This day in 1917 in The Record

Tuesday, July 24, 1917. Mayor Burns takes leading officials and citizens of Troy on an inspection tour of the badly cracked Tomhannock dam today, The Record reports. The city has spent at least $25,000 on repairs since the crack was discovered, but a complete repair job “will probably cost considerably more than that sum,” our reporter writes. “An opening in the dam is apparent in many places. It seems to have occurred between different layers of concrete, and is just as noticeable as different strata in rock or earth would be.” City officials don’t know how the dam cracked. “Some attributed it to faulty design, but this opinion was not unanimously shared, while virtually all agreed that a top layer of concrete about thirty inches in thickness had been laid over the dam after the part constructed up to that point had been allowed to set, and the result is that there is no bond between the top layer and the main dam.” In addition, “the foundation of the lower spillway and the pavement of the apron were undermined, apparently by water which seeped through this or other cracks; but that is a point not definitely determined.” There’s no immediate danger of a dam break flooding the nearby valley thanks to the recent construction of a steel coffer-dam. Officials on today’s inspection tour recommend waterproofing the crack, reinforcing the spillway and building a “cut off wall at the bottom of the roll of the dam.” Even if the city acts on all their recommendations, “the officials would not guarantee a permanent repair, and said that no one else could conscientiously do so.” Their final recommendation today is that the city call in an expert to plan more lasting repairs. MAYORAL RACE. Since declaring his candidacy for mayor this spring, Fourth Ward alderman George T. Morris has made a point of not seeking endorsements from Republican party leader. His strategy seems to have paid off, as it now looks like the leadership has no choice but to endorse the insurgent fiscal conservative. The Record reports today that city GOP leaders will most likely endorse Morris later this week after failing to find a candidate willing to face the alderman in a September primary. Their apparent last hope, James A. Beattie, turned down an invitation to run last weekend. Morris would owe his effective nomination to “the apparent inability of the party leaders to get anyone more pleasing to them.” While Morris is often a minority of one in the common council, his independence reportedly has won him a loyal base of support throughout the city.