Jefferson^Water«5*Works.—1885.* Compliments of 
G. HOWARD-ELLERS, 
P. O. BOX 327. 
CHICAGO. 
A Proposed System 
OF 
WflJPBR SUPPLY 
FOR THE 
town of JEFFERSON, ills. 
Adjoining tlie of 
CHICAGO. 
fl REPORT thcpeon 
i>y 
G. HOWARD-ELLERS, 
Civil Engineer*. 
CHICAGO : 
A. J. Madden, Printer. 
1885. Chicago, ist October, 1885. 
To the Board of Trustees 
of the 
Town of Jefferson, Ills. 
Gentlemen: 
On the 27th day of July of the current year, I re- 
ceived the following- communication, which was handed me—in per- 
son—by the chairman of your Committee: 
“Chicago, July 27th, 1885. 
Mr. G. Howard-Ellers, 
Civil Engineer, cere., 
My Dear Sir: 
The undersigned, a committee appointed by the 
Trustees of the Town of Jefferson, at a meeting held in the Town 
Hall on Wednesday, the 22d inst., were then and there duly author- 
ized and instructed to employ an engineer, whose duty it should be 
to prepare plans, specifications and estimates, and to examine and 
report upon what he may regard as the best and most economical 
system of furnishing the Town with a reliable and permanent supply 
of pure and wholesome water—hereby select and employ you as such 
engineer; and we request that you proceed—at your earliest con- 
venience—to carry out the wishes of the Board of Trustees, as ex- 
pressed in the resolution constituting and appointing this Committee. 
We are, &c., very respectfully yours, 
(Signed) S. S. Kimball, 
Carl Koch, 
Wm. Baragwanath, 
Committee.'' 
I have—as requested by your Committee in the foregoing com- 
munication—made a personal examination of every part of your 
Town and its surrounding territory, carefully considering—while so 4 
engaged—its present necessities and future possibilities; and I have 
likewise caused such additional instrumental surveys to be made, 
with results, which have enabled me to reach conclusions, made the 
basis of recommendations embodied herein. Your Committee, in 
their request that I will formulate and recommend a plan through 
which your Town can be permanently supplied with pure and whole- 
some water, tersely express the natural desire of all communities for 
an abundant supply, and for the unrestricted use of Nature’s most 
essential health-giving and health-preserving element; because pure 
water, pure air, pure soil, pure nutritious food, personal cleanliness 
and plenty of sunlight are the sanitary essentials vital to the attain- 
ment, and to the preservation of vigorous health and long life, for 
without the first-named, existence becomes a burden and usefulness 
is at an end. The absolute necessity of practically pure water is of 
the first importance, because, as a distinguished sanitary authority 
tell us, deleterious impurities, when combined with water, act with 
marked rapidity on the human system, into which they speedily pass, 
by the sure process of venous absorption. In a practical sense water 
that is absolutely or chemically pure is never found in a state of na- 
ture. To be wholesome—to be entirely fit for domestic and com- 
mercial purposes—water should be uniformly cool, well aerated, in- 
odorous, without appreciable color and tasteless, unless in the latter 
case we except a slight pungency due to the presence of carbonic 
acid or oxygen. It should be free from animal or vegetable organ- 
isms—either living or dead—and when used internally for drinking 
purposes, and in its natural state, it should neither propagate disease 
nor cause death. Sufficiently soft for all culinary purposes, it should, 
in like degree, readily unite with and rapidly dissolve soap and sim- 
ilar compounds, resulting in speedy and pleasant saponification when 
used in the laundry, or as a detergent in bath or lavatory. Its action 
should be neutral when brought into contact with lead; and when 
raised to the boiling point for culinary purposes, or evaporated into 
steam under pressure, it should neither become turbid nor deposit 
scale or incrustation. Finally it should be absolutely free from all 
urban impurities and from even a taint of sewage contamination. 
Having thus enumerated the essential requisites constituting pure 
and wholesome water, fitted by nature for domestic, manufacturing 
and commercial purposes, the question at once presents itself—can 
such water, or water approximating the foregoing requirements, be 5 
found in this vicinity—can the source of supply be easily and econ- 
omically reached—and, when reached, will it be found in sufficient 
abundance to meet your present demands, as well as the inevitable 
increase in the immediate future, for which ample provision must be 
made, and without which no plan that can be formulated or suggest- 
ed would be either recommendatory or reliable. I unhesitatingly 
answer the foregoing affirmatively, aud in specifying Lake Michigan 
as the proper source from which to draw your water supply for all 
time, I have not failed to give due consideration to the question of 
deriving a supply of water for your Town, through the medium of 
Artesian wells, driven into the water-bearing strata which would— 
in all probability—be found at depths varying between twelve hun- 
dred and two thousand feet: and while not unmindful of the economy 
which might be claimed for the first cost of such a plan, growing out 
of improvements in the “ driven well system forming the subject of 
patents still in force and of conceded value, nevertheless, when we 
consider the character of the geological horizon in which water in 
sufficient abundance might be found, I am strongly inclined to be of 
the opinion it would occupy too high a position in the scale of hard- 
ness to render it suitable for domestic, manufacturing and commer- 
cial purposes. Hard waters are unfit for ordinary use in the kitchen 
and laundry, and are even more objectionable when used for the 
generation of steam under pressure in ordinary boiler practice; but 
authorities differ somewhat as to the pathological effects following 
the use of drinking water containing earthy salts in moderate pro- 
portions. Water is rendered hard by the presence therein of the 
carbonate and sulphate of lime, and the carbonate of magnesia, and 
experience would appear to indicate that waters obtained from Arte- 
sian wells are more likely to contain such and similar ingredients in 
objectionable quantities, than are waters derived from rivers and 
lakes. Of course, notable exceptions are not wanting, the geological 
formations into which the wells are driven—through which the rivers 
flow—and in which the lakes are situated—largely controlling the 
quality of the waters furnished by these respective sources now un- 
der consideration. It is not claimed that water obtained from either 
streams or lakes is always free from contaminating influences, or 
from impurities in some form, either in combination or in suspension 
—nevertheless, when it is remembered that all such aggregations of 
water are constantly absorbing oxygen during the perpetual aeration 6 
to which they are subjected by the agitating action of the wind—by 
every breeze that disturbs their surface—and that the chemical oxi- 
dization which follows—ceaseless and searching—is largely supple- 
mented by the consuming agencies of aquatic animals and plants, of 
fish and infusoria, it would certainly appear that your chances of ob- 
taining a supply of pure and wholesome water from the grand reser- 
voir of Lake Michigan, are unquestionably better than from Artesian 
wells driven into strata whose geological horizon is exclusively situ- 
ated within the Calciferous and Magnesian formations. Having con- 
sidered the quality of the water which it is reasonable to suppose 
any well driven into the water-bearing strata within the limits of your 
Town would be apt to furnish, it simply remains for me to say, that 
both the quantity discharged and the durability of the supply, might 
be seriously impaired by wells driven for such and similar purposes 
by parties possessing equal rights with yourselves, because the 
power—the legal right, to prosecute such work—to seek for water 
and when found to use it—is equally vested in all alike; it is, in fact, 
general, and not exclusive, and must, from the very nature of things, 
remain so forever. The one remaining source of supply to which 
your Town may resort with confidence—not only for the present but 
for all time—and the one which I unhesitatingly recommend for 
your adoption, is Lake Michigan. Swept by the winds from every 
point of the compass, storm tossed, and hence oxygenized and aerat- 
ed by the atmospheric disturbances to which its surface is perpetually 
subjected—limpid, pure and soft—its waters rank among the best 
found anywhere, equaled by few, and for general domestic purposes 
surpassed by none. Such I take to be the normal condition of the 
waters of Lake Michigan, and such they will undoubtedly be found 
throughout their vast extent, with the possible exception of a limited 
area lying in front of this city, within the immediate influence of the 
putrid outflow from the Chicago river, and of the several main sewers 
of the urban system, whose outfall portals are located on the shore of 
the lake into which they discharge their dangerous contents. These 
grave violations of the fundamental teachings of sanitary science on 
the part of your south side neighbors, are efficiently supplemented, 
periodically, by the discharge from the twelve-feet conduit located 
beneath the surface of Fullerton Avenue, through which, aided by 
mechanical acceleration, the polluted contents of the North Branch 
of the Chicago river are discharged into the lake. Within this area, 7 
whose extent is limited by local circumstances, and for variable 
periods during certain seasons of the year, I have no doubt the water 
of Lake Michigan is seriously deteriorated by sewage pollution. 
I know that this has—repeatedly and authoritatively—been denied, 
and that the accuracy of such denials has been, apparently, sustained 
and confirmed by the results of frequent analyses of the water made 
by chemists of conceded ability and acknowledged reputation. As 
opposed to this it is known that acute intestinal disorders prevail, to 
a greater or lesser extent, in this city; that the dissemination of dis- 
eases sometimes pronounced epidemic is not infrequent; and I also 
know, and, in fact, it may be accepted as a sanitary axiom, that such 
and similar disorders are common in all communities whose daily 
supply of drinking water is polluted by admixture with house sewage 
and human dejecta, with the discharge from the urinal and the cess- 
pool, the privy-vault and the slaughter-house. While the teachings 
of modern chemistry cannot safely be disregarded by engineer or 
layman, experience tells us that a knowledge of the pathological 
effects produced by the internal use of any water in its normal state, 
is of ecpial value with a similar knowledge of the analytical definition 
of its chemical constituents; because, the human system is a more 
sensible re-agent than any which the chemist can use in his laboratory 
determinations—and hence, in this regard at least, the dicta of vital 
statistics approach infallibility. But it is not with the sanitary short- 
comings of your neighbors that we are called upon to deal, except 
to the extent their resultant effects influence the location of the point 
in Lake Michigan at which the proposed water supply for your Town 
should be taken; besides, the day is not far distant when the pollu- 
tion of the lake water in front of the city will cease forever, the large 
interests endangered, and the ever present menace to health and life, 
demanding an immediate application of the remedy whose technical 
nature is apparent, whose practical execution easy, and whose first 
cost within the limits of just and prudent economy. Having thus 
considered the character of the various sources of supply to which 
your town is practically limited, and having reached conclusions 
qualified and sanctioned by practical experience obtained during my 
incumbency as Chief Engineer of the water supply system of the 
Town of Hyde Park, in the years 1882 and 1883, and during my 
connection, in the same capacity, with the General Sewerage and 
Drainage System of the city of Chicago, in the years 1880, 1881 and 1882, it now remains to outline the plan which such experience 
suggests as the best—most durable—and hence, all things consider- 
ed, the most economical for you to adopt, and which, followed by 
the necessary detailed estimates and appropriate specifications, will 
conclude the task your confidence has imposed on me. No design 
for obtaining a supply of water from Lake Michigan, is entirely safe 
or reliable, that does not contemplate and include the construction 
of a sub-aqueous conduit, executed in tunneled excavation and brick 
masonry, at a sufficient depth beneath the bed of the lake, and ex- 
tended—lakeward—to a sufficient distance from the shore, to insure 
absolute freedom from the effects of shore erosion, or possible con- 
tamination from any source—from serious obstruction from ice packs 
during the winter, and which allows the location of the off-shore inlet 
in water of sufficient depth, to insure a supply whose temperature 
shall meet the requirements of practical uniformity the year round. 
