USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I > Part 17
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6 For detailed account of this sewer, see address by Walter C. Parmley, "Association of Engineering Societies," Vol. 33, No. 5.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
GARBAGE DISPOSAL.
When Cleveland was a village, the refuse and garbage not consumed by chickens and pigs, was burned on the ash heap or thrown on the common dumps in Kingsbury run, Walworth run, and the river valley. It took the town a long time to get rid of this habit.
The earliest attempts at municipal cleaning were made by private parties at their own initiative. The city interfered only when the debris which accumu- lated became offensive.
Measured by present standards of sanitation, our city was not able to boast of cleanliness in its earliest years, although travelers always spoke of it as a most beautiful town. The smoke and grime of the modern factory were absent, as was the filth incident to crowded slums and ghettos, but garbage disposal and street cleaning were unknown.
In 1861, the health officer complained that he had great trouble with refuse thrown into the streets, and recommended that scavengers be employed by the city, or that the work of collection be let by contract.
It appears that the householders in certain sections of the city, did not take kindly to sewer accommodations. In 1864, the health officer asked that the city council compel all landlords to make sewer connections, because the waste water thrown into the yards made "mud holes" and contaminated the community .* It was several years before the council took action.
It was customary to place swill in pails or barrels, in the alleys at the rear of the houses. The swill was collected and wheeled away in carts or wagons. The collection was not regular, and often the barrels and pails were tipped over before they could be emptied. In 1867, Dr. John Dickinson the health officer, complained of these conditions and asked for an ordinance regulating the removal of swill. This was done, but the following year the health officer reported that "swill contractors are not removing swill regularly," and in 1869, that "the yards and some of the alleys are in a filthy condition this spring, caused by the accumulation of swill," and he earnestly urged the city to take some action for the ' removing of garbage. But the city council refused to pass "an ordi- nance asking for bids for removal of offal." In 1870 the same health officer reports : "Now that hogs are allowed, under the ordinance, to be kept in the city, those parties gathering swill from houses with hand carts, wheelbarrows and wagons, should be forced to keep said carts covered, and not to be wheeling along the streets after 10:00 a. m."
In 1871, the city undertook to do some of the removing, for an item in the budget records "removing swill, six hundred and sixty-two dollars and thirty cents." The experiment was not very successful. In 1878 a new plan was devised. The city secured a plot of ground in the valley, at the intersection of West River and the Old River streets. Here any one who wished could deposit garbage in a shed built for that purpose. Once every day the contractor removed the garbage and disinfected the shed. This was especially provided for grocery stores, hotels and other large producers of garbage. The householder was not relieved and the health officer recommended that each housewife burn as much
See Report, 1864.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
garbage as possible.7 The shed in the flats made work in that vicinity irksome in hot weather, and the plan obviously could not last, so the city council author- ized the removal of swill and garbage by contract by the year. This like- wise did not prove satisfactory, because the contractors were inclined to shirk. In 1884, at the instance of the board of health, bids were asked for the removal of garbage per cubic yard. In 1895, the conditions had become intolerable. The health department wrote in its annual report, "Our city produces between sev- enty-five and one hundred and twenty-five tons of garbage daily, which is thrown around on the various dumps of our city, and a small portion is placed in a scow and hauled out into the lake, for a distance of about ten miles, to be dumped."8
In 1895, the commission on public improvements, appointed by Mayor McKisson, reported in favor of a one hundred and fifty thousand dollar bond issue for a garbage disposal plant. This commission was composed of J. G. W. Cowles, Samuel Mather, Dr. W. H. Humiston, Kaufman Hays, Henry W. S. Ward, and H. M. Case. In 1896, the legislature authorized the city to erect and operate a garbage reduction plant, and to borrow one hundred thousand dollars with which to build it. Accordingly, in 1897, a contract was let to the Buckeye Refuse Reduction Company for a garbage disposal plant, which was ultimately to revert to the city. Early in 1898 the contract was sublet to the Newburg Reduction Company, which owned at that time a reducing plant for treating dead animals. The contract ran for five years from the date the plant began its oper- ations, which was August 2, 1898. The contract price was sixty-nine thousand, four hundred dollars per year, regardless of quantity, including collection and disposal. There was much complaint at first that garbage was not collected regularly. In 1900 the works were remodeled after the Chamberlain process, their capacity made one hundred tons per day. On January 1, 1905, the city purchased the plant and greatly increased its capacity. The city now removes the garbage from the yards in metal cans, collected by steel wagons. The garbage is hauled to a siding on Canal street and shipped to the works at Willow Station, * nineteen miles away. The wagon bodies are lifted from the wheels and shipped as collected. At the plant the garbage is sorted, and rendered. The plant has been run at a profit to the city. In 1905 the net profit was five thousand, six hundred and eighty-five dollars ; and in 1906, twenty-five thousand, eight hundred and three dollars. Thus Cleveland is in the "unique position of being the first and only city in the United States, and probably in the world, to own and operate a garbage and reduction plant."9
SMOKE INSPECTION.
