"Again, we have known it to require eight hours for two men to dig 8 ins. in hardpan in one caisson, while on a job going on at the same time and on the opposite corner of the street two men made progress of 2 ft. in 8 hours through apparently the same stuff, the depth of hardpan from grade being 61 ft. 6 ins. in both instances, and the quality of labor exactly the same.
"There have been more heavy losses among contractors due to the unexpected conditions arising in caisson digging than in any other item of their work, and I predict a loss to some of them that will be serious indeed if an attempt be made to base future bids for caisson work entirely upon the data kept by them on past work. If a contractor is fortunate enough to find the ordinary conditions existing in his caisson work, and by ordinary conditions I mean few boulders, no quicksand, ordinary hardpan and no gas, the following items may be considered safe for figuring caisson work:
"Figure that it will require from 22 to 25 shifts of 8 hours each to strike bedrock, bedrock being from 90 to 95 ft. below datum, and datum being 15 ft. below street grade; figure 2 diggers to the shift in all caissons over 5 ft. in diameter, 45 cts. per hour for each digger; figure 1 top man at 40 cts. per hour, and 1 mucker or common laborer at 30 cts. per hour for all caissons in which there are two diggers, and 1 top man less if 1 digger is in the caisson, which condition exists generally in caissons less than 5 ft. in diameter. Add the cost of ⅝-in. cable, tripods, sheaves, 1-in. Hauser laid line, nigger heads, ball-bearing blocks, etc., for rigging of the job. Lagging, which is 2×6 ins. and 3×6 ins. hemlock or some hard wood, in length of 5 ft. 4 ins. and 4 ft., is priced all the way from $20 to $22.50 and $21 to $24.50 per M. ft. B. M., respectively. The price of caisson rings is $2.40 per 100 lbs. The cost of specially made grubs for digging in hardpan is about $26 per dozen. Shovels are furnished by the diggers themselves in Chicago, Ill. The cost of temporary electric light is $10 per caisson. This includes cost of cable, lamps, guards, etc. Add the cost of or rental of engine or motors for power.
"Some engineers specify three rings to be used to each set of lagging below the top set until hardpan is reached, then two rings for each of the remaining sets from hardpan to rock. This is, of course, to insure against disaster from great pressure of the swelling clay above the hardpan strata, and may or may not be necessary. These rings are ¾×3 ins. wrought iron.
"For caissons which are not specified to go to rock, it is not considered economical to rig up cable set-ups, but rather to use windlass derricks. In this case 1-in. Hauser laid line is used as the means of hoisting the buckets of clay out of the caisson, as is the case in cable set-ups, hand power being used on the windlass derricks instead of steam or electricity. The windlass derricks are made with four legs out of 6×6-in. yellow pine lumber. The top piece is generally a piece of 3×6-in. lagging. The cost of windlass and boxes is about $35 per dozen. Hooks for caisson buckets cost 45 cts. each. Caisson buckets cost $8 each.
"With the above approximate units as a basis, I have seen unit prices given per lineal foot in caisson work which ranged all the way from $12 to $16.50 for 6-ft. diameter caissons, larger and smaller sized caissons being graded in price according to their size. This unit price included rings, lagging, concrete, power, light, labor, etc."
From the above data the following figures of cost can be arrived at, assuming a 6-ft. caisson:
| Labor. | Per day. |
| 2 diggers in caisson, at $3.60 | $ 7.20 |
| 1 top man, at $3.20 | 3.20 |
| 1 mucker, at $2.40 | 2.40 |
| ——— | |
| $12.80 |
The depth sunk varies from 3½ to 8 ft. per 8-hour day, depending on the material. Assuming an average of 4 ft., we have then 4 lin. ft. of caisson, or 2.8 cu. yds. excavated at a labor cost of $12.80, which is at the rate of $3.20 per lin. ft., or $4.57 per cu. yd. We now get the following:
| Per lin. ft. Caisson. | |
| 40 ft. B. M. (2×6-in. lagging) at $25 | $1.00 |
| 60 lbs. iron (¾×3-in. rings) at 2½ c. | 1.50 |
| 0.7 cu. yd. excavation at $4.57 | 3.20 |
| 0.7 cu. yd. muck hauled away at $1 | 0.70 |
| 0.7 cu. yd. concrete at $5 | 3.50 |
| Electric light | 0.10 |
| ——— | |
| Total | $10.00 |