ZE^IEIFOIE^TS 
 
 OK THE 
 
 SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 OF TIIE 
 
 AND THE 
 
 City Civil Engineer 
 
 ON 
 
 3 fatt 5 anli Stittfitp, 
 
 FOR 
 
 RE-SEWERING THE ENTIRE CITY, 
 
 cziT-ciisri\r.A. r r , i: 
 
 JOHNSON, STEPHENS AND MORGAN, 
 
 No. 141 Main Street, below Fourth. 
 
 1862. 
 
£ 4 -^ Kj 
 
 COUNCIL CHAMBER, 
 Cincinnati, August 24th, 1862. 
 
 The following Reports were presented by Mr. Walker 
 and ordered to be printed in pamphlet form. 
 
 GEO . M. CASEY, 
 
 City Clerk 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive • 
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 https://archive.org/details/reportsofspecialOOunse 
 

 OF 
 
 At a meeting of the City Council, held on Wednesday 
 evening, August 28, 1861, Mr. Weasner, by leave, offered 
 the following resolution: 
 
 “ Resolved , that there be a Special Committee appointed 
 to act with the City Civil Engineer, to inquire into the pro¬ 
 priety of employing some Civil Engineer of known ability 
 to make plans and surveys of the entire City, with a view 
 of re-sewering the City, and report to Council at an early 
 day, believing that the time has now arrived when Council 
 should act promptly in the premises,” which was read and 
 adopted. Whereupon the Chair announced as said Com¬ 
 mittee, Messrs. Weasner, Walker and Stokes. 
 
 Wednesday Evening, January 22, 1862. 
 
 Reports of Special Committees being now in order, Mr. 
 Walker, from the Special Committee on Sewerage, pre¬ 
 sented the following report, accompanied by two resolu¬ 
 tions, which were adopted. 
 
 To the City Council of the City of Cincinnati :— 
 
 The committee appointed by order of a resolution, passed 
 August 28th, 1861, to act with the Civil Engineer for the 
 purpose of providing plans and surveys for re-sewering the 
 entire City, have performed the duties assigned them, and 
 now submit the following report: 
 
 The Committee, in order to arrive at proper conclusions 
 
6 
 
 as to the best mode of relieving the portions of the city 
 which seems to be doomed to almost annual overflows, and 
 to devise some mode to prevent their recurrence, have 
 given to the subject their careful consideration, and have 
 summed up their views in as concise a form as possible, in 
 order to prepare the minds of Council for acting on a sub¬ 
 ject of such vast importance to the city. At no time in our 
 history has this necessity been forced upon the authorities 
 more urgently, than during the past and previous summers. 
 The heavy rains in August last, and its disasters, are fresh 
 in the minds of Council, when property to the amount of hun¬ 
 dreds of thousands of dollars was not only destroyed, but 
 valuable lives were lost in attempting to save from destruc¬ 
 tion the earnings of years of toil. 
 
 Your committee hardly deem it necessary to present do 
 this body a topographical view of the plat upon which the 
 city is built, but in order to make themselves better under¬ 
 stood, will simply refer to some of its features, and this they 
 do for the purpose of exhibiting to Council the imperative 
 necessity that exists to provide against the repetition of such 
 injuries in these rapidly improving sections of our city, and 
 which can no longer be neglected without attaching to the 
 city authorities culpability for which no excuse can be 
 offered. 
 
 The committee, in the first place, proceed to designate 
 the boundaries to be drained by the sewers already built, 
 and which have proved themselves inadequate to furnish 
 an outlet to carry off the surface water in heavy storms, for 
 so large an extent of territory. They first commence with 
 that in the valley of Deer Creek, the area drained by this 
 sewer is included in the following boundaries, commencing 
 at the reservoir of the water works, and following the hill 
 
nearly north to the Observatory, thence following the ridge 
 south of Deer Creek to the junction of the Madison and 
 Montgomery road, thence north of the present city limits on 
 the high land to near the junction of the corporation line 
 and Mount Auburn road, and so with Mount Auburn ridge 
 west of the road to the intersection of Burgoyne and Main 
 streets, and thence draining the surface water from a large 
 portion of the following streets—Main, Allison, Walnut, 
 Twelfth, Race, Vine, Seventh, Ninth, Court, Sycamore, Pen¬ 
 dleton, Broadway, Sixth, Fifth, Symmes, Pike, and Butler, 
 containing not less than 1028 acres, a large portion of 
 which is very broken and consequently discharges storm 
 water from its surface with great rapidity. 
 
 The next portion of territory which your committee refer 
 to, is that drained by what is known by the name of the 
 Hamilton Road, Green and Hickey streets sewer, the area 
 drained through this channel is that lying west of Mount 
 Auburn and south of the corporation line, extending west to 
 the ridge of hills overlooking Mill Creek valley, also re¬ 
 ceiving a large portion of the surface water from the follow¬ 
 ing streets—Liberty, Freeman, Dayton, Linn, Central 
 Avenue, Vine, Race, Fifteenth, Hamilton Road, and Clin¬ 
 ton streets, the area included in this boundary being over 
 780 acres, for which there is no other drainage than this 
 sewer, which is totally inadequate, even if constructed upon 
 the most scientific principle. The almost annual overflow 
 of that portion of the city drained by this culvert, owing to 
 its want of capacity, has for a long time been a just cause 
 of complaint, and a fruitful source of litigation for which 
 the city has had to pay large damages, and at no former 
 season has the injuries and destruction to property been 
 greater than from the rains of last August. A careful esti- 
 
# 
 
 8 
 
 mate of this loss has placed it not less than $200,000, for 
 which it is supposed the city can not be held liable, but yet 
 the loss to the citizens is still the same. In the neighbor¬ 
 hood of Sycamore and Abigail streets, on Race from Find¬ 
 lay to Hamilton Road, on Henry from Race to Dunlap, and 
 on Green from Race to Elm, the houses have been flooded, 
 in some instances, to the depth of several feet, injuring and 
 cracking the walls and causing other damages to an extent 
 for which there is no estimate. 
 
 Next is the Betts street sewer, the area drained by this 
 is over 211 acres, then the Clearwater street sewer, also 
 draining a rapidly improving portion of the city, containing 
 an area of over 243 acres, also the Catharine street sewer, 
 which drains that portion of the city lying south of Twelfth 
 and north of Sixth, and from Race to Mill Creek, containing 
 an area of over 280 acres. 
 
 The sewers above seem to have been constructed in or as 
 near as practicable on the bed of the ravines that have 
 been the natural outlets for draining the territory referred 
 to, and have been built from time to time by owners of 
 property through which they passed, either with a view of 
 recovering the ground, or for covering up what had become 
 a nuisance without reference to any intelligent system of 
 engineering, or without referring to the fact, that as improve¬ 
 ments progressed, the rapid flow of water into these chan¬ 
 nels would be largely increased, and the outlet that might 
 have been regarded as sufficient when the territory was in 
 a state of nature, would be totally inadequate when the 
 same territory was covered over with buildings and well 
 paved streets. * 
 
 That great and almost irremediable errors should have 
 been committed in the construction of these early improve- 
 
9 
 
 merits should not surprise us. But to allow these to be con¬ 
 tinued after the evidence furnished during the past ten 
 years, must, in the concurrent judgment of the community, 
 convict those holding public trusts with a total disregard of 
 private as well as municipal interests. 
 
 Such your committee find to be the character of all the 
 sewers of early construction throughout the city. They, 
 therefore, adopt the views of the City Engineer, so ably 
 expressed in his report to the committee, and recommend 
 that sewers be constructed with capacity sufficient to carry 
 off the storm-water from the localities named as fast as it 
 falls, and this should not be alone to meet present wants, but 
 also adopted for future necessities growing out of more 
 extended improvements. The Engineer in his report refer¬ 
 red to, proposes to construct two main sewers with laterals to 
 catch the water before it accumulates, one on Liberty street 
 from Linn to Race street of eight feet interior diameter, thence 
 on Race to Hamilton Road with six feet interior diameter, 
 with laterals to Green and Pleasant streets, connecting with 
 the Hamilton Road and Henry street sewer, so as to relieve 
 that sewer where it passes under the canal, near Proctor & 
 Gamble’s factory. The estimated cost of this with laterals, 
 $53,000. 
 
