the right to use the
island for any purpose whatever. If the order should pass in its present form, I
could not with due regard to the interests of the city, exercise the authority
which it proposes to confer upon the Mayor.
Respectfully submitted,
HUGH O'BRIEN,
Mayor.
The Aldermen, however, passed the order by a unanimous vote,
notwithstanding the Mayor's veto. Op reaching the Common Council,
November 19, the Aldermen's action was reversed, and the Mayor's
veto sustained, and the order rejected. (See Proceedings, pp. 755-
758.) A new order was, however, introduced at the same meeting
similar in form to that which the Council had rejected, as follows:-
Ordered, That there be allowed and paid to Lillie B. Titus the sum of
$15,000, upon her giving to the city a release and discharge, satisfactory to the
Corporation Counsel, of all claims against said city, and a deed of certain parcels
of land, taken as belonging to Barnabas Davis, trustee under the will of James
Huckins, consisting of land upon the main land at Squantum, so called, and of
Moon Island, with the beach and flats around and adjoining the same, and more
particularly described in paragraph 3 of City Document 92 of 1879 (excepting
Little Moon Island, with the flats and bars adjacent thereto), and that his Honor
the Mayor be authorized to release to said Lillie B. Titus, in a manner satisfac-
tory to the Corporation Counsel, all the interest which the city may have acquired
by said taking in Little Moon Island, and the bars and flats adjacent thereto; the
real estate, islands, bars, and flats referred to being shown on a plan made by
William Jackson, City Engineer, dated July 15, 1885, and deposited in the office
of the City Engineer; said sum to be charged to the appropriation for Improved
Sewerage.
>
>
>
This order passed the Common Council December 10, reached the
Aldermen at their meeting December 14, and was specially assigned
to the next meeting, December 21, and then referred to the Commit-
tee on Finance. That committee reported, December 28, that the
order ought not to pass, and the same date the following notice was
received from the claimant. The report was accepted, and, together
with the notice, was sent to the Common Council, viz. : –
194
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1885.
Boston, Dec. 28, 1885.
To the Honorable Board of Aldermen, City of Boston :
Some months ago a proposition was made to me by the Committee on Im-
proved Sewerage looking towards a settlement of my claim for payment for
material taken by the city from Moon Island, and for the conveyance by me to
the city of the fee in Moon Island and in other land adjacent thereto. The offer
of $15,000 for an immediate settlement was made to me last May, and I signified
my readiness to accept such sum. The measure was subsequently passed by
both branches of the City Council, but was vetoed by the Mayor. I therefore
now desire to inform you that I am no longer prepared to accept such sum in
settlement of said claim and for the fee in said lands, and I hereby withdraw my
offer.
LILLIE B. TITUS.
The report of the Committee on Finance was accepted by the Com-
mon Council in concurrence at the meeting December 30, and the
above communication placed on file.
The following order for exchange of land in the Calf Pasture was
passed June 8:-
Ordered, That the Committee on Improved Sewerage be authorized to enter
into an agreement with the Bay State Gas Company for an exchange of certain
small parcels of land in Calf Pasture, shown on a plan of said lands in the office
of the City Engineer, for the purpose of straightening and improving the boun-
daries of the city's land; and that the Mayor be authorized to execute such deeds
or other instruments as may be necessary to effect such exchange.
>
The committee were authorized, by an order passed June 8, to
purchase the fuel required for the Main Drainage Works during the
year.
An order was passed September 14 requesting the committee to
report whether the tug-boat - William Woolley," purchased by the
city, was properly equipped for the service of extinguishing fires
along the water-front, and also whether said tug-boat can be available
when required as an auxiliary of the Fire Department. No report
was received on the subject from the committee.
By an order passed October 19 the City Architect was granted the
use of the steam-tug “ Nettie,” during the construction of proposed
new buildings on Long Island.
The following order was passed October 19, viz. : -
Ordered, That the Committee on Improved Sewerage be authorized to invite
the American Society of Mechanical Engineers to visit the Main Drainage
APPENDIX B.
195
be
1885.
Works, November 11, 1885; the expense incurred thereby to
charged to the Contingent Fund of Joint Committees.
An order was presented at the meeting of the Aldermen December
14 requesting the Committee on Improved Sewerage to consider and
report on the expediency of the city's taking a tract of land for the
Main Drainage Works at Squantum, near the east shaft of the Dor-
chester-Bay tunnel. The order was referred to the committee, but
was not reported on by them.
An order was passed January 4, 1886, to pay the Builders' Iron
Foundry of Providence, R.I., the sum of $192.26, in settlement of
their contract for furnishing pumping-machinery for the east shaft.
No other matters of importance relating to the Improved Sewerage
were acted upon by the City Council, and the review ends with the
close of the municipal year 1885.
APPENDIX B.
1888.
SCHEDULE OF EXPENDITURES, MAIN DRAINAGE
WORKS, JAN. 1, 1888.
66
66
66
66
66
66
Section 1, Main Intercepting Sewer
2
3
4
41
5
6
1, East side
46
66
66
ܪ
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
$39,327 79
38,778 54
43,037 73
55,051 12
113,082 63
98,854 82
154,357 99
121,897 55
76,419 70
43,392 15
38,781 20
17,017 98
135,100 40
22,042 72
32,579 73
42,230 59
36,389 31
37,333 91
42,832 29
47,367 98
50,992 49
60,037 95
57,748 18
16,229 65
40,942 65
64,039 97
1,336 00
1,699,333 45
691,753 87
825,659 18
103,760 39
61,200 46
223,016 61
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
3
4
5
1 and 2, West side
3
Brimmer street
4, West side
5
6
1, South Boston
2
3
4
5
6
1, Stony Brook
2
Roxbury Canal Dredging
1 Outfall Sewer, Pumping-station, etc.
2
Dorchester Bay Tunnel
3
and Moon Island Reservoir,
Outlet Sewer Section
Maintenance
Land damages
66
66
6 66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
66
Amount carried forward,
$5,123,504 14
APPENDIX B.
