Rinker, Andrew

English

University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM): Digital Well

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science Volume 4 Number 3 Article 10 1910 The Development of the Minneapolis Sewer System Andrew Rinker Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/jmas  Part of the Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Rinker, A. (1910). The Development of the Minneapolis Sewer System. Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science, Vol. 4 No.3, 422-427. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/jmas/vol4/iss3/10 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science by an authorized editor of University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well. For more information, please contact skulann@morris.umn.edu. • the practical animal ll!e. • Minneapolis Sewer System extermination of thts remarkable mammalian pbase of • Wbat€ver may be the cause, tt is evident that the presont exhibits but a depauperate state of the past, so far as concerns the physical and animal part of animate creation. The lArge, bizarre, and power· ful types of lite have given place to smaller and quicker-moving types. lt rank, In the animal kingdom, were to be dEtermined by the bulk of the animal, we would be justttlcd ln concluding that there bad bet:n a retrogressive evolution. But, whfle the body has become smalle.r, speaking of the average of mammalian Ute, there is reason to beUeve that there has been an increase of average cephalic power, particularly so far as regards man. The dominance of mind over matter has ~ eome more pronounced. Tile real progress of evolution therefore has not been retrograde, but ascenstonal. In place of brute force, there has appeared a greater sway of psychic force. While therefore, from a physical standpoint, we may agree wlth Wallace, that we occupy a stage 1n the history of the earth's animal evolution, from which the la rge3t and highest forms have Just disap-peared, wo can a.ftlrm, It seems to me with equal o.ssurance, that we have entered upon a stage !n animal development whteh 1s higher L1 rank than any stage that has preceded the present, ln proportion as the predominance of mind ls higher than the predominance of selftsh. brute force. • THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MINNEAPOLIS SEWER SYSTEM. By Andrew Rinker, Clty Engineer. The first sewer of the city of Mlnneapolls was begun J une 16, 1871, 17 years after the founding and naming of the city. As I happen.ed to come to Minneapolls that day I saw the first brick la.ld ln the first sewer. A.s I was soon afterwards connected with the city engineering d~ partment and was appointed City Engineer in April, 1877, and have continued In that position ever since, wlth the exception of the years 1892 to 1902, when I was in Montana, the sewer system has largely grown under my direction and supervision. But I desl.re here to acknowledge the faithful, able, and etllcient work of my special Sewer Engineers, Mr. W. D. VanDuzee from 1870 to 1894 and Mr. Carl ll.strup, from 1894 to the present time, to each of whom h!LB been bullt a lasting monument of the best fame ln these foundation ctvic improvements of a modern city. From a topographical survey of the original town of Minneapolls the natural watershed into th~ Misslsslt'Pl river was determined on for sewer drainage on the gravity system. Thls gravity system haa been adhered to wltb an average trow of 2* miles per hour, there being as yet no pumping of our sewage. The division of the city's • • D1g1t1z a by Coogle Jl!in;neapolis Sewer System surface Into separate trunk systems discharging into the rlver has developed on the basis of the natural topographical divisions of the city, modltled, of course, by the irregular growth and varying ne-cessities or the districts of a western city. The Orst sewer was buUt on Wash. Av., from 8th Av. S. to Henne-pin; wa.<J 44"' In size, and designed to drain ultimately from 300 to 400 acres. Using the experience of Mllwaukee and Chicago their tor· mulas were adopted for determining the size of the sewers to the acreage drained. But the maximum of 1 loeb of rain per hour as the basts of this formula was found by expeflience not to be suf-ficient for tbts locality where the average raln fall for 47 years bas varied from a minimum of 16 inches to a maximum of 39 Inches, and where a sharp shower wm precipitate at tbe rate of over 2Y.a inches per hour. So the Adam's formula was adopted, allowing tor 1% to 2 inches of rainfall per hour. The region drained by this first system, as the sewer exten-Uons draining into this 8th Av. outlet were gradually buUt, ln roughly bounded by 8th Av. S. to 3d Av. N and back to 7th St., wtth a loop taking ln Wes tern Av. to the raHway and Hawthorn out to Lyndale. Only two and a half miles of trunk and collateral sewers were built in this first district during the first 11 years, 1. e., to 1882. By 1882 the growth of the city demanded the beginning of a second sewer