History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 70

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II > Part 70

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The big sewer at the South End, it is said, has had a most astonishing effect on the wells along the route. Water has disappeared from all except those sunk below the sewer line, which is some thirty feet below the surface. . . . The Fourth Street sewer near the City Park, recently constructed, has fallen in for a distance of about four hundred feet. It will cost about $500 to repair damages."

The Fourth Street sewer, four feet in diameter and extending from Spring Street to Linn Alley, 1,168 feet, was completed in August, 1870; contractor, Frederick Erfurt. Murphy & McCabe built a sewer in Kerr Street, 1,475 feet, during the same season. Construction of the great sewer along Peters Run was begun in September, 1868, under direction of the City's agents. Much of it was badly done, and had to be reconstructed. Directly after the Fourth Street sewer had been completed and paid for, a committee of the council reported that it had been very improperly built, and was beginning to cave in. The cost of main sewers was thus stated in the City Engineer's report for the year ended April 8, 1872:

Fourth Street

12,693 74

South Publie Lane

7,387 62

Centre Alley

11,876 64

Oak Street 13,187 75

Cherry Street 7,145 76

Broad Street

14,365 00

Mound Street

13,970 79

West Street

13,838 67

Drops, Inlets, etc. 4,409 18

Salary of two Superintendents

2,742 00

TOTAL

$101,617 15

The Peters Run sewer, as originally projected, was intended to furnish drainage to the greater part of the city. It connected with the Oak and Fourth Street sewers, was designed to connect with an intercepting lateral on Front Street, and was to be conducted to a point where it would disgorge into the Scioto, below the city. Apprehension of legal difficulties to be encountered should the sewer seek its outlet outside the corporation boundaries caused the stoppage of its construction at a point about one square west of Front Street where it discharged its contents into Peters Run, thus causing a great nuisance to the southern part of the city, while at the same time the discharge of many other sewers into the river where its current was checked by the State dam, was rapidly creating a general nuisance for the entire city. Such was the situation in 1872.

531

STREETS, SEWERS AND PARKS.

In 1873-4 the Peters Run Sewer was extended to the river by crossing the canal through a conduit called an aqueduet.

Up to this time the construction of sewers in the city had been entirely destitute of system.9 The controlling motive had been to discharge the sewage into the river by the shortest possible route. Many of the conduits were so defectively constructed as to lodge the filth at their turning points, and discharge both fluids and gases through numerous leaks into the streets. A plentiful harvest of disease and death was the inevitable result of this heedless scheme of infection. An outbreak of the cholera which claimed many victims in 1873 was directly traced to a frightfully vile sewer near the Penitentiary. This nest of pestilence disseminated its germs of death through various openings. As soon as these were closed and the sewer cleansed the epidemic was stayed. How much typhoid, "malaria" and other forms of disease have resulted from the leakages of " shoddy " sewers built at the expense of their victims can never be known; undoubtedly a great deal. It is one of the least aggravating circumstances of the case that many of these deathbreeders which have contaminated the atmosphere both in the streets and in the homes of the people have cost far more than honest work was really worth. Had the sewers been built scientifically and systemati- cally from the beginning, and their discharges been rationally disposed of, not only would the money cost of the work have been far less, but the hygienic bene- fits conferred would have been far greater.

The northeast and northwest trunk sewer ordinances were passed August 11, 1879; estimated total cost $155,000. In July, 1880, the route of the northwest sewer was so changed as to make it discharge into the Scioto instead of the Whet- stone. For the information which here follows as to these and other main sewer lines the writer is indebted to the City Engineer, Mr. Josiah Kinnear, and Mr. Fisher, and others, among his corps of assistants.

The Northeast Trunk Sewer discharges into Alum Creek at a point just south of the Main Street Bridge whence it extends on Main Street westwardly to Ohio Avenue, on that avenue to Oak Street, on Oak Street to lloffman Avenue, on that avenue to Broad Street, on Broad Street to Miami Avenue, on that avenue to Long Street, on Long to Eighteenth, on Eighteenth to Mount Vernon Avenue, on that avenue to Galloway Avenue, on Galloway to Leonard Avenue, on Leonard to Denmead Avenue and on that avenue to the northern boundary of the corpora- tion ; total length, including extension, 17,114 feet ; diameter from six feet six inches to nine feet. The construction of this sewer began at its eastward terminus and was finished in the year 1883.