Of the two plans for obtaining a supply of water from Lake Michi- 
gan, which are hereinafter outlined and recommended for your con- 
sideration, the sub-aqueous conduit is common to both. The first 
plan contemplates the location of the pumping station within the 
corporate limits of your Town, to which it is proposed to convey the 
water through an extension of the conduit from the land shaft in the 
lake shore, through the adjoining Town of Lake View, to the gate 
chamber within the grounds of the pumping station. In the second 
plan it is proposed to locate the pumping station on a site within the 
Town of Lake View, immediately on the lake shore, and contiguous 
to the land shaft therein, from which it is proposed to convey the 
water through a short brick conduit or cast iron pipe discharging 
directly into the pump well; the supply from the pumps reaching the 
the general system of distribution in your Town through a cast iron 
force main whose length would—practically—be equal to the conduit 
extension embodied in the plan previously outlined. Two points on 
the lake shore, whereon to locate and construct the important part 
of the water supply system herein contemplated, at once suggest 
themselves by reason of their general elegibility, and because of the 
easy and direct line which both offer, and on either of which your 
Town can be reached through the Town of Lake View. The first 
site suggested is at or near the foot of Montrose Boulevard in the 
immediate vicinity of its intersection with North Halsted Street; and 
the second site is at or near the foot of Belmont Avenue—both sites 9 
being- practically on the lake shore, from which these two broad 
avenues run directly west, through the Town of Lake View, to dis- 
tant points within and beyond the Town of Jefferson, and both reach, 
in a straight and unbroken line, highly favorable locations for any 
part of your proposed work immediately within and directly west of 
your easterly Town line, and on or near one of the principal divisions 
of the Chicago and Northwestern Rail Road. In the selection of these 
two points from which it is proposed to obtain a supply of water for 
your Town, I have not been unmindful of the contiguity of the Bel- 
mont Avenue location to the lake area lying some distance south 
immediately in front of the city, whose periodical pollution from the 
combined action of the Chicago river and the Fullerton Avenue con- 
duit I have already discussed at some length. I do notentertain a doubt 
but what the existence of these vile sources of pollution is limited, 
and their speedy disappearance as the result of measures now in 
contemplation and not difficult of execution, assured. The constant 
action of the littoral current, which, though gentle, is always south- 
erly on the west shore of Lake Michigan when uninfluenced by high 
winds in an opposite direction, must not be lost sight of, while the 
chances of sewage contamination from the northward, due to any 
great increase in population in that direction, are exceedingly small, if 
indeed they will ever exist at all. Within the central and higher north- 
ern latitudes, and in the absence of local circumstances of a controlling 
character, the general tendency of the movetnent of population is always 
in a southerly direction. Recognizing all these facts, it is difficult 
tor me to see wherein either of the proposed locations can be im- 
proved, so long as the limiting and controlling question of cost compels 
the construction of your proposed work on the direct pressure system 
of water supply. Notwithstanding this condition of things, I have not 
hesitated to so proportion the sub-aqueous conduit, as to render it 
capable of meeting every possible demand to which it may be sub- 
jected for—practically—an indefinite period; prominent among which 
will be a supply of water to your neighbors for various purposes, 
coupled with an extension of house service to them—direct—through 
your main system of distribution; the income from which, if prudently 
handled in a business-like way, will surely result in cheap service to 
yourselves, and to the rapid accumulation of a surplus sufficient to 
meet the interest on your water bonds—to retire the latter at ma- 
turity, and to provide for additional pumping machinery, which the inevitable increase in population will surely make obligatory in the 
early future. Let it not be supposed, however, that in recommend- 
ing for your adoption a system of water supply on the—so-called— 
direct pressure plan—that the latter plan has my unreserved assent as 
an engineer, or my unqualified endorsement as a prudent man; be- 
cause, so long as iron will bend and steel will break, just so long is 
any system of water supply in absolute dependence thereon, con- 
stantly endangered by the suspended sword of disaster. As in your 
own case, instances are common where—what we would like to do— 
must wait on what we find it possible to do with the limited means at 
our disposal. Outside of this, the only drawback to either of the 
plans suggested, is the compulsory location of your pumping station 
in localities—where—sooner or later, it must of necessity become 
surrounded with dwelling houses, and other structures following the 
inevitable march of improvement, and hence, to that extent, will con- 
stantly be subjected to the grave danger of fire, always present where 
man lives and works, no matter how zealous the guard or how per- 
fect its training and organization. If your corporation, instead of 
being a town with a resident population of only some fifteen or 
twenty thousand inhabitants—but undoubtedly containing within 
itself all the essential elements of an indefinite increase—was a city, 
with a permanent population of half a million or a million people, 
and with aggregated interests and accumulated wealth in proportion 
to its population and commanding position, then I should say adopt 
no plan that failed to satisfy every possible requirement of absolute 
safety and freedom from accident for all time: and, as a logical se- 
quence to such recommendation I would also say, go to the elevated 
plateau, which, as I am informed, lies some thirty miles or so to the 
northward—whose eastern escarpment overlooks the broad expanse 
of Lake Michigan, and where, presuming my information to be cor- 
rect, a sufficiently elevated area exists whereon to construct a system 
of storage reservoirs, large enough to hold a supply of water suffi- 
cient for all possible demands for a fixed period—say two to four 
months—erect the pumping station and plant on the lake shore—put 
in a subaqueous conduit fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, and only of 
sufficient length to permit the offshore inlet to be located in water 
deep enough to insure its absolute freedom from the effects of shore 
erosion, or temporary obstruction from floating ice packs—pump the 
water from the lake into the reservoirs, and then let gravity do the 11 
rest of the work through a system of iron mains delivering the sup- 
ply, under pressure, to the point where connection is made with the 
general system of urban distribution. Thus would be obtained a 
system of water supply whose condition would be one of absolute 
reliability at all times; secure from danger of sewage contamination 
by reason of its remote location, its continuity of supply would be 
assured, because the quantity of water in store would always be suf- 
ficient to meet the maximum requirements of any period, during 
which it would be possible to render the entire pumping outfit abso- 
lutely useless, as the result of any one of the many accidents to which 
steam plant is perpetually liable. In the construction of any system of 
water supply for general domestic and commercial purposes, no ideas 
oj a mistaken or false economy should be permitted to interfere with a 
priident liberality of design. That such a piece of work is not only 
intended to meet the wants of to-day, but is likewise expected to 
fulfill its mission for all future time, is a suggestive fact that should 
never be forgotten, On the question of what constitutes a proper 
daily allowance of water for all purposes, opinions differ about as 
widely as does the consumption of the water itself in different places. 
By many engineers an allowance of sixty gallons per capita per diem 
is regarded as ample, and I have no doubt it is could wastage be 
prevented and economy enforced, but, inasmuch as a liberal use of 
water appears to be essential to health, comfort and happiness, I am 
inclined to recommend as few restrictions on its use as an enlighten- 
ed policy will sanction. Varying with localities and seasons, experi- 
ence shows the daily consumption of water to depend upon some or 
all of the following uses to which it is hourly applied— 
First. For interior consumption of a strictly domestic character 
in the kitchens, lavatories, bath rooms, water closets, urinals, laun- 
dries and elevators in dwelling houses, hotels, etc., and in boilers fur- 
nishing hot water or steam for heating or drying purposes therein, 
or for driving prime motors and steam pumps of the character gen- 
erally used in hotels and the larger apartment houses, thirty (30) 
gallons per capita per diem. 
Second. For exterior consumption of a similar character in stables, 
and for washing side-walks, yards and the exterior of houses, and for 
sprinkling lawns and gardens, ten (10) gallons per capita per diem. 
Third. For commercial, manufacturing and mechanical purposes, 
twenty (20) gallons per capita per diem. 12 
Fourth. For public drinking fountains for “ man and beast,” for 
public urinals, and for fountains of an ornamental character and for 
similar purposes in public parks and grounds, and in public baths, 
and for washing and sprinkling streets and flushing sewers, fifteen 
(15) gallons per capita per diem. 
Fifth. For the extinguishment of fires and for fire department 
uses generally, one (1) gallon per capita per diem. 
Sixth. For wastage—both avoidable and what may be regarded 
as practically unavoidable, such as leakages in the main distributing 
systems, and in the lateral or house service systems; and in the 
colder seasons and localities, where the water in dwelling houses and 
other places is allowed to run to waste to prevent freezing, and the 
consequent destruction of the house service pipes and flooding of 
premises, etc., fifteen (15) gallons per capita per diem. 
This shows a consumption of ninety-one gallons per head of pop- 
ulation per day, and which, though excessive, is far from being over- 
stated—because it is a matter of record that a consumption of one 
hundred gallons per capita per diem has been reached in some cities, 
and, in instances not rare, it has been and is being exceeded in a 
number of cases not difficult of absolute verification. Assuming the 
present population of your Town to be twenty thousand, and allow- 
ing a supply of one hundred gallons per capita per diem, will require 
a daily delivery of two million gallons, and this is the basis which I 
have used in all the estimates which are submitted herein, except in 
the proportions given the sub-aqueous conduit, and its landward ex- 
tension, and in the case of the force main connecting the pumping 
plant with the distributing system throughout your Town. 
In my report to the Trustees of Hyde Park which preceded the 
location of the water supply tunnel which I designed, and which was 
subsequently constructed during the years 1882 and 1883, beneath 
the bed of Lake Michigan at the foot of Sixty-Eighth Street, I rec- 
ommended a conduit with a vertical diameter of six feet and three 
inches, and a horizontal diameter of six feet; and notwithstanding 
considerable opposition begotten in ignorance and born of parsimony, 
I persisted in the adoption of the dimensions which experience fore- 
told would be the safest, and the work was accordingly executed in 
consonance with my wishes. At that time the daily consumption of 
water in Hyde Park was less than five million gallons per diem—as 
a matter of record it did not exceed sixty-five million gallons per 13 
month, the maximum capacity of their pumping’ plant being equal to 
a delivery of six million gallons per day. In a subsequent report I 
suggested the advisability of providing for an increase of pumping 
capacity, and I named a period of five years within which such an 
addition to their pumping plant would be found obligatory. To-day 
the authorities of Hyde Park are inviting tenders for a pair of pump- 
ing engines capable of delivering twelve million gallons per diem. 
Should this rate of increase continue, the capacity of their sub 
aqueous conduit will be reached within a period of twenty years, and 
perhaps even less. Seeing no good reason why I should anticipate 
a different result in your own case—all things considered—1 have 
adopted the same proportions for the sub-aqueous conduit proposed 
in connection with your own work, firmly convinced it will be found 
the most advisable, as well as the most economical, especially when 
it is remembered that your ability to supply the wants of your neigh- 
bors can be made a source of revenue largely in excess of any outlay 
that may be required to maintain and operate your proposed works, 
to duplicate your pumping plant when required, and, finally to meet 
the interest on original expenditure for which timely provision is 
always necessary. For similar reasons I have adopted a diameter 
of five feet for the extension of the conduit from the shaft in the lake 
shore, to the gate chamber adjoining the pumping station, where the 
location of the latter is proposed within the corporate limits of your 
Town. In my judgment a length of 3,000 feet will be sufficient for the 
sub-aqueous portion of the proposed conduit, measured from the ver- 
tical shaft in the lake shore to the shaft in the offshore inlet; and I 
have given both shafts a finished diameter of eight feet on the accom- 
panying tracing showing this portion of the proposed work, although 
I should be inclined to recommend that the diameter of the lake inlet 
shaft be made not less than ten feet when finally constructed; and, 
as a question o{ first east entirely, although I cannot say it has my 
unqualified approbation, I have adopted the plan of a submerged in- 
let in the lake, in place of the more reliable—but unquestionably 
more costly form of protection suggested by existing structures some- 
what modified and improved as the result of observation and expe- 
rience. Recognizing the fact that the health and comfort of your 
people, and the saftey of the homes they occupy, are largely de- 
pendent on the strength and character of the pumping plant, the 
structural features ol the engines and boilers which are proposed for your use, are exclusively such as experience has shown to be among 
the most reliable and economical of their class and kind. The effi- 
ciency of the pumping service of any municipality largely underlies 
the health—the safety—the comfort and the prosperity of its inhabi- 
tants. and such efficiency undoubtedly depends—to a very consider- 
able extent—upon the character and durability of the engines, and 
the freedom from accidents which can only be assured by intelli- 
gent design—by the strength and quality of the materials used, and 
by the mechanical execution of the work at the hands of competent 
and honest men. The pump plant proposed is of the “ Duplex ” 
type, and consists of two horizontal, direct acting, compound, high 
pressure condensing engines; each engine having two horizontal 
double-acting pumps, with plungers fourteen inches in diameter, and 
arranged side by side on the same frame; each pump being operated 
directly by a compound engine with steam-jacketed cylinders—the 
high pressure cylinder having a diameter of sixteen inches, and the 
low pressure cylinder a diameter of twenty-eight inches, the strokes 
of the engines and pumps being thirty inches. These engines are 
set in pairs—side by side—and each engine is so constructed as to 
be capable of working together, as a pair, with the duplex principle 
of valve movement, or, by disconnecting the duplex gearing, each 
engine can be operated as an independent pumping machine by it- 
self. The combined capacity of this pumping plant is equal to a de- 
livery of four million gallons of water per day of twenty-four hours, 
against an ordinary, or, what is called a domestic pressure, of sixty 
pounds per square inch, although they are capable of working against 
an extraordinary, or, as it is sometimes called, a five pressure, of one 
hundred and fifty pounds per square inch. I do not regard the ca- 
pacity proposed as at all excessive, your daily requirements, now, 
being, in my opinion, fully forty per centum of the total capacity of 
the proposed pumping outfit which I have herein outlined. These 
engines should be capable of giving a maximum duty equal to the 
elevation of seventy million pounds of water one foot high, with a 
consumption of one hundred pounds of good merchantable coal with- 
out any deduction therefrom for ashes, clinkers or waste, and with a 
maximum boiler pressure not exceeding ninety pounds to the square 
inch. I do not attach very much importance, however, to these so- 
called special duty trials, the only reliable and practical test of the 
efficiency of a pumping engine being—to my way of thinking—its 15 
yearly record—showing- what the machine does, day in and day out, 
and what it is capable of doing under all the varying conditions and 
demands of the public service. In the steam generating plant pro- 
posed, two systems only are considered—the Babcock and Wilcox 
water tube boiler—and the old fashioned but well approved, cylindrical 
return tubular boiler—both are the very best that can be devised 
although I am strongly inclined to recommend the water tube type, 
alike on the score of ultimate safety, as of recognized efficiency and 
approved economy; both engines and boilers are explained and de- 
fined in the general specifications which I have prepared, and which 
form a part of this report. The station building designed to 
contain the engines and boilers, is a rectangular structure of brick, 
with stone and terra cotta trimmings, 52 feet front, 92 feet 
deep, and about 18 feet high to the eaves, and with a chimney 
stack in the rear, 84 feet high. Within the building is an engine 
room fifty feet square, and separated from it by a twelve inch wall, 
is a boiler room, fifty feet by forty feet. Space has been provided 
in both engine and boiler rooms for additions to both plants, which 
an increased demand for water will certainly render necessary at an 
early day. Parallel to the main structure on both sides, and distant 
therefrom some fifty feet, are the coal sheds, blacksmith and repair 
shop, and store room—extending from about the center of the build- 
ing, rearward, some 130 feet. Connecting the boiler room with the 
coal sheds on each side is a narrow gauge track, extending through 
the boiler room, parallel with the fire fronts, and within easy handling- 
distance of the furnace doors and ash pits. On the outer side of the 
coal sheds, extending to the rear of the enclosure, is a standard gauge 
track, making connection with a proposed siding on the line of the 
Chicago and Northwestern Rail Road, supposing the pumping station 
to be located within your Town as suggested in one of the plans 
herein submitted for your consideration. The pump well is rectangular 
on plan, about fifty feet long, twenty feet wide and twenty-five feet 
deep, into which the water is delivered to the suction pipes leading 
to the pumps, through a brick conduit five feet in diameter, and con- 
necting the well with the gate chamber on the exterior of the build- 
ing. The enclosed grounds surrounding the pumping station have 
a frontage of 300 feet and a depth of 350 feet, and this entire area 
should be enclosed on the sides and rear with a substantial fence, 
while that portion of the grounds situated in front and on the sides 16 
of the main building, should be converted into a lawn, and the entire 
front neatly finished with a tasty but inexpensive parapet wall about 
two feet high, with steps from the side walk, and a broad graveled 
path leading to the main entrance to the engine room. Having thus 
outlined the various plans which past experience and a careful con- 
sideration of the situation would seem to indicate as best suited to 
meet your requirements, it simply remains for me to say, that, as a 
matter of course, much of the work herein recommended might be 
dispensed with. For instance, the sub-aqueous conduit or tunnel 
could be replaced with a precarious makeshift in the shape of an 
ordinary cast iron pipe laid on the bed of the lake, and prevented 
from wobbling around—generally and promiscuously—by piling; 
the substantial and durable pumping station could also be replaced 
with a frame shanty covering the engines and boilers, and with an 
overgrown stove pipe for a chimney stack; and finally an ordinary 
hole dug in the ground and lined with plank could be substituted for 
the capacious and substantial pump well, which the precepts of ac- 
cepted hydraulic practice lead me to regard as both safe and essential; 
but having a natural repugnance to slip shod work simply because it 
is cheap and will stand up or hold together for a year or two, I have 
not considered it necessary to submit an estimate for a class of work, 
whose execution would be indictable, and whose existence a crime. 