system and a 6 foot brick sewer was started from the river at the foot of 11th Av. S. and going up that avenue, It was designed to drain the district bounded roughly by 9th and 13th Avs. S. out to 8th St., thence west to Include Nicollet and south to include Franklin. Similarly In 1882 wes begun the third system by starting another 6 toot brick sewer coming up 4th St. S. from the river and turning up 16th Av. S. This system was to drain the district bound· ed by the river, 14th Av. S, and Franklin, with a loop between Bloom-ington and Chicago A vs. out to 25th St. In connection with the third section of this 11th Av. S. system, ·the blocks from 16th St. to Franklin, occured the Important change !Tom construction by contract to construction by the clty by day labor. This change wns occasioned by the contract bids for this sewer being $40,000 above the City Engineer's estimate. So the City Counc11 provided $6000. fer tools and the work was done under our department within the estimate and with a. few thousand dollars to spare. The first sewer had been bunt by contract by Spink cl Nichols; and the 25 mUes conctr ucted by contract up to the end of 1886 were built by E. T. Sykes & Co., J. J. Palmer; Trainer, Forestall cl Brandt; J. Gleason & Co .. Tobln cl Fallon, Thos Daley, Andrew Dolan, J. Burnes, J . H. Nevins, and R. M. Riner. Bnt begtnnlng with 1886 all sewer work bas been done by the Clty Engtneer'lt' Depart· ment. This has been found a better plan ln that It Insures more thorough workmansblp,-for sewers must be buUt for permanance rather than cheapness,--and tt Is not more erpenslve than contract construction when the costly extras of contract work are eliminated, as they are by the city work. The beb'innlng of the sewer systems of the East Side of the City . were also made in this epoch-making sower year or 1882. A small 15 D1Q1t1z a by GonQ(e Mi,.ncopolis Se·wcr Sysft'm Inch sewer was begun on Central Av. to dral.n the a rea bounded 4th Av. S. E . to 2d A v. N. E. and back to Divis ion St. The outlet of this Cent ral Av. sewer was later changed from a direct discharge into the r iver to empty ing Into the mill race of the Plllsbury A Mlll at 4th Av. S. E . Another East Side system was Ukewlse begun ln this same year from the foot of lOth Av. S. E . and running up that 8\'enue to drain the dis t r ict bounded by 5th to 16th A vs. S. El. and back to Spring S t. Thus ln 1882 3 ~ miles of new sewers were cons tructed, including the large trunk sewers for the new 11th Av. S. 4th St. S .• Central A v., a nd lOth Av. S. E. systems, comparatively ma king a large a mount of work as against the tota l 2J..i! mlles up to that date from the beginning to 18il . For the next 6 years the sewer const ruction was the extension of the bra nches of the systems already enumerated. But as yet only the cent ral, south and sou theast qua rters of the city had been pro-vided with t runk sewers. Some plan had to be begun for North and Northeas t Minneapolis: As the clty supply of water was then pumped from t.he two pump-Ing stations at the fall s and on H ennepin Is land it was not sate to empty sewerage Into the river above the fall s. This s ituation, t.(). gather with the low elevation of the Bassett's Creek valley In North Mtnnee.polis, determined the plan of sta rting a tunnel from t he foot of 8th AV. S., below the falls , going up to 2nd St. thence diagonally to 6th Av. below Wash., up 6th Av. S. to 4th St., u p 4th St. fr'Om 6th Av. 8 . to Hennepin Av. and thence diagonally to 6th St. and 4th Av. N. This tunnel, begun tn 1589, w&li 8' in s ize, thru the sand rock beneath the limestone ledge, av~raging 81 ft. beneath t he st reet surface. Up 4th St. it followed a seam in the rock from which much water came into the tunnel. But by inserting in the masonry over 1000 seepage pipet; from 1 to 8 inches in diameter, thls flowing soon prac-tically all ceased . At the 1st Av. N. shaft a fault was st ruck ln the lime s tone ledge, f rom which a large amount of water was pumped. Owing to those unexpected dtfficulUes the contractor, who had under-taken the job, fatled and the city then continued and completed the tunnel, as It had for five years been building its sewers, thus carry-ing thru the 1.37 mlles of tunnel a t a cost of about $202,000, or $28.