197
1888.
$5,123,504 14
Amount brought forward,
Engineering, superintendence, preliminary survey,
contingencies, and miscellaneous work
268,903 14
Total amount for construction
Amount transferred from appropriation
$5,392,407 28
67,500 00
Total expenditures to January 1, 1888
$5,459,907 28
198
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1888.
LAND TAKEN BY OR RELEASED TO THE CITY ON
ACCOUNT OF CONSTRUCTION OF IMPROVED SEWER-
AGE SYSTEM.
A strip 20 feet wide, between Clapp and Boston Streets, reserving
use of surface to previous owners, area, 10,512 feet.
Hyde Street, Dorchester Avenue to 0. C. R.R., reserving rights of
way to previous owners, area, 44,060 feet.
Washington Avenue, Hyde Street to Locust Street, reserving rights
of way to previous owners, area, 92,600 feet.
Locust Street, Washington Avenue to Von Hillern Street, reserv-
ing rights of way to previous owners, area, 6,600 feet.
Von Hillern Street, Locust Street to Mount Vernon Street, reserv-
ing rights of way to previous owners, area, 24,000 feet.
Mount Vernon Street, across 0. C. R.R., area, 2,952 feet.
Extension of Mount Vernon Street, across Calf Pasture, reserving
rights of way to previous owners, area, 203,050 feet.
Pumping-station lot at Old Harbor Point, area, 224 acres.
A strip 20 feet wide, from low water in Dorchester Bay to and
across a roadway on Squantum Neck, reserving use of surface to
previous owners, area, 12,155.
Upland at Squantum, area, 21% acres.
Upland at Moon and Little Moon Islands, area, 37-16 acres.
Flats about Moon Island and Squantum, area, 152 acres.
Right to use, conjointly with other users, a portion of roadway at
Squantum, 2,045 feet long x 32 feet wide =- 15 acres.
Extension of Lowland Street, South Boston, from Jenkins Street to
0. C. R.R., reserving rights of way to previous owners, 475 X 40
feet = 19,000 feet.
Land for sheds and storage on E. Chester Park, east of Albany
Street, 7,704 sq. feet. Set off for use of Improved Sewerage, by
Committee on Lands.
45,709 sq. feet of land adjoining Pumping-station lot at Old Har-
bor Point.
2,950 sq. feet of land added to Pumping-station lot, by exchange
with Bay State Gas Co.
65
APPENDIX C.
PUMPING ENGINE TESTS.
(Compiled from City Engineer's Annual Report for 1884–1885–1886–1887.)
>
On March 24, 25, and May 1, 2, 1885, tests were made to ascertain
the duty of Engine No. 3, and the efficiency of the boiler used in
connection with it. The tests were made, under the direction of the
City Engineer, by members of his staff.
The engine tested is one of the high-duty engines designed by Mr.
E. D. Leavitt, Jr., on general specifications prepared by Mr. J. P.
Davis, when City Engineer. It was built by the Quintard Iron
Works, of New York. A description of the engine and boilers has
already been printed in previous reports, in the history of the Main
Drainage Works, and in the Journal of the Association of Engineer-
ing Societies, and will not be repeated here. Steam was furnished
by Boiler No. 2.
The intended duration of each test was twenty-four hours.
The method of making the tests was as follows: Steam was raised
in the boiler until the pressure was sufficient to run the engine. The
fires were then drawn, the ash-pits carefully cleaned, and new fires were
started. It was desired to determine the quantity of water pumped, by
actual measurement, in the reservoir at Moon Island; and since stop-
ping the engine would have caused large fluctuations of level in the con-
necting sewers, and so prevented accuracy of measurement, it was
decided to keep the engine running at a constant rate. This was done
by furnishing the engine with steam from Boiler No. 3 until a few
minutes after the new fires were started, when, by operating the valves
rapidly and simultaneously, Boiler No. 3 was shut off, and the engine
took steam from No. 2, thus beginning the engine test. The engine
counter was read at the instant the test began, and the other neces-
sary observations were taken. The steam pressure was increased
from about 70 pounds at the start, until it reached 100 pounds, at
which it was kept constant until near the end of trial, when the
fires were burned as low as possible, the steam pressure dropping in
consequence. When the pressure and height of water in the boiler
200
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
were the same as at the beginning of the experiment, the final obser-
vations were taken, and the fires were drawn. The refuse was then
spread upon the floor to cool. The unburnt coal was picked from the
ashes and weighed. This weight (averaging less than one per cent.
of the total coal) was deducted from the gross amount of coal
charged. The valve between Boilers No. 2 and No. 3 is supposed to
have been tight; but, to avoid increasing the duty by any leakage,
the pressure in the latter was kept lower than in the former.
The height of the sewage in the pump-well was determined by a
float-gauge, tested before each trial; the load on the pump by a mer-
curial gauge, attached to the force-main of another engine. This
gauge represented the height in the pipe-chamber at this end of the
force-mains, and, to get the actual pressure pumped against, it was
necessary to add the friction in the force-main used. During the
second test the actual pressure against which the pumps were work-
ing was measured by the elevation of the surface of water in a box
at the top of a pipe connected with the force-main a few feet from
the pump. A comparison of this gauge with the mecurial one gave
a correction for friction in the force-main to use with the first test.
Dry Cumberland coal from the Pocahontas mine was used during
the trial. It was fed to the boiler from a car holding about 1,200
pounds. During the first test the car and contents were reweighed
at the end of each half-hour, and during the second test after each
firing.
The steam pressures at the boiler and the pressures and vacuum at
the engine were determined by Bourdon's gauges, which had been
previously tested.
The temperature of the steam was taken by a thermometer in-
serted in the main steam-pipe within a few feet of the boiler. This
thermometer was broken, so that readings could not be taken during
the second test.
