Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1913 — DITCH TO SELL FAR BELOW ESTIMATED COST [ARTICLE]

DITCH TO SELL FAR BELOW ESTIMATED COST

All Dredge Firms Eliminated Except C. H. Sternberg & Sons and J. J. Lawler, Who Are Fighting It Out at Republican Goes to Press. Probably the greatest amount of competition ever occurring in the letting of a dredge ditch contract in Jasper county ensued when Superintendent of Construction Myrt B. Price began to auction off the J. C. Borntrager or lower Iroquois ditch at 2 o’clock this Saturday afternoon. Bids were made by sixteen companies, while that many more companies with representatives here did not bid at all. Some of them did not learn until after their arrival that C. H. Sternberg & Sons had a dredge in the river awaiting the letting of the contract, and did not care to bid against that handicap. A requirement in the contract was that bidders put up a certified check that they would enter into contract. Some did not file a check at all. The sixteen companies time bid are as follows: The Hummer Construction Co., The Horton & Mosely Co., the Timithy Foohey Co., the Sullivan Construction Co., John J. Lawler, D. H. Yeoman, the Northern Construction Co., the Wolcott Dredge Co., Sweet & Thomas, Dilley & Berdine, Clyde A. Walb, Chas. Sternberg & Sons, H. E. Rosebrook & Co., Fred C. Morgan, De Poy & Enyart and the Rensselaer Dredging Co. After an hour and a half of bidding, during the course of which there was considerable delay, while the dredge men scratched their heads and figured, Superintendent Price took a recess at 3:30 o’clock this Saturday afternoon, in order to permit the dredge men to think it over v and at 3:45 the bidding —resumed, J. J. Lawler making a bid of 6.05 cents per yard. This bid was reduced to 5.95 c at the time of going to press, when another recess was taken. The ditch consists of the main diteh and three laterals, with a total excavation yardage of 1,611,741. The estimate was that it would cost 6% cents a yard to dredge it. The first bid was for 8 cents a yard. B. D. Comer, for the Rensselaer Dredging Co., made a bid of 7% cents, D. H Yeoman bid 7:40 and the bids went along quite rapidly until at the time the recess was taken C. H. Sternberg had reached the bid of 6.10. All other bidders had dropped out when the bidding went below the estimate. Sternberg would usually make a bid of 1 mill less than Lawler and the latter would come back with a cut of 4 miles. The dredging companies represented at the bidding, so far as a reporter for The Republican could learn, are as follows: The Hummer Construction Co., Marion, Ohio. The Northern Construction Co., Elkhart, Indiana. E. B. Thomas, Royal Center, Ind. H. E. Rosbaugh & Co., Elberfleld, Ind. Timothy Foohey Dredging Co., Ft. Wayne, Ind. Gilmore Bros., Toledo, Ohio. Clyde A. Walb, Lagrange, Ind. Sullivan Construction Co., Alexandria, Ind. , C. H. Sternberg & Sons, Rensselaer, Ind. X De Poy & Enyart, Winamac, Ind. Dilley & Berdine, Hebron, Ind. D. T. Dilley, Hebron, Ind. Will Brown, Hebron, Ind. C. V. Oyan, Valparaiso, Ind. The Spankle Co., Ft. Wayne, Ind. M. J. O’Meara, Cullom, 111. Wolcott Dredging Co., Lafayette, Ind. John Hack & Son., Lowell, Ind. Horton & Mosely, Chicago, 111. Tripp & DeVault, Greenview, 111. Engle Bros., Monterey, Ind. John McMann, Goshen, Ind. There were also several supply men here, Including J. A. Ghetty, the hustling representative of the American Steel Dredge Co., of Ft. Wayne; J. E. Marbaugh, of Monterey, representing the Fairbanks Steam Shovel Co.; C. 8. Kehler, of the Puritan Coal Co.; E. J. Barber, of the Seashins Rope Co., St. Louis; and G. J. Tompkins, of the Trenton Iron Works. There were twenty-two big dredging campanies here, some of them with several representatives, over forty dredge men men Ln all, and they caused more activity about the Makeever hotel than there had been since the close of the auto tourist season. Dispatches from Pittsburg state that the United States Steel Corporation will announce Saturday a wage advance of 14 2-7 per cent for unskilled laborers and approximately 10 per cent for all skilled laborers. The day laborer will be paid 20 cents. The Carnegie mills employs 38,000 men who are affected.