Only after the factory period was well started, was our city covered with the soft coal soot and smoke that has blackened its buildings and hovers over it like a
7 See Report Health Officer, 1878.
* Report, 1895.
9 "Engineering News," May 2, 1907.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
cloud. In 1883, the legislature passed a law giving the city power "To regulate and compel the consumption of smoke emitted by the burning of coal."* John Vandevelde was appointed smoke inspector. His powers were limited and he met with much opposition in his efforts to lessen the smoke nuisance. The first year he made one thousand, one hundred and sixty-three official visits, sent out five hundred and thirty-five notices, brought ten cases into courts, and was instrumental in having one hundred and forty furnaces changed. He also interested the large refineries of the Standard Oil Company, and the railroads in experimenting for proper stoking of coal. The inspector acted only on complaints made to him and sent notices to offenders to abate the nuisance complained of, giving usually thirty days for betterment. Very little practical work seems to have been accomplished, for in 1900 the Chamber of Commerce took up the question with much vigor, had a new and more effective law passed, and the mayor appointed Professor Charles A. Benjamin, of Case School of Applied Science, as inspector. He was given three assistants and a clerk. The policy adopted was to educate the factory owners and the engineers to the use of better coal and smoke consuming devices. Considerable progress has been made. The introduction of natural gas slightly mitigated the nuisance.
BOARD OF HEALTH.
The first board of health of Cleveland was appointed by the village trustees in 1832, when the cholera was threatening the town. The record of the trustees reads, "At a meeting of the board of trustees of the village of Cleveland, on the 24th of June, 1832, present J. W. Allen, D. Long, P. May and S. Pease, con- veried for the appointment of a board of health, in pursuance of a resolution of a meeting of the citizens of the village on the 23rd instant, the following gen- tlemen were appointed: Dr. Cowles, Dr. Mills, Dr. St. John, S. Belden, Charles Denison." Later, Dr. J. S. Weldon and Daniel Worley were added to the board.
In 1849, when the cholera scourge visited Cleveland for the second time, A. Seymour, Wm. Case and John Gill constituted the board of health, and pro- vided a temporary hospital on the upper floor of the Center block on the flats. The rooms were whitewashed and physicians were in constant attendance. The board reported daily to the community. They were instrumental in the passage of an ordinance for the council prohibiting the sale of vegetables and fruits on the streets, especially "among our foreign population."10
In 1850, the city council was authorized to establish a board of health with power to abate nuisances and "take such prompt and efficacious measures as in their opinion may be necessary" in case of infectious disease.11 The size of the board was left to the option of the council.12
The general revision of the municipal laws of the state, in 1878, provided that the board of health consist of the mayor and six members appointed by the
* O. L., February 13, 1883.
10 See "Herald," Vol. 32, p. 34.
11 Ohio Laws, March 7, 1850.
12 In 1858, Dr. Gustave Webber was appointed city physician and F. W. Marseilles, health officer. The new law under which they received their appointment, empowered them to abate nuisances, gave them charge of the pest house and general supervisory powers over sanitary matters.
.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
council. They were to serve three years without pay. and appointed a health officer. In 1882, the health officer appointed a district physician in each ward.