The barometer was an aneroid placed in the engine-room.
The quantity of water fed to the boiler was measured in the fol-
lowing manner: A barrel, holding about 150 gallons, was placed upon
a tested platform-scale, and supplied with cold water from the Co-
chituate main, and also with condensed water from the reheaters and
steam-cylinder jackets. During the second test the exhaust steam
from the boiler feed-pump was condensed in a small barrel placed
above the weighing-barrel, into which it was drawn from time to time.
After having been weighed the water was run into a large tub, from
which the feed-pump drew its supply. The measurement of the feed-
APPENDIX C.
201
>
water was checked by a Worthington water-meter placed between the
feed-pump and the feed-water heater.
To ascertain approximately the amount of water returned from the
cylinder-jackets and reheaters, the amount of cold water used was
measured during the second test by a meter placed on the Cochituate
supply.
About seven hours after the beginning of the first test a small leak
was discovered from a safety-valve on the boiler feed-pipe between
the pump and the hot-water meter. After being discovered, the water
leaking was caught and returned to the feed-pump tub. For a period
of about fourteen hours the leakage was weighed, and the rate so
determined was used to make a correction for the time before the leak
was discovered. The total amount of this correction was 650 pounds.
On the second test all pipe-connections with feed-pipes, boilers,
and engine, except those in use, were disconnected, to avoid all chance
of error from leakage.
Temperatures of the feed-water were taken before and after passing
through the feed-water heater by means of thermometers inserted in
the feed-pipe.
A thermometer in a tube partially filled with oil was inserted in
the fue to ascertain the temperature of the gases beyond the feed-
water heater, and on the second test a similar thermometer was placed
in the flue between the boiler and heater.
Throughout the trials half-hourly observations were made of the
engine counter, pressure of steam at engine and boilers, vacuum in
condenser in inches of mercury, height of water in boiler, height of
water in tub holding feed-pump supply, water-meters on boiler feed-
pipe and cold-water pipe, barometer, temperature of steam, tempera-
ture of gases in flue, and temperature of engine-room. Fifteen-
minute readings were taken of the force-main and pump-well gauges,
and readings of the feed-water thermometers every ten minutes.
Temperatures of the external air and indicator diagrams from the
steam-cylinders were taken hourly.
A large number of observers were employed, and care was taken to
secure accuracy in all of the observations. The more important
records were also taken independently by assistants of Mr. Leavitt.
No calorimeter tests were made to ascertain the quality of the
steam. For the purposes of calculation it has been assumed that all
of the water was evaporated into dry steam.
a
202
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
RECORD OF TWO DUTY TESTS OF ENGINE NO. 3 (LEAVITT) AT
THE BOSTON MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
First Test.
Second Test.
1.
Date of trials
Mar. 24, 25,1885. May 1, 2, 1885.
2.
Time of beginning trial
10.06 A.M.
10.31 A.M.
3. Duration....
24h. 43m.
24h. 31m.
4.
Total revolutions
19,526.
19,372.
5. Revolutions per minute...
13.17.
13.42
6. Displacement of pumps per revolution..
226.19 cu. ft.
226.19 cu. ft.
7.
Distance from 0 of gauge down to sew-
age in pump-well.
11.68 ft.
15.48 ft.
25.76 ft.
26.55 ft.
8. Height of sewage in pipe-chamber, as
given by mercurial gauge, graduated
to give equivalent height of column
of fresh water
9. Pressure in force-main near the pump,
as indicated by column of fresh water
at temperature 55° F.
26.95 ft.
10.
Correction of mercurial gauge for fric-
tion in force-main, from data furnished
by comparison of No. 8 and No.9....
0.36 ft.
11.
Total lift.
37.80 ft.
42.43 ft.
12. Weight of fresh water per cubic foot....
62.42 lbs.
62.40 lbs.
13.
Total weight of dry coal consumed ...
8,307 lbs.
9,478 lbs.
14. Duty of engine as developed by the
trials : –
1st trial
19526 X 226.19 X 37.80 X 62. 42
83.07
125,450,0001
2d trial
19372 X 226.19 X 42.43 X 62.40
94.78
122,400,000
15.
Mean pressure of steam in boilers..
99.4 lbs.
98.6 lbs.
1 To reduce this duty on the first trial to the usual standard, it is necessary to make a correction
for the coal used to supply steam to the feed pumps. Assuming the duty of the feed pump to be
10,000,000, the corrected duty of the pumping-engine is 122,500,000.
APPENDIX C.
203
First Test.
Second Test.
16. Mean pressure of steam in main steam-
pipe near engine....
96.1 lbs.
17.
Mean vacuum in condenser
28.1 ins.
28.0 ins.
18.
Mean atmospheric pressure by barometer,
30.18 ins.
29.81 ins.
19.
temperature of air in engine-room.
67.5 deg.
75.2 deg.
20.
of external air
31.7 deg.
40.6 deg.
21. Total volume of sewage pumped by
plunger displacement.
33,038,000 gals. 32,778,000 gals.
22.
Total volume of sewage pumped, as
actually measured
30,224,000 gals. 31,256,000 gals.
23.
Average slip of pumps..
8.5 per cent."
4.6 per cent.
24. Indicated horse-power, as determined
by the measurement of two sets of
cards for each trial.
251.5 H.P.
290.2 H.P.
25.
Horse-power in sewage lifted, pump
measurement, no allowance for slip..
212.9 H.P.
243.5 H.P.
26.
Work done by pump in per cent. of
indicated horse-power...
84.66 per cent.
83.90 per cent.
27.
hour
Coal burned
per
horse-power..
per
indicated
1.33 lbs.
1.35 lbs.
1 At the end of the first test it was found that two of the rubber discharge-valves had been
torn off, which accounts for the large slip. A study of the question indicated that this would
not materially affect the duty, a view which is corroborated by the uniform relation between the
indicated and the actual horse-power in the two tests. The loss of action in the pumps, when
the valves were less worn, was about 2.5 per cent.