 The other sewer, on Sycamore street, to be constructed 
 from Abigail, to empty into the canal at Broadway, thence 
 flowing in the canal to the Ohio River, with laterals on 
 Abigail to Main, and also on Abigail to Franklin street; 
 the construction of this sewer, as proposed, would not only 
 relieve Sycamore, at the corner of Abigail, from overflow, 
 but also relieve the Deer Creek sewer from all the water 
 now passing into it through this channel. The estimated 
 
 cost of this improvement is placed at $27,000. 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 Your committee now come to the last improvement for 
 drainage, suggested in the report of the Engineer, aqd, in 
 their opinion, the most important to the interests of the 
 city, in its consequence, of all—namely, that of Deer 
 Creek. In the report of the Engineer, there are two pro¬ 
 jects which, though differing in character, yet become the 
 same in their result. The first is to secure to the city that 
 pgrtion of the canal from Broadway to the Ohio River. 
 This portion of the canal, in consequence of the dilapidated 
 condition of the locks, many of them being entirely torn 
 away, has long since ceased to be used. This has awakened 
 the attention of property owners, and a memorial is on file, 
 signed by nearly every owner on either side, asking the 
 authorities to secure that portion of the canal to the city. 
 At the last session of the Legislature, an act was passed to 
 provide for leasing the public works of the State; but sec¬ 
 tion 17 provides that nothing in this act should preclude 
 the State from granting permission to the city of Cincin¬ 
 nati to enter upon or to improve as a public highway, or 
 for sewerage purposes, any or all of that portion of the 
 Miami and Erie Canal which extends from the east side of 
 Broadway to the Ohio River. Should the City Council avail 
 itself of this act of the Legislature, and secure this portion 
 of the public work, then it opens up the way whereby the 
 second suggestion contained in the report of the Engineer 
 can be carried out, and a complete system of sewerage for 
 the entire valley of Deer Creek be adopted. This plan being 
 so ably treated by the Engineer, which it is supposed every 
 member of Council will peruse with care, that your com¬ 
 mittee content themselves by simply referring to it. The 
 estimated cost of this work is placed at near $100,000. 
 
 Your committee find from the proceedings of the Board 
 
/ 
 
 11 
 
 of City Improvements, that in December, of 1858, of which 
 the following is an extract: “The Board of City Improve¬ 
 ments respectfully urge upon the City Council to take im¬ 
 mediate measures to bring about valuable improvements 
 for the interest of the city in the valley of Deer Creek.” 
 They state further, that the private sewers draining this por¬ 
 tion of the city are in a hazardous condition, and from re¬ 
 cent occurrences, the citizens in that locality are reminded 
 that serious damages may result from further falling-in of 
 the sewer, which has proven itself of so imperfect construc¬ 
 tion. Such were the views entertained by the Board of 
 City Improvements at the period referred to. The reason 
 why the attention of the Board was particularly directed to 
 the condition of the sewer at that time, arose from the fact 
 that during a heavy rain, owing to its faulty condition or 
 some other cause, stopping the flow of water, it burst into 
 the canal, near or at the Niles Works, causing the destruc¬ 
 tion of a portion of their buildings and doing other damage 
 to property at other portions of the sewer to a large amount, 
 the result of which was, that the Niles Company brought 
 suit against the City for over $50,000 damages; other claims 
 reaching to nearly $500,000 awaited the result of this suit. 
 The case, however, having been terminated in favor of the 
 city, consequently no other action was ever brought. Dur¬ 
 ing heavy rains of August, 21, 1861, a similar occurrence 
 took place near the canal bridge, at Third street, nearly 
 washing across the street, and breaking two of the main 
 water pipes that supply that portion of the city lying south 
 of Eighth street with water. The cost of repairing this in¬ 
 jury will not be less than $4,000. Such are some of the 
 dangers to which property, in this section of Deer Creek 
 
12 
 
 valley is exposed, by the badly constructed and dangerous 
 condition of the present sewers. 
 
 It might not be improper for the committee here to state, 
 that the number of suits now pending in the Courts against 
 the city for damages to property caused by the overflows, 
 claimed to be on account of the incapacity of the sewers, 
 at the localities named, amount to the sum of $62,000, and 
 that a much larger amount is yet claimed, and abiding the 
 result of these suits. 
 
 The committee refrain from presenting to Council the great 
 benefit that would accrue to all the property in the region 
 of Deer Creek, by a successful carrying out and speedy 
 completion of the improvements referred to, and more par¬ 
 ticularly the arching over of that portion of the canal lying 
 between Third and Front streets, thereby opening a short 
 and direct communication for the large and increasing 
 business in that section of the city, to the Depot of the 
 Little Miami Railroad, and the River landing. This they 
 only refer to as incidental to the improvement named, their 
 primary object, (as contained in the resolution appoint¬ 
 ing them,) is to secure to this region a system of 
 drainage, sufficient to protect the citizens against future 
 overflows, and the city from vexatious litigations and 
 heavy damages, which might be fairly charged against her 
 for neglecting to provide against these constantly accruing 
 disasters. 
 
 The other questions presented in the very able report of 
 the Engineer, in reference to sewerage, as a sanitary provi¬ 
 sion, thereby promoting the general health of the city, is 
 well worthy the perusal and attention of every citizen, and 
 we feel assured, that no one will read it without feeling a 
 desire to see the system introduced throughout the entire 
 
13 
 
 city, thereby relieving the citizens from the foul and im¬ 
 pure gasses thrown out by the thousands of cess-pools with¬ 
 in its limits, and instead, furnishing pure air and comfort, 
 not only in the abode of the rich, but in the more uncom¬ 
 fortable dwellings of the poor, who must ever rely upon 
 health as the capital upon which depends the support of 
 themselves and family. 
 
 Urged and influenced by the reasons and facts set fort 
 as above, your committee are unanimous in the opinion 
 that it is the imperative duty of the City Council to pro¬ 
 vide such a system of sewerage for the districts of the city 
 that are subject to these overflows, as will in the future 
 prevent their recurrence. 
 
 They therefore recommend the adoption of the following 
 resolutions: 
 
 Resolved , That a committee of five be appointed to visit 
 Columbus, during the sitting of the present Legislature, to 
 secure the passage of a law authorizing the City of Cincin¬ 
 nati to issue her bonds for the sum of two hundred thou¬ 
 sand dollars, which bonds are to be used for the construc¬ 
 tion of such sewers as may be necessary to protect the 
 property of our citizens from overflow, and for no other use. 
 
 Resolved , That said committee be instructed to procure 
 from the State a transfer to the City of that portion of the 
 Miami and Erie Canal lying between the east side of Broad¬ 
 way and the Ohio River, on such terms as may be mutu¬ 
 ally agreed upon, in accordance with an act passed May 
 8th, 1861. 
 
 J. H. WALKER, 
 SAM’L STOKES, Jr. 
 
 T. H. WEASNER. 
 
 The Chair then announced, as said Committee, Messrs. 
 Walker, Schultz, Stokes, Doherty and Johnston. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Stokes, Mr. Thos. J. Peter, City Civil 
 Engineer, was added to the Committee. 
 
14 
 
 The following is the statement of James H. Walker, Esq. : 
 
 To Wm. J. Shultz, Esq. —Dear Sir : To enable you to present to the 
 Legislature the necessity of passing a law to enable the city authorities to 
 provide sewerage for certain sections of the city, subject to overflow during 
 heavy storms, I have obtained through the kindness of Mr. Harper, one of 
 the Professors of the Woodward College, the following meteorological state¬ 
 ment of the rain that fell, according to the guage kept by him during the 
 years 1860 and 1861, from which it will be seen how insufficient are the 
 
 provisions to carry it off : 
 
 January, 
 
 February. 
 
 March, 
 
 April, 
 
 May, 
 
 June. 
 
 July, - 
 August, 
 
 September, 
 
 October, 
 
 November, 
 
 December, 
 
 Total, 
 
 1860. 
 
 1861. 
 
 May 14—From 1 to 2 A. 
 July 4—Commenced 2M 
 July 20— “ 9 
 
 M.„ 
 
 11 >* 
 
 1.425 inches 
 
 2,575 inches. 
 
 . 1.56 
 
 a 
 
 1.805 
 
 it 
 
 0.41 
 
 a 
 
 2.008 
 
 it 
 
 - 5.315 
 
 a 
 
 3,875 
 
 a 
 
 3.68 
 
 <( 
 
 5.091 
 
 tt 
 
 - 1.055 
 
 a 
 
 3,802 
 
 a 
 
 7.965 
 
 <1 
 
 3.622 
 
 •< 
 
 - 0.915 
 
 u 
 
 7.010 
 
 n 
 
 4.335 
 
 a 
 
 2.939 
 
 it 
 
 - 1.275 
 
 it 
 
 3.774 
 
 a 
 
 3-083 
 
 u 
 
 3.617 
 
 a 
 
 - 1,085 
 
 a 
 
 1.095 
 
 it 
 
 33.081 
 
 it 
 
 42.194 
 
 u 
 
 3 OF 
 
 1860 
 
 # 
 
 
 
 
 Inches. 
 
 i A. M., 
 
 nth, 
 
 - 
 
 1.96 
 
 • •* 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 1.49 
 
 A. M.. 
 
 • 
 
 - 
 
 2.09 
 
 << 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 1.15 
 
 HEAVY RAIN'S OF 1861. 
 