April 30, 1886, the legislature authorized the board to appoint sanitary police- men, one for every fifteen thousand inhabitants. When the federal plan was adopted, in 1891, all these officers were appointed by the mayor and later by the mayor and council. During the fluctuations of the appointing power, the author- ity of the board has been gradually increased, until its arbitrary power is very great.
In 1893, an important revision of the sanitary laws 13 increased its power to abate nuisances, amplified its powers of inspection, extending it to dairies, slaughter houses, meat shops, food stuffs, food and water supply for animals, and included a quarterly inspection of the sanitary condition of schoolhouses. The board's power of quarantine was made absolute and its regulations intended for the general public were given the same force as city ordinances. The board was given control of all registrations of births, deaths and marriages, the granting of burial permits, and later, in 1896, the board was given the power to appoint a board of examiners to examine plumbers, and with the sanction of the city council, to appoint an inspector of plumbing.14
A substantial increase was made in the number of district physicians, in 1905, and there are now a number in each ward, and there are thirty-three sanitary policemen.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE WATER SUPPLY.
With an inexhaustible lake, multitudes of springs and a gravel subsoil for good wells, our city has never had a water famine, although, in spite of these natural favors, there have been two periods where man's short-sighted economy. interfered with nature, and the water from the lake was polluted by the refuse from the city.
The village was supplied with water from springs and wells. There was a fine spring on the hillside near Superior lane, where Lorenzo Carter first built his cabin in 1797, and another near the foot of Maiden lane, where Bryant's distillery was built a few years later. It was easy to dig wells through the sandy loam into the gravel, and the town folks had no trouble in finding an abundance of water. A town pump was put up on the corner of Superior and Water streets and one on the Square, and deep cisterns were placed at numerous intervals for storing water to put out fires. A favorite drinking well was the spring near the barn of the Cleveland House, on the northwest corner of the Square. On the corner of Prospect street and Ontario, was a pump and a drinking tank or reservoir for horses. "On the south side of Superior street nearly opposite the City Hall, I should think, there was a spring of soft water, and near it a shelter was built of
13 90 Ohio Laws, p. 87.
14 92 Ohio Laws, p. 342.
Mrainerd Cley
From an old cut THE FIRST FOUNTAIN ON THE SQUARE, 1856, LOOKING WEST ON SUPERIOR STREET
TIGBITTS CLEV
RESERVOIR OF THE CLEVELAND WATER WORKS, CORNER OF KENTUCKY AND FRANKLIN STREETS.
From an old cut
The Kentucky Street Reservoir in 1856. when first used
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
boughs of trees in summer, and here many of the women used to congregate for washing, hanging their clothes on the surrounding bushes. The wells, what few there were, contained only hard water. The only water carrier for a long time was Benhu Johnson, who, with his sister, a Mrs. White, lived on Euclid street, about where the Vienna Coffee House is now. [1880.] Benhu, with his wooden leg, little wagon and old horse, was in great demand on Mondays, when he drew two barrels of water at a time, covered with blankets, up the long steep hill from the river, now known as Vineyard street, to parties requiring the element. In fancy I see him now, with his unpainted vehicle, old white horse, himself stumping along, keeping time to the tune of 'Roving Sailor,' which he was fond of singing, occa- sionally starting 'Old Whity' with a kick from the always ready leg, especially if he had been imbibing freely."1
In 1849, M. H. Fox and Brothers offered to carry water from the spring on the hillside, near the foot of Huron street, to the square, through a one-half inch pipe. They would thus supply fifty barrels a day, and provide for a fountain of three jets, for the small sum of one hundred and sixty-five dollars the year. "The jets would be small and throw a stream twelve to fifteen feet, but they would be ornamented. * * The jets would diffuse a cooling spray, and fill a big tub with water, for the consolation of thirsty horses." 2 The city spurned these jets, but later a drinking trough was placed on the Square for horses.
On January 25, 1833, the legislature granted to Philo Scoville and others, a charter as "The Cleveland Water Company," organized for "the purpose of supplying the village of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga, within the present corporate limits thereof, with good and wholesome water." The authorized capital stock was twenty-five thousand dollars. The project lay dormant until 1850, when an extension of the charter rights was secured from the legislature, and a little stock was sold. But nothing more came of the scheme, for about this time the growing city was impelled both by sanitary reasons and for the protec- tion against fire, to do something.