RECORD OF TWO TESTS OF BOILER NO. 2, AT THE BOSTON
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS, MADE IN CONNECTION WITH EN-
GINE TESTS.
Reported in the form recommended by the Committee of the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers.
First Test.
Second Test.
1. Date of trial
Mar. 24, 25, 1885. May 1, 2, 1885.
la. Time of beginning trial..
9.58 a.m.
10.25 a.m.
2. Duration of trial
34h. 51m.
24h. 9fm.
204
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
First Test.
Second Test.
DIMENSIONS AND PROPORTIONS.
3.
Grate surface
45.5 sq. ft.
45.5 sq. ft.
3a. Area of least draught.....
5.50
66
5.50 6666
4. Water-heating surface..
1,826.
1,826.
66 66
5. Super-heating surface..
6.
6.
5a. Heating-surface in feed-water heater ...
934.
934.
6. Ratio of water-heating surface to grate
surface
40-1
40-1
AVERAGE PRESSURES.
7. Steam pressure in boiler by gauge
99.4 lbs.
98.6 lbs.
8. Absolute steam pressure
114.2 lbs.
113.2 lbs.
9. Atmospheric pressure by barometer
30.18 ins.
29.81 ins.
AVERAGE TEMPERATURES.
11. Of external air .
31.7 deg.
40.6 deg.
13. Of steam
339.0 deg.
14. Of escaping gases before passing feed-
water heater
439 deg.
14a. Of escaping gases after passing feed-
water heater
183.5 deg
194.2 deg.
15. Of feed-water before passing heater....
96.5 deg.
120.7 deg.
15a. Of feed-water after passing heater....
145.1 deg.
164.1 deg.
156. Of Cochituate water.
38 deg.
46 deg.
FUEL.
18. Dry coal consumed.....
8,307 lbs.
9,478 lbs.
5.2 per cent.
19. Total refuse dry { zat test, 432 lbs.
2d
5.2 per cent.
20. Total combustible (weight of coal,
item 18, less refuse, item 19).
7,875 lbs.
8,981 lbs.
APPENDIX C.
205
First Test.
Second Test.
21. Dry coal consumed per hour
334.3 lbs.
392.3 lbs.
22. Combustible consumed per hour
316.9 lbs.
371.8 lbs.
WATER.
26. Total weight of water pumped into
boiler and apparently evaporated.....
86,783 lbs.
98,780 lbs.
26a. Check on above measurement by meter
measurement.
85,640 lbs.
96,629 lbs.
266. Per cent. less by meter...
1.3 per cent.
2.2 per cent.
26c. Feed-water taken from Cochituate main,
meter measurement.
78,836 lbs.
28. Equivalent water evaporated into dry
steam from and at 2120 F.
ſ Including feed-water heater.
| Excluding
100,668 lbs.
96,329 lbs.
112,113 lbs.
107,571 lbs.
66
66
29. Equivalent total heat derived from fuel
in British thermal units.
S Including feed-water heater
Excluding
89,993,971
85,828,387
100,064,140
95,816,600
30. Equivalent water evaporated into dry
steam from and at 212° F. per hour.
Including feed-water heater.
Excluding
4,051 lbs.
3,876 lbs.
4,641 lbs.
4,453 lbs.
66
1
1
ECONOMIC EVAPORATION.
31. Water actually evaporated per pound of
dry coal, from actual pressure and
temperature...
10.45 lbs.
10.42 lbs.
32. Equivalent water evaporated per pound
of dry coal from and at 2120 F.
Including feed-water heater.
Excluding
12.12 lbs.
11.60 lbs.
11.83 lbs.
11.35 lbs.
33. Equivalent water evaporated per pound
of combustible from and at 212° F.
{Enxeuding feed-water heater:
12.78 lbs.
12.23 lbs.
12.48 lbs.
11.98 lbs.
1
206
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
First Test.
Second Test.
COMMERCIAL EVAPORATION.
34. Equivalent water evaporated per pound
of dry coal, with one-sixth refuse, at
70 pounds gauge-pressure, from tem-
perature of 100° F.= item 33 multi-
plied by 0.7249.
Including feed-water heater.
Excluding
9.26 lbs.
8.87 lbs.
9.05 lbs.
8.68 lbs.
66
RATE OF COMBUSTION.
35. Dry coal actually burned per square
foot of grate surface per hour..
7.35 lbs.
8.62 lbs.
36.
8.36 lbs.
9.80 lbs.
37.
r Consumption ) Per sq. ft. of grade
of dry coal surface...
per hour.
Per sq. ft. of water-
Coal assum- heating surface....
ed with one Per sq. ft. of least
sixth refuse. area for draught...
0.208 lbs.
0.244 lbs.
38.
69.1 lbs.
81.1 lbs.
RATE OF EVAPORATION.
39. Water evaporated from and at 212° F.;
per sq. ft. of heating-surface per hour,
excluding feed-water heater...
2.12 lbs.
2.44 lbs.
40.
74.1 lbs.
85.1 lbs.
41.
Water evapo- ) Per sq. ft. of grate
rated per surface..
hour, from
temper a ture
of 100° F., in- | Per sq. ft. of water-
to stea m of heating surface
70 lbs. gauge-
pressure,
cluding feed- | Per sq. ft. of least
water heater. area for draught....
1.84 lbs.
2.12 lbs.
ex-
42.
613.0 lbs.
704.2 lbs.
COMMERCIAL HORSE-POWER.
43. On the basis of 30 lbs. of water
per hour evaporated from tempera-
ture of 100° F. into steam of 70
lbs. gauge-pressure (= 341 lbs. from
and at 2129).
Including feed-water heater..
Excluding
117 H.P.
112 H.P.
134 H.P
129 H.P.
66
APPENDIX C.
207
ENGINE No. 1.
ENGINE No. 2.
