OCR Text |
Show I, THIRD WARD SEWER. - When the outfall sewer, or what is better Known as the Third! ward sewer, was proposed, the cost was estimated as within the ability abil-ity of! the city to meet, in fact, after the specifications were com-I com-I pleted, surveys made and test holes bored, the total cost of the un dertaking was placed at $450,000. This was late last year, and the pas I; city administration, contemplating the construction of the , sewer, asked for a bond issue of $325,000 with which to do the work. ( Yesterday bids on the undertaking were opened and, to the great surprise of everybody concerned, except 'the contractors, the one bid officially presented called for an expenditure of nearly a million dollars. Of course, with a bond issue of only $325,000, the city commissioners commis-sioners had but one thing to do and that was to postpone action for the present. , There were a number of unofficial bids reviewed, and the con tractors present at the opening of the one bid which was accompanied accompa-nied by a certified check, agreed that the construction of the sewer as planned presented many difficulties, the most serious of which was the water-logged land lying along the line of survey from the city limits to the point oT discharge. To take iare of the water to be encountered was one of0the engineering problems which placed the cost of excavating as high as $6 a cubid yard. The city commissioners now arc considering the advisability of working out a drainage program, preliminary to again calling for bids on the placing of the sewer pipe in position. It is possible the farmers of the district "through which the scAver is to be constructed will join with the city in meeting the cost of a drainage canal that will free the land from excess water. |