Public meetings were held to urge the city to action. There was considerable doubt whether the city or private parties should build the water works. In 1850, George A. Benedict and others petitioned the city council, urging upon them the employment of a hydraulic engineer for studying the various water sources and the cost of a city water works. In January, 1851, the council passed a resolution, introduced by William Bingham, appointing the mayor and three others he should name as a committee to report to the council on the question of a munici- pal water supply, and empowering them to employ an engineer. The mayor. William Case, appointed as his associates, William J. Warner, Dr. J. P. Kirtland and Colonel Charles Whittlesey. An abler committee could not have been named. After nearly two years of painstaking work, this committee, on Octo- ber 29, 1852, made a report to the council. 'A's to the sources of supply, the committee investigated Shaker run, Mill creek, Tinker's creek and Chagrin river. They believed any one of these various streams might be adequate, but concluded that "Lake Erie is the only source to which we can resort for an
1 Mrs. George B. Merwin, "Annals Early Settlers Association," No. I, p. 72.
2 "Herald," Vol. 32, No. 27.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
unfailing supply of pure, soft water." * As to control, they agreed that "All experi- ence shows that such undertakings can be carried on more economically by in- dividuals or companies than by municipal corporations, and also better managed after construction," but that private construction would be impractical in Cleve- land, because not enough capital was at hand. "One thing is clear to us," they said, "the city should by no means allow the power to pass from them of keeping the control, or assuming it at such times as they might think proper, upon certain stipu- lated terms." In the light of present day discussion of municipal ownership, these words are of interest. As to methods, they recommended pumping the water from the lake with "powerful engines, to afford a supply of three million gallons by day- light," an amount ample for seventy-five thousand people ; that the water should be stored in a reservoir at least a hundred and fifty feet above the lake and thence dis- tributed over the city. As to the location, they recommended that the intake should be "at least as far as one mile east from the foot of Water street, and to extend the suction pipe some one thousand, five hundred feet into the lake to avoid the impurities of the shore." As to the cost, the committee estimated that the two Cornish engines, the aqueduct, reservoir, distributing pipes, real estate and labor would cost three hundred and fifty-three thousand, three hundred and thirty-five dollars and ninety-five cents. Finally, the committee urged the immediate em- ployment of a competent hydraulic engineer, and said "Mr. Scowden, of the Cin- cinnati water works, to whom we have alluded, is a gentlemen whose science and experience entitle him to great confidence in the planning and execution of such works, and we feel no hesitancy in suggesting his name to the council."
Accompanying this report was an analysis of water in the vicinity of Cleve- land, made for the committee by Professor W. W. Mather, of Columbus. Some of its items are highly interesting. From a well "about fifty yards west of the theatre, between Superior and Center streets, from the oldest part of the city. * * The water is used for many purposes, but is not much used for drink. Its taste is unpleasant, and color yellowish. The water is bad and contains much organic matter." Water from a well on Professor Cassel's place, "on the ridge on Euclid street, two miles from the city," was found "colorless, and very pure and soft." "Water from the Cuyahoga river, taken at a time of low water, in August, at a depth of ten feet, at the railroad bridge, so as to avoid the impuri- ties of the surface and the slime of the bottom," was found "clear and soft and almost limpid, and by standing some days, became entirely limpid with a scarcely perceptible, light, flocculent sediment." Water taken from the lake one half mile from shore, and one mile east of the lighthouse, was entirely "limpid, cool and pleasant to the taste," even though taken "in a calm sultry evening in August." And water from the spring at Jones' livery stable, northwest corner of the Square, "was hard, and not pleasant to the taste, though much used." Many other places were tested, but the water from the lake was recommended.
The report of this first committee was accepted by the council, and referred to a special committee, instructed to engage competent engineers, "to examine the report, make the necessary survey and draw plans for the work, to be submitted to the council at an early date."