ENGINE No. 3.
ENGINE No. 4.
Daily average
amount pumped.
H. M. Gallons. H. M.
Gallons.
H. M.
Gallons.
H. M.
Gallons.
Gallons.
Gallons.
Lbs.
Per
ct.
Gals.
Ft.
Ft.-lbs.
Ins.
37 35 40,134,054 25 22 26,038,723
523 00
674,405,820
17 05 16,952,759 26 55 29,386,183
579 50
707,129,100
5 15
5,717,483 12 15 12,584,507
10 05 11,331,180 10 45 12,372,991
8 30 9,071,512 19 40 21,629,744
239 35 306,451,656
407 53 430,984,548
576 20 646,450,596
229 17 255,277,116
411 55 505,239,660
25 30
27,173,811 19 44
23,584,620
371 19 468,925,956 1,209,504,553 39,016,276 11,837| 7.2 3,295 36.6 100,962,204 4.90
473 46 523,161,324 1,276,629,366 45,593,905 13,333 8.2 3,419 36.6 104,745,063 3.49
650 55 763,207,056 1,087,960,702 35,095,506 10,700 7.4 3,283 36.6 100,466,757 1.10
356 42 406,337,184 861,025,903 28,700,863 8,946 9.3 3,207 36. 96,658,963 3.53
241 38 262,341,216 939,493,068 30,306,228 9,065 9.6 3,343 35.4 99,046,904 3.75
513 45 591,908,976 897,944,523 29,931,484 8,621 8.1 3,472 36.4 105,765,872 3.82
371 08 402,185,016 918,931,899 29,642,964 8,525 8. 3,478 37. 107,671,938 2.42
328 00 352,875,060 1,146,889,459 36,996,434 11,472 6.7 3,224 37.4 100,940,604 6.37
395 01 430,913,484 862,838,709 28,761,290 8,972 7.9 3,274 36.5 99,927,981 1.60
594 58 651,621,348 975,761,551 31,476,179 9,641 8.1 3,265 36.2 98,910,423 5.32
333 33 392,249,592 1,167,517,604 38,917,253' 12,1387.1 3,206 37. 99,281,135 5.86
529 42 632,381,616 1,019,722,703 32,894,281 10,315 7.1 3,188 35.4 94,477,413 2.33
10 05 11,356,141
0 101
151,082
.
64 13 73,432,615 43 15 44,895,120
8 45 9,110,925 5 55 6,369,108
20 40 21,703,315 22 50 23,612,208
59 45
64,968,039 55 01 58,081,329
5 05 6,898,553 0 10 165,534
503 03 675,686,664
373 15 416,445,192
245 22 278,824,680
551 35 652,218,624
313 11 380,277,000
•
1885.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July ·
August
September
October
November
December
Totals and
averages
} 272 33 297,850,407 242 02 258,871,149 4,954 16/5,929,390,656 5,160 27/5,878,107,828 12,364,220,040 33,874,575 10,265 7.9
3,301 36.4 100,528,650 44.49
NOTE:- The volume pumped is estimated by pump-measurement; the quantity of coal burned, by the firemen's returns. These should be accurate,
but they fall about four per cent. short of the amount of coal weighed into the bins. The shortage of different lots has been about the same. The duty is
estimated without making any deduction for ashes or for the fuel used for heating the buildings, lifting filth-cages, moving gates, etc.
208
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
ENGINE No. 1.
ENGINE No. 2.
ENGINE No. 3.
ENGINE No. 4.
1886.
January
February
.
.
March
April
May
Per
H. M. Gallons. H. M. Gallons. H. M. Gallons. H. M. Gallons. Gallons. Gallons. L68.
Gals. Ft. Ft.-168. Ins.
ct.
35 20 38,511,560 55 10 59,244,008 258 26 314,339,760 698 08 860,882,832 1,272,978,160 41,063,812 12,092 6.6 3,183 34.50 91,895,636 4.96
138 15 152,651,030 136 05 149,018,483 514 59 620,547,768 643 55 774,936,000 1,697,153,281 60,612,617 19,763 6.1 3,067 35.27 90,524,726 6.17
14 40 14,913,803 7 50 8,557,833 349 11
421,368,912 655 19 788,174,208 1,233,014,756 39,774,669 13,217
6.2 3,009 35.20 88,652,281 2.61
32 25 37,331,804 16 15 18,418,915 185 30 222,802,560 676 20 823,205,376 1,101,758,655 36,725,288 12,760 8.8 2,878 35.40 85,269,038 1.37
43 15 49,983,313 29 55 39,686,062 735 30 907,209,792
996,879,167 32,157,392 9,941 9.1 3,235 35.30 95,565,034 2.43
4 23 5,182,783 6 50 8,229,393 304 17 306,433,044 417 10 478,907,064 798,752,284 26,625,076 8,096 9.2 3,289 35.10 96,605,319 1.15
6. 42
7,476,608 2 35 3,217,398 356 20 598,668,516 320 44 374,691,708 984,054,230 31,743,685 9,609 11.6 3,303 35.10 97,042,020 1.16
17 11 19,396,353 16 37 17,909,176 545 15 652,795,596 266 59 312,018,336 1,002,119,461 32,326,434 9,414 11.0 3,433 35.70 102,594,809 2.75
8 25 9,100,416 7 45 8,622,207 595 00 729,011,736 200 20 240,377,364 987,111,723 32,903,724 9,048 11.4 3,636 35.40 107,738,094, 3.09
18 05 18,518,761 25 45 28,002,794 446 55 555,146,892 368 25 433,595,304 1,035,263,751 33,395,604 9,237 10.6 3,615 35.52 107,474,364 3.10
17 05 20,800,762 13 42 14,404,065 278 46 342,795,816 551 15 646,924,356 1,024,924,999 34,170,833 9,442 11.03,619 35.36 107,076,126 3.73
25 55 22,944,818 22 20 16,586,220 645 48 824,616,504 341 30 403,579,224 1,267,726,766 40,894,411 11,654 10.0 3,509 34.55 101,463,669
4.42
June
1
July
August
September
October
November
December
Totals and
averages
361 41 396,812,011 340 49 371,896,554 5,215 57 6,495,736,896 5,140 05 6,137,291,772 13,401,737,233 36,866,129 11,259
9.3 3,315 35.20 97,658,426 36.94
NOTE. — The volume pumped is estimated by pump-measurement; the quantity of coal burned, by the firemen’s returns. The duty is estimated without
making any deduction for ashes or for the fuel used for heating the buildings, lifting filth-cages, moving gates, etc.