In the selection of materials to be used in the prosecution of your 
proposed work, none but the best should be recognized—because the 
best is always the cheapest—poor materials resulting in poor work, 
and poor work is sure to be followed by waste of time and money 
and general demoralization. In your distribution system cast iron 
pipe of approved make only should be given a place, and it should 
be subjected to practical inspection by an experienced expert, and 
not by a political slouch, whose only recommendation is the quantity 
of bad whisky he can carry or the number of votes he can influence. 
All water pipe should be thoroughly coated with the coal tar prepara- 
tion formulated by Angus Smith, and should afterwards be subjected 
to a hydrostatic pressure of not less than 300 pounds per square inch. 
No pipe with a less diameter than six (6) inches should be used any- 
where—it is, in fact—the minimum size that should be adopted for 
branch mains in any well designed system of water supply. Large 
pipes discharge more in proportion to their areas than smaller ones, 
while the first cost is far from increasing with the same rapidity as 17 
does the discharging capacity. In the selection of water gates or stop 
valves no difficulty need be experienced, the “Chapman,” “Ludlow” 
and “Eddy,” leaving nothing to be desired in the way of perfection 
of design, standard materials and high class workmanship; while in 
the selection of a fire hydrant, I unhesitatingly recommend the double 
valve hydrant of Mr. Mathews of Philadelphia, although the Chap- 
man and the Ludlow people make hydrants that are standard of their 
class and kind. The strength and stability as well as the lasting 
qualities of brick and stone masonry are largely dependent on the 
character and quality of the hy draulic cement used in producing the 
mortar in which all such work is imbedded, and in no department of 
engineering or constructive art, does masonry of this character oc- 
cupy so important and responsible a position, as it does in hydraulic 
work such as we are herein considering—hence—I recommend the 
cement manufactured near Utica, in La Salle county in this State, 
and known on the market as the ‘'‘James Clark” and “Black Ball1’ 
brands, for exclusive use in your proposed work. I have used this 
make of cement in the construction of over 102 miles of sewers in 
the city of Chicago, and in the water supply tunnel beneath Lake 
Michigan at the foot of 68th street, and it has never failed to meet 
all the requirements of my specifications, both for standard excellence, 
unequalled uniformity and honest and careful manufacture'. 
In the following estimates, I have used the cost of labor and ma- 
terials current in the market at the present time—with such addi- 
tions for possible increase as I have thought both safe and probable. 
The work estimated for will all be found explained and defined in 
detail in the various specifications in the Appendix hereto, except in 
two or three instances where the accompanying working tracings 
are themselves of a sufficiently explanatory character for all practical 
purposes. 
Estimate No. 1. Showing the cost of the proposed conduit beneath 
the bed of the lake, with the land shaft on the lake shore, and 
the shaft in the lake inlet—complete—ready7 for use. 
70 feet of vertical shaft on lake shore—8 feet finished 
diameter, at $56.57 per vertical foot $ 3,959.90 
3000 feet tunneled conduit, at $20.31 per linear foot.. . 60,930.00 
52 feet of vertical shaft in lake inlet—8 feet finished 
diameter, including iron cap and grating and all 
temporary works, at $326.28 per vertical foot.. 16,966.56 18 
1 Resident Engineer 
1 Rodman and Assistant Inspector 
1 Inspector on Underground Construction 
1 “ of Materials at pit mouth 
1 “ “ Mortar “ “ “ 
6,200.00 
$88,056.46. 
The inspection force is—practically—only on duty during the “ma- 
sons’ shift,” which accounts for its limited number. 
Estimate No. 2. Showing the cost of the plan wherein it is proposed 
to locate the Pumping Station on Montrose Boulevard, west 
of its intersection with Western Avenue. 
11,440 feet of brick conduit—5 feet diameter—extending 
from the land shaft in the lake shore, to the “gate 
chamber’ within the grounds of the Pumping 
Station—at $9.39 per linear foot—in place— 
ready for use 107,421.60 
.2.5 Acres of land, at $1,200 per acre 3,000.00 
1 Gate chamber, 40 feet deep, 8 feet diameter, in- 
cluding “gate house” and machinery—and con- 
duit—5 feet diameter—leading into the pump well. 3,751.60 
1 Main building including pump well and chimney 
stack—platform scale set in pit, and about 300 feet 
of 24 inch gauge track, connecting the boiler 
room with the coal sheds, etc 21,169.89 
2 Pumping Engines—in place—ready for 
use $ 17,000.00 
3 Babcock and Wilcox water tube boilers 
set in a single battery, etc., with all 
connections 6,100.00 23,100.00 
2 Coal sheds, 
1 Repair shop, 
1 Store room, 
Included in two separate struc- 
tures, each 130 feet long, 30 feet 
wide and 18 feet high 
2,675.28 
Fencing, surfacing and ornamenting grounds, etc. 1,000.00 
Engineering, 
Superintendence, 
Inspection, etc. 
4,400.00 
Cost of Plan No. 1 $166,518.37 
If the ordinary return tubular boiler is substituted for the water 19 
tube type, then that item will appear in the foregoing estimate as 
follows, viz: 
3 Steel, cylindrical, return tubular boilers, with all 
connections, etc $4,299.00 
This shows a difference in first cost of $1,801 in favor of the latter 
style of boiler, notwithstanding which, I am convinced the water tube 
boiler will be found the most economical in the lapse of time, as it 
undoubtedly is the safest, most durable, and, all things considered, 
one of the most satisfactory steam generators used in the current 
practice of the day. 
Estimate No. j. Showing the cost of the plan wherein it is proposed 
to locate the Pumping Station on the lake shore, at or near 
the foot of Montrose Boulevard. 
2.5 Acres of land at $3,500 per acre $8,750.00 
300 feet of brick conduit—five feet diameter—con- 
necting the land shaft in the lake shore with the 
pump well at $9.39 per linear foot 2,817.00 
1 Main building, including pump well and chimney 
stack, platform scale set in pit, and track, con- 
necting boiler room with coal sheds, etc 21,169.89 
2 Pumping Engines in place—ready for 
use $ 17,000.00 
3 Babcock and Wilcox water tube boil- 
ers, set in a single battery, etc., with 
all connections 6,100.00 23,100,00 
2 Coal Sheds, 
1 Repair Shop, 
1 Store room, 
Included in two separate struc- 
tures, each 130 feet long, 30 feet 
wide and 18 feet high 
2,675.28 
11,440 feet cast iron force main, 30 inches diameter, in 
place, ready for use, at $5.77 per linear foot. .. . 66,008.80 
Fencing, surfacing and ornamenting grounds, etc. 1,000.00 
Engineering, 
Superintendence, 
Inspection, etc. 
Cost of Plan No. 2 .: $129,920.97 
4,4°°.oo 
A deduction from the foregoing of $1,801 must be made, if the 
ordinary return tubular boiler is substituted for the water tube boiler 20 
of Babcock and Wilcox as previously explained in the foot note to- 
Estimate No. 2. 
Estimate No. j. Showing the cost of the plan wherein it is proposed 
to locate the Pumping Station at some point immediately west 
of the intersection of Belmont Avenue with Western Avenue. 
13,640 feet of brick conduit, 6 feet diameter, extending 
from the land shaft in the lake shore at the foot 
of Belmont Avenue to the gate chamber within 
the grounds of the pumping station at $11.07 per 
linear foot—complete $150,994.80 
2.5 Acres of land at $1,600 per acre 4,000.00 
1 Gate chamber, 40 feet deep, 8 feet diameter, in- 
cluding “gate house” and machinery—and con- 
duit—6 feet diameter—leading into the pump 
well 4,234.92 
1 Main building, including pump well and chimney 
stack, platform scale set in pit, and about 300 
feet of 24 inch gauge track connecting the boiler 
room with the coal sheds, etc 21,169.89 
2 Pumping Engines, in place, ready for 
use $ 17,000.00 
3 Babcock and Wilcox water tube boil- 
ers, set in single battery, etc., with 
all connections 6,100.00 23,100.00 
2 Coal Sheds, 
1 Repair Shop, 
1 Store room, 
Included in two separate struc- 
tures, each 130 feet long, 30 feet 
wide and 18 feet high 
2,675.28 
Engineering, 
Superintendence, 
Inspection, etc. 
Fencing, surfacing and ornamenting grounds, etc. 1,000.00 
4,400.00 
Cost of Plan No. 3 $211,574.89 
As in the case of the previous estimates, the sum of $1,801 will 
have to be deducted from the foregoing amount, should the return 
tubular boiler be substituted for the Babcock & Wilcox water tube 
steam generator. 
Estimate No. 5. Showing the cost of the plan wherein it is proposed 
to locate the Pumping Station on the lake shore, at or near 
the foot of Belmont Avenue. 21 
2.5 Acres of land at $10,250 per acre $25,625.00 
300 feet of brick conduit, 6 feet diameter, connecting 
the land shaft in the lake shore with the pump 
well, at $11.07 per linear foot 3,321.00 
1 Main building, including pump well and chimney 
stack, platform scale set in pit, and 24 inch gauge 
track connecting boiler room with coal sheds, etc. 21,169.89 
2 Pumping Engines, in place, ready for 
use $ 17,000.00 
3 Babcock & Wilcox water tube boil- 
ers, set in single battery, etc., with 
all necessary connections 6,100.00 23,100.00 
2 Coal Sheds, 
1 Repair Shop, 
1 Store room, 
Included in two separate struc- 
tures, 130 feet long, 30 feet wide 
and 18 feet high 
2,675.28 
13,640 feet cast iron force main, 30 inches diameter, in 
place, ready for use, at $5.77 per linear foot. . . . 78,702.80 
Fencing, surfacing anti ornamenting grounds, etc. 1,000.00 
Engineering, 
Superintendence, 
Inspection, etc. 
4.400-00 
Cost of Plan No. 4 $159-993-97 
As previously explained the sum of $1,801 will have to be deducted 
from the foregoing amount, should the style of boiler be changed to 
the return tubular type. 
©ecJuctiontS) from tfie ©Joregoing Q^fimafe^. 
Plan si. 
Cost of taking four million gallons of water per diem, from a 
point in Lake Michigan, three thousand feet in a general east- 
erly direction from the foot of Montrose Boulevard in the 
Town of Lake View; and delivering the same to the Pumping 
Station, located at a point west of the intersection of Montrose 
Boulevard with Western Avenue, in the Town of Jefferson, 22 
fourteen thousand four hundred and forty feet from the inlet 
in the lake through which the water is taken. 
Cost of the sub-aqueous conduit—complete—as 
per Estimate No. 1 $88,056.46 
Cost of the landward extension of the conduit and 
of the Pumping Station, complete, as per Estimate 
No. 2 166,518.37 
Cost of Plan A—complete $254,574.83 
Plan B. 
Cost of taking four million gallons of water per diem from a 
point in Lake Michigan, three thousand feet offshore in an 
easterly direction from the Pumping Station, located at the foot 
of Montrose Boulevard, in the d own of Lake View; and de- 
livering the same through an iron force main, 30 inches 
diameter, to a point in the Town of Jefferson, Avest of Western 
Avenue on Montrose Boulevard, where connection with the 
general system of distribution will be effected. 
Length of water supply tunnel 3,000 feet. 
“ “ cast iron force main 11,440 “ 
Cost of sub-aqueous conduit as per Estimate No. 1. $88,056.46 
Cost of Pumping Station and force main, com- 
plete, as per Estimate No. 3 129.920.97 
Cost of Plan B., complete $217,977.43 
Plan C. 
Cost of taking four million gallons of water per diem from a 
point in Lake Michigan, three thousand feet east from the 
foot of Belmont Avenue, in the Town of Lake View; and de- 
livering the same to the Pumping Station, located on Belmont 
Avenue, west of its intersection with Western Avenue, in the 23 
Town of Jefferson. 16,640 feet from the inlet in the lake 
through which the water is taken. 
Cost of the sub-aqueous conduit, complete, as per 
Estimate No. 1 $88,056.46 
Cost of the landward extension of the conduit, 
and of the Pumping Station, complete, as per 
Estimate No. 4 211,574.89 
Cost of Plan C., complete $299,631.35 
Plan D. 
Cost of taking four million gallons of water per diem from a 
point in Lake Michigan, three thousand feet east from the 
Pumping Station located at the foot of Belmont 
Avenue, in the Town of Lake View; and deliver- 
ing the same through an iron force main, 30 inches 
diameter, to a point in the Town of Jefferson, west 
of the intersection of Belmont Avenue with 
Western Avenue, where connection with the gen- 
eral system of distribution will be effected. 
Length of water supply tunnel 3,000 feet. 
“ “ cast iron force main 13,640 “ 
Cost of the sub-aqueous conduit or water supply 
tunnel—complete—as per Estimate No. 1 $88,056.46 
Cost of Pumping Station and force main—com- 
plete—as per Estimate No. 5 159.993-97 
Cost of Plan D., complete $248,050.43 
Having considered the sources of supply within your reach—the 
character and quality of the water the)- furnish—and the cost of ob- 
taining the same in sufficient volume, and delivering it at points within 24 
your Town ready for attachment to any system of distribution your 
wants may devise, or your people and taxpayers ask for and are 
willing to pay for, it simply remains for me to conclude, with such 
recommendations as a careful study of the subject warrants, and which 
past experience sanctions. 