* See Committee's Report.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
Theodore R. Scowden was appointed engineer, and on February 28, 1853, he made a report approving in general, the findings of the committee, and estimating the cost at three hundred and eighty thousand, seven hundred and sixty-six dollars and fifty-five cents. The following June, he reported further the details of three plans, to the first board of trustees of the water works, who had been elected the preceding April.3 This board consisted of H. B. Payne, B. L. Spang- ler, and Richard Hilliard, and upon them devolved the duty of building our first municipal water works. The first plan contemplated a reservoir of one million gallons capacity, at the corner of Sterling avenue and Euclid street, and a pump- ing station at the foot of Sterling avenue, at an estimated cost of four hundred and thirty-one thousand, three hundred and thirty-five dollars and sixty cents. The second plan included either the building of an embankment reservoir, with five million gallons capacity at Sterling avenue and St. Clair street, costing fivc hundred and forty-four thousand, eight hundred and seven dollars and four cents, or with the reservoir at Superior street and Sterling avenue, costing six hundred and seventy thousand, four hundred and nineteen dollars and eighty- four cents. And the third plan, which was the one adopted, placed the entire works on the west side of the river, a five million gallon reservior on Kentucky and Prospect streets, and an engine house at the foot of Kentucky street, at an estimated cost of four hundred and thirty-six thousand, six hundred and ninety- eight dollars and forty cents.
The electors had, April, 1853, voted on a bond issue, with the following results
For
Against
First ward.
365
55
Second ward.
285
218
Third ward.
. 423
61
Fourth ward.
157
265
Total
1,230
599
On August 10, 1854, work on the engine house was begun, and September Ist, work on the reservoir. The contractors were to furnish all materials for the reservoir "within one mile of the reservoir." Water was let into the mains on September 19, 1856. The bond issues totaled five hundred thousand dollars, but the premiums raised the available amount to five hundred and twenty-three thou- sand and thirty-eight dollars and sixty-three cents; the total cost was, five hun- dred and twenty-six thousand, seven hundred and twelve dollars and ninety-nine cents. The works were formally opened on September 24, 1856, while the state fair was being held here. It was the occasion of a great jollification, the entire city joining with its thirty thousand visitors, to celebrate the opening, with bands of music, parades and illuminations.
At the intersection of Superior street and Ontario street, in the center of the square, "A capacious fountain of chaste and beautiful design was erected, from which was thrown a jet of pure crystal water, high in the air, which, as the center of greatest attraction, gratified thousands of spectators."4
8 By Act of Legislature, March 11, 1853.
‘ Engineer's Report, 1856.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
The water from our first water works was taken from the lake, "three hun- dred feet west from the old river bed, by laying an inlet pipe, made of boiler plate three-eighths of an inch thick, fifty inches in diameter, and three hundred feet long, extending from the shore to the source of supply, at twelve feet depth of water. The inlet pipe terminates in the lake at a circular tower, constructed of piles driven down as deep as they can be forced into the bottom of the lake, forming two consecutive rows of piles, two abreast, leaving an eight foot space, between the outer and inner rows, which space is filled with broken stones to the top of the piles. The piles are then capped with strong timber plates, securely bolted together and then fastened with iron to the piles.
"The outside diameter of the tower is thirty-four feet, the inside diameter is eight feet, forming a strong protection around an iron well chamber, which is eight feet in diameter and fifteen feet deep which is riveted to the end of the inlet pipe. An iron grating fixed in a frame, which slides in a groove, to be removed and cleaned at will, is attached to the well chamber, and forms the strainer, placed four feet below the surface of the lake. The water passes into the well chamber, and out at the inlet pipe."5
An oval brick aqueduct, four feet by five feet, three thousand feet long, con- nected the inlet pipe at the shore with the pump well; thence the water was forced to a stand pipe made of boiler plate, four feet in diameter at the bottom, and three feet at the top, one hundred and forty-eight feet high. A brick tower encased the stand pipe. At the top of the tower was a "look out" reached by spiral stairs, from which visitors could get a fine view of the lake and city.
The reservoir on Kentucky street embraced six and fifteen one-hundredths acres on a natural ridge thirty feet high. It was made of earth, lined with a layer of clay two feet thick and paved with brick; the outer slope was turfed with sod, and the summit was encircled by a walk. A white picket fence enclosed the terrace. This was a favored place. From the summit there was a "fine pano- ramic view of the city and the village of Newburg, six miles away."6
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