Blasting Beneath 14th and A
Contractor C.D. Elmore is drilling into cement gravel to carve out a new foundation for a downtown landmark.
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C. D. Elmore, the well-known contractor, now has a force of men and teams working day and night excavating for a basement under the two-story brick building at Fourteenth and A streets. The excavation is twelve feet deep and is under the entire building, which is 70 by 120 feet, besides 25 feet additional. This work is made very difficult because of the peculiar formation of the earth, which is all of the cement gravel formation and can only be removed by blasting. Mr. Elmore's contract is for $5,400, and in addition to the excavation, calls for cement walls under the brick walls now standing, supported by heavy timbers while the work is going on.
“This work is made very difficult because of the peculiar formation of the earth, which is all of the cement gravel formation and can only be removed by blasting.”
Downtown Tacoma’s complex geology—specifically the hard-packed glacial till—has forced builders to use innovative, sometimes explosive, engineering techniques since the city's founding. This site serves as an early example of the industrial ambition that defined the city’s early twentieth-century growth.
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