First. I recommend that the supply of water for your Town be 
taken from Lake Michigan, through a brick conduit constructed 
beneath the bed of the lake, whose diameter shall not be less than 
six (6) feet—and that the inlet into this conduit be located at a point 
in the lake fully three thousand feet east of the shore line in the 
Town of Lake View. 
Second. I recommend that the Pumping Station be located within 
the corporate limits of your Town, and that the water be conveyed 
to it from the land shaft in the lake shore, through a brick conduit, 
whose diameter shall not be less than five feet. 
Third. The location of your proposed Pumping Works should 
be at some central point as between your North and South lines, but 
as near as possible to your eastern Town line—and hence—I recom- 
mend the adoption of Plan A. which locates the Pumping Station on 
Montrose Boulevard immediately west of its intersection with Western 
Avenue—for the following reasons: 
a. Because of the two plans which come within the purview 
of my second recommendation, Plan A. costs the least to 
construct—and when constructed, will be the most econo- 
mical to maintain and operate. 
b. Because the location is the best, and will be the cheapest, 
from which to distribute the water in all directions through- 
out your own and adjacent Towns—North, South and West 
—North West and South West. 
c. Because—partly in one case—and wholly in others, this 
location is—all things considered—the best from which and 
through which a supply of water can be conveyed to such 
of your neighbors as may want it (and-they all do or will), 
and hence, the charges for such being irrespective of the 
location of your proposed works, the revenue derived will 
bear a much larger proportion to the first cost of Plan A— 
then it will to that of Plan C. 
Fourth. As regards your system of distribution, I recommend 
the use of cast iron pipes exclusively, of the following proportions 25 
and weights—and—when laid in the trenches, their tops should, in 
every case, be five feet beneath the surface of the roadways, and 
each joint should contain the quantity of gasket yarn and lead 
specified in the table below; 
Inside diameter 
in inches. 
Thickness of 
shell in inches. 
Weight per 
linear fool in 
lbs. 
Weight per 
length of 12 ft. 
4 in. in lbs. 
Weight of gas- 
ket yarn per 
joint. 
Weight of 
lead per 
joint. 
4 
V* 
24 
280 
2% OZ. 
6 lbs. 
6 
V* 
34 
404 
3 
9 “ 
8 
5/8 
56 
669 
4 
1 2 “ 
10 
5/8 
69 
824 
5 “ 
15 
I 2 
3/4 
99 
I 187 
6 
l8 “ 
14 
34 
115 
1373 
7 
2 I “ 
16 
H 
130 
1559 
8 
24 “ 
20 
7/s 
189 
2267 
10 “ 
30 “ 
24 
I 
259 
3102 
12 “ 
36 “ 
30 
ij4 
361 
4346 
1 lb. 
45 “ 
All pipes should be thoroughly coated with coal tar varnish as 
formulated by Angus Smith, and should—afterwards —be subjected to 
a hydrostatic pressure of not less than 300 lbs. per square inch. Fire 
hydrants should be placed at all street intersections, and whenever 
blocks exceed a length of 400 feet—a hydrant should also be 
placed in the centers of all such long blocks. No hydrant should be 
used that is not provided with double valves and movable frost cases, 
or whose stand pipes are less than four inches diameter; and the 
connections between all hydrants and street mains should always be 
made with pipes having the same diameters as the stand pipes of the 
hydrants they supply. No pipe should be used for street mains 
whose diameter is less than six inches—all smaller sizes being limited 
to hydrant connections or other species of service requiring larger 
quantities of water than the ordinary lead service pipe is capable of 
conveying. 
Of the eleven sheets of tracings accompanying this Report— 
No. 1 — Is a Map of the Towns of Jefferson and Lake View,. 
drawn to a scale of six inches to one mile. 
No. 2—Is a Plan of the site of the Pumping Station. 26 
No. 3—Is a side Elevation of the Pumping Station and 
Chimney Stack. 
No. 4—Is a front Elevation of the Pumping Station. 
No. 5—Is a rear Elevation of the Pumping Station and an 
entire elevation of the Chimney Stack. 
No. 6—Is a longitudinal Section of the building,chimney stack 
and connecting flue, and a vertical cross section of the 
pump well. 
No. 7—Is a plan of the Pumping Station. 
No. 8—Is a top view—a side elevation and an end elevation 
of the pumping engines. 
No. 9—Is a vertical longitudinal section of the pumping 
engines. 
No. io—Is a vertical section of the sub-pqueous conduit—of 
the land shaft—and of the conduit extension. 
No. 11—Is a vertical section of the sub-aqueous conduit, and 
of the inlet shaft in the lake. 
All the work embodied in the foregoing is explained in the Re- 
port or in the Appendix. 
In the foregoing Report I have endeavored—imperfectly I admit 
—to meet your wishes as expressed to me in your communication 
of the 27th day of July ultimo, and it has been my aim to do so in a 
concise and practical manner expressed in plain English, but in so 
doing, I have not considered it necessary to write a treatise on the 
subject of water generally—to explain or to illustrate the important 
functions it discharges in Nature—the proportions contained in the 
human body—the extent to which it commingles with the solid ma- 
terials out of which our World is formed, or to explain how the salt 
waters of the ocean by atmospheric influences and natural processes 
become the fresh waters of the land on which we live and work. 
Should there be any among your number desirous of refreshing their 
memory on this particular branch of elementary science, to all such 
would I say, read the interesting work from the French of Gaston 
Tissandier, entitled the “Wonders of Water,” or the highly instructive 
lecture on the same subject, delivered by Prof. Chandler before the 
American Institute, a few years ago. 
Every judicious improvement in the establishment of Public Works, 
increases the value of land, and augments the general wealth. 27 
In conclusion I desire to record my obligations to my friend Mr. 
A. W. Wright, Chief Engineer of the N. C. C. R. R. Co. for valu- 
able topographical data kindly furnished, and for many courtesies 
extended; and to my principal Assistant, Mr. J. S. Moloney, C. E., 
Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, for cordial 
and valuable co-operation at all times. 
(i. HOWARD-ELLERS, 
Civil Engineer. 
Chicago, 27th October, 1885. A 1 M >KX1 )IX. 
JEFFERSON WATER WORKS, 1885. 
SPECIFICATIONS 
describing and defining the 
•manner in which it is proposed to construct a sub-aqueous conduit, for the pur- 
pose of furnishing a reliable supply of water to the Town of Jefferson, Illinios, 
adjoining the city of Chicago. 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND LOCATION. 
The work which it is proposed to execute in accordance with these specifica- 
tions, will embrace the construction of a sub-aqueous conduit or water supply 
tunnel, extending in a general easterly direction beneath the bed of Lake Michi- 
gan, for a distance of feet from a vertical shaft to be located on the 
west shore of the lake at the foot of , to a similar shaft 
to be located at the easterly end of the proposed conduit, forming the inlet 
through which the water will reach and flow through the tunnel. Loth land and 
lake shafts to be sunk to a depth of feet below the general datum 
plane to which all levels and vertical measurements will be referred. In 
general terms it may be said the entire work will be circular in section, the 
finished dimensions being—for the shaft in the lake shore—a diameter of eight 
(K) feet; for the inlet shaft in the lake a diameter of feet, and for 
the tunneled conduit a horizontal diameter or minor axis of six (6) feet, and a 
vertical diameter or major axis of six (»i) feet and three (:{) inches; to be execu- 
ted throughout in first class brick masonry, carefully laid up in hydraulic’cement 
mortar, and in every respert to be constructed and finished in a thorough and 
workmanlike manner, and in absolute compliance with the plans furnished by the 
Chief Engineer, duly certified by his official signature, and such instructions as 
he shall issue during the progress of the work—in person—or through his prop- 
erly constituted representatives. 
GRADES. 
The tunneled conduit, extending eastwardly beneath the bed of the lake, shall 
be constructed with an inclination from the inlet shaft in the lake to the shaft 
in the lake shore—or—on a grade, which descends, shoreward at the rate of one 
tenth (0.1) of a foot per one hundred (100) feet, corresponding to a grade of five 
feet and twenty-eight (5.28) hundredths of a foot per mile. 2 
EXCAVATION. 
The excavation shall be commenced and prosecuted accurately upon the lines- 
and levels given daily by the Resident Engineer; and the tools and appliances 
shall be of such a character as to render reasonably certain the accuracy and 
progress of the work in hand—and—when being driven through the formations 
which the borings show to probably exist along the entire line, or in the imme- 
diate vicinity of the proposed tunnel—the perimeter of the excavated section 
shall be carefully trimmed up, so as to conform closely—in shape and dimen- 
sions—with the exterior of the masonry when in place: As an illustration of 
which, it may be accepted as a guiding rule, that where the character of the sur- 
rounding material is favorable, the finished diameter of the excavated section 
ought not to exceed the exterior of the masonry more than two (2) inches at any 
point. In all other respects, the dimensions and shape of the excavation shall 
be such as to guarantee the absolute safety of the work while progressing, and 
its stability and standard character when finished. All surplus material removed 
from out the shaft and tunnel during the prosecution of the work from the shore 
end, shall be hauled to, and deposited at, such points as the Chief Engineer may 
direct—the average haul on which, shall not—however—exceed a distance of 
one thousand (1,000) feet from the mouth of the shaft. 
Wherever rock is encountered, the “heading” shall be driven, and the full 
section of the tunnel excavated with such tools and appliances, and with such 
explosive compounds and weight of charges, as shall meet the approval of the 
Chief Engineer—and all inequalities in the perimeter of such rock work shall be 
filled, and worked up to the proper line and shape with concrete or stiff mortar, 
made in such proportions and otherwise used in such manner as appears elsewhere 
defined and directed herein. 
SHAFT IN THE LAKE SHORE. 
The work to be done here will consist in excavating and sinking the shaft to a 
depth of feet below the general datum plane. The brick masonry, 
with which the shaft shall be lined, following the excavation at a proper interval 
and with workmanlike regularity. The bottom of the shaft shall be paved with 
four (4) courses of brick masonry laid upon and surrounded by a footing or 
foundation of concrete five (f>) feet thick, and when finished, the bottom shall be 
hemi-spherical, the center formed with a circular stone, accurately dressed to a 
diameter of two (2) feet, with a thickness of eighteen (18) inches, and with bed 
and top surface parallel. The vertical walls shall be footed upon this hemi- 
spherical bottom, and they shall be composed of four (4) rings of brick work to 
a height of forty (40) feet above the footing course, from which point to the 
surface of the ground the thickness of the walls shall be reduced to 
three (3) rings of brick work. The junctions between the walls of the main 
tunnel and of the landward extensions, and the walls of the shaft, shall be careful- 
ly made by experienced and competent mechanics, in the best and most workman 
like manner; and the top shall be finished with an hemi-spherical dome, the three 
(3) rings of brick work composingthe walls being carried up and abutting on a cast 
iron circular curb or frame, leaving an opening in the center of the dome, three (3) feet in diameter, which shall be closed with an iron cover cross-ribbed on its 
under surface. A wrought iron ladder, with sides three (3) inches broad and 
half (0.5) an inch thick, placed eighteen (18) inches apart, and with inch square 
rounds one foot apart centers vertically, shall be placed in the shaft in such 
position and manner as the Chief Engineer shall direct. 
TUNNEL. 
The elevation of the grade line of the tunnel where it joins the shaft shall 
be ... feet below the datum plane, at which point, and for a 
distance of twenty (20) feet eastwardly from the face of the shaft the walls shall 
consist of four (4) rings of brick masonry, and, for a further distance of twenty 
(20) feet of three (3) rings, from which latter point to the easterly terminus at 
the inlet shaft in the lake, the walls shall consist of two (2) rings, except at such 
points where, in the judgment of the Chief Engineer, the safety and durability 
of the tunnel may require an additional ring to insure absolute stability. The 
inverts shall be accurately trimmed outand worked into properform with standard 
templets, the surface covered with a thick coating of mortar into which the bricks 
forming the exterior ring shall be imbedded at one operation—laid fair and true 
by line—generally as stretchers, and always breaking joints with the bricks in 
the adjoining courses. The arch shall be laid up on strong centers in a similar 
manner, and the centers kept in place until the mortar has taken a permanent 
set. All cavities around or in the rear of the brick-work shall be thoroughly 
tilled with stiff mortar, or with concrete, or with brick masonry, as the Chief 
Engineer shall direct. The thickness of all mortar joints, as well between the 
bricks as between the rings, shall be half ($) inch, and they shall be struck and 
finished smooth and uniform every where, and all surplus mortar adhering to the 
face of the brick-work shall be removed so that the finished masonry shall be left 
in a clean and workmanlike condition throughout. 
LAKE INLET SHAFT. 
The character of the temporary structure within which the permanent work 
shall be prosecuted, will be optional with the contractors, who, as a matter of 
course, will be held responsible by the terms of their contract for final and suc- 
cessful results in accordance with the requirements of these specifications. 
Similarly, any practical system which the contractors may originate or adopt to 
enable them to successfully prosecute the work in hand, will not be interfered 
with, so long as the work itself is executed in a satisfactory manner as specified 
herein, and with commendable or reasonable rapidity, but its practical and 
vigorous prosecution during the months of June, July and August will be insisted 
upon, and to that extent shall be regarded as absolutely obligatory. The per- 
manent work to be done at this point will consist in excavating and sinking the 
shaft to a depth of feet below the general datum plane, and an 
extension of the tunnel proper to a distance of about thirty (30) feet beyond the 
opposite side of the shaft, which latter extension shall be permanently closed with 
a bulkhead of solid brick masonry, one (l) foot beyond the eastern portal, and 
specifically constructed and finished as shown on exhibited plans officially at- 4 
tested by the signature of the Chief Engineer. The shaft shall have a finished 
diameter of feet, and the walls shall be composed of four (4) 
rings of brick masonry, footed on a hemispherical bottom, imbedded in a solid 
foundation of concrete precisely as indicated and specified in the case of the 
land shaft. The walls shall be finished at a point about three (3) feet above the 
bed of the lake, and capped with a cast iron curb or annular casing, carrying a 
wrought iron grated covering as shown on exhibited plans. The tentative 
character of this portion of the work is fully recognized, and hence, should it be 
deemed advisable to abandon the use of brick masonry in the vertical walls of 
the shaft only, for the purpose of attaining increased celerity, safety and economy, 
sectional cast iron cylinders, two (2) inches thick, with faced joints and interior 
flanges may be substituted, in accordance with plans to be exhibited and attested 
by the signature of the Chief Engineer. 