APPENDIX C.
209
MAIN DRAINAGE PUMPING-STATION.
Report of Pumping done during the year 1887.
ENGINE No. 1.
ENGINE No. 2.
ENGINE No. 3.
ENGINE No. 4.
1887.
Daily average
amount pumped.
Daily average
amount of coal
Per cent. of ashes
and clinkers.
used.
Gallons pumped
per lb. of coal.
Average lift.
Duty in ft.-lbs.
per 100 lbs. coal.
Rainfall.
H. M. Gallons. H. M. Gallons.
H. M.
Gallons.
II. M.
Per
Gallons.
Gallons.
Gallons.
Lbs.
Gals.
Ft.
Ft.-lbs.
ct.
January
6.01
February
4.43
March
4.69
April
.
3.48
May
2.14
June
2.03
147 05 166,325,957 98 05 113,162,031 560 42 666,277,452 724 42 872,335,980 1,818,101,420 58,648,433 18,030 10.3 3,253 34.45 93,782,861
39 47 44,152,846 71 22 82,086,352 618 00 771,470,784 504 50 609,468,552 1,507,178,534 53,827,805 15,196 10.1 3,542 34.20 101,385,783
78 48 93,927,271 38 05 44,922,709 685 32 848,333,268 537 54 651,408,156 1,638,591,404 52,857,787 14,913 10.6 3,544 33.95 100,706,454
38 20 41,958,868 35 35 41,216,592 536 58 647,902,332 654 10 781,868,124 1,512,945,916 50,431,531 13,894 12.2 3,630 34.60 105,105,278
6 15 7,018,106 8 20 9,812,473 281 13 341,826,300 620 53 763,998,912 1,122,655,791 36,214,703 10,460 17.4 3,462 34.65 100,399,153
4 30 5,277,374 23 30 27,544,292 706 03 905,710,680 233 25 280,398,240 1,218,930,586 40,631,019 11,687 11.4 3,476 34.50 100,388,683
19 50 23,363,908 24 43 27,495,682 339 57 417,480,696 589 14 715,001,976 1,183,342,262 38,172,331 11,326 12.3 3,370 34.88 98,383,477
24 23 29,128,686 37 25 45,605,865 414 02 522,235,800 506 31 608,351,832 1,205,322,183 38,881,361 11,768 11.4 3,304 34.69 95,921,655
3 30 4,285,485 301 568,858 341 50 422,673,444 531 05 645,800,868 1,073,328,655 35,777,621 10,303 11.1 3,472 34.70 100,844,171
17 50 21,758,493 16 13 19,462,041 471 07 595,540,008 425 21 520,472,736 1,157,233,278 37,330,106 10,603 11.4 3,520 34.40 101,359,036
15 50 19,112,580 20 51 25,195,290 516 49 651,902,220 347 00 417,827,556 1,114,037,646 37,134,588 10,684 11.7 3,476 34.80 101,227,274
29 35 35,359,851 35 30 43,118,917 671 20 849,441,528 361 25 425,558,304 1,353,478,600 43,660,600 13,261 10.8 3,285 34.56 95,227,136
July
4.26
August
3.38
September
1.24
October
2.58
November
2.14
December
3.02
Totals and
Averages
425 43 491,669,425 410 09 480,191,102 6,143 33 7,640,794,512 6,036 307,292,491,236 15,905,146,275 43,630,657 12,677 11.7 3,444 34.53
99,560,914 39.40
210
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
The average daily amount of sewage pumped since the works were in operation
is shown as follows :
Daily average of sewage pumped, in gallons.
DATE.
1884.
1885.
1886.
1887.
39,016,276
41,063,812
January
February .
68,648,343
53,827,805
45,93,905
60,612,617
March
39,774,669
35,095,506
28,700,863
52,857,787
50,431,531
April .
36,725,288
25,777,360
32,437,379
29,949,356
25,121,056
26,712,298
25,900,400
May
30,306,228
32,157,392
36,214,703
June
29,931,484
26,625,076
40,631,019
.
July
29,642,964
31,743,685
38,172,331
August.
31,674,621
36,996,434
32,326,434
38,881,361
September
28,761,290
32,903,724
35,777,621
28,412,431
27,601,557
October
31,476,179
33,395,604
37,330,106
November
27,501,283
38,917,253
34,170,833
37,134,588
December
30,883,501
32,894,281
40,894,411
43,660,600
Average .
28,379,040
33,874,575
36,866,129
43,630,657
APPENDIX C.
211
TABULAR STATEMENT OF IMPROVED SEWERAGE CONSTRUCTION.
Section.
Locality.
Length in
Size in feet and inches. feet, Jan.
1, 1888.
Built by
1.
Main
In Camden st., from Huntington ave. to Tremont st.
7 ft. 8 in.
1575.5
P.J. Condon.
2. Main
1390.5
P.J. Condon.
3. Main
1856.5
John Cavanagh.
4. Main
2505.
Charles Linehan and City.
In Camden st., from Tremont st. to Washington st.
8 ft. 5 in.
In Washington st. and E. Chester park, from Camden st. to Albany st. 8 ft. 5 in. X 5 ft. 8 in.
In E. Chester park extension, from Albany st. to Magazine st.
9 ft.
In E. Chester park extension, from Magazine st. to Clapp st.
