USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, Ohio, from the founding of Franklinton in 1797, through the World War period to the year 1920 > Part 21
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Chief Heinmiller was succeeded by Charles G. Lauer. under whose administration,
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begun in a wrangle, the department grew and served acceptably for years until a department without Lauer seemed almost an impossibility. At his death, Chief Lauer was succeeded by Jenkins Daniels, who is serving with the fidelity of an old fireman. The per- sonnel of the fire fighting force now runs to nearly 300 men. There are seventeen engine houses and most of the apparatus has been motorized so that a run can be made at 50 miles an hour. Besides fighting fire, the department does much by inspection to prevent fire. A reeent report showed the annual expenses to be $335,711.09.
Sewers and Sewage Disposal.
Prior to 1849 there was nothing but surface drainage in Columbus. In that year the State and city jointly construeted a brick sewer in Broad street from the old Asylum for the Insane at Broad and Lexington to the Scioto river. In 1852 Spring street was sewered from Third to Front, and in the following year there was considerable demand for sewers, chiefly to drain the stagnant pools in what is now the east-central part of the city. In 1854, 12,500 feet of underground sewer was in operation. Peters' Run sewer was begun in 1867 and was originally intended to furnish drainage for the greater part of the city through its connection with the lateral sewers. According to the eity engineer's report in 1872 there were main sewers in Fourth street, South Public lane (Livingston), Centre alley, Oak street, Cherry alley, Broad street, Mound street and West street, which had cost $101,617. Peters' Run sewer was connected with the Fourth street and Oak street sewers and conducted the sewage to an intereepting lateral in Front street which, it was planned, should disgorge into the Scioto below the city. But legal difficulties compelled the emptying of the lateral into Peters' Run, thus creating a nuisance in the southern part of the city. At the same time the discharge of other sewers into the river above the dam made a cesspool of the stream. Int 1873-74, the Peters' Run sewer was carried across the canal to the river by a conduit-a proceeding which did not correct, but simply changed the location of the nuisance.
Up to this time there had been no systematic construction of sewers. A sewer was put in where it seemed to be needed to carry sewage to the river, that being the ultimate place for the deposit of all the filth of the city. There was much sickness which was attri- buted to defective sewerage and the unsanitary practice of pouring all the foulness into a stream which, because it was dammed for canal purposes, was no longer a stream. The north-east trunk sewer was projected in 1879, and the Franklin Park sewer followed, both emptying into Alum creek, the idea being to divide the nuisance by using two streams in- stead of one. The Southeast and Northwest trunk sewers were built, with discharge into the Scioto, and the streams became more polluted as the city grew. The General Assembly was asked in 1885 to permit the use of the abandoned canal as a trunk sewer, but refused; the canal, it felt, might sometime be needed. As it also refused to allow the destruction of the dam, through which the water was pouring, at times leaving the polluted bed of the river almost dry, a new dam was constructed in the thought that it would maintain the water at a sufficient stage to cover the mouths of the sewers. That proved no relief and the dam was finally blown up.
In 1887, under the incentive of the Citizens' Sanitary Association, the Council passed a resolution authorizing the city engineer to seeure the services of a sanitary engineering expert to devise a complete system of sewerage. An intercepting sewer on the east side of the river connecting with all the sewers leading to the river and carrying the sewage to a point below the city was proposed. On March 23, 1888, the General Assembly authorized the issue of $500,000 bonds by the city to build that sewer, and one January 21, 1889, the contract was awarded to L. C. Newsom at his bid, $460,838.61.
Until 1897, the sewers on the West Side had been constructed without system and with the same general idea of emptying everything into the river. In that year a system of separate storm and sanitary sewers was devised, all being later extended to the main sewage pumping station, where its sewage unites with the sewage from other parts of the city.
With the completion in 1892, of the East Side intercepting sewer, the dry flow from the numerous main sewers until then outletting along the east banks of the Olentangy and Scioto rivers and draining the greater part of the city, was diverted to a single outfall into the Scioto at a point two and a half miles south of the State House. The nuisance arising from a foul stream in the heart of the city was thereby abated; but the condition of the river
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itself was not bettered, and the situation, with the rapid growth of the population, soon became again acute, and a permanent solution of the problem became imperative.