All excavated material, and all debris shall be placed on a scow and shall not 
be dumped in the lake at any point within a radius of one thousand (1,000) feet 
from the inlet shaft; and when the latter is finished, all temporary structures 
shall be carefully and promptly removed, and the bed of the lake surrounding 
thednlet left in the original condition which existed prior to the inauguration of 
the work. 
MASONRY. 
The character and quality of the bricks that shall be used in the masonry 
throughout are hereinafter specified. Prior to being placed in the car for trans- 
portation into the work, all bricks shall be wet to the point of absolute satura- 
tion with clean water—by immersion entire. In the work—they shall generally 
be laid as stretchers—fair and true to line, and so placed as to break joints— 
mid-length—with all bricks in adjacent courses. In the mortar beds—they shall 
be pressed into their proper positions by one operation for each brick, the object 
being to flush out all surplus mortar, thereby allowing the mortar joints to re- 
main perfectly filled, and the bricks to be entirely imbedded, with joints on all 
sides which shall not exceed half an inch in thickness,—as a rule—that shall 
be standard for the work throughout. The wraworkmanlike practice of “slush- 
ing” or working the mortar into the joints after the bricks are in place, is abso- 
lutely prohihited. As the brick work progresses, it shall not be racked back in 
courses, but at all points where joints are to be made, its temporary ends shall 
be left “toothed,” for the purpose of facilitating the continuity and alignment. 
BRICKS. 
For use in this work the harder and denser varieties shall be given the prefer- 
ence. They shall be of the best quality, clear ringing, sound and smooth; burned 
hard and uniformly throughout, and free from lime pebbles and other stones; 
regular in shape and of standard dimensions. They shall be subjected to thor- 
ough inspection, when all bricks failing to meet the requirements of these speci- 
fications, and all bats, shall be culled out and placed in a pile by themselves, and 
their further use limited to concrete, or as filling in cavities, should such be 
encountered in the prosecution of the work. 5 
CEMENT. 
The hydraulic cement which shall be used—exclusively—in this work, is that 
manufactured at and near Utica, La Salle County, Illinois, and known in the 
market as the “James Clark” and “Black Ball” brands. It shall be fresh made 
and ground to such a degree of fineness that eighty (80) per cent, of the powder 
shall pass through a sieve having thirty-six hundred (3600) meshes to the square 
inch. If tested for setting qualities and for strength, promiscuous samples shall 
be mixed, neat, with clean water, and moulded into test pieces, which latter shall 
beallowed to stand—undisturbed—for six (G) hours in air, and then be immersed in 
water for forty-eight (48) hours, at the expiration of which period they shall be 
placed in the testing machine and subjected to a tensile strain of fifty (50) 
pounds to the square inch, failure to sustain which shall be regarded as a suffi- 
cient reason for instituting a thorough series of experimental tests, upon the 
average results of which shall depend the acceptance or rejection of the entire 
lot from which the samples were taken. 
SAND. 
All sand used shall be free from loam, clean, sharp, silicious, and as reasonably 
coarse as can be obtained in this locality—and—if deemed necessary by the 
Chief Engineer, it shall be screened and washed. 
MORTAR—GROUT—CONCRETE. 
All mortar shall be composed of equal volumes of cement powder and sand— 
“one to one”—by measure; thoroughly mixed in a dry state, and then brought 
to proper consistency with clean water, and always fresh made for the work in 
hand: It shall he used immediately after being mixed, and not allowed to remain on 
the mortar boards until it has set, and then be broken down, remixed or “retem- 
pered,” so called. 
Grout—if used at all—shall be composed of neat cement powder and clean 
water, mixed to such consistency with an excess of water, as shall enable it to 
thoroughly permeate and reach the most distant parts of the work wherein its 
use shall be found obligatory. 
Concrete—shall be composed of one part cement powder, two parts sand, and 
three parts crushed stone, broken bricks or quarry chips, whose dimensions shall 
not exceed one inch and a half in any direction. All the foregoing proportions 
of cement powder, sand and stone, shall be ascertained and used by measure— 
the mortar being first made as hereinbefore specified—the stone, previously 
cleansed and sprinkled—then added—the mass thoroughly incorporated, and 
then immediately deposited in place in layers not over six (G) inches deep or 
thick at a time, and tamped until the water of admixture is flushed to the surface. 
VENTILATION—ILLUMINATION. 
During the prosecution of the work, some approved method of ventilation shall 
be adopted at the start, and kept in constant use. This may be effected by forcing 
pure air into the tunnel, and delivering same at the face of the work, thereby 6 
creating an outward current through the heading and finished tunnel into the 
shaft, or, vice versa, by withdrawing the vitiated air at the face of the work, and 
the consequent creation of an inward current of pure air from the exterior, through 
tunnel and heading, from shaft to face. Either system may be used—the prompt 
adoption of one shall be obligatory. For this part of the work the Sturtevant Fan or 
the “Murphy Ventilator” should be given the preference, the latter machine being 
especially adapted to work of this character from the ease and rapidity with 
which it can be used either as an Exhauster or a Blower, at the will of the opera- 
tor. The same may be said of some system of illumination other than by 
lanterns and the ordinary miner’s lamp, and hence the adoption and use of the 
electric light shall be obligatory, and must be anticipated and provided for ac- 
cordingly. 
PUMPING AND DRAINAGE. 
An efficient, practical and reliable system of pumping and drainage shall be 
adopted at the outset, and every part of the work shall be kept free and clear of 
water by training the drainage to properly located sumps, the pumping system 
being ample in power and capacity to keep all parts of the work sufficiently dry 
to enable the miners and masons to prosecute their part of the work in a reliable 
and satisfactory manner. Especial pains shall be taken to protect all fresh work 
from the effects of running water, and from injury resulting from the passage of 
man or animals, should the latter be used during the progress of the work. Any 
system of drainage which fails to fulfil all the conditions embodied herein, in a 
practical manner, will be rejected, and shall be modified or changed to such 
extent as the Chief Engineer shall direct. 
PRECAUTIONS AGAINST ACCIDENTS. 
A proper system of protection against accidents shall be inaugurated by the 
Contractors, coupled with such precautions as shall be deemed necessary to insure 
the safety of the work while in progress or of the men engaged in its prosecution. 
These conditions are imperative, and the Contractors will be held strictly respon- 
sible for all claims that may arise from damages to persons or property, following 
neglect or violation of these plain conditions. 
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS. 
The liberal use of mortar in all parts of the work shall be the rule, and not— 
as is too often the case—the exception. 
The entire work shall be thoroughly cleansed out prior to final inspection and 
acceptance. 
The work shall at all times be open and accessible to the engineering staff, and 
such reasonable assistance and needed facilities as they may require in the proper 
prosecution of their labors, shall be cheerfully accorded them by the Contractors 
and their employes. 
The Contractors shall employ none but competent, sober, and skillful men, 
and, whenever requested so to do by the Chief Engineer—they shall at once 
discharge any employe who fails in the faithful performance of his duties, or 7 
who neglects to accord prompt and cheerful obedience to practical and decently 
worded instructions. 
All tools and machinery necessary to the safe and proper execution of the 
work, and all materials and labor required in its thorough construction—entile 
and perfect in every respect—shall be furnished by the Contractors, who shall 
likewise be responsible for its safety and protection until final acceptance by the 
Chief Engineer. 
The Contractors shall furnish all stakes needed by the Engineering Staff, and 
such manual labor or other assistance as may be required for their location and 
subsequent protection. 
No material shall be used anywhere in the permanent construction, until the 
same shall have been examined and approved by the Chief Engineer, or by 
Inspectors acting under his orders; and all imperfect work or defective materials 
which maybe discovered in the permanent construction—shall—upon the request 
of the Chief Engineer—be instantly removed, and the same reconstructed and 
replaced in a proper and satisfactory manner at the expense of the Contractors. 
Whenever the word Engineer is used herein, it shall be understood as meaning 
the Chief Engineer of the Corporation; and, in a similar manner, the word 
Contractor or Contractors, shall be understood as meaning an individual or a 
firm—or any member of such firm, who may have contracted and engaged to exe- 
cute the work described and defined herein. 
The intent and aim of these specifications is to describe the character of the 
work—the methods to be followed in its execution, and the quality of the 
materials to be used in its construction in as plain and practical a manner as 
possible, and the parties contracting to do the work shall honestly conform to all 
the requirements embodied herein for their guidance and information. 
On or about the first of every month approximate estimates will be made by 
the Chief Engineer for the amount of work actually done during the previous 
month—and vouchers for the same will be immediately issued to the Contractors, 
less ten (10) per cent., which will be deducted and retained until the final com- 
pletion and acceptance of the work, which latter point shall be regarded as 
reached, when the Chief Engineer shall have made and issued his certificate ofi 
final inspection. 
The Chief Engineer shall decide all questions that may arise as to the correct 
interpretation of these Specifications, or as regards the proper execution of the 
work, and his decisions shall be final and conclusive, unless they be absolutely 
wanting in every essential of justice and equity. 
G. IIO WARD-ELLERS, 
Chicago, 1st October, 1885. Chief Engineer. 8 
JEFFERSON WATER WORKS—1885. 
SPECIFICATIONS, 
describing the manner in which 
it is proposed to construct a brick conduit, and gate chamber with pump well 
connection, and defining the character and quality of the materials to be used in 
the execution of the work. 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND LOCATION. 
The work is to be executed in accordance with these specifications embraces 
the construction of a brick conduit feet in diameter, located in 
from to 
a distance of about feet; and a gate chamber and pump well con- 
nection, located within the grounds of the Pumping Station, situated on 
Avenue, west of its intersection with _■ 
Avenue, in the Town of Jefferson. In general terms it may be said the entire 
work is to be circular in section, the finished dimensions being—for the con- 
duit—a diameter of feet; for the gate chamber, a diameter of eight 
feet, and for the pump well connection a diameter of feet; to be 
•executed throughout in first-class brick masonry, carefully laid up in hydraulic 
cement mortar, and in every respect to be constructed and finished in a thorough 
and workmanlike manner, and in strict compliance with such plans as may be 
furnished by the Chief Engineer, and such instructions as he shall issue during 
the progress of the work—in person—or through his properly constituted repre- 
sentatives. At several points on the line of this proposed work the conduit will 
pass beneath the tracks of the Chicago and Evanston—the Chicago and North 
Western—and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Rail Roads—and hence— 
the practical protection of the tracks in accordance with the views of the respec- 
tive companies will undoubtedly entail additional expense—inseparable from all 
such work, which the contractors must anticipate as legitimate, and which they 
must provide for accordingly. 
GRADES. 
The conduit shall be constructed on a grade which descends from the land 
shaft in the lake shore, to the gate chamber within the grounds of the Pumping 
Station, at the rate of five hundredths (0.05) of a foot per one hundred (100) feet; 
being equal to a grade of two feet and sixty-four hundredths of a foot (2.64) per 
mile. 
PUMPING AND DRAINAGE, 
An efficient, practical and every way reliable system of drainage shall be de- 
vised and adopted at the commencement of active operations, and all parts of the 9 
work shall be kept sufficiently dry to enable the workmen to discharge the vari- 
ous duties assigned them in a thoroughly reliable and workmanlike manner. 
The pumping plant shall be ample in power and capacity to meet all emergencies, 
and any plan which fails to comply with these requirements in a practical man- 
ner, will be rejected, And shall be changed to such an extent as the Chief Engineer 
shall direct. 
EXCAVATION AND CONSTRUCTION. 
The excavation shall be commenced at such points as the Chief Engineer shall 
direct; and it shall be vigorously prosecuted upon such lines and levels as shall 
be given to the contractors—daily—by the resident engineers in personal charge 
of the work. The tools and appliances shall be of such a character as shall 
render certain the accuracy and rapid progress of the work in hand; and the 
dimensions and shape of the excavated section, and the manner of prosecuting 
the work, shall be such as to guarantee the absolute safety of the conduit w'hile 
in progress, and its stability and standard character when finished. All surplus 
material which may remain on the line of the work after its completion, shall be 
removed at the expense of the contractors, or as may otherwise be directed by the 
Chief Engineer, so that the roadway beneath which the conduit has been con- 
structed, shall be left in the same general condition in which it was found prior 
to commencing work thereunder. Should rock be encountered, the work shall 
be prosecuted, and the full section excavated, with such tools and appliances, and 
with such explosive compounds and weight of charges, as the Chief Engineer 
only shall direct; and all inequalities in such rock sections shall be filled and care- 
fully shaped up to the proper line and levels with concrete and mortar, made in 
such proportions and otherwise used in such manner as appears elsewhere de- 
fined and directed herein. The elevation of the grade line of the conduit, where 
it joins the land shaft in the lake shore shall be feet below the 
general datum plane to which all levels shall be referred, and similarly its eleva- 
tion at the point where its grade line joins the gate chamber within the grounds 
of the Pumping Station shall be feet below the same datum 
plane. The walls of the conduit shall be composed of two (2) rings of brick 
masonry, except for a distance of about thirty (30) feet from the lake shore shaft 
and gate chamber, where an additional ring shall be used for the purpose of in- 
suring increased stability; and likewise at such other points, where, in the judg- 
ment of the Chief Engineer, solely, the safety and durability of the conduit shall 
require an additional ring or rings for the same or similar purposes. The inverts 
shall be accurately trimmed out and worked into proper form with standard 
templets, the surface covered with a thick coating of mortar into which the bricks 
forming the exterior ring shall be imbedded at one operation—laid fair and true 
by line—generally as stretchers, and always breaking joints with the bricks in 
the adjoining courses. The arch shall be laid up on strong centres in a similar 
manner, and the centres kept in place until the mortar has taken a permanent 
set. All cavities around or in the rear of the brick-work shall be thoroughly 
filled with stiff mortar, or with concrete, as the Chief Engineer shall direct. 
