dreds of thousands of dollars had been thrown into this hole with little or nothing to show for it. The quicksand had been too much for the engineers; the contract was annulled three years after it was let, and the contracting concern is said to have been impoverished through damage suits preferred by injured workmen and unforeseen expenses of fighting the shifting sands.

A second engineering company took its spade in hand and tackled the quicksand. After studying the formation of the ground, it was decided to build a concrete wall on the west side in an effort to stop the motion of the sub-surface sands. Not only did this wall fail to overcome the shifting of the sand, but under pressure of earth and water it began to slide inward. There was more trouble with breaking sewers and finally the big power plant at the head of the dock site collapsed and threatened to sink down into the bowels of the earth. Several men were hurt in this chain of new misfortunes and the government finally annulled the second contract. The second contracting firm, like the first, left the drydock contract financially crippled and facing a score of lawsuits.

It was chiefly during the two earlier contracts that the dock earned the name "hoodoo", although men continued to get themselves maimed or killed in the dock excavation almost up to the day of its completion. A strange fatality seemed to follow the project. In nearly all of the big setbacks that overtook the work, such as the bursting of sewers, the collapse of sidewalks and the sinking of buildings, men were seriously or fatally hurt. But in the everyday course of construction the accidents were just as numerous. Men fell from scaffolding, dropped hammers or bolts on each other's heads, ladders broke, donkey engines blew up, and in a hundred ways Fate seemed determined that the dock should never be built.

After the second company's failure, the Government altered its policy toward the dock project. In addition to letting the contract to a new firm, a naval engineer was named to supervise the work and advise with the contractors. Civil Engineer Frederick R. Harris, U. S. N., was given this position, and between this

naval officer and the general manager of a third firm of contractors, the credit for the successful outcome may be divided.

Mr.

Since the original appropriation, the entire design of the dock had been changed. Its size had been increased. twice, and the features of its construction had been radically altered. Since the first plans had been drafted, the superdreadnaught type of fighting ship had been built, and not only must the dock be larger, but the floor must be able to support the weight of such vessels. Harris abandoned all idea of using piles and turned to a method never before used in the construction of a drydock. Before another step was taken, the engineers made up their minds to know just what there was beneath the dock site that was causing all the trouble. In a vague way it had all been ascribed to "quicksand", but borings showed that what the previous contractors had thought to be hard pan rock about eighty feet below the surface was merely large boulders wholly unsuitable for a foundation. At the head of the dock, rock bottom was encountered at ninety-five feet. One hundred feet further from the head this ledge had sunk to one hundred feet, but at the entrance it was lost entirely.

The information thus obtained is really responsible for the ultimate success of the naval officer and the contracting engineer. It showed them the futility of any attempt to use pile construction. Caissons such as those used in laying down the foundations of the great skyscrapers were sought as the only alternative, although they had never been used in this manner before. Two things had to be guarded against: The flow of the quicksand in from the sides, with its consequent peril to the big buildings all around, and the persistent tendency of the shifting sands to bubble up in the center of the excavation. The dock must have not only string walls to protect it on all sides, but a floor sturdy enough to resist the upheaval of the sands and the downward pressure of the ships that would be docked.

First, a concrete retaining wall was put down all around the dock site. Caissons were driven to bed rock wherever possible and on these the retaining wall

tendency to float, when empty, on the water and mud that sweep in beneath it. Thus it must be anchored against this. upward thrust, and the floor must be strong enough not to bulge over the points of upward pressure. When filled the burden is reversed. Then the dock floor must withstand the load of thousands of tons of water; but the greatest stress comes when a great ship is placed on the blocks. All the other pressure is

floor. The center line piers are anchored each with a one-million-pound slab of concrete and the side piers with anchors that weigh eight hundred thousand pounds.

All this has cost money. Instead of the original appropriation of one million dollars, the dock has consumed three million dollars. The actual time needed for the construction of the new dock by the successful firm was but two years.

CITY'S MEDICINAL

BATHHOUSE

THE first municipal medicinal baths in America have just been dedicated at Guthrie, Oklahoma, with appropriate ceremonies, including the breaking of a bottle of mineral water over the balcony of the building.

The bathhouse idea had its origin in the discovery a few years ago that a flow of artesian water, struck while drilling for oil or gas, and allowed to go to waste for many years, was highly medicinal in its character. This first well was in a city park and several others were put down by the park commission

ers, all resulting in the striking of of slightly

waters of

The bathhouse is of reinforced concrete and marble, with a big swimming pool, filled with salt water from one of the mineral wells. The concrete floor of the pool is several feet from the ground, made necessary by the fact that there were springs at that point, but there is no chance of its sagging.

enough to

American business

men.

WRIGHT'S AIRBOAT

ORVILLE WRIGHT, noted birdman, has recently completed the hydroaeroplane which marks the last efforts accomplished along this line by his brother.

trolled and can be manipulated in close quarters among trees and buildings.

FOR PLASTER OF PARIS

Experiments with the machine are now being conducted upon the Mad River, which is about seven miles from the factory and school at Dayton, Ohio. Wright is highly pleased with this latest flying boat and thinks it is a great improvement over other models, since it is capable of attaining great speed on the surface of the water and can rise gracefully into the air from the water in a distance of less than two hundred feet. Heretofore hydroaeroplanes required long distances of water to skim along upon before being able to rise, but this new Wright machine mounts into the air almost as easily as a duck. It is easily con

of Tours, France, has prepared fabrics for surgical bandages and for an apparatus to hold injured limbs in position, with a preparation of acetone such as has been used by aviators to produce even wing tension. In the case of the aeroplane, a solution of cellulose was painted onto the fabric to get an even tension, and the doctor adopted the idea for bandages to do away with splints and plaster of Paris for certain injuries not requiring heavy reinforcement. However, the film will never replace the plaster because it dries too slowly and is not strong enough to support a limb. Its best use is after the regular dressing has been removed from a fractured limb and a slight support is still required.

FIRE AT TEN THOUSAND

DOLLARS A DAY

A PILLAR of flame and smoke visible

for thirty miles around was caused by the accidental ignition of a gusher near Bakersfield, California. It burned steadily for a couple of weeks with a loss to the company of about ten thousand dollars a day. The method of fighting this oil fire by steam was tried and twenty-six boilers from adjoining plants were brought to the scene, but this was not successful. Finally, chemicals in large quantities were applied and the fire was subdued after a strenuous battle. In approaching the burning well, the fire fighters were constantly sprayed with water from fire hose to keep their clothes from blazing.

SANDING SLIPPERY STREETS

THE old-fashioned method of spread

ing sand on slippery streets is slow and costly, and to save labor and expense a revolving sand spreader has been placed upon the market. The machine works like a rotary snowshovel, and does the work of twelve men. A team and driver will distribute the sand evenly over twelve blocks of average length in an hour. It was recently tried out by the Street Cleaning Department of the city of Milwaukee, and found to be satisfactory.