 May 3—Heavy storm before day,.* . 1.69 
 
 July 8—Commenced 10>* A. M., ended 12 M.,.1.26 
 
 Aug. 9- “ 12 M„ “ 8P.M .2-10 
 
 Aug. 21- “ 1>* P, M., “ 33* P. M., .... 3.35 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 A larger per cent, is drained off in heavy rains than when the fall is 
 more gradual, the beginning and ending of the storm is given, but it will 
 be observed that the heaviest rain falls in a small portion of the whole time. 
 The rain of 21st August last is the heaviest amount that ever fell at this point 
 in two consecutive hours. The amount, according to the above, that fell on 
 the area drained by the Deer Creek sewers, would be 12,507,500 cubic feet* 
 and on the territory drained through Hickory, Green and Hamilton Road 
 *ewers, 9,413,820 cubic feet. The amount in the same ratio for the other 
 territory named in the report to Council. Respectfully, 
 
 J. H. WALKER. 
 
Messrs. WEASNER, WALKER and STOKES, 
 
 Special Committee on Sewerage , 
 
 Gentlemen :— 
 
 In consequence of the additional duties devol¬ 
 ving upon me, by the absence of several city officials in the 
 army, I have been unable heretofore to devote that time to the 
 matter of the resolution of the City Council, under which 
 you were appointed, that the importance of the subject du- 
 manded. I desire before proceeding further, to call your 
 attention to the following extract from my report to Chas. 
 Rule, Esq., “ Chairman of the Committee on Sewerage and 
 Drainage,” on May 1st, 1857 : 
 
 u Previous to the construction of any sewer, a map of 
 the city, with the elevations of the surface represented by 
 figures at the intersections of the streets, and other neces¬ 
 sary points, should have been made; the main lines of the 
 sewers, with their various branches, should have then been 
 devised, with a congruent proportion in the forms and ca¬ 
 pacities of a graduated system, in accordance with the pro¬ 
 gressive increase of the quantity and velocity of water 
 flowing into them from their sources to their outfall. As 
 each sewer was built, its location should have been marked 
 upon the map, accurate notes recorded of the shape, size 
 inclination, and capacity, area of surface it was intended to 
 drain, and the depth of the bottom, with reference to the 
 
16 
 
 standard levels. Without such a map, and such notes for 
 reference, I can not imagine how any man could properly 
 locate a single sewer, without even any regard to its con¬ 
 struction with a general system. 
 
 No map of this kind has been heretofore made, and not 
 even a note of the sewers which have been built, has been 
 recorded. To obtain their location, I have had to examine 
 the minutes of the City Council, to learn where and when 
 they were ordered; to depend upon information derived 
 from contractors and others, and to trace, by actual survey, 
 each one from its outlet to its source. 
 
 Such a map of the city, with the surface levels taken by 
 different persons, I am now draughting, and will mark on 
 it the location of the sewers and their size, but such a map 
 must necessarily, from the limited means of information, be 
 deficient in accuracy. 
 
 Besides obtaining the size and location of the sewers pre¬ 
 viously constructed, much more labor has been expended 
 on this map, in compiling the surface elevations from the 
 dusty and well-worn records of the office, in reducing them 
 to the standard level, in carefully testing them with the 
 instrument, and in obtaining the levels of many streets, of 
 which no record had been made. 
 
 Thus, the first step—the drudgery, in fact, has been per¬ 
 formed, and it remains to devise such a graduated system 
 of sewerage as our judgment deems best adapted to secure 
 the wants and preserve the health of the community. 
 
 In America we have had no experience in this matter, 
 and we must rely entirely upon the extended experience 
 which the most renowned European Engineers have attained 
 by immense expenditures and successive improvements 
 through a long series of works. Fortunately, many of 
 
17 
 
 these Engineers have published the results of their obser¬ 
 vations and experiments. 
 
 I have garnered my information from every available 
 source, discarding all plausible theories unless tested by 
 fair experiments, or supported by experienced and skillful 
 Engineers. I have placed more credence in the evidence 
 elicited by examinations of the “ Metropolitan Sanitary 
 Commission,” and the “ General Board of Health on the 
 supply of water to the Metropolis,” than in the expression 
 of any individual opinion, because these commissions were 
 composed of men renowned for their austere probity, their 
 scientific knowledge, their ripened judgment, and their 
 skillful practice. They called to their aid the best talent in 
 the country; men entertaining diametrically opposing 
 theories, whose specious fallacies, erroneous deductions, or 
 pride of opinion, was likely to be discovered by the inter¬ 
 rogations of rival talent, or the discussions of the Council 
 Board. 
 
 These works treating of the dry detail of the profession, 
 are seldom sought, and hence are rare, but as there is no 
 subject on which public opinion differs so widely from the 
 result of experiments, and nothing which is of more inter¬ 
 est to the public, I have made copious extracts from them; 
 especially to combat those new ideas which are frequently 
 broached here, and which, for inherent defects in practice, 
 have long since been cast aside in Europe. Fortunately, 
 no City in the Union is more favorably located for sewer¬ 
 age purposes than Cincinnati, situated, as she is, on the 
 bank of a river, with a current swift enough to quickly 
 bear away the refuse, and at such an altitude that the sur¬ 
 face grades have sufficient inclination to scour the sewers 
 without the aid of artificial flushing. 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
18 
 
 Your Engineers have spent many hours in devising a 
 system of sewerage, and compiling and preparing reports, 
 which have usually been printed, referred to a Committee, 
 and there allowed to slumber. This apparent apathy has 
 been produced by a contrariety of opinion as to the use of 
 sewers. 
 
 The majority of the City Council have, for many years, 
 held that sewers should be constructed simply to carry 
 away the surplus storm-water, so as to prevent it from 
 damaging property, but your Engineers have been uni¬ 
 formly of the opinion that by so doing, the chief use of 
 sewers was entirely ignored. Originally, sewers were nat¬ 
 ural water courses, walled in, when the growth of cities de¬ 
 manded it, but after a time physicians and other scientific 
 
 men came to regard them as a great sanitary necessity, 
 
 / 
 
 which, by quietly and effectually draining the surrounding- 
 earth, and purifying the atmosphere by the immediate and 
 complete removal of the filth and refuse from the houses, 
 prevented the spread of febrile diseases, and those violent 
 epidemics against which no measure of alleviation can 
 materially avail, and which almost set at defiance the re¬ 
 sources of medical art. 
 
 I beg leave to call your attention to the following ex¬ 
 tracts, which conclusively demonstrate the truth of these 
 assertions: 
 
 Messrs. Cubitt and Brunell say, in their report, that “The 
 oldest sewers in towns were generally substitutes for open 
 ditches, their use being to take off the surface water ; the 
 night soil and other offensive solid matter and offal, being 
 at that time swept down the kennels, or removed daily 
 from the houses in carts. 
 
 “This was the practice, not many years since, in Edin- 
 
19 
 
 burgh and many other large towns, and is still the case in 
 most of the continental cities, including Paris and Rome. 
 
 “ The fact is, that this metropolis has always been in 
 advance of, and has taught all other cities lessons in sewer¬ 
 age. In London, the open and daily removal we have 
 described, was early superceded by cess-pools, and in the 
 better houses, a drain was carried from the kitchen and 
 offices into the cess-pool; but it must not, in justice to the 
 owners and occupiers of houses, be forgotten that, at this 
 period, all passage of night soil and filth from the cess¬ 
 pools to the sewer, was an indictable offense, and perhaps 
 necessarily so, for there not being then water enough to 
 carry the soil along the drain, the latter would have been 
 liable to be choked, and would have caused the cess-pool 
 to overflow; nor would any moderate inclination have 
 kept the sewer clean, if the soil had been allowed to pass 
 into it. Under the then existing circumstances, it was the 
 duty of the Commissioners of Sewers, or of the other 
 authorities, to enforce these regulations, and to oblige cess¬ 
 pools to be made and periodically emptied by nightmen, 
 so that the drains and sewers might not be choked. A 
 great revolution has been since effected. 
 
 u At the present time, every house not under the middle 
 class, has its water closet, and it is now considered the duty 
 of the commissioners of sewers, contrary to former- prac¬ 
 tice, and even to the law of the former and not very dis¬ 
 tant period, to provide sewers suitable for receiving the 
 soil from the houses and cess-pools, which before were ab¬ 
 solutely necessary, are now treated as nuisances that ought 
 to be removed.” 
 
 The general Board of Health, in their report on the sup¬ 
 ply of water to London, say “ Where appropriate arrange- 
 
20 
 
 merits are made for at once receiving such refuse as human 
 excreta in water, at a proper coolness of temperature, which 
 arrests decomposition. It is proved to be practicable to 
 remove it from beneath dwellings at the very commence¬ 
 ment of the process of decomposition, and to convey it 
 beyond the urban precincts before it can have arrived at 
 the more noxious stages of decay—a condition which it 
 must reach to a large and most injurious extent, under any 
 of the schemes which allow accumulations of refuse. 
 
 “The report has brought before us facts in support of 
 their strongly urged and unanimous opinion, that no popu¬ 
 lation can be healthy which lives amid cess-pools, or upon 
 a soil permeated by decomposing animal or vegetable 
 refuse, giving off impurities to the air, into their houses 
 and into the streets. They state the necessity of prevent¬ 
 ing all accumulations ol stagnant refuse in or near houses, 
 and of substituting a system of house drainage and cleans¬ 
 ing, aided by the introduction of better supplies of water 
 into the houses. 
 