Preliminary steps toward the construction of a sewage disposal system were taken in the investigation of local conditions by Engineers Alvord and Griggs in 1898 and by Engineers Griggs and Hering in 1901. In 1904-05 an experimental purification plant was operated under direction of Rudolph Hering and George W. Fuller, consulting engineers, the results there obtained determining the process to be adopted for the sewage disposal system. Construction was immediately begun with John H. Gregory as engineer in charge, and in November, 1908, the improved sewage works were completed and put into regular service. A single purification plant to which sewage from all parts of the city is conducted for treatment was provided. An East Side sewage pumping station at Main street and Alum creek was provided to lift the dry flow sewage from the Alum creek district over the ridge into the East Side intercepting sewer district. The intercepting sewer was extended across the Scioto, and the West Side sanitary and storm sewer systems were extended to the same point, whence the combined sewage of the city was relayed by the main sewage pumping station to the purification works below the city. The work required two and a half miles of levee construction and the building of two miles of railroad track and a railroad bridge across the Scioto, the purchase of 358 acres of land at a cost of $78,980, and a total ontlay of $1,351,020.
The East Side intercepting sewer has its origin north of Dodridge street near the Olentangy river; it roughly follows the Olentangy to its mouth and then the Scioto to a point 3,000 feet south of Green Lawn avenue, where it crosses under the river and dis- charges into the suction wells of the main sewage pumping station. The treatment of sewage consists of sedimentation and clarification in large open concrete tanks, aeration and oxidation in sprinkling filters and final sedimentation and clarification in open shallow concrete basins, preceding the discharge of the treated liquor into the river.
CHAPTER XVI. PUBLIC UTILITIES. II.
Artificial Gas for Illumination-Advent of Electricity- Private Companies-Municipal Plant -Columbus the "Arch City"-Cluster Street Lamps-Natural Gas for Heat and Light -The Levces-Grade Crossing Elimination-Public Parks-Telephones-Cemeteries -Garbage and Refuse Disposal-The Markets-Street Cleaning-Levees.
The use of artificial gas for illumination indoors and on the streets began to be talked about as early as 1844. Prior to that, illumination had been by candles and sperm oil lamps, and there was no real escape from that primitive method until 1850. In that year, Lockwood & Co., operating under a charter that had been granted to the Columbus Gas and Coke Co., and under an ordinance granting the exclusive use of the streets for 16 years, erected buildings on West Long street and began the laying of pipe. On November 16, 1850, Council decided to light High street, the market house and engine houses with gas. Gas was turned into the pipes December 7, 1850, and a number of private consumers began using it. On the 12th Council invited proposals for furnishing 31 street lamps and posts, it having been provided in the original ordinance that the company should furnish the gas at not to exceed $20 per lamp per year. In 1854, the city had 114 lamps in use on the streets. Private consumers paid at the rate of $3 a thousand feet. About seven miles of pipe had then been laid in the streets, and 9,500,000 eubie feet of gas had been produced and consumed in a year. In May, 1878, the price of gas was reduced to $2 per 1000 cubic feet and in 1883 to $1.25 and 1892 to $1.
Electricity had come into the field as a competitor, and gas as an illuminant was out of favor. In March, 1881, a company was incorporated to introduce the Brush system of electric lighting in Columbus. June 20 following, the Council authorized an experimental contraet with the company, but it was never earried into effect. On February 9, 1882, the Edison system of electric lighting was demonstrated in the office of the Ohio State Journal, and on May 14, 1887, the Columbus Electrie Light Co. was incorporated by Will C. Turner, W. D. Brickell, C. H. Lindenberg, J. W. Collins, W. S. Ide and Luke G. Byrne. The com- pany organized by electing Mr. Lindenberg president, J. F. Martin vice president, Will C. Turner secretary and E. Kiesewetter treasurer. The company erected a plant at Third and Gay streets in 1887-88 and began furnishing power and incandescent lighting, an ordi- nance having granted the privilege of laying pipes, mains, conductors, etc., for the transmis- sion of current.