The thickness of all mortar joints, as well between the bricks as between the 
rings, shall be half ($) inch, and they shall be struck and finished smooth and uniform everywhere, and all surplus mortar adhering to the face of the brick- 
work shall be removed so that the finished masonry shall be left in a clean and 
workmanlike condition throughout. 
MASONRY. 
The character and quality of the bricks that shall be used in the masonry 
throughout are hereinafter specified. Prior to being placed in the work, all 
bricks shall be wet to the point of absolute saturation with clean water—by im- 
mersion entire. In the work—they shall generally be laid as stretchers—fair 
and true to line, and so placed as to break joints—mid-length—with all bricks 
in adjacent courses. In the mortar beds—they shall be pressed into their 
proper positions by one operation for each brick, the object being to flush out 
all surplus mortar, thereby allowing the mortar joints to remain perfectly filled, 
and the bricks to be entirely imbedded, with joints on all sides which shall not 
exceed half (%) an inch in thickness,—as a rule—that shall be standard for the 
work throughout. The workmanlike practice of “slushing” or working the 
mortar into the joints after the bricks are in place, is absolutely prohibited. As the 
brick-work progresses, it shall not be raked back in courses, but at all points where 
joints are to be made, its temporary ends shall be left “toothed,” for the purpose 
of facilitating the continuity and allignment. 
BRICKS. 
For use in this work, the harder and denser varieties shall be given the prefer- 
ence. They shall be the best quality, clear ringing, sound and smooth, uniformly 
burned, and free from lime pebbles and other stones, regular in shape and of 
standard dimensions. They shall be subjected to thorough inspection, when all 
bricks failing to meet the requirements of these specifications, and all bats shall 
be culled out and placed in a pile by themselves, and their further use limited to 
concrete, or similar purposes as the Chief Engineer shall direct or sanction. 
CEMENT. 
The hydraulic cement which shall be used—exclusively—in this work, is that 
manufactured at and near Utica, La Salle County, Illinois, and known in the 
market as the “James Clark” and “Black Ball” brands. It shall be fresh made 
and ground to such a degree of fineness that eighty (80) per cent, of the powder 
shall pass through a sieve having thirty-six hundred (3600) meshes to the square 
inch. If tested for setting qualities and for strength, promiscuous samples shall 
be mixed, neat, with clean water, and moulded into test pieces, which latter shall 
be allowed to stand—undisturbed—for six (6) hours in air, and then be immersed in 
water for forty-eight (48) hours, at the expiration of which period they shall be 
placed in the testing machine and subjected to a tensile strain of fifty (50) 
pounds to the square inch, failure to sustain which shall be regarded as a suffi- 
cient reason for instituting a thorough series of experimental tests, upon the 
average results of which shall depend the acceptance or rejection of the entire 
lot from which the samples were taken. All sand used shall he free from loam, clean, sharp, silicious, and as reasonably 
coarse as can be obtained in this locality—and—if deemed necessary by the 
Chief Engineer, it shall be screened and washed. 
MORTAR—GROUT—CONCRETE. 
All mortar shall be composed of equal volumes of cement powder and sand— 
“one to one”—by measure; thoroughly mixed in a dry state, and then brought 
to proper consistency with clean water, and ahvays fresh made for the work in 
hand: It shall be used immediately after being mixed, and not allowed to remain on 
the mortar boards until it has set, and then be broken down, remixed or “retem- 
pered,” so called. 
Grout—if used at all—shall be composed of neat cement powder and clean 
water, mixed to such consistency with an excess of water, as shall enable it to 
thoroughly permeate and reach the most distant parts of the work wherein its 
use shall be found obligatory. 
Concrete—shall be composed of one part cement powder, two parts sand, and 
three parts crushed stone, broken bricks or quarry chips, whose dimensions 
shall not exceed one inch and a half in any direction. The proportions of cement 
powder, sand and stone shall be ascertained and used by measure—the mortar 
made first as hereinbefore specified—the stone, previously cleansed and 
sprinkled, shall then be added, and the mass, thoroughly incorporated, shall then 
be immediately deposited in place in layers not over six (fi) inches deep or thick, 
at a time, and tamped until the water of admixture is flushed to the surface. 
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS. 
In the absence of the Contractors, all orders from the Chief Engineer—or 
from the Resident Engineers, shall be received and promptly executed by the 
foremen, or by such other representatives of the Contractors who may be present 
and in charge of the work. 
The liberal use of mortar in all parts of the work shall be the rule, and not—as 
is too often the case—the exception. 
All fresh work shall be carefully protected from every species of disturbance 
until the mortar shall have permanently set in place. 
When finished, every part of the work embraced herein shall be thoroughly 
cleaned out prior to its final inspection by the Chief Engineer. 
All parts of the work, shall at all hours, be accesible to the engineering staff, 
and such reasonable assistance and needed facilities as they may require while 
in the discharge of their official duties, shall always be cheerfully accorded them 
by the Contractors and any or all of their employes. 
None but skilful, sober and experienced men shall be employed in the work, 
and, whenever requested so to do by the Chief Engineer, the Contractors shall at 
once discharge all drunken, incompetent or disorderly individuals, or any em- 
ploye who fails in the honest performance of his duties, or who neglects or re- 
fuses to accord prompt and cheerful obedience to proper instructions. And all 
parties so discharged shall not again be employed on any part of the work. The Contractors shall furnish all stakes need by the engineering staff, and like- 
wise such manual assistance as may be required to locate and place such stakes, 
and to efficiently protect them so long as their undisturbed condition is essential 
to the proper prosecution of the work. 
All tools and machinery necessay to the safe and proper execution of the work, 
and all materials and labor required in its thorough construction—entire and per- 
fect in every respect—shall be furnished by the Contractors, who shall likewise be 
responsible for its safety and protection until final inspection and acceptance by 
the Chief Engineer. 
No material shall be used anywhere in the permanent construction, until the 
same shall have been examined and approved by the Chief Engineer, or by In- 
spectors acting under his orders; and all imperfect work or defective materials 
which may be discovered in the permanent construction—shall—upon the order 
of the Chief Engineer—be instantly removed, and the same reconstructed and 
replaced in a proper and satisfactory manner at the expense of the Contractors. 
Whenever the word Engineer is used herein, it shall be understood as 
meaning the Chief Engineer of the Corporation, and, in a similar manner, the 
word Contractor or Contractors, shall be understood as meaning an individual or 
a firm—or any member of such firm, who have contracted to execute the work 
described and defined herein. 
The intent and aim of these specifications is to describe the charactor of the 
work—the methods to be followed in its execution, and the quality of the ma- 
terials to be used in its construction in as plain and practical a manner as possi- 
ble, and the parties contracting to do the work shall honestly conform to all the 
requirements embodied herein for their guidance and information. 
On or about the first of every month approximate estimates will be made by 
the Chief Engineer for the amount of work actually done during the previous 
month—and vouchers for the same will be immediately issued to the Contractors, 
less (10) per cent, which shall be deducted and retained until the final completion 
and acceptance of the work, which latter point shall be regarded as reached, when 
the Chief Engineer shall have made and issued his certificate of final inspection 
and acceptance. 
The Chief Engineer shall decide all questions that may arise as to the correct 
interpretation of these Specifications, or as regards the proper execution of the 
work, and his decisions shall be final and conclusive, unless they be glaringly 
deficient in every essential of justice and equity. 
G. HOWARD-ELLERS. 
Chicago, 1st October, 1885. Chief Engineer. 13 
Form of Special Notice which should be attached to all Proposals and Specifica- 
tions, etc. 
JEFFERSON WATER WORKS—1885-6. 
SPECIAL NOTICE. 
Contractors are particularly requested to carefully read the 
specifications attached hereto, and likewise to examine for themselves the loca- 
tion of the proposed work, so that no misconception may arise as to the precise 
character of the wrork to be executed. The measurements and quantities given 
herein are approximate only, and bidders are notified that the Board of Trustees 
reserve the right to increase or diminish same, and that no allowance will be 
made in ease of their increase for any sum above the price bid, nor in case of 
decrease, for any real or supposed damage or loss of profit occasioned by such 
diminution; but the time specified herein for the full completion of the work will 
be proportionally increased or diminished, in the discretion of the undersigned. 
The prices stated by bidders herein will include all labor, as well as the furnish- 
ing of all materials 
and it will also include all “grubbing and clearing,”—all 
“sheeting and shoring,” and all “bailing and draining,” and, in general all ex- 
pense incurred by or in consequence of an absolute compliance with each and 
everyone of the requirements of the annexed specifications, and for the thorough 
and faithful completion of the work, in the manner therein specified. No bid 
will be accepted from, or contract awarded to, any party who is in arrears to the 
Town of Jefferson, upon debt or contract, or who is a defaulter, as surety or 
otherwise, upon any obligation to said Town. The right to determine the times 
and places for commencing and prosecuting the work referred to herein, is ex- 
pressly reserved, and bidders are informed, that, under no circumstances, will 
any deviation from these specifications be allowed or recognized, without the 
written permission of the undersigned, whose interpretation thereof will be final 
and conclusive. 
Companies or firms tendering, must state herein the individual names and 
places of residence of the persons comprising such company or firm, as well as 
the names of all parties interested with them therein. All proposals must be made 
upon the regular printed blanks furnished by the undersigned, and all tenders will be 
rejectedJor informality which are not made thereon, and which are not—in all other 
respects,—in strict conformity with this notice. The Board of Trustees ex- 
pressly reserve the right to reject any or all bids which may be deemed prejudi- 
cial to the public interests. 
G. IIOWAllD-ELLERS, 
Chief Engineer. BLANK FORM OF PROPOSAL TO LAY WATER PIPE. 
.188 
To the — 
BOARD OF TRUSTEES, 
of JEFFERSON, ILL., 
GENTLEMEN : 
The undersigned having carefully read the specifications attached hereto, and 
having gone over and personally examined the streets and avenues in which it is 
proposed to lay said cast iron water main, hereby propose 
to furnish all the materials, except straight pipe, special castings, water gates and 
gate boxes and covers, and to do all the work of any and every description 
required to put said pipe and appurtenances in place, ready for public use, for the 
prices and at the rates set forth below, viz: 
For the water main, together with all special castings and water 
gates, put in place only, <fcc., dollars and 
cents per linear foot. 
These prices to include all “grubbing and clearing,” all “sheeting and 
shoring,” all “ bailing and draining,” all excavation of solid or loose rock, and all 
bedding and back-filling of sand in rock trenches, and to be in full and absolute 
compensation for any and everything required to finish the work in strict accord- 
ance with the annexed specifications in every respect, and in compliance with the 
foregoing “Special Notice” attached hereto. The above proposal is made under the 
express conditions, and the undersigned hereby expressly agree, that, in case this 
tender is accepted by the Town of Jefferson, and the undersigned should fail or 
neglect to promptly enter into such contract with said Town for the full and 
complete execution of this work as shall be required by the Board of Trustees, 
and within two (2) days following the receipt of notice of acceptance of this 
tender, then the sum of one thousand dollars deposited herewith, shall be for- 
feited to the Corporation, and all claim thereto is hereby relinquished. 
Resilience 
Resilience JEFFERSON WATER WORKS.-1885. 
describing the manner in which 
it is propsed to handle and put into permanent place, a cast iron water main, and 
defining the quantity and quality of the materials to be used in the execution of 
the work. 
SPECIFICATIONS, 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND LOCATION. 
The work to be executed in accordance with these specifications embraces the 
handling and laying of about linear feet of a cast iron water main, 
inches interior diameter, in lengths of about 12 feet 4 inches each, and weighing 
about ... lbs. per linear foot, or about lbs. per length ; together 
with some pieces of special castings in the shape of “quarter bends,” 
“angles,” “hydrant tees,” and crosses,” and likewise water gates, the 
latter to be placed in boxes with manhole covers; all of which will be furnished 
by the Town, and will be distributed along the line of the proposed work 
convenient for final handling and disposition. The location as proposed 
is in 
from 
to 
and the work shall be prosecuted in such a manner as to present the least possible 
obstruction to roadway traffic, or to the legitimate use of the intersecting streets 
and sidewalks. 
GRUBBING AND CLEARING. 
All trees, stumps, logs or bushes shall be removed from the line of the trench 
and deposited in such position sufficiently remote therefrom as to insure their 
permanent separation from the back-filling. 
SHEETING AND SHORING. 
Should any portion of the material through which the trench may be excavated 
prove deficient in stability, then the proper position of the sides and the condi- 
tion of the trench shall be maintained by a thorough system of sheeting, shoring 
and bracing. 
BAILING AND DRAINING. 
The trench shall be kept clear of water by training the drainage to properly 
located sumps, and the pumping system shall be ample in power and capacity to 
keep the trench sufficiently dry to enable the “jointers,” and “caulkers,” to execute 
their part of the work in a thorough and reliable manner. Any system of drain- 
age which fails to fulfill these conditions in a practical manner, will be rejected, 
and shall be changed to such an extent as may be directed by the Chief Engineer. 16 
EXCAVATION AND BACK-FILLING. 
The trench shall be excavated in strict conformity with the lines and levels 
given by the Resident or Assistant Engineers and in no other way, and it shall be 
of full and sufficient width to enable the workmen to handle the pipe and their 
tools with ease and facility, and generally to such depth, that the upper side of 
the main, when in permanent position, shall in no place be less than five (5) feet 
beneath the surrounding or natural surface of the ground. The cross-trenches for 
the bell ends of the pipe shall be of sufficient width and depth to enable the work- 
men to properly insert and pack the rope-yarn, and to pour the lead, and caulk 
the joints perfectly throughout. The back-filling shall always closely follow the 
finished pipe and all surplus excavation shall be dressed up over the center of the 
trench in a shapely and workmanlike manner. Before commencing the excava- 
tion, all materials composing the cross-walks, the roadway paving, or other simi- 
lar improvements, shall be carefully removed and piled where they will be out of 
the way of the street traffic, and beyond the possibility of admixture with the mater- 
ial taken from out the trenches; and when the main is finished in place, the back- 
filling shall commence at once, and, as it progresses, it shall be thoroughly tamped 
to such an extent as to render subsequent settlement of the surface practically 
impossible; and the roadway shall then be thoroughly cleaned up, the cross-walks 
and the MacAdam or paving re-placed, and generally the surface shall be left in 
the same condition in which it was found prior to commencing work thereon. 