-per foot. From the end of the No. Mpls. tunnel at 6th St.. and 4th Av. N. a large 7 ft. sewer was butlt up 6th St. to 8th Av. N. at Basaett's Creek, wheN! H. divides Into two branches. The smaller branch con-tinues out 5th St. to lOth Av. N., thence turning to Wash. Av. where It extends northward to beyond 20th Av. N. By the aid chtefty of a. 2 f t . sewer out Plymouth Av. this river section or North Minneapolis up to 20th Av. N. is drained hy this N. Wash. Av. branch . The larger branch of the 5th . St . N. 7 f t. sewer t urns out 8th Av. N. to Dupont Av. N. thence sou th ( for three blocks below the bottom of the stra ightened Bassett's Creek) to Ontario Av. and t urns over to l .. yndale. By dividing down Hennepin and Harmon PI on the one hand and out Hennepin and Lyndale on the other hand it dra ins the north s lope of t.he bluffs out to Franklln nearly to Nicollet . and the slope towards the bluffs down as far as 13th St. A 41 -3 ft. sub-D1g1t1z a by Coogle M imrrapolis S e'wcr Systems branch of tbls Bassett's Creek sewer bas been built ( ln 1906) from 1st Av. N. and Irving south under the Creek and across tts valley on the line of Irving Av. to Laurel Av. in Bryn Mawr. Much di1Hcult.y was experienced In crossing this bog. The ovnl shaped concrete sewer was made on a grillage of timbers resting on plies from 30 to 60 ft. long; while the lateral pressure of the slippery blue clay below the peat caused a t remendous pressu re on the sheathing and bracing. With the planned extens ion fron1 the present end at Laurel Av. up tbe Avenue the Bryn Mawr district wlll get sewerage connections. An· other sub-branch Is planned from 1st Av. N. and Irving to the Cedar Lake road and up Logan Av. K, to compl{!te the drainage of this northwest section or the city up to nbout 20th Av. N. The natural drainage character of this Bassett's CreeR Valley an4 lts dtft1cult engineering character as a peat and clay bog without the city's usual underlying foundRtion of limestone are Inte restingly explained by our st.ate geologist as due to the former course of the Mississippi river t.hru this valley. By turning southward from Its 1.1resent bed at Us junction with Ba~tl"s creek the Mississippi river once evidently flowed throu gh the present Bassett's creek valley In the rlty and tbru the chain of lakes from Cedar to Harriet, and thence. It is supposed, Into the Minnesota river. During the thousands of years or this course ot the river the lime stone stratum was worn away and a deep channel was excavated, which was later filled with a depos it of slit and vegetable matter. The advance of the last glacial age blocked this channel and turned the r iver toto Its present course from Bassett's creek to Fort Snelling. Only this little creek , then, now remains In this englneerlngly troublesome va11ey and meanders in a reverse direction from the once mig!ltr river which dug out the valle~. · The importance of this Bassett's Creek valley is also seen in Its slza. Within the city limits It drains 2800 acres, or 4.37 sq. miles; ~bile its add itional drainage adjacent to the clt~r makes a total o! about 25 sq. mHes. The volume o( water ln tbe creek varies from noth· lug in a dry season to 1,000 cub. tt. per second in a flood season, with an average of some 10 to 12 cub. ft. The plan or diverting the creek into Cedar Lake and so out thru t be cbaJn of city lakes Into Mlnnebaba Creek would only take otr about half of this natural flow. (t<'or a discussion of this proposed clvertlon of Bassett's Creek see my report "On the Pl'oposed Diver· slon of Bassett's Creek," presented to the City Council, June 8, 1906). Could this storm water drainage, which wtll always thus be con· slderable, be confined tnto an open or closed channel, as in the straightened portion between Western and 6th Avs. the large region of present bog would undoubtedh· be drained dry as Hoag"s Lake, be· tween 4th and 6th Avs . . .. , was dried up by the North Minneapolis tunnel. Also where a natural means of surface drainage Is at hand H Is good policy to utiltze this means and tbus tax the sewer systems only wltb t.he house sewerage ; as has been done In our Kenwood dis· t rict where the storm water drains Into Lake oC the Isles, so that only a 18'' pipe from the end of 27th St. around the boulevard ts sut-ftclent for the house sewerage. D1Q1t1z a by Minneapolis Sewer S·ysten~ The further development of the North Minneapolis sewer systems was determined by the establishment 1n 1889 of the new pumping stations for the city water supply at 42d Av. N. in Camden Place and the later North East Statton still higher up the river In 1904, with the ('onsequent abandonment of the old pumping stations at the falls and on the Hennepin Id. Thus the new systems could be again planned for the immediate exits of natural drainage areas directly Into the river, without the long and expensive circumlocution ot the North Minneapolis tunnel system. Thus In 1890 the 20th Av. N. system was begun from the river toot ot that street. extending from the river back to Penn. A v., and draining, with Its branches, the regton of about -iOO acres between 20th and 25th Avs. N. Inclus ive. The next northerly section between 26th and 32d Avs. N. was begun by the 26th A v. N. system in 1900, which also extends a t pre-sent back to Penn. Av. The next drainage area down 33d Av. N. has only as yet been started by a small section back of Lyndale and tem· porarlly emptying into the adjacent lower system. For the next drain· age area a trunk sewer wlll be built this summer from Wash. Av. down 38th Av. N. to the river, tor the Immediate purpose of making travel somewhat passable tor the enormous and heavy wagon traftic of lumber, bricks and farm produce down Wash. Av. thru Camden Place. A still further north system will be started next year on 42d Av. N. 