1920s Rikers Island Landfill Operations -- Scene #8: Overall View

Scene 8 could serve a modernist painter well as a mix of extended straight lines -- verticles, diagonals and horizontals. But close-up detailed sections reveal the outlines of people working. Hand written on the back of the photo appear the words: "Fradus Contracting Co., Dredge 'Phoenix,' Rikers Island, 'Off-Shore' July 14, 1921."

A contracting company with that name figured as a victim in a 1920 story about alleged building trades shakedowns. See NYT 10/29/1920. In 1921, Fradus Contracting Co. again figured as a victim according to allegations by then Aldermanic President F. H. LaGuardia that the then Street Cleaning Commissioner John P. Leo had substituted another firm for Fradhaus which had been awarded a Rikers Island ash removal contract by the Board of Estimate. See NYT July 19, 1921 and NYT July 12, 1921. Evidently, the "Phoenix" was not involved in ash removal when this photo was taken.

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