The same requirements shall apply to the various drainage ditches crossing the 
proposed line, and through which it will be necessary to carry the pipe, and the 
general condition in which they shall be found—shall—in every instance, 
be practically restored. 
PIPE LAYING. 
Each length of pipe shall be carefully placed in its proper position in the bot- 
tom of the trench previously prepared for its reception, the interior shall be 
thoroughly cleaned out, the bead ends inserted and sent home concentrically into 
the bells and the allignment adjusted. The rope-yarn used for the gaskets shall 
be of the very best quality, and, after being wound into place, it shall be packed 
and driven to a uniform bearing against the bead at the back of the joint. The 
quantity of rope-yarn used shall be pound in each joint. The lead used 
for the same purpose shall likewise be of the very best quality of American pig, 
soft and free from scoria, and, when melted and poured into place, it shall be set 
up uniformly and the joints shall be thoroughly and carefully caulked at all 
points. During the process of melting the lead, preparatory to pouring, it shall 
be skillfully handled so as to prevent either burning or over-lieating. Each joint 
shall contain not less than pounds of lead, which shall always 
be poured into place from one full ladle and at a single operation. None but known 
and experienced caulkers will be allowed to do this part of the work. The ex- 
ceedingly reprehensible practice of joining permanently several lengths of pipe 
on the surface, and then rolling and lowering the same—practically as one piece 
—into the trench, will not be permitted under any circumstances. All water gates 
or stop valves, together with their boxes and covers, shall be properly put in 
place at such points in the line as the Chief Engineer shall direct—or, through his Assistants, designate; and all plugs in crosses, tees and reducers shall be in 
serted in the bells and carefully packed and caulked and secured in place. 
TIME FOR FINAL COMPLETION. 
The entire work shall be finished, ready for final inspection and subsequent 
pressure test, in working days, which period shall com- 
mence on the fifteenth day after the contract has been approved by the ifoard of 
Trustees, and the official signature of the President, duly attested by the Clerk, 
has been affixed thereto. 
PRESSURE TEST. 
Upon the completion of the work ready for public use, the'entire line shall be 
subjected to a hydrostatic pressure of 150 pounds per square inch, which said 
pressure shall be maintained at all points for a period not less than five (5) 
hours, as the Chief Engineer shall decide and elect. 
PRECAUTIONS AGAINST ACCIDENTS. 
All unfinished parts of the work shall be surrounded and efficiently protected 
at all hours by ample and sufficient barriers, on which red signal lights shall be 
placed and maintained at night time, together with such additional precautions 
as shall be deemed necessary by the Chief Engineer for the absolute protection 
of the traveling public. These conditions are imperative, and the Contractor will 
lie held strictly responsible for all claims that may arise from damages to persons 
or property following neglect or violation of these plain requirements. 
PAYMENTS. 
On or about the first of every month during the progress of the work, approxi- 
mate estimates will be made by the Engineer of the amount of work actually 
finished in place during the previous month, and vouchers for the same will be 
issued to the Contractor or Contractors, less ten (10) percent, which will be 
deducted therefrom, and which will be retained until the final completion and 
acceptance of the woik, which latter point will be regarded as reached, when the 
Chief Engineer shall have made and issued bis certificate of final inspection and 
acceptance of the work. 
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS. 
In the absence of the Contractor, all orders from the Chief Engineer shall be 
received and promptly executed by the foreman, or such other representative of 
the Contractor who may be present and in charge of the work. 
None but skillful, sober and experienced men shall be employed in the work, 
and, whenever requested so to do by the Chief Engineer, the Contractor shall at 
once discharge all drunken, incompetent or disorderly individuals, or any 
employe who fails in the honest performance of his duties, or who neglects or 
refuses to accord prompt and cheerful obedience to proper instructions. And all 
parties so discharged shall not again he employed on any part of the work. 
The Contractor shall furnish all stakes needed by the engineering staff and such 18 
manual assistance as may be required for the location of said stakes and then- 
subsequent protection. 
All tools and machinery necessary for the safe and proper execution of the 
work, and all materials and laborrequired in its thorough construction, entire and 
perfect in every respect, shall be furnished by the Contractor, who shall also be 
responsible for its safety and protection until final test and acceptance by the 
Chief Engineer. 
The work shall at all times be accessible to the engineering staff, and such 
reasonable assistance and needed facilities as they may require in the proper 
prosecution of their labors, shall be cheerfully accorded them by the contractor 
and all of his employes. No material shall be used in the permanent construc- 
tion, until the same shall have been examined and approved by the Chief En- 
gineer, and all imperfect work or defective materials which may be discovered 
in the permanent construction—shall— upon the order of the Chief Engineer— 
be instantly removed, and the same re-constructed and replaced in a proper and 
satisfactory manner, at the sole expense of the contractor. 
The Chief Engineer shall decide all questions that may arise as to the correct 
interpretation of these specifications, or as regards the proper execution of the 
work, and liis decision shall be final and conclusive, unless they be absolutely 
lacking in every essential of justice and equity. 
Whenever the words Chief Engineer are used herein, they shall be understood as 
meaning the Chief Engineer to the Corporation—and in like manner, the word 
Contractor, or Contractors, shall be understood as meaning an individual or a 
firm—or any member of such firm, who may have contracted to execute the work 
described and defined herein. 
The intent and aim of these specifications is to describe the character of the 
work—the methods to be followed in its execution, and the quantity and quality 
of the materials to be used in its construction, in as plain and practical a manner 
as possible, and the parties contracting to execute the work, shall honestly con- 
form to all the requirements embodied herein fortheir guidance and information. 
G. HOWARD-ELLERS, 
Chicago, 1st October, 1885. Chief Engineer. JEFFERSON WATER WORKS-I885. 
SPECIFICATIONS, 
describing and defining the 
general character and structural details of a pumping outfit, to consist of two 
pumping engines and three boilers, to be used in connection with a proposed sys- 
tem of water supply for the Town of Jefferson, 111. 
FOUNDATIONS. 
The foundations—one for each engine—shall be composed of brick and stone, 
in accordance with drawings to be exhibited by the parties furnishing the 
machinery. The bricks shall be of the best quality, hard and uniformly burned, 
clear ringing, sound and smooth. The face of the work shall be finished with 
selected front bricks of a bright red uniform color. Prior to being laid up in 
the work, every brick shall be wet to the point of absolute saturation by immersion 
entire in clean water, where they shall remain not less than one hour before being used. 
The mortar shall be composed of I'tica cement, of the “James Clark” brand, 
fresh ground and packed, mixed neat with clean water and used immediately after 
admixture. The caps of the piers on which the pumps and steam cylinders rest, 
and the floors of the pits in which the air pumps and condensers are placed, shall 
be composed of single blocks of blue stone or granite, finely dressed, not less 
than ten (10) inches thick, and of such linear dimensions as the exhibited plans 
and drawings shall require. The brick work composing each foundation shall 
rest on a solid bed of concrete, four (4) feet thick, and extending one (1) foot 
beyond the same on the sides and rear ends, the front ends abutting on the back 
of the rear wall of the pump well, but entirely disconnected therewith, for the 
purpose of preventing any possible distortion due to unequal settlement. The 
stone caps shall be drilled, and the brick-work provided with such holes and re- 
cesses for the anchor bolts, whose positions and dimensions shall be shown and 
defined on the plans furnished by the parties to whom the contract may be 
awarded for the pumping machinery. 
ENGINES. 
The engines shall be of the “Duplex” type, with a combined capacity equal to 
the delivery of four million gallons of water per diem, against an extreme pres- 
sure of one hundred and fifty pounds per square inch, and an ordinary service 
pressure of sixty pounds; with a maximum boiler pressure limited to ninety 
pounds per square inch. Each engine shall consist of two horizontal double act- 
ing pumps, with central exterior stuffing boxes, and with plungers not less than 
fourteen inches in diameter, set side by side on the same frame; each pump 
actuated directly by a horizontal, direct acting, compound, high-pressure con- 20 
densing engine, with steam jacketed cylinders of not less than sixteen and 
twenty-eight inches diameters respectively, the strokes of the engines and pumps 
being not less than thirty inches. The steam jacketing system shall be provided 
with suitable steam traps and connections for removing the water of condensa- 
tion, and delivering the same into the hot well. The engines shall be con- 
structed and arranged in pairs—each pair, on a single frame, shall be capable of 
working together with the duplex principle of valve movement, or, by discon- 
necting the duplex gearing, each individual pump, actuated by the particular 
portion of the steam machinery to which it is attached, shall be capable of tem- 
porary operation as an independent pumping machine by itself. The air pumps 
shall be single acting, actuated from the ends of bell crank levers, whose longer 
arms are attached to the main cross-heads by links or short connecting rods; 
or, an independent condensing apparatus may be substituted, by which the 
power otherwise absorbed in actuating the air pumps, would be more pro- 
fitably expended in forcing water into the general system of distribution. 
All piston rods, valve stems, links, connecting rods, air-pump rods, and generally 
all parts subjected to continuous tensile strains, or to alternating strains of ex- 
tension and compression, shall be of steel of standard quality; and all steam 
cylinders, pump cylinders, pump plungers, steam chests, and air pump cylinders, 
shall be of tine, close-grained cast iron, as hard as can be conveniently handled in 
their general fabrication. All bearings shall be lined with the best composi- 
tion metal, or with an alloy of copper and tin of approved proportions and recog- 
nized utility. All steam cylinders, steam chests, steam pipes, and generally all 
parts requiring adequate protection against loss of heat by radiation, shall be 
covered with a plastic composition of asbestos, or with a similar compound of 
acknowledged utility; over which shall be placed a double thickness of the best 
hair felting, both of which shall—in turn—be covered or surrounded with a lag- 
ging composed of narrow matched strips of seasoned black walnut, oiled and 
dead polished, and substantially secured in place with polished brass bands, 
fastened with hemi-spherical headed brass screws. An independent steam 
pumping machine, of ample power and capacity, shall be furnished and fixed in 
the boiler room, with proper connections with the hot well and boilers for feed- 
ing purposes, and likewise with such additional connections with the cold water 
supply through which the boilers can be filled or fed, or the main pump cylinders 
charged, whenever either of the latter may be found necessary. 
A standard indicator shall be furnished, and proper provision made for 
connecting it with the steam and pump cylinders whenever desired. 
The duty required of these engines—and which they shall develop on trial— 
shall be the elevation of seventy million pounds of water one foot high, with a 
consumption of one hundred pounds of good merchantable coal, from which 
there shall be no deductions allowed for ashes, clinkers or waste. The duration 
of the trial for this duty shall not be for a less period than seventy-two consecutive 
hours. 
There shall also be furnished and put in place a complete set of standard 
steam, water and vacuum gauges, and a set of counters on the engines, together 
with whatever shall be required in the way of sight feed lubricators, steam 
traps, drain pipes, drip pans, duplicate valves, wrenches, spanners and portable swinging cranes, and generally everything that may be required in and around 
the machinery necessary to constitute it a complete, practical and reliable pump- 
ing plant fora direct system of water supply. The character and quality of the 
materials used—the theory upon which the various parts are proportioned, and 
the workmanship displayed, shall be such as is recognized as the best of its kind 
and class by the standard practice of the day. 
BOILERS. 
Note.—The specifications which follow for the Babcock and Wilcox water 
tube boilers, are not original with the undersigned, but are those furnished by 
the Babcock and Wilcox company, and hence, to that extent, are an expression of 
the practice of one of the most extensive concerns engaged in the construction of 
steam generating plant in the world. I have supplemented these with a set of 
specifications covering a battery of cylinderical return tubular boilers, although, as 
I have already stated in the body of my report, I unhesitatingly recommend the 
B. and W. water tube boiler in preference to all others on the score of economy 
in the consumption of fuel, general safety and unquestioned durability. 
G. II.-E. 
NUMBER AND ARRANGEMENT. 
There shall be three (3) boilers, arranged to be set in one (1) battery. 
SECTIONS. HEADERS. JOINTS. CONNECTION. 
Each boiler shall be composed of six (6) sections or slabs, each section to be 
composed of seven (7) best lap welded wrought iron tubes, four (4) inches in 
diameter, and sixteen (16) feet long, connected at the ends by contiguous, stag- 
gered headers, or “up-takes4’ and “down-takes”; the tubes to be fastened therein 
by expansion into tapered holes. Each “header” to be provided with hand-holes, 
placed opposite the end of each tube, of sufficient size to permit the cleaning, re- 
moval or renewal of a tube through the same. Each hard-hole provided with a 
cap fastened with wrought iron bolt and clamp and cap nut. All joints made 
tight without packing of any kind. The several sections to be connected at each 
end to a steam and water drum, and at one end with a mud drum, by means of 
lap-welded wrought iron tubes, four inches in diameter and of suitable length, 
expanded into bored holes. 
DRUMS. MANHOLE. 
The steam and water drums to be thirty (30) inches in diameter, and sixteen 
(16) feet long, made of flange iron, five-sixteenths of an inch thick, the longitud- 
inal seams double rivited. To have a man-hole in front head—two nozzles, one 
for safety-valve and one for taking off steam, four (4) inches in diameter, with 
ten (10) inch flange, faced and drilled. 
The mud-drums, to be of cast iron, eighteen (18) inches diameter and forty-five 
(45) inches long, with a hand-hole and no/zle for blow-off pipe, two and a half 
inches diameter. 
MUD-DRUMS. BLOW-OFF. 22 
SUPPORTS. 
The battery is to be supported by wrought iron beams, resting on four 
wrought iron columns, with cast iron bases properly secured so that the boiler 
shall be sustained entirely independent of the brick work, and free to expand or 
contract without affecting the same, and so that the brick work may be removed 
and replaced, if required, without disturbing the boilers or connections. 