'fhe surface deposit or clay a ll over North Mlnneapolls makes these rapid extensions or the sewer systems of the utmost oe. cessity in order to drain the many sloughs tormed tn every pocket depression of Ute clay, to make the streets passable in wet weather, and to atrord house connections where cess pools have no ftltratloo. The sPwer system for North East Minneapolis was begun til the same year, 1889, and with the sam e plan as tbe North Minneapolis tunnel system for discharging below the old pumping stations at the falls. A tunnel was begun under tbe lime rock at the mUl race of the P1llsbury A mill at 4th Av. S. E . It extended up Main St. to Marshall, and thence up Marshall St. to 22d Av. N. E . A bran.ch t un-nel wa~ made Jn 1886 up 3d Av. N. E. nearly to Central Av., with a side branch going· up 2d St. N. E . to Broadway. From the end or this 3d Av. N. E . tunnel a 5% ft. sewer was con-tltlued wtth two maln branchf.ls, one across Spring St. and up Fill· more, the other turning up Central Av. to 30th Av. N. E . at present. Likewise from the end ot the Marshall St. tunnel a la rge concrete 6¥-e ft. sewer has been built up 22d A v. N. E . to Monroe, from whence tt Is planned to cross Central Av. A11 North .East Mpls. ts as yet served by only this one eystem, with its many sub-branches. With t.he closing of the lower pumping stations however, an overflow has been provided directly Into the river at the toot of 3d Av. N. E. The extreme South East section of the city, below 16th Av. S. E.; wos provided for by the Oak St. system, begun in 1888 from the foot of Oak St. and turning both ways on Unlversttr Av., and by the Hamllne Av. system, which was built up that htll from the river in 1904 and winds about among the bills of Prospect Park. These 13 sewer district systems, whose historical development D1g1t1z a by Coogle Mimuapolis Seu1er System 427 has here been sketched, have grown to a total length of over 200 mUes of sewers at a cost of $5,371,567.- Their total capacity ls 2260 cubic feet of 16,942 gals. per second with about 1·3 more when overflows are ln use. Some Idea or the magnitude of this sewer service can be gained when thls capacity ls compared with a river. This total sewer capacity equals 46% of the average flow of the Mlssl.sstppl river; or it would form a river 300 fP.et wide and 3 feet deep, flowing at a velocity of 2% teet per second or 1.76 miles per hour. Some appreciation of the present and future necessities of the city can be realized when It Is found that the 63 sq. mUes of drainage surface within the present city limits Is larger than more populous clUes like Paris with Us 30 sq. miles. The origtnal construction material of the sewers was sewer brick, except for the small branches from 9 to 15 Inches, where cement pipe was used until 1~92. Since then ,·ttrifled clay pipe bas been used in· s tead of cemE'nt pipe and bas also been found preferable to brick for sewers up to 2 feet In stze. The late use of reinforced concrete con-struction was appUed to our 22d Av. N. E . G~ foot sewer in 1904, and since then has been found less expensive and more satisfactory than brick construction for au sewers larger than 4 feet. Brick Is there-fore now used only for sewers between 2% and 4 feet and In all man-holes. For c.atch basins we have also lately began to use concrete. Jn connection with the records of our sewer construction for the past 35 years there bas accumulated much Interesting a~d valuable sctentltlc data as to the geological foundation of our c lty, the stratum of blue llme stone . l<'rom many records of the elevation of the llme stone ft Is seen that lt varies on the East Side from 133 ft. above city datum at Central and 15th Avs. N. E. down to 102 ft. at Central and Main St., to 75 ft. at the foot of Oak St. and 83 ft. at the foot of Ham-line A\". J.A kewtse on the West Side the elevations descend from 120 ft. at 1s t St. and 3d Av. N. to 73 a t the foot of llth Av. S. and the same also fur ther south at the foot of .Uh St. S., below the Wash. Av. bridge. Tbere Is thus Hhown a dip in the lime s tone ledge from ~orth­west to Southeast, and ot some 60 ft . difference in altitude within the cltr li mits. The thickness or the ledge also varies from 9 to 20 ft. in the N. E. section to 30 ft. in tho S. E . and So. section. The average level of the surface plain of the city near the river ls maintained on this sloping rock by the complementary increase of the soil deposits on top of the rock. For, while the Jtme atone · ledge comes quite to. or within a few f~t or, the su rface In N. E. Mpla. (where the many quarries are) , the sloping rock has been covered In the S. E. Aectlon and along the west bank of the river with some 40 tt. of sand a nd gravel. • D1g1t1z a by Coogle 

The Development of the Minneapolis Sewer System

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The Development of the Minneapolis Sewer System

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