On February 18, 1884, the Columbus Electric Light and Power Co., incorporated in 1883 with a plant at the west end of the Broad street bridge, was authorized by Council to erect and maintain its poles and wires in the streets and alleys. Wm. Monypeny was presi- dent, A. D. Rodgers vice president and J. G. MeGuier secretary and manager. The city entered into a five-year contract with this company to light the streets and 800 lamps were put up, the charge being $75 a lamp per year. It also sold light and power for commercial use.
Both of these properties were subsequently hought by Emerson McMillin and W. D. Brickell who, in turn, sold them to the present Columbus Railway, Light and Power Co., which owns and operates the street cars and sells current to private consumers for light and heat.
The street lighting problem became acute in 1896, and there was talk of a municipal electric lighting plant. Besides the opposition of the existing private companies, there was official and general reluctance to enter on the project. Mayor Cotton H. Allen, in a com- munication to Council, opposed it, but there was sufficient public opinion favorable to it to induce Council to appropriate $68,000 to install an experimental plant in the West Side water works pumping station. Mayor Samuel L. Black in his message to Council in 1897, announced that the plant should be in operation in 90 days, Provision was first made for 500 arc lights and the streets in the northeastern part of the eity were first supplied, the other streets being lighted on contract with the Columbus Electric Light and Power Co.
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Council made no appropriation for operating the plant in 1900, and Director of Publie Im- provements Linus B. Kauffman closed the plant in July, reporting that the cost of operating for the first half of the year had been $11,016.39, or at the rate of $68.38 per lamp per annum, not counting deterioration.
On April 30, 1901, Council passed an ordinance authorizing the establishment of an electric light plant for the city. The ordinance recited that in 1896, the people had voted a bond issue of $300,000 for electric light works and that of that amount $68,000 had been spent in the experimental plant, and directed the director of public improvements to provide the plant, buying ground if necessary, using the machinery already bought and supplement- ing it as needed. Another issue of $110,000 bonds was authorized. In October, 1901, opera- tion of the light plant was resumed, and it was officially reported that the cost per lamp per annum had been reduced to $46. The first superintendent of the plant was L. B. Lyman; then John Morris and after him Perry Okey. There were other appropriations up to the $300,000 anthorized issue of bonds, and the complete plant, with William Willcox as superintendent, was put in operation in December, 1903. Street lamps to the number of 1,600 had then been installed. Wm. Reid succeeded Willcox in 1905 and was himself succeeded by Herman Gamper in 1908. Mr. Gamper instituted many economies and in 1910 was operat-
Municipal Light Plant.
ing 2,600 street are lamps at an annual average cost of $42.17. Called to a better paying position, he was succeeded by H. E. Eichhorn. In May, 1912, the people voted the issue of $265,000 bonds for the extension of the plant, but it was not till February, 1916, that it resolved upon the extension. Then it re-employed Mr. Gamper as expert engineer, ap- proved the plans he prepared and appropriated the money. In November, it fixed the rate for residence and commercial lighting at six cents per k. w. h., with discounts for large use, and four cents per k. w. h., with graduated lower rates for large consumption.
A recent report shows: Bonded indebtedness, $894,500; value of plant and equipment, $590,057.61; operating revenues, $186,999.49; operating expenses, $141,171.97; total genera- tion, 9,710,000 k. w. h .; commercial sales, 3,077,039 k. w. h.
For several years Columbus was to some extent known as the "Arch City" because of the lighting of High street and some other streets by a system of arches, cach with a number of small lamps, extending over the street. The arches were first used with gas in 1888 as a part of the street decoration on the occasion of the Ohio Centennial and Grand Army Encamp- ment. They were then turned over to the city, equipped with electric lamps and maintained partly at the expense of the merchants. In 1914 they were superseded on High street and other streets by posts, each with a cluster of five lamps.
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Natural Gas.
The discovery of natural gas in promising quantity in the vicinity of Columbus- Fairfield and Licking counties-led to the organization in January, 1886, of the Columbus Natural Gas Co., to which a franchise was voted by the Council, April 11, 1887. This was followed, December 17, 1888, by an ordinanee fixing a schedule of priees for 10 years. Meanwhile the Columbus Natural Gas Co. had been prospecting and had acquired options on a large amount of territory between Newark and Laneaster and had sunk a well at Hadley Junction which was producing in large quantity. July 24, 1889, the Central Ohio Natural Gas and Fuel Co. was incorporated and to it were transferred all the franchises of the other company. John G. Deshler was president, H. D. Turney vice president, J. H. Hibbard see- retary and George W. Sinks treasurer; C. D. Firestone, M. H. Neil, Walter W. Brown and G. C. Hoover, directors; J. O. Johnston, superintendent. The authorized capitalization was $3,000,000.