9 ft.
( 9 ft.
In Clapp and Mt. Vernon sts., from E. Chester park to 0.C.R.R.
10 ft. 6 in.
In Mt. Vernon st. extension, from 0.C.R.R. to Old Harbor Point. 10 ft. 6 in.
41. Main
1894.5
.
City.
5. Main
3381.
6.
Main
4088.
Hoblitzell, Condon and
Hoblitzell and City.
Clinton Beck with and J. V.
Quackenbush.
City.
1.
West Side
In Camden, Falmouth, Dalton, and Hereford sts., from Huntington
ave. to Beacon st.
5 ft. 9 in. X 5 ft. 6 in.
4282.
2. West Side
In Beacon st., from Hereford st. to Charles st.
5043.
City.
4 ft. 9 in. x 5 ft.6 in.
A ft. X 4 ft. 6 in..
4 ft. X 4 ft. 6 in.
3.
West Side
In Charles st., from Beacon st. to Cambridge st.
1832.
Thomas McCann.
4.
West Side
In Charles st., from Cambridge st. to Leverett st.
2186.
City.
.
Brimmer street
1456.5
3 ft. X 4 ft. 6 in.
2 ft. X 3 ft.
3 ft. X 4 ft. 6 in..
2 ft. 8 in. X 4 ft. 6 in.
3 ft. X 4 ft. 6 in..
In Charles, Pinckney, and Brimmer sts., from Beacon st. to Revere st.
In Brighton, Leverett, and Lowell sts., from Charles st. to Cause.
Cicy.
5.
West Side
1775.
City
way st.
2 ft. 8 in. X 5 ft.
1796.
City.
15 in. pipe
492.
4524.
6. West Side
In Causeway st., from Lowell st. to Prince st.
Friend-street Sewer In Friend st., from Traverse to Causeway st.
1. East Side
In Albany st., from E. Chester park to Dover st.
2. East Side
In Albany st., Lehigh st., and 0.C. R.R. freight-yard to Federal st.
3. East Side
In Federal st., from 0.C. R.R. freight-yard to Summer st. .
Carried forward
5 ft. 8 in..
5 ft. X 4 ft.
5 ft. X 3 ft.
2 ft. 8 in. X 4 ft. 6 in..
City.
A. H. Delameter & Co.and
R. A. Malone.
City.
2331.5
2176.
City
44,584.6
212
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1. South Boston
In Ninth st., from H st. to N st.
3 ft. 2 in.
2717.
Stephen Connolly & Son
and City.
City.
2. South Boston
3374.5
3.
South Boston.
In Lowland, Burnham, and Ninth sts., from Hyde st. to H st. .
In Von Hillern st., Locust st., Washington ave., and Hyde st., from
Mt. Vernon st. to Dorchester ave.
3 ft. X 4 ft. 6 in.
6 ft.
4 ft. 9 in. x 5 ft. 6 in.
14 ft. 6 in. X 3 ft
3739.
Charles Linehan.
and
Roxbury Canal
.
In Albany st. and E. Chester park, from Northampton st. to Roxbury
Canal
620.
16 ft.
City
TABULAR STATEMENT OF IMPROVED SEWERAGE CONSTRUCTION.- Concluded.
Section.
Locality.
Length in
Size in feet and inches. feet, Jan.
1, 1888.
Built by
Brought forward
44,584.6
4. East Side
In Atlantic ave., from Summer st. to Central st.
2 ft. 8 in. X 4 ft. 6 in.
2983.
City
1. Stony Brook
In Tremont and Cabot sts., from Camden st. to Ruggles st.
2135.
Myles Tierney.
2. Stony Brook
In Cabot, Hampshire, Elmwood, Ruggles, and Tremont sts., about
Stony Brook
4 ft. 8 in..
(4 ft. X 4 ft. 6 in.
5 ft. X 4 ft. 6 in.
2 ft. X 3 ft.
15 in. pipe
4229,
City.
4. South Boston
4 ft. 9 in. x 5 ft. 6 in..
3352.
In Dorchester ave., from Hyde st. to B st.
In Dorchester ave. and Foundry st., from B st. to First st.
Hoblitzell, Condon,
Hoblitzell and City.
City.
5. South Boston
2810.
6. South Boston.
In N. and E. Eighth, () and E. Sixth sts.
3 ft. X 5 ft.
2 ft. X 3 ft.
} 15 in. pipe.
4 ft. 9 in.
2544.
Putterill & Killian.
E. Chester Park
4 ft. 6 in.
734.
City.
In E. Chester park, from Albany st. to Harrison ave.
In Dover st., from Albany st. to Harrison ave.
Dover Street
2 ft. X 3 ft.
588.
City
Sundry City Sewers
rebuilt
2245.
City:
Pumping-Station
Connecting Main Sewer and Filth-Hoist, and Engine-Wells and Salt-
Water Conduit
10 ft. 6 in.
9 ft..
15 ft. 6 in.
640.
City.
1. Outfall Sewer
From Pumping-Station to Dorchester Bay Tunnel
8 ft. X 16 ft.
2518.
City.
APPENDIX C.
213
2. Outfall Sewer
Tunnel under Dorchester Bay
7 ft. 6 in...
7160.
R. A. Malone.
3. Outfall Sewer
Squantum Neck to Moon Island
Brick Sewers, 1,938 ft. 11 ft. X 12 ft.
Wooden Flume, 4,196 ft. 6 ft. X 6 ft.
Discharge Sewers, 1,003 ft. 8 ft. 6 in. X 8 ft. and
8 ft. 6 in. x 12 ft.
7137.
W. C. Poland & Son and
C. W. Parker & Co.
Outlet Sewer
From Reservoir to Outlet
10 ft. 10 in. X 12 ft. .
1177.
Boynton Bros.
Totals
95387.5
APPENDIX D.
