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v Deve lop my _ tat Seattle XCELLENT progress has been E, made during the past year upon the port development of Seattle under the direction of Paul Whitham, chief engineer. The east waterway project covers the improvement of an entire block of about eight acres in. area on the east side of the east waterway, between Stacy and Lander ~ streets, the original ground elevation being about 2 ft. above: high tide. Through the 'center of this block 'a slip has been excavated to a depth of 49 or 50 ft. below high tide, which gives..a depth of 32 oF 33 it; at ex- treme low tide, or about 36 ft. at or- dinary low tide. This slip is 814 ft. long by 212.6 ft. wide on the bottom, with side slopes of 2.1 protected by a 3-ft. depth of rock riprap. On each side of the slip is located a one-story merchandise shed, 90 ft. wide by 745 ft. long. The easterly end of the block along Whatcom avenue is being re- served for warehouse purposes, upon which construction work has not yet been started. The excavation and slope protection work was completed in October, and the main contract for the construction of the two merchandise sheds was completed in December. At the end of the year, work had been begun and will be completed early in 1914 on the plumbing, electric wiring and auto- matic fire protection systems. In the excavation of the slip, a total amount of 421,700 cu. yds of material were removed. A portion of this ma- terial amounting to 30,600 yds. was excavated by a dipper dredge in re- moving the old brush bulkhead, and was deposited out in deep water. All of the remaining material, consisting almost entirely of black sand, with some silt and a very little clay, was excavated by an éleetrically operated suction dredge, and was used in mak- ing fills on nearby streets and. prop- erty. The contract price for the ex- cavation was l6c per yard, but enough money was realized on the material sold for fills to bring the average net 'cost yer yard of excavation down to about 7c per. yard. For the protection of the side slope, a total of 27,157 cu. yds. of rock rip- rap was used. A very interesting prob- SHIPPING WHARVES AT SEATTLE lem was successfully solved in the con- struction of this slip. It was consid- ered highly desirable to drive the piles before the rock was placed, and the physical character of the sandy soil was such that the slope could not be maintained steeper than about 5 to 1: until the riprap was in place., The procedure adopted for the carrying on of this work proved entirely satisfac- tory, and the results are all that could be desired. The sub-structure for the wharf and sheds consists of creosoted fir piles and untreated fir caps, stringers, etc. The piles were given an injection of 12 lbs. of creosote per cu. ft. and were required to show a minimum penetration of 1 in. of black oil. They were driven to a minimum penetration of 20 ft. by a combination of jetting and driving with a 4,200 lb. hammer. Creosoted sway braces were used on each bent. The top of the side slopes are held by 7-in. Wakefield sheet piling driven to a penetration of about 27 ft: and tied back at each bent. to an anchor bulkhead by two 1%-in. W. I. rods 40 ft. long. The caps under the building col- umns are treated with a high-grade wood preservative, as are also all joints of timber to timber. The fender piles are of untreated fir with the bark on, but it is. proposed that as these go out or get broken, they will be re- placed by creosoted fenders. Timber and Iron Construction The sheds are of timber construc- tion covered with corrugated ingot iron. The trusses are 90 ft. in length, giving a clear unobstructed floor area, the bottom chords being placed at the height of 18 ft. above the floor. A series of windows 8 ft. high for the full length of the building above the lower chord on each side, together with a wire glass covered louvre, make these sheds the best lighted structures of their class in Seattle. The drive- way down the center line of the build- ing is 30 ft. in width and made up of 4 x 4in. fir timber laid herring-bone fashion with edge of grain up. Three bays on the slip side are provided with large doors 19 ft. wide and 18 ft. high, all other bays having a 10 ft. x 14 ft. door. The wharf platform between the shed and the fender line is 22% ft. wide and carries a railway track for the full length of the wharf. This track is of the greatest conven- ience for the purpose of direct trans- ference between car and ship. 'Col- umns, stringers and rail have also been provided on the wharf platform for. the installation of a. traveling ship's tower. On the opposite side of each shed, there have been ¢con- structed two depressed railway tracks, so that the car floors are level with the shed floor. For the full length of: these 'tracks, the --byildine "i equipped with lift doors giving a pos- sible opening entirely unobstructed ex- cept for the columns themselves. The sheds are covered by a tar and gravel roof built of selected materials. <A very complete lighting system is being constructed, arc lamps and Tungsten lights being so installed as to form a very flexible and easily controlled system. All wires are being run in conduit and every precaution is being used to insure the greatest safety of operation. There is being installed the system of plumbing and fire hyd- rants ordinarily used on piers, and in addition thereto an extensive automat- ic sprinkler system. Furthermore, each shed is divided into two parts by a fire wall, the driveway opening in which is being equipped with an automatically operating steel shutter door. All this work is being. done in order to reduce the fire risk to a min- imum, and will result in a very mod- erate insurance rate. Shortly before Christmas, 1913, the sailing vessel Dirigo tied up to this pier to discharge cargo of 4,500 tons of blacksmith coal. This event marked the opening of operations at this project. ' In May, 1913, work was started on the Central waterfront improvenient, which occupies a strip of land about 1,000 ft. in length, reaching from the foot of Battery street on the north nearly to Lenora street on the south. The work done during the year 1913 consists in the complete construction of a two-story merchandise shed, 70 ft. wide and about 950 ft. in length, occupying the south, west and north