Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1866-11-03

ISLAND Of aocx ISLAND.
0iaace ~ 0overn0eas lmprove-
neass Aorang she Deaeon.
AZ general thing ws bslisvs. Il 10 - :
tset that ~ losal psess esd ~ psslls esa.
orally. do not take that active interest In The
improyements that are being mads b. the
0evsrnaent sada the supssvisiou of Gen.
srai Rodnan. upon Reek Island, that their
great inpog.aaes demands, but With she
desire q osoding cur ways In t6is respect,
~ paid that psaes visit this morsins. end
through The politsosss Of ths Csnmasdaal
jest aased, chained suGcisnt number 81
facts ssd 6esres relative to the operations
Of the pest summer to enable NJ 70 give the
public pretty sseeul idsa Il what be-
been dsns. asd what is proposed 10 BE done
next year.
The lsrgsat asmbs9 Il nss that havs
bsen employed q any one time thsrs. i
about 400. Al " lass pey day there wsrs
absut 800 still employed. siaes which tias
considerable nunber has bssn discAnged,
and dssing the winter months ~ sumbse
retained In service viii probably not exceed
one hundred.
The aoeunt Of funds expended there
during the season nov coming to close, is
not far from e25O. 900, Or one quarter Of Q
million Of dollars. The pay roll of yester-
day for the month Of October, was fully
t2O. 1000.
To describc in detail what that force oi
men and the money issued has accomplished
would occupy much space and take much
more time than We have 10 spare to-day, %
we will only glance at the more important fea-
tures-stating in advance that all that haa
bssn done has been we'll dene-and princi-
pally ~ merely preliminary to the great
work that 10 to follow.
Let us begin, then. with the ground work
Tho avenues Ard roads. On the south, OF
Illinois side Of the Island, beautiful road,
thirty feet vide. christen.d very properly.
Sylvan Drive. hes been cleared, grubbed
and graded for the distance Of two miles,
which gives one Of the most picturesque and
delightful drive.ways along shat has been
known - the slough" but what will here
after bs termed "Sylvan water" that can b
Imagined. This drive affords On almost on
brsken view Of woods aud Understanding
asong to conform TO the contour Of the Is>
land that can be imagined, aud will be .
favosite resort for al time to cone.
Main Avenue, 60 feet wide, has been
worSsd about one and half miles-pArtly
macadamissd.
West Avenue has been cleared and work
ed about one milc-partly macsdamized.-
East Avenue hes been worked one half
mile.
Iowa drive, 40 feet wide which skirts the
Island on the Iowa side. has been worked,
mscadam. sed and guttered about ono mile,
and along the south side handsome paling
fence vith iron posts, has been built and
on either side row Of shade trees has been
planted. This is superior improvement,
and will last for ages.
Here, then, We show six miles Of avenues
and drives constructed this season, With
about two miles Of macadsmixing
under which there are numerous
permanent stone cul,erts, one Of
which, where West Avenue crosses the
slough, is 300 feet long, and high enough
for man TO walk through, and is built Of
Joliet stone. I. is magnificent piece Of
work.
Two large cisterns have been built one
for hard water. Of $4,000 gallons capacity
10 located in the vet ground or slough near
the long eulvert the other is ,uble cis-
tern for soft waser-each compartment 10
feet vide BY Is. and 10 feet deep. The
water Is taken from the roofs Of the ada.
cent buildings, into one side. from which il
is filtered into the other. 1ts capacity is
about 10 700 gallons. The former cistern
is convenient to the engine house, and
affords an abundant supply for extinguish-
ing Grss the latter furnishes water for do.
mestic purposes for those residing on the
Island, and is conducted to the various
quarters through cast.iron pipes.
For various purposes, and At various
points, about l, 900 feet Of drains have been
constructed-4O0f feet, At the Arsenal, At the
lower end Of tho Island. 10 Of stone the
balance Of wood-msrely temporary.
In the building line, ~ find the Govern
ment Receiving and Distributing Ordnance
Arsenal oil under cover, the main roof now
being slated in. The tower will be comple>
ted next season. The interior will DO "fur-
red" plastsred-and properly Aoored. The
best idea we can give Of il is that Il 10
magnificent piece Of smooth hewn stone
work. has . capacity for storing arms and
accoutrsmsnta, excepting aonunitisn, for
arming force Of 150. 900 men, and sill cost,
when completed, about 100000. Tha
building is positively Gre proof. end hes no
provision for any Gre OF heating apparatus
Of any kind. The roof is Of slate gut
tsring and spouting Of copper, which wss
put on by J. H. Dumont, Of this city.
Near the ssnsral part Of the Island is the
Temporary machine shop-l5O BY $50 and
blacksmith shop-40 BY $50 fset-have
been built The former contains q s0>horse
power engine, and has IN the rsqsisite ma
ehinsry for working in wsod and iron. The
latter has IL forges. which ars 10 b blown
By cir brought thrsugh % irsn bisst pipe,
worked By lan. BY ths main sngiss IL ths
maehias shsp. The machine shops 5oeees
ass hsaesd b steam pipes; and h the tase-
msus Of one Of ths wing is ~ immense
steam dfy-houss lse drying lumber Ada
cent to tha nashios shap i piled up IN ilne
eonditisn ahest 100000 feet Of excellent
lsubss. Il the construction ofthese buiDd-
iugs the available lumber Of about twenty
n. Il h-..f A A.