LIST OF OFFICERS CONNECTED WITH BOSTON MAIN
DRAINAGE WORKS.
Commission of 1875.
E. S. CHESBROUGH, C.E.
Moses LANE, C.E.
C. F. Folsom, M.D.
Engineers.
City Engineers.
JOSEPH P. DAVIS
HENRY M. WIGHTJAN
WILLIAM JACKSON
1876-1880
1880-1885
1885–1888
Principal Assistants to City Engineer.
HENRY M. WIGHTMAN
ALPHONSE FTELEY
JOHN E. CHENEY
1876-1880
1880-1884
1885-1888
Consulting Engineer.
ELIOT C. CLARKE
1886-1887
Principal Assistants in charge of Main Drainage Works.
Eliot C. CLARKE
1876-1885
FRED P. STEARNS
July, 1885-Aug., 1886
SETH PERKINS
Aug., 1886-April, 1887
GEORGE S. RICE
April, 1887-July, 1887
HENRY W. SANBORN
July, 1887-Jan., 1888
.
.
.
Assistant Engineers.
.
.
.
WILLIAM JACKSON
FRED P. STEARNS
CLEMENS HERSCHEL
GEORGE S. RICE
JOHN E. CHENEY
GEORGE H. CRAFTS
SETH PERKINS
CHARLES S. GOWEN
E. R. HOWE
F. A. MAY
F. W. Ring
R. TAPPAN
E. O. KIMBALL
1876-1885
1880-1885
1878-1880
1877-1880
1879-1885
1877-1881
1877–1885
1880-1881
1877-1880
1876-1880
1876-1877
1876-1877
1885-1888
.
APPENDIX D.
215
Principal Superintendents of Construction.
Sewer Construction.
H. A. CARSON.
Pumping-Station.
S. H. TARBELL.
Joint Special Committee on Improved Sewerage.
1876.
Aldermen.
Councilmen.
Alvah A. BURRAGE, Chairman. EUGENE H. SAMPSON.
SOLOMON B. STEBBINS.
J. HOMER PIERCE.
THOMAS J. WHIDDEN.
WARREN K. BLODGETT.
MARCELLUS DAY.
ALBERT H. TAYLOR.
Aldermen.
CHOATE BURNHAM, Chairman.
CHARLES W. WILDER.
LUCIUS SLADE.
1877.
Councilmen.
EUGENE H. SAMPSON.
J. HOMER PIERCE.
WARREN R. BLODGETT.
MARTIN L. Ham.
GEORGE L. THORNDIKE.
1878.
Aldermen.
Councilmen.
Thomas J. WHIDDEN, Chairman. EUGENE H. SAMPSON.
SOLOMON B. STEBBINS.
GEORGE L. THORNDIKE.
LUCIUS SLADE.
J. HOMER PIERCE.
FREDERICK B. DAY.
JAMES B. RICHARDSON.
Aldermen.
LUCIUS SLADE, Chairman.
SOLOMON B. STEBBINS.
DANIEL D. KELLY.
1879.
Councilmen.
ISAAC ROSNOSKY.
THOMAS J. DENNEY.
John P. BRAWLEY.
DANIEL J. SWEENEY.
OSCAR B. MOWRY.
216
MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.
1880.
Councilmen.
Aldermen.
LUCIUS SLADE, Chairman.
ASA H. CATON.
GEORGE L. THORNDIKE.
DANIEL J. SWEENEY.
CHARLES H. PLIMPTON.
HOWARD CLAPP.
MALCOLM S. GREENOUGH.
BENJAMIN S. BRINTNALL.
Aldermen.
Lucics SLADE, Chairman.
WILLIAM WOOLLEY.
CHARLES H. HERSEY.
1881.
Councilmen.
HOWARD CLAPP.
THOMAS J. DENNEY.
MALCOLM S. GREENOUGH.
FRANK E. FARWELL.
JOHN E. BOWKER.
Aldermen.
LUCIUS SLADE, Chairman.
WILLIAM WOOLLEY.
CHARLES H. JERSEY.
1882.
Councilmen.
MALCOLM S. GREENOUGH.
THOMAS J. DENNEY.
FRANK E. FARWELL.
PRENTISS CUMMINGS.
NATHAN G. SMITH.
Aldermen.
LUCIUS SLADE, Chairman.
WILLIAM WOOLLEY.
THOMAS H. DEVLIN.
1883.
Councilmen.
MALCOLM S. GREENOUGH.
THOMAS J. DENNEY.
FRANK E. FARWELL.
John B. FITZPATRICK.
PATRICK J. DONOVAN.
Aldermen.
LUCIUS SLADE, Chairman.
CHARLES H. HERSEY.
MALCOLM S. GREENOUGH.
1884.
Councilmen.
THOMAS J. DENNEY.
PATRICK J. DONOVAN.
ISAAC ROSNOSKY.
J. EDWARD LAPPEN.
JAMES B. GRAHAM.
APPENDIX D.
217
1885.
Aldermen.
Councilmen.
PATRICK J. DONOVAN, Chairman. EDWARD P. FISK.
GEORGE CURTIS.
J. EDWARD LAPPEN.
WILLIAM J. WELCI.
JOHN GALLAGHER.
WILLIAM H. MURPHY.
BENJAMIN B. JENKS.
1886.
Aldermen.
Councilmen.
PATRICK J. DONOVAN, Chairman. D. FOSTER FARRAR.
NATHAN G. SMITH.
WILLIAM A. Foss.
SAMUEL J. CAPEN.
JOHN GALLAGHER.
GEORGE N. FISHER, JR.
THOMAS J. DENNEY.
1887.
Aldermen.
Councilmen.
PATRICK J. DONOVAN, Chairman. WILLIAM A. Foss.
NATHAN G. Smith.
HENRY S. DEWEY.
SAMUEL J. CAPEN.
John GALLAGHER.
S. EDWARD SHAW.
WILLIAM J. MAHONEY.
OCT 11 1916
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