242 A TREATISE ON DREDGES AND DREDGING 



lake and high tide in the bay is to be overcome by a lock at the 

 western end of the highland section. 



The general plan of operation is to construct bulkheads along 

 the margin of the waterways and fill in limited areas behind 

 it by hydraulic dredges, thus creating impregnable restraining 

 works, and inclosing vast interior settling basins to be filled with 

 material from the highland section. Contracts have been made, 

 so that when the construction of the bulkheads with their backing 

 has progressed to a sufficient extent, work will be begun on the 

 highland section, by installing powerful machinery for loosening 

 the material by water under high pressure, and transporting it 

 by the water in flumes and pipes, to the embankment on the tide 

 flats. Material from the highest parts of the hill will be carried 

 to the remotest districts, and the districts near by will be filled from 

 the lower levels, so as to make use of gravity for transportation. 



The average cost of filling these tide lands with solid materials 

 is much less than the average cost of the perishable structures of 

 wood and piles now used to sustain frame houses over the water. 

 The land created in this way will furnish hundreds of acres of building 

 sites, which will be traversed by railways, and abut upon deep 

 water, thus affording a manufacturing district which will not be 

 excelled by any city of the United States. 



A remarkable feature of this enterprise is that these gigantic 

 and beneficial works will be accomplished without any tax on existing 

 properties. The values that are to sustain the charge are created 

 by the operation that changes the bottom of the bay, which as 

 such is worthless, into dry land, and adds, out of nothing, to the 

 taxable values of the city, in a ratio of three to one of the cost of 

 the improvement. 



The work was carried on by the Seattle & Lake Washington 

 Waterway Co., with Mr. Eugene Semple as president, who uuulo 

 a contract for the execution of the work with the Puget Sound Bridge 

 & Dredging Co. of Seattle, Wash. 



Dredging for the sole purpose of filling up valuable lands has 

 been, in the last few years, undertaken in many places, but chiefly 

 in the neighborhood of New York. The increased valuation of 

 lands surrounding the largest cities, owing to the great facility 

 of transportation, has invited speculators to create new towns and 

 villages, and many old-time farms have been cut up and sold in 

 building lots. The boldest of all these speculations is the construe- 