The Southeast Trunk Sewer discharges into the Scioto near the junction of the Canal and the Moler Road, whence it takes its course by Thurman and Fourth streets to Blackberry Alley and thence by Schiller and Ebner streets, Section Alley and Parsons Avenue to Forrest Street; total length, 11,378 feet; diameter, from three to five feet.

Franklin Park Sewer, a branch of the northeastern line, forms its junction with the main trunk at Fairwood Avenue, about 2,800 feet from Alum Creek. Its length is 4,844 feet ; diameter, from seven to seven and one half feet.

The Northwestern Trunk Sewer discharges into the Scioto at the foot of Coz- zens Street, whence it extends on that street to Dublin Avenue, thence to Maple Street, thenee across the railway grounds to Spruce Street, on Spruce to Henry, on Henry Street to Poplar Avenue, on that avenne to Delaware Avenue, on Del- aware to First Avenue, on that avenne to Hunter Street, on that street to Second Avenue, on Second to Dennison Avenue, thence across lots to Greenwood Avenne, thence to High Street, thence across lots to Summit Street and thence by a eurved line to Fifth Avenue. An extension of this sewer begins at Fifth Avenue whence it extends north to Sixth Avenne, on which it takes an eastward course to the Bee

532

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

Line Railway where it ends. The total length of the original sewer is 11,354 feet ; of the extension, 2,100 feet. The diameter of the original line varies from six and onchalf to seven feet ; that of the extension from four and onehalf to five feet.

In 1881 Engineer Graham reported a plan for draining the lowlands west of the river, which, he stated, were, of all portions of the city, most in need of drain - age and most difficult to supply with it.

The extension of the Peters Run sewer in 1873-4 only changed the location of the nuisance caused by that troublesome sluiceway, and during a period of scanty rainfall and low water in the summer of 1881, Joud complaints were made of the stench caused by its discharge into the channel of the Scioto. In reporting a plan for obviating this trouble the City Engineer, John Graham, said :

. As far back as 1872, when I came into office for the first time as City Engineer, among the first problems presented to me to solve, was to find an outlet to the Peters Run sewer. This was a question that had perplexed the minds of the city engineers and the City Council for many years prior to 1872. The sewer, as originally constructed, discharged its contents at the level of the surface of the ground, at the foot of the bluff, a few hundred feet west of Born's brewery, from which point it became an open drain, was carrie } over the canal by a dilapidated aqueduct, and meandered along the west bank of the canal to the river near the present outlet of the sewer. This open drain had become an elongated cesspool, emitting its disagreeable and pestilential odors along its entire line for a distance of nearly a mile. . . . I recommended a plan which fixed the outlet in very much deeper water, and where there was a more rapid flow in the river, and at a much less cost, tban the plan adopted.

In pursuance of instructions the engineer then proceeded to suggest plans for "abatement of the nuisance at the mouth of the sewer by obviating the pool formed at the outlet, and by giving the contents of the sewer a straight and unobstructed channel into the body of the river." To prolong the sewer down the river, the engineer suggested, would only once more shift the locality of the nuisance, which, in any event, he thought Nature would soon abate by flushing the channel of the Scioto.

In December, 1881, Engineer Graham reported as to the cost of an intercept- ing sewer, commencing at the point where the northwest sewer then constructing would cross Spring Street, and extending on Scioto Street to the canal feeder and thence to a point of discharge into the river about eight hundred feet below the southern boundary of the corporation. The cost of this work, including necessary readjustments and extensions of other sewers, was estimated at $404,524. Con- temporaneously with this discussion a scheme, often previously broached, for using the canal jointly for sewer and railway purposes, was renewed, and an effort to obtain the legislation necessary for this purpose was unsuccessfully made. No less than five or six main sewers at this time discharged into the Scioto between the Penitentiary and the State dam, thus converting the river, which just then happened to have a very slender current, into a receptacle for all the filth of the city. It will be observed that the only plans seriously discussed for otherwise disposing of this filth were such as would carry it, in current phrase- ology, " to a safe distance outside of the corporate limits." Another report invited attention about this time to the contamination of the river by an asylum sewer which, descending from the Sullivant heights, discharged into it from the west, at the foot of Mound Street. Thousands of fish, poisoned by the sewage, were also, it was said, adding their decaying bodies to the putrescent discharges which were accumulating in the river channel along the city front. As a result of this condition, it was believed, there had been from 400 to 900 cases of typhoid and "malarial" fever in the city during several preceding months. For the remedy of these evils the usual and threadbare suggestions were made - an intercepting sewer and abandonment of that conventional scapegoat of municipal sins - the Ohio Canal.