 “ Objections to the abolition of cess-pools are frequently 
 urged on the presumption that the lowest class of occupiers 
 are so degraded as to be unfitted for the use of the appli¬ 
 ances of cleanliness and health. But the proper usage of 
 them by the poorer class, by colliers in the northern dis¬ 
 tricts, and by occupiers of mews in London, has furnished 
 a complete answer to that objection. 
 
 u The result to be obtained by a proper combination of 
 works, in the immediate and rapid removal of refuse, and 
 the prevention of its accumulation under or near dwellings, 
 is even now so little understood, while it is of so much 
 practical importance, that it is necessary still further to 
 illustrate this part of the subject, by adverting to the 
 
21 
 
 futility of the expedients resorted to for the correction of 
 the evils arising from disconnected and inefficient works. 
 The public having required protection from noxious gases 
 issuing from decomposing refuse in street sewers and 
 drains in immediate connection with houses, recourse has 
 hitherto been had by engineers and surveyors to flap-traps, 
 to prevent the escape of the effluvia. These flaps for 
 “ gully-shoots,” or the openings from sewers into streets? 
 have varied from eight pounds to half a hundred, and even 
 one hundred weight; and for house drains, from two hun¬ 
 dred to twelve. But the rates of discharge through these 
 channels had not been considered, nor the fact that the 
 heavier flap would, when water was constantly discharged 
 in mere dribblets, weigh dow r n and detain substances in sus¬ 
 pension. This form of apparatus was adopted without any 
 previous trial, and has been continued in use without suffi¬ 
 cient observation, until the recent investigations, when it 
 was found that it did not effect the objects intended, but 
 that it commonly aggravated the existing evil by the col¬ 
 lection of filth in the lower part of the trap, and the deten¬ 
 tion and accumulation of light floating substances in the 
 sewers. The matter thus accumulated decomposing, the 
 general experience in the city and other places, was that 
 more offensive smells arose from the sewer cess-pools 
 formed by the traps, than from the sewers themselves. To 
 ‘ whatever extent the traps placed in the gully-shoots acted 
 in obstructing the discharge of the products of the decom¬ 
 position into streets, they increased the amount and rapidity 
 of the discharge through untrapped house drains into 
 houses. 
 
 It was also found that the trapping of main sewers fre¬ 
 quently favored decomposition, and prevented the trans- 
 
22 
 
 mission of the gases generated in them, so that the men 
 employed to cleanse them were constantly placed in immi¬ 
 nent danger. It was further found that when gases are 
 evolved in considerable quantities from decomposing refuse, 
 whether in sewers or house drains, they force their way 
 through water in bell-traps, through syphon-traps, and 
 through every other description of trap. 
 
 Loud demands have been made that long lines of open 
 ditches and sewers containing stagnant deposit should be 
 arched over, but this measure, as now executed, though it 
 may mask, actually aggravates the evil, at an expense often 
 double that which, with a proper combination of works, 
 would suffice for its prevention. 
 
 Openings have been made from sewers communicating 
 with the open air in the center of the streets; an iron 
 grating may be seen covering these untrapped vents, which 
 can only serve to let out the foul air in the center of the 
 roadway, instead of in the channel through the gully-grate, 
 as heretofore. The atmosphere of the town is contaminated 
 no less by the alteration. 
 
 The system of trapping having failed, other plans have 
 been proposed, with a view to the ventilation of large sew¬ 
 ers. The expedient of erecting chimney shafts with fur¬ 
 naces, to draw out the foul gases, has been tried, for 
 example, at Paris and Antwerp. Sewers have been partially 
 ventilated by this means, but some of these gases being 
 heavier than atmospheric air, have again descended, and 
 spread offensive odors over wide districts. At Antwerp it 
 has been observed that, though in certain states of the 
 weather no offensive odor could be perceived, yet whenever 
 any fog hung over the city, the diffusion of noxious gases 
 was rendered disagreeably sensible. In London, the steam 
 
23 
 
 jet has been tried, and, like the chimney shaft, it has been 
 found to partially discharge the gases from sewers, but by 
 frequent renewal of the air in contact with refuse in rapid 
 decay, it is doubtful whether the result of this experiment 
 was not a far more quick and copious diffusion of foul and 
 dangerous gases, which, though drawn from the sewer and 
 discharged into the surrounding atmosphere, were not 
 changed to a condition of salubrity. Upon the whole, these 
 operations have not realized their promise. 
 
 Another class of remedies have been suggested, which 
 it was proposed to bring into use on a large scale, namely, 
 chemical “ disinfectants,” as they are termed, but more 
 properly“de-odorizers,” for though they undoubtedly destroy 
 the most offensive odors, arising from the putrefaction and 
 decay of vegetable and animal matters, yet there is not 
 sufficient evidence that they decompose and destroy the 
 noxious gases themselves. On a review of the whole evi¬ 
 dence, it appears that there is no true remedy for the evils 
 in question, but that which prevents the accumulation of 
 refuse matter, by providing for its immediate and rapid 
 removal. 
 
 But even supposing that the several expedients of cover¬ 
 ing over the refuse, of shutting out emanations by trapping, 
 of ventilating sewers, and of de-odorizing their contents, 
 had, upon trial, proved to be completely effectual, there is 
 reason to believe that far greater expense would be entailed 
 for works of this character, than for proper works by 
 which accumulations would be entirely prevented. 
 
 Hitherto, blocks of houses in which the combination of 
 water supply with tubular drainage has been effected, have 
 all their out-falls in old sewers, whence some of the pro¬ 
 ducts of decomposition might still be derived. Neverthe- 
 
24 
 
 less, the unanimous testimony of the residents in such 
 houses is, that immediate and apparently complete relief 
 has been experienced. It is, indeed, only when the deposit 
 accumulates and stagnates, that the copious evolution of 
 deleterious gases takes place. 
 
 All the surveyors and other witnesses, whose duty com¬ 
 pels them frequently to traverse these sub-ways, concur in 
 stating that they sustain no inconvenience whatever, and 
 perceive scarcely any smell from running sewer-water. 
 Nor is there apparently any evolution cf putrescent gas 
 from this source; and, indeed, when substances in the in¬ 
 cipient state of putrefaction and decay are immersed in 
 cold running water, decomposition is immediately checked. 
 When the run of water is concentrated in the branch tubu¬ 
 lar drains, the draft of air procured is downwards rather 
 than upwards, and this must be so when the flow is consid¬ 
 erable. It is confidently predicted that when the common 
 syphon or water traps are relieved from the pressure of 
 such gases as are now evolved from stagnant fluid and 
 semi-fluid matter, that they will be found effectual in arrest¬ 
 ing any odors which may arise from the reduced surface of 
 running sewer-water.” 
 
 “The proportion of soluble and insoluble matter in sewer- 
 water is usually less than one to two hundred and fifty 
 times its volume.” 
 
 “ The following extract is from a description of the cess¬ 
 pool system of Paris, published by Thomas W. Ramsey, 
 C. E. As the inconveniences and bad results of this sys¬ 
 tem are not generally known in this country, and, as it affords 
 a contrast to the English system, I have copied so much as 
 I deem will be of interest to those who are anxious that 
 we should adopt a thorough system of sanitary reform. 
 
25 
 
 w The following account of the system adopted in Paris 
 for the disposal of the refuse matter of the inhabitants was 
 drawn up, after some inquiries on the subject made during 
 a visit to that city, in the months of April and May, 1848. 
 
 “ It is the practice in Paris to dispose of all the kitchen 
 and dry refuse, by depositing it on the streets at midnight, 
 whence it is removed at dawn and during the early morn¬ 
 ing hours, by the scavengers. In the meantime, however, 
 the heaps are carefully turned over by chiffouiers, a numer¬ 
 ous class, to whom all sorts of odds and ends, such as 
 bones, bits ol bread, rags, old pots, broken bottles, etc., etc., 
 have a marketable value. 
 
 The greater portion of the liquid refuse, including water 
 which has been used in culinary or cleansing purposes, is 
 got rid of by means of open channels laid across the court 
 yards, and the foot pavements to the street gutters, along 
 which it flows until it falls through the nearest gulley into 
 the sewers, and ultimately into the Seine. If produced in 
 the upper part of a house, this description of refuse is first 
 poured into an external shoot branching out of the rain-wa¬ 
 ter pipe, with one of which every floor is usually provided. 
 Iron pipes have been lately introduced in place of the open 
 channels across the foot pavements, these are laid level with 
 the surface, and are cast with an open slit about one inch 
 in width at the top, to afford facility for cleansing them. 
 During the busy parts of the day, there are constant streams 
 of such fluids running through most of the streets of Paris, 
 the smell arising from which, is by no means agreeable. 
 In hot weather it is the practice to turn on the public stand 
 pipes for an hour or two, to dilute the matter and accelerate 
 the flow. With respect to fsecal refuse, and much of the 
 house slops, particularly those of bed-chambers, the cess- 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 pool is universally adopted in Paris, as the immediate re¬ 
 ceptacle. The cess-pools are of two sorts, 1st, fixed or ex¬ 
 cavated cess-pools, 2d, movable cess-pools. 
 
 “ In early times the excavated cess-pools or pits, were con¬ 
 structed in the rudest manner, and cleaned out more or less 
 frequently, or utterly neglected, at the discretion of their 
 owners. As the city increased in size, however, and as the 
 permeations necessarily taking place in the soil, accumu¬ 
 lated in lapse of centuries, the evil resulting was found to 
 be of grave magnitude, calling for prompt and vigorous in¬ 
 terference on the part of the authorities. It appears cer¬ 
 tain that prior to the year 1819, (when a strict ordinance 
 was issued on the subject,) the cess-pools were very care¬ 
 lessly constructed. For the most part they were far from 
 water-tight, and very probably were generally intended to be 
 so. Consequently, nearly the whole of the fluid matter 
 which passed into them, drained into the springs beneath 
 the substratum, or became absorbed by the surrounding 
 soil. Not only this, the basement walls of the houses be¬ 
 came saturated with these offensive permeations, and the 
 atmosphere, more particularly in the interior of dwellings, 
 tainted with their exhalations. 
 
