Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers

In August, 1906, the Singer Manufacturing Company awarded a contract to The Foundation Company of New York City, for sinking the pneumatic foundations of the addition to the old building on the northwest corner of Broadway and Liberty Street, now known as the Singer Tower. This contract was for a lump sum, on the basis of the foundations being carried down to 70 ft. below the curb, or approximately to the average depth of the top of the hardpan as shown by the borings; for so much per cubic yard for everything between the depths of 70 and 75 ft.; and for an additional price per cubic yard for everything below 75 ft. The price to be deducted in case the depth of 70 ft. was not reached was about one-half of the price to be added. The progress reports of each caisson, given in Table 2, Plates IX and X, will show the justice of this proportion. The contract stipulated that the work should be completed in 110 days on the same basis of depths.

Lakes Huron and Michigan, if mean annual water elevation alone is considered, have been at less than the normal stage since 1888. These lakes were abnormally low in 1895 and in 1896. The Board of Engineers on Deep Waterways, in 1900, called attention to the depressed stage of the lake waters, giving the amount of the depression below what was then thought to be the normal at about 1 ft. for the preceding 15 years. At that time this depressed stage was attributed to certain natural and artificial changes that had been made at the head of St. Clair River, which is the outlet from the lakes.

One of the great engineering problems of the age, if not the greatest, is to obtain such control of the waters of the Mississippi River as to prevent those periodical overflows which, in the past, have devastated and made desolate the entire area of its delta. This delta is probably the most extensive in the world, and has been formed, during past ages, by the discharge of the waters of the greatest river in the world, certainly the longest, in miles, and with a volume of discharge not exceeded by any, unless it be the Amazon, in South America.

There has been constructed during the past two years, along the northerly and westerly banks of the Ohio River, between Vanport, Pa., and Steubenville, Ohio, about 40 miles of double-track, standard-gauge, electric railroad, which affords this busy, thriving, industrial section a high-grade interurban road. The lines form the connecting links uniting the East Liverpool, Wellsville, Steubenville, and Toronto systems, and, with their connections, at Vanport on the north and Steubenville on the south, make possible through traYel by trolley between Pittsburg, Pa., and Wheeling, W. Va., except for a short piece of track, now under construction, in the vicinity of Sewickley.

In November, 1903, the writer began a series of experiments, upon the comparative values of nickel steel and carbon steel for bridge building, for the purpose of preparing from them an exhaustive economic study of the subject of “Nickel Steel for Bridges.” These experiments extended over three years. The first step was to collect and read all the literature upon nickel steel bearing upon the subject, and, as this was rather meager, the task was soon completed. Although much was learned in this way concerning nickel steel in general, little was ascertained about the composition of the alloy most suitable for bridge building.

The recent completion of Locks and Darns Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5, Ohio River, creating, in connection with Locks Nos. 1 and 6, a navigable depth of 9 ft. from Pittsburg to Beaver, Pa., a distance of about 30 miles, and constituting the first completed section of the 9-ft. project, caused the writer to think that a review of the various engineering projects proposed for the improvement of this river, might be of interest to the Profession.