533

STREETS, SEWERS AND PARKS.

The original estimate of the cost of the northeast and northwest sewers proved to be far short of the mark ; consequently, in February, 1883, the council asked the General Assembly for permission to issue bonds to an additional amount of $200,000 - making $355,000 in all- to carry the work to completion. In explanation of the misapprehension which had taken place as to what the sewers would cost, the following statements were made :

The council and officers, it seems, did not know that lumber would be required in mak- ing the excavation. They did not know that a superintendent would be necessary. They did not know that the quality of the water supplied to the city would be affected by dis- charging a main sewer into the river above and near the waterworks. They did not know that the discharge of a main sewer into Alnm Creek, just west of the Lutheran College, wonld render its buildings uninhabitable.

All of which suggests the importance of choosing municipal officials on the basis of qualification rather than that of political belief.

Although the State dam had long been complained of as a source of miasmatic poison, in March, 1884, a proposition came before the council to construct a dam across the Scioto below the mouth of the Peters Run sewer in order that the dis- charges from that conduit might be " emptied into deep water." In April, 1885, a bill authorizing conversion of the " Columbus feeder " into a trunk sewer was for the second or third time introduced into the General Assembly. In opposition to this measure a strong array of facts was presented showing that the commercial usefulness of the canal, which the proposed use of the " feeder " would ruin, had by no means ceased. The discussion was carried into the Board of Trade where, and in the press, the project continued to be agitated during the next two or three years, but the General Assembly steadfastly refused to relinquish the canal prop- erty of the State for the purpose proposed.

During the dry summer of 1887, the discharges of the Peters Run sewer into the attenuated waters of the Scioto again became intolerably offensive. In a cur- rent newspaper reference to this trouble these statements were made :

Numerous citizens of the Sonth End have recently made complaint of the faet that the month of the sewer is entirely exposed and that this and the other surroundings produce a stench which permeates the atmosphere of the whole locality. The low water has suffered an accumulation of dead animals which would have gone over the dam if that faulty structure had not leaked to such an extent that the water is fonr or five feet below the top. This same dam was built a short time ago for the alleged purpose of baeking np the water nntil the month of the sewer is [should be] submerged, but as the leak is so large as to make the escape almost a torrent, the entire deathbreeding opening is exposed to full view. There seems to be as great danger from the stagnant water in the dam as from the exposed month of the sewer, as the very face of the basin suggests typhoid malaria.

The dam here spoken of was built in pursuance of an act of the General Assembly authorizing a special tax for the purpose. Its estimated cost was $3,000 ; its actual cost much greater. It proved to be in every sense a worse nuisance than that which it was intended to cure. After producing a large harvest of dam- age suits, many of which are yet pending, and after having cost the city for its construction and the damage claims paid on account of it an aggregate son of O opper about $30,000, it was blown out with dynamite by the City Engineer.

In 1887 discussion of the sewerage problem became more active than ever. A dam yer

Citizens' Sanitary Association was organized and gave special attention to the rear Peters Run sewer and dam nuisance, the abatement of which was then a burning question in the council. Experts in municipal sanitation were invited to contribute views and suggestions, much useful information was obtained and many schemes were proposed. In October, 1887, Mayor P. H. Bruck, acting in behalf of the Sanitary Association, laid before the council a communication in which he stated

534

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

that unless immediate steps should be taken to abate the poisonous effects of the sewage then pouring into the Scioto and already causing much sickness, an epi- demic might be expected. Moved by this appeal the council appointed P. H. Bruck, Edward Orton, R. T. King, Philip Fisher and Josiah Kinnear as mem- bers of a committee to report some plan by which the discharge of sewage into the river might be avoided. On January 30, 1888, the council passed a reso- lution offered by Mr. Fleck :

That the City Civil Engineer be and is hereby authorized to secure the services of some expert sanitary engineer to prepare a plan for a complete system of sewerage for the city of Columbus, and to report as to the advisability of disposing of the sewage of the city, or of certain districts thereof, by infiltration or sewage farming.