 “ The movable cess-pools for the most part, consist simply 
 of tanks or barrels, which, when full, are removed to some 
 convenient spot for the purpose of their contents being dis¬ 
 charged. This form of cess-pool, though not leading to the 
 contamination of the soil, naturally induced by the fixed or 
 excavated cess-pool, may occasion many offensive nuisances 
 from carelessness in overflowing, or in the process of emp¬ 
 tying. 
 
 “ It was with a view to protect the public health from the 
 serious evils engendered by a reckless process of accumu- 
 
27 
 
 lation of faecal matter that the ordinance above referred 
 to was issued on the 24th of September, 1819, laying down 
 stringent regulations both as to the structure of cess-pools 
 fixed and movable, and their mode of emptying. The exe¬ 
 cution of this ordinance is entrusted to the Prefect of Police. 
 The system established by it, is evidently the fruit of a very 
 careful study of the subject in all its details, and the regu¬ 
 lations are very rigidly enforced.” 
 
 Fixed cess-pools have the walls, arch, and bottom made 
 of stone, set in Hydraulic mortar, the interior plastered, all 
 the angles on the inside rounded off. 
 
 A principle object of the ordinance was to insure the 
 cess-pools being thenceforth made water tight, so that fur¬ 
 ther pollution of the substratum and springs might be pre¬ 
 vented, and the provisions for its attainment have been 
 strictly enforced by the police. The present cess-pools are, 
 in fact, water-tight constructions, retaining the whole of the 
 liquids passed into them, until the same are withdrawn by 
 artificial means. The advantage has its attendant incon¬ 
 venience, and, moreover, has been dearly paid for, for inde¬ 
 pendently of the costs of the alterations, and the increased 
 cost of making.the cess-pools in the outset, the liquids no 
 longer drain away by permeation, and the constant expense 
 of emptying them has constantly increased. In the better 
 class of houses where water is more freely used, whereas 
 the cess-pool was formerly emptied every eighteen months 
 or two years, the operation has now to be repeated every 
 three, four, or five months. An increased supply of water 
 has added to the evil, moderate even now as the extent of 
 this supply is. 
 
 “ The cess-pools vary considerably in foulness, and it is 
 remarkable that those containing the greatest proportion of 
 
28 
 
 water are the most foul and dangerous. This is accounted 
 for by the increased quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen gas 
 evolved; and is more particularly the case where, from 
 their large size, or from the small number of people using 
 them, much time is allowed for the matter to stagnate and 
 decompose. 
 
 “The mode of emptying the excavated or fixed cess-pools, 
 is to pump their contents into closed carts for transport. 
 The matter is forced up by atmospheric pressure into the 
 vacuum produced in the cart. Complicated, laborious, and 
 expensive as these operations are, it must not be supposed 
 that the process of emptying a fixed cess-pool is no longer a 
 nuisance. The magnitude of the original evil is certainly 
 much diminished by the improved method adopted, but in 
 its reduced dimensions it still exists, and will continue to 
 exist as long as the cess-pools themselves. On the first re¬ 
 moval of the stone that covers the manhole, there is an 
 escape of gas from the cess-pool, and this goes on in a 
 greater or smaller volume until the aperture is again closed up 
 A furnace is used to burn the noxious gases evolved, but 
 the advantages attributed to it are overrated—when the 
 pump is in full operation, the gases are forced through the 
 furnace with a rapidity too great to allow of perfect com¬ 
 bustion—compared with a tubular system of refuse drain¬ 
 age, the cess-pool system is an exceeding expensive mode 
 of disposing of the faecal refuse of a town, so much so, that 
 even in Paris the existing cess-pools might be abandoned 
 and a system of tubular drainage substituted, for a consider¬ 
 ably less annual sum, including interest for capital sunk in 
 works of construction, than is now spent in emptying cess¬ 
 pools; while viewed in connection with the whole subject 
 
29 
 
 of town drainage, it is seen to involve an expense at once 
 serious and altogether useless and unnecessary.” 
 
 In 1856, when Mr. Cheeseborougli visited Europe to ob¬ 
 tain information as to the sewerage systems then in use, the 
 following was the mode then in use in Paris. 
 
 “ At present it is not lawful for private individuals to 
 empty the contents of their water-closets into the public 
 sewers, though exceptions in favor of public institutions 
 have become numerous; but under the new system under 
 trial, pipes parallel with the main sewers will, in some cases, 
 be provided for the licpiid portion, and all ether drainage 
 from houses will be discharged directly into the public 
 sewers low down, and not into street gutters as at present. 
 This is to be in operation all over Paris in 1862. 
 
 “ The smallest public sewer constructed under the pres¬ 
 ent or new system in Paris, is 6£ feet high and 4f feet wide, 
 the cross section being semi-circular on top, curved with 
 arcs of circles on the sides, and having a segment of a cir¬ 
 cle If feet long, and depressed two inches for the bottom—one 
 reason for making the smallest class of public sewers in 
 Paris, so much larger than they are in every other city, is 
 the practice, which, till within ten years, existed only there, 
 of placing the water mains in them—with smaller sizes, it 
 would be difficult and painful for workmen to introduce or 
 repair water-pipes. 
 
 “The house drains emptying into the sewers are to be of 
 such sizes as the proprietors may choose, they being obliged 
 to pay for them.” 
 
 The following is an extract from the report, presented to 
 the Metropolitan Board of Works, by Messrs. Hawksley, 
 Bidder and Bazalgette, in 1858. 
 
 “We feel assured, however, from the facts before us,that 
 
30 
 
 as soon as tlie refuse of life has become thoroughly blended 
 with water, chemical changes of the most important char¬ 
 acter become gradually affected by the oxygenation (with¬ 
 out putrefaction) of some, if not all, the combustible elements, 
 and the consequent decomposition and arrangement of the 
 other elements into organic forms, is nowise injurious to 
 the health of animal beings. Hence it is, that the sub¬ 
 stances which enter into a sewer are either not to be found 
 at its mouth, or are only to be there obtained in a much 
 altered and scarcely recognizable form.—And hence, too, 
 it is that the admission of foul organic matter into our streams 
 and rivers fails to render them permanently impure, or sen¬ 
 sibly injurious. This beneficent process of nature is indeed 
 gradual, and, to a certain extent, undoubtedly dependent on 
 the volume and the quality of the water into which the 
 dejecta are received. Observation, however, has satisfied 
 us that when sewerage water of ordinary strength becomes 
 intermixed in a flowing stream with ten or twelve times its 
 own volume of fresh or freshened water, it ceases to have 
 any tendency to run into putrefactive decomposition, and is 
 finally consumed by the oxygen with which one or more of 
 its elements enter into purifying combinations.” 
 
 Dr. Taylor, the eminent analytical chemist, in his exam¬ 
 ination before a committee of the House of Commons, on 
 the Metropolis Water Supply Bill, speaking of the effect of 
 water on sewerage matter states that: “ All such substances 
 are very rapidly decomposed and destroyed, the nitrogen 
 is converted into nitric acid, the sulphur is converted into 
 sulphuric acid, so that the foetid and putrid substances which 
 go into the river Thames from London, when rolled about 
 by the action of the water containing an enormous amount 
 of air, are all oxidized and destroyed; within a certain limit 
 
31 
 
 they may be found, but still after a very short period they 
 are very soon indeed destroyed.” 
 
 From these extracts it is apparent that, while sewers di¬ 
 minish the quantity of storm-water flowing along the gut¬ 
 ters, their chief use is to drain the surrounding earth, pre¬ 
 vent dampness in the adjacent buildings, and delay decom¬ 
 position by the rapid and complete removal of the refuse of 
 life in running water, beyond the point where it ceases to 
 be injurious to the health of the community. 
 
 During the year 1861, the city paid the sum of $7,500, 
 and during 1860, the sum of $9,365, for cleaning and repair¬ 
 ing a few sewers in the northern portion of the city, and for 
 damages produced by their overflow. The heavy rains during 
 the month of August, caused the loss of not less than $200, 
 000 by citizens, for which the city is not responsible. In 
 the neighborhood of Abigail and Sycamore streets, on 
 Race from Findlay to Hamilton road, on Henry from Race 
 to Dunlap, and on Green from Race to Elm, the houses 
 were flooded. In connection with the Commissioner of the 
 Eastern District I made examination of the losses sustained 
 by each individual, and the circumstances connected there¬ 
 with, of which a record was made by the clerk of the Board 
 of City Improvements. In many houses the water stood 
 four feet above the ground floor, it threw down cellar walls, 
 cracked the side walls of houses, floated off wood and furni¬ 
 ture, and did incalculable damage. 
 
