CATSKILL

Eastern paving brick company.

ALBANY, July 31, 1900

Hon. THEODORE ROOSEVELT, Governor of the State of New York, Albany, N. Y.:

Dear Sir-I have the honor to transmit herewith the report of a committee of this Board, together with the testimony taken in connection with the nuisance caused by the Eastern paving brick company at Catskill, N. Y.

Hon. THEODORE ROOSEVELT, Governor of the State of New York: Sir-In pursuance of instructions received from you for a further investigation of the nuisances complained of in connection with the Eastern paving brick company of Catskill, we beg to report as follows:

At a meeting of the State Board of Health held in the city of New York on the 10th day of July, 1900, the undersigned were appointed a committee to visit Catskill for the purpose of making the investigation ordered by you.

The committee met in Catskill, July 18, 1900, all parties interested in the hearing having been duly notified.

The testimony taken at the hearing is hereby annexed and forms a part of this report.

It was shown in the behalf of the company that since the issuance of your first order, the company submitted the plans recommended by this Board for a single stack, with which the several

chimneys of the kilns were to be connected, to a competent firm of engineers, who investigated the same, and reported that the plant was impracticable from an engineering standpoint, the soil being of such a nature, and the space at the disposal of the company being so limited, as to make it practically impossible to erect a stack of sufficient size to receive the smoke and gases from the 240 chimneys. The report from the engineers upon this subject is hereto annexed (Exhibit A).

It was also shown by the testimony of several people connected with the company that the pipes for the consumption of smoke and gas had been tried in some of the kilns and had proved unsatisfactory. Evidence also was offered showing that at an expense of nearly $1000 a month, the company had subsituted a practically smokeless coal for that which had heretofore been employed in the kilns, and all parties agree that there had been far less smoke this season than before the new quality of coal had been adopted as a fuel. This fact was corroborated by several prominent citizens of Catskill who were in no way interested in the affairs of the company. Plans were also submitted for a system of four stacks 100 feet high, with which it would be impossible to connect chimneys, and the company expressed to the committee their willingness to proceed at once with the construction of these stacks, provided the same was approved by the Board of Health. Plans were submitted by the officers of the company for a system of four stacks 100 feet high into which all the chimneys could be conducted, the said plans being accompanied by the approval of the consulting engineers who expressed the opinion that they were feasible and would remedy the difficulties complained of. These plans and the letters from the engineering company are hereto annexed (Exhibit B).

The company also presented a report from Dr. Cyrus Edson, former commissioner of health of New York city, and for several years a member of the State Board of Health, which was in the nature of expert evidence, going to show that the conditions as existing at the present time were not such as constitute a public nuisance. Dr. Edson also testified that in his opinion the gases

from these chimneys would be dissipated into the atmosphere, and could not possibly be a cause of complaint for more than 500 feet from the location of the kilns.

He also believed that the plans submitted by the company and approved by the consulting engineers as before stated would abate the alleged nuisance as far as smoke and gas are concerned. Dr. Edson also suggested that the windows of the grinding room where the shale and clay are prepared for use should be kept closed, and a fan arranged for the disposal of the dust in a way that would not allow it to escape into the atmosphere. This is a well-known plan which is in use in many similar establishments and is in no sense an experiment.

The health authorities of the village of Catskill were present at the hearing and had ample opportunity to cross-question witnesses and to present evidence if they so desired. The representatives of the company stand ready and pledged to install one of these proposed 100-foot stacks immediately and believe that it can be finished in about six weeks, and when completed proposes that the State Board of Health shall inspect their operation, and if found satisfactory they will proceed to install the remaining three stacks according to the plan. Several months will be required to complete these changes, but we are assured that they will be complete before the opening of another season. In view of the fact as shown in our previous reports that this alleged nuisance at the worst has not affected more than one per cent of the population of Catskill and that the great preponderance of public opinion in the village is in favor of having no measures taken which will materially interfere with the conduct of the business which has been and still is a source of great prosperity to the community, we recommend as follows:

(1) That the company make a trial of the new 100-foot stack, the same to be inspected by this Board when completed.

(2) It is also recommended that an extension of time be granted to the company sufficient for this trial plant to be erected, and if found satisfactory that a further extension be made for a complete substitution of this plant for the present one.

In closing this report the committee would call your especial attention to the unanimity of the opinion regarding the improvement in the existing conditions since last year; while it is believed that the difficulty should be remedied it is not clear to the committee that the present condition is a nuisance and dangerous to life and health in the same degree that it was at the time of the previous investigation.

In view of the expenses already incurred by the company in the attempt to find a solution of the trouble and their willingness to carry out the suggestions in the plans which have been prepared, it is we believe fair to assume that the company is acting in good faith and will carry out the plans now suggested without any hesitation or attempt in any way to nullify your orders in the matter.

DANIEL LEWIS

OWEN CASSIDY

B. T. SMELZER

ALBANY, N. Y., December 6, 1900

BAXTER T. SMELZER, Secretary State Board of Health:

Dear Doctor-The shale brick works at Catskill report the completion of the smokestack which is to abate the smoke nuisance in connection with burning brick. This stack is 100 feet high and serves two kilns between which it is placed, taking the place of the low chimneys which have been used, that is, one for each fire or about 40 in number for the two kilns. Each kiln has some 10 fires on each side of it, which are stoked from the outside and the draft from them is into the kiln, through a conduit under the floor in which are openings and which connect with the new stack. Fresh coal is applied to each fire every half hour, three or four shovelfuls at a time, one man doing the work so that but one fire is supplied at once.

After watching the stack for an hour or two I find that for about 10 minutes after fresh coal is applied there is some black smoke given off, which soon decreases so that it becomes nearly imperceptible though not entirely so. I should say then that the