The gas was piped to the city and through it and on December 31, 1889, was used for the first time in the Columbus Club and in the homes of John G. Deshler, George W. Sinks and H. D. Turney. It was offered to private consumers at 20 cents per 1,000 cubic feet, and was used by many for both fuel and light, On January 24, 1890, there was an explosion of natural gas in a double briek dwelling, 29 Noble street, which killed four persons and injured many others. It was found that the gas had leaked from the main in Wall street into the cellars of the dwelling and had exploded from a contact with a naked flame. January 14, 1891, owing to low pressure and danger, the gas was turned off to the great inconvenience of all who had equipped their houses for its use, and there was much speculation as to what it all meant. The company had laid 25 miles of main from the wells to the city and put nearly 100 miles of pipe in the city streets at a cost of over a million dollars. The consumers' dis- appointment was great, and there were charges that the company had shut off the gas to exact a higher rate. In February it was announced that more gas had been found though six other wells had been sunk without result. On March 30, 1891, the Council, acting on the petition of 83% of the consumers of gas, passed an ordinance allowing the company to charge 25 cents per 1,000 cubic feet, for a period of 10 years, with 20% reduction for prompt payment. On July 6, 1901, Council fixed the price of natural gas at 35 eents a 1,000 feet, with a discount of five cents for prompt payment, and so it has remained.
In 1899 a rival natural gas company entered the field. It offered gas at 15 cents per 1,000 cubie feet and finally secured a franchise by which it agreed to pay into the city treasury 10% of all moneys received from the sale of gas at a rate of more than 15 cents per 1,000 cubie feet. This company, having laid its pipes and begun service, about 1903, went into the hands of a receiver. The stock was bought by the Ohio Fuel Supply Co., which maintained it as a separate organization. The price of gas was increased until it reached the maximum of 30 cents per 1,000 eubic feet. In 1904 suit was brought by the city against the Federal Gas Co. for the percentage which it had agreed to pay the city. This litigation, in which the city has been represented by four different solicitors or directors of law-George S. Marshall, Edgar L. Weinland, Stuart R. Bolin and Harry L. Scarlett-has raised a number of questions, chief of which are the interpretation of the franchise clause and whether the city has a proprietary right in the streets and can legally make a bargain of the kind. The latter has been definitely decided in favor of the city, and the clause in the franchise has been interpreted to mean that the company was to pay to the city 10% of moneys received in excess of 15 cents per 1,000 cubic feet. In January, 1918, the Federal Gas Co. offered to pay the city $375,000 in settlement, but the offer was rejected. In the United States Supreme Court the city was sustained, and a settlement to July 1, 1916, was for $458,800. Settlement on account of sales since that date is at this writing still to be determined.
In 1914 the Ohio Cities Gas Co. was formed, Beman G. Dawes president, F. S. Heath secretary-treasurer. It bought the stock of both of the local companies which maintain their identity as distributing agencies, the Ohio Fuel and Supply Co., a produeing coneern, deliv- ering the gas to them at the eity limits. The president of the Columbus Gas and Fuel Co. is T. J. Jones, and the secretary-treasurer is G. C. Scott. The old offices at Front and Long streets were abandoned August 1, 1918, the company moving into new quarters in the Gasco building (1918) at the southeast corner of Chestnut and High streets. Natural gas is now supplied to Columbus through more than 55,000 taps.
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The Levees.