 In the few localities just mentioned it is necessary by 
 reason of the improper arrangement of the surface grades to 
 construct sewers capacious enough to carry away the storm¬ 
 water as fast as it falls. Such damage might be entirely 
 obviated by constructing two main sewers of improved form 
 and proper inclination, and a few laterals to catch the water 
 
 1 
 
32 
 
 before it accumulates where no well-hole can receive it. 
 The one on Liberty from Linn to Race, of eight feet interior 
 diameter, and thence to Hamilton Road, of six feet interior 
 diameter, with a lateral to Green and Pleasant streets and 
 connection with the Hamilton Road and Henry street sew¬ 
 ers, so as to relieve that sewer which passes under the canal 
 near Procter & Gamble’s Factory. The estimated cost of 
 this sewer with its laterals, is fifty-three thousand dollars. 
 The other sewer from Woodward and Sycamore to the canal 
 at Broadway, thence through the bed of the canal to the 
 Ohio River. This sewer should have laterals on Wood¬ 
 ward and Abigail from Main to Sycamore streets, and on 
 Abigail from Pendleton to Sycamore. 
 
 The portion of the sewer from Woodward and Sycamore 
 to the canal, would entirely relieve this neighborhood of 
 overflow and should be constructed as expeditiously as 
 possible. The estimated cost of this portion with its laterals 
 is twenty-seven thousand dollars. 
 
 That portion of the canal sewer from Third to Fourth 
 streets, should be quickly built, so as to give a continuous 
 street of easy gradient for the heavy business to the depot. 
 
 The estimated cost of the sewer and waste weir from 
 Broadway to the lower side of Front street, is one hundred 
 and twenty-nine thousand dollars, if the material in the locks 
 can be used. 
 
 On the 28th of December, 1858, the Board of City Im¬ 
 provements sent to the City Council the following commu¬ 
 nication, with reference to the occupation, for sewerage 
 and street purposes, of that portion of the Miami Canal 
 from Broadway to the Ohio River. 
 
 “The Board of City improvements respectfully urge upon 
 the City Council to take immediate measures to bring 
 
33 
 
 about valuable improvements for the interest of the city, 
 in the valley of Deer Creek. 
 
 “The private sewers draining this portion of the city, are 
 in a hazardous condition, and from recent occurrences the 
 citizens are reminded that serious damage may result by 
 further falling-in of the sewer, which has proved so imper¬ 
 fect. It has now become an imperative necessity to pro¬ 
 vide a sewer through this locality. 
 
 “ It is also of the utmost importance to the general inter¬ 
 ests of the citizens, that a basis should be agreed upon for 
 the permanent improvements of the streets in the Deer 
 Creek valley. 
 
 “ That these needed improvements may be at once com¬ 
 menced, we respectfully suggest and recommend that an 
 immediate conference be had by an appropriate committee 
 of your Honorable Council, with the Board of Public Works 
 of the State of Ohio, and hereafter with the Canal Com¬ 
 mittees of the General Assembly, to ascertain if that por¬ 
 tion of the Miami Canal, within the limits of this city 
 extending from lock No.—, at intersection of Court street and 
 Broadway, to the Ohio River, now no longer profitable to 
 the State for navigation, but on the contrary a grievous ex¬ 
 pense, may not be transferred to the City of Cincinnati for 
 sewerage and street purposes.« The State retaining the 
 disposition of the hydraulic powers if so desired. 
 
 “ The city could then, by arching over the bed of the canal, 
 adapt it for a permanent and commodious sewer, capacious 
 enough to meet the demands of the heaviest rains, and to 
 conduct away the refuse from slaughter houses and manu¬ 
 factories along Deer Creek, thus ridding that part of the 
 city of the exposure of a serious nuisance. 
 
 “ The water power could be continued by means of a waste 
 
34 
 
 weir, as at present, which could aid at times, in thoroughly 
 flushing the sewer. 
 
 “ Over the arched sewer, filled up to the proper grade, a 
 wide bowldered avenue from Broadway to the river, would 
 be a valuable improvement, now much needed—a wharf 
 at its terminus would become a source of revenue to the 
 city, and of great accommodation to a heavy trade that now 
 exists and would be built up in that quarter. 
 
 “ Complaints are made of the damages to life and limb in¬ 
 cident from the succession of locks in a much traveled por¬ 
 tion of the city. The constant expenditures required by 
 the city for new bridges and repair of old ones, urge the 
 proposed disposition of the canal thus spoken of. 
 
 “ Our citizens also, are heavy tax-payers, supporting a 
 large share of the burthens of the expenditures for State 
 purposes, and they are the dissatisfied witnesses, of a con¬ 
 stant and unnecessary squandering of large sums of the 
 people’s money yearly, in keeping open a small but costly 
 portion of a canal, which so far as navigation, is a waste of 
 waters. 
 
 “ Expensive lock-walls are gradually going to decay, while 
 rotten and rickety gates have to be replaced every few years 
 at great expense and trouble. 
 
 “ This nuisance has awakened the attention of property 
 holders, and we have on file a memorial from nearly every 
 owner of real estate on either side of the canal, within the 
 bounds stated, praying that the city authorities secure said 
 portion of the Miami canal. Having satisfied ourselves 
 that the improvements named should be taken at once, we 
 respectfully recommend your Honorable Body to commit 
 this important matter into the charge of a suitable commit¬ 
 tee for consideration, and prompt action.” 
 
 During the past year alone we have expended over 
 
35 
 
 $3,000 in repairing this sewer, under Third street, and its 
 defective construction and decaying condition plainly por¬ 
 tend its early and entire disruption, and the incalculable 
 damage, which must inevitably accrue therefrom. 
 
 At the last session of the Legislature an act was passed 
 “ to provide for leasing the Public Works of the State,” but 
 section 17 provided, “ That nothing in this act shall pre¬ 
 clude the State from granting permission to the City 
 of Cincinnati, to enter upon and improve as a public high¬ 
 way, and for sewerage purposes, all or any of that part of 
 the Miami and Erie canal, which extends from the east side 
 of Broadway, in said City to the Ohio River. The State 
 hereby reserving the right to make such grant.” 
 
 I would advise that the City Council take the necessary 
 meausures to obtain from the State the cession of this por¬ 
 tion of the canal, and to construct as speedily as possible a 
 sewer, of the shape and size shown in the annexed dia¬ 
 gram. 
 
 Below Third street no waste weirs will be necessary, 
 while by judicious management the cost of those be¬ 
 tween Fifth street and Broadway will be light. Doubtless 
 the owners of property abutting on the canal would 
 willingly pay a fair proportion of the cost of the sewer, and 
 the entire cost of grading and paving the street. This im¬ 
 provement would greatly enhance the value of the circum¬ 
 jacent property, would be the basis for future improvement 
 in Deer Creek valley, would prevent the great loss from 
 overflow which annually occurs, and would be a wide, 
 straight avenue of light grades from the depots to the cen¬ 
 tral portions of the city. 
 
 In constructing our main sewers, we must throw aside 
 all built previous to the year 1857, as it would only 
 be a misapplication of funds to perfect, in detail, what 
 
36 
 
 is defective in principle, and will only serve to protract the 
 existing evil, to the exclusion of others more capable of 
 meeting the demands of the day. This is apparent to any 
 one who has examined the condition of our old sewers ; last 
 summer after the heavy rain, the old stone sewers on Syca¬ 
 more street, Hamilton Road, and Henry street were filled 
 with earth, stone, and rubbish, to within two feet of the 
 crown of the arch. The great fault with the sewers, which 
 have heretofore been built is, that during an ordinary flow, 
 the water is spread over such a broad surface that it has 
 no velocity, and consequently no power of scour, but if it 
 were concentrated in smaller size channels and kept regu¬ 
 larly in action, it would increase the depth, the velocity, 
 and the consequent power of scour. 
 
 It is easier and cheaper to remove this material from the 
 surface than from the sewer, and I would, consequently, ad¬ 
 vise that the open well-holes be changed into catch-drains 
 or syphon-traps, and that they be built much more frequently, 
 but experience has proven, 
 that if large sewers are built 
 of the form indicated by the 
 annexed diagram, and of the 
 same inclination as those to 
 which we have referred, that 
 they will clear themselves 
 without the aid of manual la¬ 
 bor or artificial flushing. I 
 have made numerous extracts to show the experience of 
 the best Engineers on this subject, and the following from 
 the “Report of the General Board of Health, on the supply 
 of water to London,’’gives the result of extended experiments. 
 
 “ In the trial works on Earl street, conducted by Mr. 
 Lovick, the most accurate gaugings were obtained of the 
 
37 
 
 flow in a sewer having fifteen feet sectional area, with a 
 flat segmental bottom three feet wide, where deposit was 
 found to accumulate at the rate of 6,000 cubic feet in 31 
 days, from 1200 houses. 
 
 “In this sewer a pipe of fifteen inches diameter laid along 
 the bottom at a somewhat less inclination than the sewer, 
 but with the same run of water, remained perfectly clear of 
 deposit. The like results were obtained at other places, 
 and it appeared that in many such situations as those where, 
 according to the views of Messrs. Walker, Cobitt, and Bru- 
 nell, cleansing by flushing or hand labor would be required, 
 such a line of pipe would keep the sewer entirely clear of 
 deposit, and so far as the sewer itself was concerned, clear 
 of smell. 
 