VALVES AND FITTINGS 
Safety Valve. 
Each boiler to be provided with a “ Consolidated Company’s Nickel Plated 
Safety Valve,” three (3) inches diameter; set to blow off at ninety (00) pounds. 
Steam Gauge. 
One steam gauge, dial twelve and one-half inches diameter. 
W ater Gauge. 
One stand pipe, with large sized glass water gauge, fitted with independent 
cleaning pipes and valves, and three patent gauge-cocks with lifting handles. 
Feed Valves. 
One check valve, one and one-lialf inches diameter, for feed. 
One stop valve, one and one-half inches diameter, for feed. 
Blow-off Valve. 
One blow-off valve, two and one-half inches diameter. 
Cleaning Valve. 
One stop-valve, three-fourths inch diameter, for cleaning pipe connection. 
Piping. 
The necessary pipes and fittings for fixing all the above to the boilers. 
FRONT. 
The front of cast iron to be of ornamental pattern, containing three fire doors 
with registers, three double ash pit doors, and large door for access to the ends 
of the tubes. All parts to be ample in strength, joints fitted. 
FIXTURES. 
The fixtures for the boilers to consist of a full set of grate bars with bearers, 
dead plate and girders, flame bridge plates with bolts and special lire brick for 
lining the flame bridges, bridge wall girders and bars, binders and bolts, six ash 23 
pit and nine cleaning doors for access to the exterior of tubes, and the flues for 
cleaning, one damper with frame, and the requisite lintels for openings in 
walls; smoke chamber T’s and anchor bolts for front. 
Delivered and erected with all piping and valves complete. Boiler to be 
tested and ready for operation. 
TOOLS. 
One steel wrench fitting the hand hole nuts, one tube scraper with handle, set 
of fire tools, consisting of poker, slice bar and hoe, and hose and pipe for blow- 
ing dust from exterior of tubes, to be furnished. 
TESTING. 
The sections and mud-drums to be tested and made tight under a hydraulic 
pressure of three hundred pounds per square inch, and the steam and water 
drums to be tested and made tight under a hydraulic pressure of one hundred 
and fifty pounds per square inch. 
QUALITY. 
All materials and workmanship to be first class in every particular. 
WEIGHT. 
Approximate weight one hundred and six thousand (100,000) pounds. 
SPACE. 
Space occupied to be, including brick work twenty-one and one-half feet long, 
•eighteen and one-half feet wide, and fourteen and one-half feet high (to top of 
steam opening). 
ERECTING. 
Full drawings and directions for erecting to be furnished and services of man 
to do mechanical work, and superintend erection. 
BOILERS. 
NUMBER AND STYLE OF SETTING. 
There shall be three (3) boilers,"set side by side, 
separated by a twenty-eight (2s) inch brick wall, faced with fire bricks and 
enclosing an air space not less than four (4) inches wide, and so arranged in 
the setting, that the heated products of combustion from the furnaces, after 
passing under the boilers and returning through the tubes, shall rise in front 
and then pass to the rear over the tops of the boilers, through the passage- 
ways formed by the latter and the fire brick arches, and finally reaching the 
main fine in the chimney stack through the flue system in the rear of the 
plant. 
The exterior of the settings shall be composed of pressed front bricks of 
a uniformly deep red color, laid up in hydraulic cement mortar; and the 
interiors throughout—such as the furnaces, bridge walls, combustion cliam- 24 
bers, back arches, partition walls and top arches, shall be lined and finished 
with Mount Savage fire bricks, laid up in the usual way—as headers and 
stretchers—in fire clay mortar, and otherwise finished in a substantial and 
workmanlike manner. 
The bridge walls shall be finished on a horizontal line, and the elevation 
of their crests above the grate bars shall be limited to a height only suffi- 
cient to protect the mass of fuel thereon. The furnaces shall be constructed 
and proportioned to accommodate a grate whose length shall not exceed 
four (4) feet; and generally, throughout the interiors of the settings, the 
space enclosed shall be sufficiently liberal to render all surfaces exposed to 
the direct action of the lire, easily accessible for cleaning, inspection and 
repairs. Both exterior and partition walls shall enclose air spaces not less 
than four inches wide; and their allignment and stability shall be preserved 
and assured by a thorough system of buckstaying, proportioned and put in 
place in a reliable manner. 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION. MATERIALS. FABRICATION. 
Each boiler shall be of the hori- 
zontal, return tubular type—cylindrical in section—sixty (GO) inches in 
diameter and sixteen (16) feet long—all interior dimensions; with thirty-six 
(36) tubes, each four (4) inches diameter, arranged in two groups, with a cen- 
tral vertical dividing space not less than eight (8) inches wide in the clear, in 
the center of the boiler. The tubes shall be arranged in straight rows— 
both vertically and horizontally, with clear straight spaces between the rows, 
and with a similar clear space between the exterior line of tubes and the in- 
terior sides of the shell never less than four inches at any point, and as 
much more than this at the lower quarters, and particularly at the bottom, as 
can conveniently be obtained, without otherwise interfering with the proper 
arrangement and spacing of the tubes within the areas to which they are 
practically limited. There shall be two man-holes in each boiler, one in the 
front head below the tubes, and one in the top as near the rear end as approved 
practice sanctions; but no steam domes or mud-drums. The feed pipes shall 
be carried through the center of the front heads above the Hues, and they 
shall extend into the interior of the boilers for a length of not less than ten 
(10) feet. Each boiler shall be provided with two cast iron nozzles, one for 
the safety valve and one for the steam pipe riser, set in the tops of the 
boilers as hereinafter specified. Steam shall be taken through a dry pipe 
placed in each boiler near the top, and otherwise proportioned and secured 
in place as subsequently defined herein. 
The material out of which the shells, heads and tubes of these boilers 
shall be fabricated, shall be high class steel from establishments whose pro- 
ductions have received the stamp of recognition at the hands of the most 
eminent experts in the current boiler practice of the day. Generally it may 
be said the steel used shall possess an ultimate resistance to extension of 
from sixty thousand to sixty-five thousand pounds per square inch, and with 
an elastic limit fully equal to fifty per centum of its ultimate tensile strength: 
That a piece of such steel, eight inches long, shall elongate not less than. 25 
twenty per centum before rupture, with a reduction in area not less than 
forty-five per centum; and that it will bend over or turn back on itself dead 
flat, when cold, or will do the same after being raised to a high temperature 
and then suddenly plunged into cold water; in neither case, after subjection to 
such or similar treatment, showing either surface cracks or flaws of the most 
minute character. Preferably, the tubes shall be from the establishment of 
Morris,Tasker & Co., or from the National Tube Works. The thickness of 
the plates composing the shells shall be five-sixteenths of an inch, and the 
heads half an inch, and every plate shall have the makers name plainly 
stamped upon its surface, together with the ultimate tensile strength—ex- 
pressed in pounds per square inch—which it is guaranteed to possess. The 
shell of each boiler shall be composed of two sheets only, the sheet forming 
the'bottom of the boiler being of sufficient width to locate the two longi- 
tudinal seams at least two (2) inches above the upper line of flues, or as 
much higher as the width of the sheets will permit. All longitudinal or 
horizontal seams shall be double staggered riveted, and all circumfcrential 
or girth seams shall be single riveted; all rivet holes shall he drilled 
and should the holes fail to match when the sheets are assembled, the 
reamer shall be used to true up the holes, but not the drift pin under 
any circumstances; and all seams shall be caulked in accordance with the 
best practice and in the most thorough manner throughout. 
BRACES. 
There shall not be less than eighteen (is) braces in each boiler, nine (0) 
to each head, each brace to be not less than four (4) feet long, to be made of 
steel, or of the highest grade of wrought iron—preferably “Ulster” or Bur- 
den’s Best,”—round—and never less than one (1) square inch net area, and 
fastened in place with jaws and turned pins of equal strength. The heads 
shall be stiffened with steel T.s arranged in the most approved manner, and 
riveted to the heads with seven eighths inch rivets. All rivet holes, and all 
holes through the T bars for rivets and brace pins shall he drilled in every 
instance. 
FLANGES. 
All flanges shall be carefully bent to an interior radius of not less than 
two (2) inches, and the total absence of surface cracks or flaws will be re- 
garded as an index of the care displayed in the execution of this important 
part of the work, as well as an additional guarantee of the superior quality 
of the material used. 
MAN-HOLES 
Each boiler shall be provided with two (2) elliptical man-holes, each 
eleven (11) inches by fifteen (15) inches in the clear, one in the front head 
below the flues, and one in the top of the shell, near the rear end of the 
boiler. The interior of the shells and heads surrounding these man-hole 26 
openings, shall be re-enforced with elliptical rings, six (6) inches broad and 
three fourthsof an inch (0.75) thick; riveted inplace with countersunk rivets 
finished flush with both interior and exterior surfaces. These rings shall be 
cut from steel plate, of the same quality as that composing the shells and 
heads, and they shall be faced off and otherwise finished in the most ap- 
proved manner, the edges chamfered or trued off and the holes drilled. The 
man-hole plates shall likewise be of the same quality of steel, but of such 
additional thickness as shall guarantee equal strength with all surrounding 
parts, and they shall be properly secured in place with wrought iron yokes 
and bolts of the most approved proportions. 
RIVETS. 
No rivets of a less diameter than three-fourths (0.75) of an inch shall be 
used, and they shall be of standard quality and make—Burden’s best—for 
instance, and put in place with a pitch of not less than two (2) inches. 
NOZZLES. 
Each boiler shall have two (2) bell shaped nozzles, of soft tough cast iron, 
double flanged, the lower flange, which fits on the shell of the boiler, shall 
have an extreme diameter of not less than twelve (12) inches. The inside 
diameter of each nozzle at the top shall be five (5) inches in the clear, and at 
the bottom somewhat more in keeping with the bell-like shape specified, and 
both flanges shall be drilled for the requisite number of rivets and bolts, and 
otherwise adjusted and fitted in the most approved manner. 
SAFETY VALVES. 
Each boiler shall be provided with a nickel seated safety valve of the most 
approved style, with a clean diameter of five (ft) inches, and furnished with 
a properly proportioned lever and w’eightadjusted and set to counter-balance 
a pressure in the boilers equal to ninety pounds per square inch. 
FUSIBLE PLUGS. 
Each boiler shall be provided with a fusible plug, set in the rear head, at a 
point not less than four (4) inches above a line drawn through the center of 
the upper row of tubes. 
DRY PIPES. 
Each boiler shall be provided with a dry pipe made of steel—of the same 
general character as that composing the body of the boilers—not less than 
eight (s) inches diameter, and of proper length, and fixed in the interior of 
each boiler near its top. The upper surfaces of these dry pipes shall be 
drilled with a sufficient number of holes, correctly spaced and of proper 
diameter, whose aggregated area shall not be less, than the area of the dry 
pipe, multiplied by two. 27 
FRONTS. 
Each boiler shall be provided with an extra heavy ornamented cast iron 
full fire front, with double flue doors swinging on substantial hinges to the 
right and left, and exposing the entire front head of the boiler when opened 
—set at a proper distance in front of the boiler and with proper connec- 
tion therewith. There shall also be two furnace doors and two ash pit 
doors—set separately, and opening in opposite directions, and with registers 
in each door. All parts shall be properly proportioned and of ample strength, 
and all joints shall be made in a thorough and substantial manner. 
FURNACE AND GRATE BARS. 
The furnace shall be four (4) feet long, and not over five (5) feet wide, 
and grate bars of approved pattern shall be furnished with each boiler and 
put in place ready for use. The surface of the grates—when in place—shall 
be thirty-six (30) inches below7 the bottom of the boilers. 
BLOW-OFF. 
Each boiler shall be provided with a blow-off pipe, not less than tw7o (2) 
inches clean diameter, and at the point wrhere connection is made with the 
shell, the latter shall be re-enforced writh a steel plate half an inch thick 
and not less than ten (10) inches diameter, secured in place with counter- 
sunk rivets finished flush on the interior face, and then tapped or otherwise 
prepared to receive the pipe, or a nozzle may be substituted, and the blow- 
off pipe connected thereto. 
DAMPER. 
Each boiler shall be provided writh a damper properly set in place with 
frame and gearing, and so arranged as to be easily handled from the tire 
fronts. The area of the damper shall be fully equal to the aggregated area 
of all the tubes w’hose action it is intended to control. 
VALVES, FITTINGS, FIXTURES, TOOLS. 
There shall be provided and furnished with 
each boiler, and properly attached, connected or put in place : 
One Ashcroft steam gauge with a twelve-inch dial. 
One Water gauge with inch connecting pipes, best Scotch glass tube, six- 
teen inches long and three-fourths of an inch diameter, with independ- 
ent cleaning pipes and valves, and with three seven-eighths inch cocks. 
One Hlow-off valve, two inches clean diameter. 
One Stop valve, one and a half inches in diameter. 
One Check valve, one and a half inches in diameter. 
One five-inch Globe valve. 
One Soot door and frame, nineteen inches by twenty-five inches, with arched 
top. 28 
One set of Skeleton arch-plates—together with the main steam pipe, and 
connecting pipes thereinto from each boiler—of steel, or wrought-iron 
of standard quality, exclusively; feedpipes and connections; dead plates; 
mouth pieces; bearing bars; wall plates; rollers; anchor bolts and nuts;lugs; 
backstays; supports; and two sets of Firing tools complete, consisting of 
coal scoops, pokers, tube cleaners, slice bars, hoes, etc., and everything 
requisite and necessary to make the plant a perfect one in every re- 
spect—delivered and put in place—with all connections made on the 
same steam line, ready for use, and in every way according to the pre- 
cepts of the most advanced boiler practice of the day. 
It is the intention of these Specifications to describe—in a plain, practical 
manner—the character of the machinery and boilers to be furnished, the quality 
of materials to be used and the class of workmanship to be exhibited in their 
fabrication, and the parties to whom the contract shall be awarded, shall conform 
—in a business-like manner—to all the conditions embodied herein for the guid- 
ance and information of all concerned. 
G. IIO WARD-EL LEES, 
Chicago, 1st October, 1885. Chief Engineer, <Dc.