The levees on the west side of the Scioto were begun by the State about 1833 to prevent overflow of the river above the canal dam. They extended from a point below Rich street to a point near Sandusky street. Levees above and below were built from time to time after that as a protection to farm lands. A deed to the city from Michael Sullivant in 1853 pro- vided for an extension by the city of a levee built by him. The right-of-way grant to the Columbus, Sandusky & Cincinnati Railroad Co. in 1870, along the Scioto provided that the proposed railway embankment should form a part of the levee. In 1889-90 the levee from Mound street to Rich street was built wider and higher; also from Frank street to the west end of Rickly's mill racc. The levees thus constructed were found adequate till the flood of March, 1898. Then it was decided to raise the levee six feet above the high water mark of 1898 at a cost of $150,000. In 1899 the city rebuilt, raised or strengthened two and a half miles of levee, 4,200 feet of it being east of the river south of the Franklin furnace. In 1900, the T. & O. C. Railroad Co. changed its track, under agreement with the city, con- structing for the latter 2,500 feet of levee from Rickly's mill to Sandusky street, and the city built 3,650 feet more. The city's expenditures in the three years (1898-00) amounted to $139,034.50, and Engineer Julian Griggs estimated the cost of completing the levee at $39,290. The 1913 flood proved that levee-building was vain and protection must be other- wise sought.
Grade Crossing Elimination.
With the coming of railroads there began the inconvenience, delay and loss arising from the interruption of street traffic. High street, the main thoroughfare of the city north and south was crossed by the first railroad and later by others until a considerable section of the street was occupied by railway tracks over which there was not only the passage of passenger trains, but the switching of freight cars in the making up of trains for other points. This not only caused a serious interruption of traffic, but created a real menace to life and property. The matter early became a source of irritation which increased with the years. In 1873, the Council declared that there must be a bridge over or a tunnel under the tracks, and in 1874, tunneling, having been decided upon, was begun. The tunnel was completed in the following year, and the street railway company was authorized to lay its tracks through. The tunnel cost $45,050 and for 20 years it continued to offer its opportunity of escape from delay and danger. But it was ill ventilated and little used except by the street cars.
At the end of that time came the successful agitation for something better. The tunnel was torn away and, after much negotiation with the railroad companies and much bargaining with property-owners for damage or fancied damage to their abutting property, the present High street viaduct, with approaches from Naghten street and Maple street, was erected. Josiah Kinnear was the city engineer in charge, and the cost was approximately $369,000. Practically contemporaneous with this great improvement, the Union Depot Co. at an outlay of something less than three-quarters of a million dollars built the fine new Union Station, with train shed, concrete driveways and covered walk from train shed to viaduct. The front of the station along the viaduct, with its beautifully arched and pillared entrance, was designed by Burnham, of Chicago. The interior arrangements are excellent and elegant, and there is provision for the convenience and safety of passengers. The Union Station was completed in 1897. The first Fourth street (originally Buckeye street) viaduct was built in 1890-93 at an approximate cost of $120,000, and the Front street viaduct was built in 1894 at a cost of $69,000. Thus, there were three safe avenues of travel between the northern and southern sections of the city. In 1915, the present Fourth street viaduct, on the site of the one the construction of which had been begun in 1890, was built under the direction of City Engineer Henry Maetzel at a cost of $233,000.
By this time the situation on the West Side had become aeute. The flood af 1898 made it apparent that increased protection must be afforded, and flood protection and track eleva- tion were taken up together. Up to that time the law provided that the cost of track elevation should be borne equally by the railroad company and the city. The companies affected were reluctant, but in 1907 the people of the city voted to issue $1,000,000 of bonds to pay the city's share, and the companies finally agreed to the proposition. The work of eliminating the West Side, grade crossings was begun by the city and the railroad companies jointly in the spring of 1909 and, in a report to Director of Public Service George
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A. Borden, October 21, 1916, Henry Maetzel, chief engineer, announeed the praetieal com- pletion of the work, except for the adjustment of a few damage elaims, enumerated in detail the construction of 20 subways and two viaducts-Mound street and South High street- and gave the total cost to the eity as $1,096,283.37. In all of the track elevation the city's share was 50% or less. The city's half of the cost of the Mound street viaduet was $157,446.87. Of the cost of the South High street viaduet it paid one-fourth, or $124,897.66. The Parsons avenue viaduet was built by the Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad Co., under requirements of its franchise, without cost to the city.
In the meantime the people had voted another bond issue of $700,000 to eliminate the remaining grade crossings on the east side of the river. This work was begun, and a number of the grade crossings north have been eliminated, those north and east of the State Fair Grounds and those along the Norfolk & Western traek east remaining to be treated. "In grade crossing elimination," to quote City Engineer Maetzel, "Columbus has gone further and accomplished more than any other eity of its size."
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