 “ As the power to remove matter in suspension is in pro¬ 
 portion to the volume of water, and the velocity with which 
 it moves, and as this volocity increases, with the increased 
 inclination, any interruption of the fall or decrease of in¬ 
 clination must be attended with a proportionate loss of 
 power, and this becomes progressive in sewers situated in 
 districts below high-water mark, where the outlets are 
 affected by the tides. The detritus becomes so indurated 
 as to require a very considerable force of water and even 
 manual labor aided by proper implements, to remove it, 
 so that the force of water necessary to keep such matter in 
 suspension, bears but slight proportion to the force requisite 
 for its removal when it has once became indurated. 
 
 “In the Surrey and Kent District, Mr. Grant has used 
 with success a pipe-sewer of twenty four inches diameter at 
 the outlet, to take the drainage of about twenty-three acres, 
 besides making allowance for ten acres, which may be 
 added at a future time. 
 
 “ The smoothness of the surface and the regularity of 
 
38 
 
 form of pipes decrease the friction and increase the flow. 
 Mr. Roe has found the velocity in glazed stone-ware pipes, 
 to be one-third greater than in brick drains.” 
 
 The addition of more water in a sewer exercises a far 
 greater influence on the velocity than does increasing the 
 inclination, for a circular sewer pipe full at the head will 
 discharge four times the quantity of water discharged by the 
 same sewer pipe, half full at the head, in the same time.” 
 
 The well known engineer J. Phillips, in his examination 
 before the Metropolitan Sanitary Committee, says “ I am of 
 opinion, that if constant currents of water be carried through 
 the drains and sewers, though the currents may be small, 
 yet provided they be constant and concentrated on very 
 narrow and smooth bottoms, they will keep the sewers 
 clean. When the supply is intermittent, the matter dis¬ 
 charged from the house drains meeting with no current, ac¬ 
 cumulates. Hence it is necessary to have the sewers large 
 enough for men to pass through them with tackle, shovels, 
 wheelbarrows, and pails, to remove these accumulations. 
 In order to prevent deposit in drains and sewers, there must be 
 a certain degree of velocity and force given to each current, 
 so as to produce agitation equal to, or greater than the vis 
 inertiae, or weight, mass, figure, and superfices of the sand, 
 silt, mud, and other substances, to be lifted, and kept always 
 moving or united and incorporated with the running water, 
 added to the friction of the bottom and sides of the channel. 
 The chance of any sewer keeping itself clean is dependent 
 on four things, namely, its capacity, its form, its fall and 
 the quantity and force of the water running through it. It 
 is only from observation and experience, and the applica¬ 
 tion of the rules deduced therefrom, to the proportioning, 
 the capacity, the form, and the fall, as also the quantity and 
 force of water requisite to prevent deposit, that we can hope 
 to arrive at perfection in sewerage. 
 
39 
 
 “ The fall of the sewers should be proportioned to the 
 quantity of water that is to pass through them. For, with 
 the same fall, the greater the body of water the greater will 
 be the velocity and scour; and conversly, the less the body of 
 water, the less will be the velocity and scour. Again a large 
 body of water will, with a little fall, run with the same 
 velocity, as a small quantity with a great fall. Hence the 
 recipient of many branch sewers may have less fall than 
 the branches themselves.” 
 
 “ In passing through the sewers, I have observed that 
 the currents of water running through very many of the 
 branch and collateral sewers, were mere dribbles, and that 
 from being diffused over a large flat surface, they were not 
 of sufficient strength to remove the soil. Looking at these 
 currents, and comparing them with the extraordinary sizes 
 of the sewers, I should say such currents might be passed 
 throngh pipes varying from three to nine inches in diame 
 ter. In a large number of the sewers, the currents have 
 cut narrow and deep channels 
 through the soil, and by so 
 doing, it appeared to me that 
 nature was endeavoring to cor¬ 
 rect the faults of art. I think it 
 would be desirable to take a lesson 
 from nature in this respect, and 
 form the bottoms of all the sewers, 
 which have a tendency to choke 
 up, in accordance with the an¬ 
 nexed sketch. 
 
 “ It has sometimes been the practice to cut similar chan¬ 
 nels through the soil for the drainage to run through, and 
 they have acted for a time very well—indeed, so well as to 
 
40 
 
 give me entire confidence in the working of narrow and 
 reduced sizes of sewers. I propose to bed channel tiles of 
 various diameters, along the bottoms of the sewers, and fill 
 in behind them with cement. I am satisfied that if the 
 currents could be doubled in quantity, concentrated in 
 smaller sized channels, similar in form to the above sketch, 
 and kept regularly in action, most of the sewers would 
 keep themselves clean by this means. 
 
 “ Running water is the cheapest, best, and most effectual 
 means for conveying away the filth and refuse of a town.” 
 
 “ To economize the power of water, so as to make it 
 available in sweeping the filth before it as fast as produced, 
 and in keeping the sewers thoroughly clean by the force 
 of gravitation of the water alone, and without any mechan¬ 
 ical assistance whatever, is obviously of the greatest im¬ 
 portance. It is with this view and upon this principle, all 
 sewers should be arranged.” 
 
 “ The inclinations of all rivulets, brooks, streams, and 
 rivers, gradually and proportionally diminish as they pro¬ 
 gress from their sources to their out-falls. In proportion 
 as the inclinations diminish, so does the quantity of water 
 increase. If the inclinations were the same throughout, 
 the velocity of the united streams at each confluence would 
 increase in nearly the same ratio as its quantity, or equal 
 to the sum of the previous velocities of the recipient and 
 the feeder, and thus would the velocity ultimately become 
 so very impetuous as to tear up and sweep away the mate¬ 
 rials of its bed, and cause destruction along its banks.” 
 
 H. Austin, Esq., C. E., says that u The practice of con¬ 
 structing all the sewers of sufficient size to convey away 
 the waters of the greatest known storm is most erroneous, 
 and has tended to bring about the most unscientific treat- 
 
41 
 
 ment of the subject, that of an equalized system of sewer¬ 
 age in the place of a graduated system. Nature points 
 out to us, in all directions, that it is perfectly unnecessary. 
 Every unsewered town of the kingdom is an illustration of 
 the fact that the provision of capacity of sewers, through¬ 
 out the system, sufficient for the waters of extraordinary 
 storms, is a great error. This provision should be made 
 only in the main natural valley and connecting lines, which 
 the waters immediately descend, and where the accumula¬ 
 tion calls for an ample passage. In the higher portions ot 
 the district, even in the total absence of sewers, storm 
 waters flow off. immediately and do no injury; while the 
 provision of enormous size of sewer, for an event which 
 happens only for a brief space in an interval of years, 
 renders them unfit for their daily and constant purpose.” 
 
 “When Gennete made his experiments in 1775 in Hol¬ 
 land, upon the sectional area of united currents of water, 
 he discovered, after noting the height of the water in the 
 original channel, that he could add another stream of half 
 the original quantity, and afterwards another half, without 
 increasing the height or width of the water in the smallest 
 degree. The water in the stream remained, during his 
 experiments, at the same height, but it was observed that 
 the velocities of the current were in the same proportions 
 as the additions—viz: as 1, and 2. He, however, found 
 a limit to this rule, for when he made the increase three 
 times greater than it was at the commencement, instead of 
 twice, the increase in height was one-forty-eighth part of 
 the whole height.” 
 
 From these extracts, it can be readily seen that large 
 sewers should be constructed only for main lines where the 
 
 Water accumulates—that there should be as few main sew¬ 
 ers as possible, and these so constructed as to concentrate 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 the ordinary flow. That if the flow is concentrated, the 
 velocity will be increased, and will scour the sewers with¬ 
 out the assistance of manual labor. All other sewers should 
 be tubular pipe, and if they can not receive all the storm 
 water, they will greatly diminish the amount flowing along 
 the gutters, and will prevent damage from overflow. There 
 will be an immense saving in the cost of construction, and 
 experience has shown that these pipes act more efficiently 
 than brick drains. 
 
 Rigid economy should be studied in public works. The 
 Engineer’s duty is to construct, at the lowest cost compati¬ 
 ble with stability and efficiency. There are* many degrees 
 of cost up to an extreme maximum, but there is only one 
 minimum, and knowledge, experience and care are neces¬ 
 sary to secure this. 
 
 During the past ten years, a million dollars have been 
 expended to extend the commerce and enrich the wealthy 
 of the city; now the wealthy should be taxed to preserve 
 the health of the community. “ Health is the poor man’s 
 capital—his stock in trade—his all—and as such should be 
 preserved to him.” 
 
 The object of an efficient sanitary system is to prevent 
 the noxious exhalations from putrefying animal or vegeta¬ 
 ble substances, and thus secure the purity of the atmos¬ 
 phere. The most effectual mode of doing this, as has been 
 shown, is by washing such matters into well arranged 
 sewers, by which they will be quickly borne into the river, 
 where putrefaction will be prevented by their intermixture 
 with a large quantity of fresh water. But we need not be 
 idle until our sewers are built. Much can be effected by 
 draining the stagnant pools which abound, by cleaning the 
 dirty streets and alleys, by preventing the crowding of hu¬ 
 man beings into ill-ventilated dwellings; by reverting to 
 
43 
 
 first principles, and allowing the hogs to consume the gar¬ 
 bage rather than produce a hot-bed of disease, by leaving 
 it to decompose in the very midst of the city. 
 
