Fortifying the Northern Pacific's Coal Bunkers Against Sea Worms
An engineering miscalculation forces urgent retrofitting of new coal infrastructure against the destructive teredo worm.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The iron cylinders surrounding the clusters of piles upon which the new coal bunkers of the Northern Pacific Railroad company rest have been found to be too short to exclude the operations of the ravenous teredo, and orders have been issued to add another section of three feet to each cluster. This section will be made in two pieces, placed in position at low tide and fastened with iron so they will be sunk in the mud. The miscalculation as to the length of the cylinders was from estimating half tide by the United States coast survey, which gave the limits of tidal extremes at this point instead of the ordinary tides. Fifteen hundred barrels of cement were used in filling the long cylinders, and about one hundred and fifty barrels will be used in making this addition. A careful examination of the piles by Engineer Miller and Chief of Construction Parker led to the discovery that the worms had already been making preliminary investigations in two or three piles above the cylinders, but they will soon find their campaign spoiled by an impenetrable coat of armor, up to a point where they do not care to venture.
“The worms had already been making preliminary investigations in two or three piles above the cylinders, but they will soon find their campaign spoiled by an impenetrable coat of armor.”
Early Seattle infrastructure often struggled against the realities of the Sound, here battling both tidal math and the Teredo navalis, a shipworm still problematic for untreated timber. The railroad's massive investment into the waterfront coal trade set the stage for the heavy industrialization of the Elliott Bay shoreline that persists in modern planning debates today.
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