This, and many other efforts and schemes for solution of the sewerage problem, culminated finally in adoption of the plan for building a great intercepting sewer, to provide for the construction of which an act authorizing the issue of bonds to the amount of $500,000 was passed March 23, 1888. Bids for the construction were opened January 21, 1889, and the contract was awarded to L. C. Newsom, of Columbus. The estimated cost of the work was $718.000; Mr. Newsom took it at 8460,838.61. The bids were as follows: Wolf & Truax, Duluth, $780,347.00; Kanamacher & Fornoff, Columbus, $742,394.10; N. B. Abbott, Columbus, $725,- 963.89 ; James E. Sullivant, Denver, $715,674.71 ; Everson & Riley, Cleveland, 8576,264.50 ; D. F. Minahan, Springfield, 8523,890.47; L. C. Newsom, Columbus, 8460,838.61. The excavation began on February 1, 1889, and proceeded steadily except when stopped by injunctions or other legal proceedings, resulting from claims for right of way and questions raised by the city engineer and the council, some of which partook of a partisan character. The following statements con- cerning the nature and progress of the work are taken from the Evening Post of October 6, 1890 :

The excavation necessary to its [the sewer's] completion is ponderous in its proportions. The trenching varies from nominal to thirty feet at the deepest point, while no less than six- teen tunnels are found along the line, . . one at the C. H. V. & T. tracks ; one at the Peters Run sower ; one at Mound Street; one at Friend Street ; one along past the City Prison nearly half a mile in length ; . one at the Little Miami tracks, under Spring Street and Dennison Avenue; one under the network of railroads near the new steel works ; one under Third and King avenues and the Dodridge Street bridge abutments. Under the canal is a long distance where the entire sewer is built of stone, a fine piece of masonry. For its construction was necessitated a switch in the canal of five hundred feet. The terminal of the sewer is for a long distance half exposed, the slope of the valley being so much greater than that of the sewer as to run the latter out of the ground, where it will be built up with a bank of earth.

The route of this great work may be traced in general terms as follows : Beginning near the dam in the Whetstone at North Street it courses southerly to King Avenue and through the Dennison Addition to Fifth Avenue, whence it proceeds to the left bank of the Whetstone, the meanderings of which it follows to Goodale Street, whence it takes an irregular course to Dublin Avenue, on that avenue to Cozzens Street and thence across a corner of the Penitentiary grounds to the corner of Dennison Avenue and Spring Street, whence it crosses to Scioto Street, follows that street to Canal Street and Canal Street to Livingston Avenue, whence it pursues the line of the canal to Greenlawn Avenue, from which it accompanies the track of the Hocking Valley Railway to Moler Street, from which it turns westerly under the railway and canal to a point on the east bank of the Scioto 1,602 feet beyond the canal tunnel, the masonry of which is one hundred and seventy feet in length. The entire work thus described has, at the present writing (August 27, 1892), been completed and accepted. Its total length

535

STREETS, SEWERS AND PARKS.

from end to end on the line above traced is 35,946 feet, including 5,700 feet of tun- neling at an average depth of about forty feet beneath the surface of the ground. Where the necessary depth below the surface was not over thirty feet, the excava- tion was made by trenching. The longest tunnel is that between Rich and Broad streets, which measures 2,100 feet. The next largest tunnel, the longitudinal centre of which lies under Greenlawn Avenue, measures from end to end 1,700 feet. The interior diameter of the sewer varies from two and onehalf to six feet. If present plans are carried out the line will be extended under and 420 feet beyond the river, where it will connect with a proposed additional extension of 5,615 feet, descending the west bank of the Scioto to the proposed sewage farm. The entire work thus far constructed is built of brick.

This sketch of the sewer system of Columbus cannot be more appropriately closed than by inviting the reader's attention to Professor Orton's discussion of the same subject in Chapter XXXIII, of Volume I. A tabulation showing the cost of the main and lateral sewers of the city from 1875 to 1892, inclusive, will be found appended to Chapter XXXII, of the same volume.

PARKS.