 About two years since, the City Council were seriously 
 exorcised about the system then used in cleaning streets, 
 and they passed an ordinance compelling the occupants of 
 houses to place their ashes and garbage in separate vessels, 
 so that, during the summer months especially, they could 
 be frequently removed. 
 
 Many persons furnished these two receptacles, but seeing 
 the contractors throw their contents into the same cart, 
 soon dispensed with one, and now the garbage and ashes 
 are dumped on lots in the very heart of the city. As this 
 garbage decays, it must produce disease, and I would ad¬ 
 vise that the contractors be required to remove it beyond 
 the corporation line, or dump it in the river by means of 
 the sullage boat. 
 
 If the ashes were not such a powerful de-odorizer, the 
 garbage would have long since emitted an intolerable 
 stench, which would have caused the abatement of this 
 nuisance, but it must be borne in mind that de-odorizers 
 are not always disinfectants. 
 
 The contractors seem to have derived all the advantages 
 from the passage of the new ordinance, as they get more 
 money for their services, expend less, and their contracts 
 endure longer. In fact, the streets can not be kept clean, 
 except by sweeping and washing. This system has been 
 satisfactorily tried in many European cities, and in Phila¬ 
 delphia. The dust can be removed in no other way, and 
 the immense quantity of dust which accumulates in the 
 streets, must greatly injure the public health. In houses 
 bordering on the streets, the furniture is often covered with 
 dust. In walking through the streets, our clothing becomes 
 
44 
 
 saturated with it, and our lungs and air tubes with a moist 
 lining, to detain the dust, are constantly pumping the same 
 atmosphere. 
 
 I think the city should erect water plugs on each square, 
 furnish the water without cost to the contractors, and require 
 them to wash clean the surface of the thoroughfares at least 
 once a week. This will wash the refuse into the sewers, 
 where they are built, and where not built it will accumulate 
 in the gutters, where it can be easily scraped into piles and 
 removed before the heat of the day. 
 
 Street washing has not the deleterious effect very prop¬ 
 erly ascribed to sprinkling the streets as fast as they be¬ 
 come dry in the sweltering summer day, and thus keeping- 
 up a constant fermentation and putrefaction, to the annoy¬ 
 ance of delicate olfactories, and the deterioration of the 
 purity of the commor air. 
 
 A section of hose attached to a water plug below Third 
 street, will force the water to the roof of the highest house, 
 and if the citizens of each square would keep hose in a 
 convenient place, it would prevent the spread of fire. 
 
 I do not wish to interfere in the business of the Water 
 Works department, but it seems to me that if these plugs 
 were made public hydrants, the community would be the 
 gainer by it. By the present arrangement, the poor, who 
 occupy miserable tenement houses, for which they pay the 
 largest per centage on the original outlay, and who most 
 need water, are deprived of it in consequence of the sordid 
 penury of landlords. 
 
 Whenever the opportunity occurred, the poor have ever 
 availed themselves of a supply of water to clean their per¬ 
 sons and their dwellings. By producing cleanliness and 
 preventing drunkenness, the city would save, in its hospital 
 and prison, what it would expend in erecting and maintain- 
 
45 
 
 ing these public hydrants. “ Physical degradation soon 
 ends in moral debasement.” 
 
 Dr. Sutherland repojts to the Board of Health of Lon¬ 
 don, that “ During the late epidemic of cholera, I had 
 several opportunities of witnessing the beneficial effects of 
 the water jet in cleansing filthy localities, and in flushing 
 sewers. 
 
 “In those narrow, filthy closes, and close localities which 
 exist more or less in all large towns, it would, in my opin¬ 
 ion, be of very little good, in a sanitary point of view, to 
 endeavor to keep them clean by sweeping. The very pro¬ 
 cess may, at times, do mischief, for at the best, it involves 
 the smearing of the surface with unwholesome and offen¬ 
 sive matters, so as to expose a larger evaporating area to 
 the atmosphere. I have often found the air of these places 
 insupportably offensive after the work of the scavenger 
 was completed. Not unfrequently, the paving is also in a 
 very defective state. It gets broken up in a variety of do¬ 
 mestic processes, so that the broken surface adds materially 
 to the local unhealthiness, by the accumulated filth which 
 it harbors. In such cases, scavengering is of no use, but it 
 is precisely in these that the surface washing is most 
 effectual. 
 
 “ It cleanses everything away and sweeps it into the 
 nearest sewer, leaving the pavement as clean as it would 
 have been after a thunder shower. I have advised the use 
 of the water jet in all cases where the supply would admit 
 of its application, and where the defective cleansing 
 required to be immediately and efficiently remedied; and 
 the sanitary results have been marked in some cases, while 
 in others, there can be no doubt that it diminishes the local¬ 
 izing influences which tended to develop the disease. 
 
 “ The result obtained during the cholera, in my own 
 
46 
 
 mind, is that no town water supply is worthy of the name, 
 in which an ample allowance is not made for this, as well 
 as for the other sanitary purposes, in addition to a very 
 liberal quantity for purely domestic purposes.” 
 
 The trial of a jet d’eau, with a hose affixed to the water 
 mains, was recommended the Metropolitan Commissioners 
 of Sewers, and a number of careful trials were made by 
 Mr. Lovick, who conducted these experiments with such 
 jets as could be obtained from the water company’s mains 
 in legible places; but the pressure was low and insuffi¬ 
 cient; nevertheless, it appeared that, taking the extra quan¬ 
 tity of water required at the expense of pumping, the 
 paved surface might be washed clean at one-half the price 
 for the scavenger’s manual labor in sweeping. 
 
 The effect of this mode of cleansing in close courts and 
 streets, was found to be peculiarly grateful in hot weather. 
 The water was first thrown up and diffused in a thin sheet; 
 it was then applied rapidly to cleansing the surface, and 
 the side-walls as well as the pavements. Mr. Lovick states 
 that the immediate effect of the operation w r as to lower the 
 temperature, and to produce a sense of freshness similar 
 to that experienced after a heavy thunder shower in hot 
 weather. 
 
 The importance of water as an agent in the improve¬ 
 ment and preservation of health being in proportion to the 
 unhealthiness or depressed condition of districts, its appli¬ 
 cation to close courts and densely populated localities, in 
 which a low sanitary condition must obtain, is of primary 
 importance. 
 
 The property of water as an absorbent, was rendered 
 strikingly apparent, in the immediate and marked effects of 
 its application, a purity and freshness remarkably con¬ 
 trasted to the former close and foul condition prevailing 
 throughout.” 
 
47 
 
 After a careful examination of the numerous opinions, 
 which have been published, on the subject of sewerage, in 
 controversy or in the investigations of the various commis¬ 
 sioners, I find— 
 
 That in European cities sewers are chiefly used to quickly 
 convey the excrement and garbage beyond the urban pre¬ 
 cincts, and to diminish the quantity of the storm-water 
 flowing down the gutters, and thereby prevent damage and 
 inconvenience. 
 
 That solidity of execution, economy of expenditures, 
 sufficient capacity, and efficiency in cleaning itself by rea¬ 
 son of the inclination and the form, are the essential requi¬ 
 sites of a sewer. 
 
 That there should be as few main sewers as possible,' so 
 as to concentrate the ordinary flow, and increase the 
 power of scour, but that the arrangement of the surface 
 grades, the inefficient sewers now in use, the preservation 
 of the public health, and the prevention of heavy damages, 
 which annually accrue, demand the immediate construction 
 of the Liberty street and Deer Creek sewers. 
 
 That the sewer in Wood street should be lowered from 
 the canal to Fifth street, and extended up Baymiller to 
 Seventh street, thus serving as the main sewer for that por¬ 
 tion of the city between Smith and Baymiller streets, and 
 from the canal to Seventh street. 
 
 That for all other sewers than large mains, tubular pipes 
 are more efficient than brick drains, by reason of their 
 regular form, their smoothness, which decreases friction, 
 and their impermeability to the soakage of sewerage mat¬ 
 ter into the surrounding earth. 
 
 That when sewers are constructed, the streets can be 
 more effectually and more cheaply cleaned. 
 
 That in consequence of the disasters and pecuniary 
 
losses, during the past year, the owners of property are un¬ 
 able to pay for the construction of sewers by special assess¬ 
 ment, and that the City Council should obtain from the 
 Legislature the authority to borrow $150,000, to be expend¬ 
 ed in constructing the two main sewers on Liberty street 
 
 and in Deer Creek valley, reserving the right to levy the 
 legal assessment at some future period, when they who have 
 sown the seed of discord, have reaped the harvest of de¬ 
 struction, and we have repelled the threatened danger of 
 dissolution—when the instruments of war are converted 
 into the implements of peace, and the rude sounds of strife 
 are succeeded by the peaceful hum of a busy population. 
 
 Our genial climate, prolific soil, dauntless energy, frugal . 
 economy and dextrous handicraft, will soon restore us to our 
 flourishing condition previous to the commencement of 
 this injurious war. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 Thos. J. Peter, C. C. E.