SIPHON OF THE BRIDGE OF ALMA. 



691 



turn to Hartford, the commanding officer of 

 the Hartford Light Guard, a well-trained and 

 aristocratic voluntary organization. After some 

 delay, finding the prospects of a military career 

 not promising, he turned his attention to the 

 study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 

 Hartford about 1833. He soon attained to a 

 fair practice, but never aspired to a high posi- 

 tion in his profession. In 1837-'38 he became 

 editor of a Democratic paper, The Jeffersonian, 

 and about the same time was Judge of Probate 

 for the district. His popular manners and fine 

 address, together with his zeal, soon threw him 

 into the arena of politics, and in 1843 he was 

 elected to Congress from the Hartford district. 

 At the expiration of his term he declined a re- 

 nomination. In March, 1846, he was commis- 

 sioned major of the Ninth or New England 

 Regiment of Volunteers, in the Mexican War, 

 where he distinguished himself by his gallant 

 conduct. On the 13th of October, 1847, Colo- 

 nel Ransom, the commander of the Ninth Regi- 

 ment, having fallen in the assault on Chapulte- 

 pec, Major Seymour led the troops, scaled the 

 height, and with his command was the first to 

 enter that strong fortress. He was promoted 

 to the command of the regiment, and took part 

 in the capture of Mexico. In 1849 he was 

 nominated for Governor, but, though gaining 

 largely over the vote of the preceding year, he 

 was not elected. The next year he was again 

 a candidate, and was chosen Governor by a 

 handsome majority, being reflected in 1851, 

 1852, and 1853. In 1852 he was presidential 

 elector. In the autumn of 1853, President 

 Pierce nominated him as United States min- 

 ister to Russia, and he filled the office for four 

 years with marked ability. He formed a warm 

 personal friendship both with the Czar Nich- 

 olas and his son, the present Emperor, and re- 

 ceived from them many valuable and costly 

 tokens of their regard. After nearly a year of 

 European travel he returned to the United 

 States in 1858. When the war commenced, his 

 sympathies were largely with the South, and 

 he continued his opposition to the war until its 

 close. In 1863 he was again a candidate for 

 the governorship, but was defeated. 



SIPHON OF THE BRIDGE OF ALMA. 

 The river Seine divides the * city of Paris and 

 its sewers into two parts or districts, that 

 of the right and that of the left bank of the 

 river. In consequence of this division, two 

 systems of sewers are required, one for either 

 bank. The main sewer of the right bank, a 

 sort of confluent of the Seine, empties into it at 

 Asnieres. The main sewer of the left bank 

 empties at the bridge of Alma. It was impor- 

 tant to avoid infecting the waters of the river 

 with the current of the last-mentioned sewer. 

 To effect this, it was determined to connect 

 the two sewers by continuing the main sewer 

 of the left bank to the point where that of the 

 right bank empties into the Seine at Asnieres. 

 This necessitated the excavation of a tunnel 

 under the river. The plan was adopted of 



running a long subterranean canal under the 

 Seine, from the bridge of Alma to a point of 

 junction with the main sewer of the right 

 bank, near the street Courcelles. This was a 

 great undertaking. The excavated canal at its 

 lowest level has a depth of 80 metres. Start- 

 ing from the lower level of the Seine, this 

 subterranean channel runs under the Ave- 

 nue Josephine, crosses the Arc do Triomphe do 

 TEtoile (its point of greatest depth), the Ave- 

 nue of Wagram, the street of Courcelles, and of 

 Villiers, and turns at right angles to form a 

 junction with the main sewer of Asnieres near 

 the point where it empties into the Seine. 

 Three years were required for this work, 

 which was carried on to its completion with- 

 out the use of any structure above-ground in- 

 dicating the work going on beneath. The 

 canal was excavated by means of shafts, open- 

 ing at unequal distances at the surface, after 

 the manner of those for opening a railway- 

 tunnel, or a mining-gallery. Starting from 

 the Place de PEtoile, and running on the line 

 of the Avenue Josephine, the Place de 1'Alma, 

 etc., through a series of pits, for a long time 

 noticeable on that route, the deblai, or exca- 

 vated matter, was brought to the surface by 

 steam-power. 



In July, 1868, the work was completed, the 

 shafts filled up, without in the least interfering 

 with the public travel, or giving any indica- 

 tion at the surface to show the extent and 

 severity of the labors which had been per- 

 formed beneath. The junction sewer being 

 completed, the sewage of the left bank was 

 now to be passed through it under the Seine. 

 To effect this object a great metallic siphon 

 was early in September, 1868, sunk in the bed 

 of the Seine at the bridge of Alma. This 

 siphon consists of two tubes, 124 metres in 

 length. The difference of one yard in the 

 grade, between the openings of the opposite 

 ends of this vast tube, creates a current and 

 forces the flow of the sewage at the rate of two 

 yards in a second. These tubes of which this 

 siphon consists are not cast, like gas or water 

 pipes, but formed of two wrought-iron plates 

 one centimetre in thickness, placed one upon 

 the other and riveted together. They were 

 brought from the workshop in pieces of 14 

 yards in length, and put together on the bank 

 of the river. Each tube being double, as 

 above described, is nearly an inch in thickness. 

 The diameter of each tube is one metre. The 

 bed of the Seine where this metallic siphon 

 was to be placed had been dredged to the 

 depth of two metres. The ditch caused by this 

 dredging had been filled up with mortar, in the 

 midst of which the siphon being placed, will 

 thus lie and be enveloped in a bed of mortar of 

 about 16 inches in thickness. In the sinking of 

 the siphon a great and unanticipated difficulty 

 was encountered. The ends had been closed 

 before it was moved into the water, in order, 

 being filled with air, that it might be moved 

 and guided with less difficulty to its place over 