On July 14, 1851, a proposition from Doctor Lincoln Goodale to donate to the city about forty acres of land to be used as a publie park was presented to the City Council and therein referred to Messrs. Armstrong, Riordan, Blake, Miner and Stauring. Four days later (July 18) Doctor Goodale's deed for the proposed park was presented by Mr. Armstrong to the council, which body, on motion of Mr. Baldwin, thereupon adopted the following expressions of appreciation :

Whereas, our esteemed fellow citizen, Lincoln Goodale, Esq., has generously and munificently donated to the citizens of Columbus a large and beautiful tract of land lying adjacent to the northern boundary of said city, to be held by said citizens as a park and pleasure ground for the public use and enjoyment of said citizens forever ; and whereas he has this day deposited with the President of the Council an unconditional conveyance of the same for the uses and purposes solely as above stated, now therefore

Resolved, by the City Council of Columbus, That we receive the gift of said park with emotions of profound gratitude, and in behalf of our fellow citizens tender unto L. Goodale, Esq., our deep and heartfelt thanks for his noble and princely donation.

That we, the members of this council, esteem ourselves most highly honored in being the recipients in behalf of our constituents of so valuable and grateful a gift to our city, and that we will endeavor to carry out the generous design of the donor in beautifying and adorning said park for the use and benefit of our citizens.

That we will ever cherish an abiding memory of the liberal spirit which has prompted this deed on the part of the giver of said park, and gladly pledge our fellow citizens never by nngenerous action on their part to cause him momentary regret for this action.

That a committee of four, of which said L. Goodale shall be one, be appointed to take charge of said grounds and to report immediately for the consideration of the council suit- able plans for the protection, speedy improvement and ornamentation of the same.

That a copy of these resolutions, signed by the President of the Council and attested by the City Clerk, be presented to L. Goodale, Esq., and that the same be published in each of the papers of this city.

The members of the committee appointed pursuant to this resolution were Lincoln Goodale, William Armstrong, John Miller and William Miner.

The land thus donated and accepted was spoken of at the time as a tract of beautiful woodland on the northwestern boundary of the city, " well worth $40,000." On October 23, 1851, the City Council, accompanied by Doctor Goodale,

536

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

visited and inspected the grounds, up to that time, apparently, untouched by ax or plow. During the summer of 1852 the park was enclosed with a fence and the underbrush growing among its primitive forest trees was eut away. No further improvements of much importance seem to have been made for several years, although doubtless some walks were laid out and some sod grown and eared for. When the Civil War broke out in 1861 the park was provisionally used as a mili- tary rendezvous under the name of Camp Jackson. This ruined its turf, strewed its pleasant places with debris, and disfigured it, for the time being, with unsightly buildings. After the removal of the rendezvous and its appurtenances to Camp Chase, its grounds were cleaned, its sod restored and its original quiet resumed. Doctor Goodale died on April 30, 1868; he therefore lived beyond the time when the ground which he had so generously donated to the city had become one of the historic spots of Ohio, but he was, unfortunately, not permitted to see that ground beautified in a manner appropriate to the purpose to which he had devoted it. In 1872 new drives were laid out in the park, a lake was excavated at its northeastern corner, and a fountain was added to its then meagre embellishments. In 1888 a bronze bust of Doctor Go xlale, executed by J. Q. A Ward, was place I upon an appropriate pedestal, facing the south gate. This work cost five thousand dollars, onehalf of which was paid by the city, the remainder from the Goodale estate, represented, in this matter, hy Ilon. Henry C. Taylor. This is the only work of art which thus far adorns the grounds.

On April 22, 1867, the City Council appointed a select committee of five of its members to contract with Messrs. Deshler & Thurman for twentyfive acres of land in what was then known as Stewart's Grove, for the purposes of a park. Accord- ingly, on April 29, 1867, a contract was made with Messrs. D. W. & W. G. Deshler and Allen G. Thurman for the purchase of 23.59 acres of the Stewart's Grove land, to be known and used theneeforward as the City Park.11 The price paid for the ground was $15,000. In 1868 this park was laid out pursuant to plans drawn by R. T. Brookes. An ornamental fountain was placed in the park in 1871. In 1872 it received as one of its attractions a live eagle caught in Madison County. This bird measured eight feet six inches from tip to tip of its outstretched wings. In 1873 a lake was excavated. In 1891 the beautiful bronze statute of the poet Schiller which now adorns the park was completed and donated to the city by its Germanborn citizens. A description of this work, and its dedication, is given in another chapter. The faithful keeper of the City Park from its opening until recently has been John L. Stelzig.

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 70

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1196

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196