Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-01-08
Annual Report Of the City
Engineer to the MayOrand
Board of Aldermen.
Public Improvements During
Past Year-Their Extent
and What They Cost.
street Lines and Grades,
Pavements, the Wharf
Question, Bridges, Gas,
Cisterns and Water
Works.

Engineer to the Mayor and Board of
Aldermen of the City Of Memphis for the
Corporate Year ending December 81,
1867" This report is the result of a
resolution of the Board, adopted Decem-
Der u, 1867, directing the City Engineer
to make yearly statement, in pamphlet
form, of the operations of his depart
ment The report is very interesting as
furnishing complete information rela-
tive to the vast expenditure for public
improvements made during the year just
closed. 1t has evidently been prepared
with much care by Mr.. Foster, is com
prehensive, and we'll arranged.
STREET LINES AND GRADES.
Relative to street lines, about which
complaint has become chronic through
course of years, Mr.. Foster, after re-
viewing the history of laying out Mem :
phis and Fort Pickering, adds that dur
ing the year 1862, and portion Of 1863
when there was no acting City Engi-
neer), many OF the points indicating the
street lines, having been placed in
wooden street-crossings and curbs, were
obliterated, and from time to time, since
that period, they have been replaced as
the duties of the engiueeer have called
him to any particular locality for the
purpose of giving street or alley lines.
1t is almost impossible to preserve them
with accuracy for any great length Of
time, especially in streets comprised in
the late extension of the city, without
the employment of more permanent
landmarks than have heretofore been
used. He therefore recommends that
stone blocks be placed at sufficient
depth under the surface of the streets,
with chases cut in the same, indicating
the proper lines of streets, with their in
tersections, and that where pavements
| have been laid ahasas ha Ont aerass the
top of the stone curbs, thereby saving
the time and expense of repeatedly run
ming lines for the purpose of giving the
proper line only of some isolated lots.
Of street grades the City Engineer
says:
In establishing grades, very great diff.
Guilty has arisen from the universal i'm
preston that street must be made to
conform to the houses, stills, and even
| gateways of tenements, no matter how
irregular they may be in profile. If the
grade of the street is raised few inches,
or depressed few inches below any OF
these improvements" complaints are
made and entertained, petitions are pre-
scented portraying great destruction to
property, and in almost all cases the
public good has to yield to private inter-
ests or private opinions, and thus a per-
| manent evil is entailed. In many other
| cities the grades may be cut down, when
| the public veal demands it, from one to
thirty feet below, or raised several feet
above the existing tenements, notwith-
standing it may produce temporary in
convenience to private owners. A city
| is a unit, and whatever measures will
contribute most to advance and secure
permanent public improvement should
be firmly sustained.
PUBLIC WHARF.
For years the Mississippi river has
been making encroachments on the
| landing from the mouth of Wolf river to
the foot of Jefferson street. Between
two and three hundred feet have been
washed away at the foot of Market
street, and in 1864 and 1865, it became
necessary to remove several thousand
| feet of pavement. Seven thousand yards
had previously caved with the bank,
making a total loss of fifteen thousand
yards, which cost the city $4,000
These encroachmeats have created grave
apprehensions in the minds of many
citizens, lest in time the greater portion
of the present landing should be swept
away. On this subject the engineer
speaks at length, and as the matter is
one of great interest to the public, we
subjein the material portion of his state
ments and suggestions
The encroachments at our landing,
above mentioned, demand immediate at
| tention; for unless some action he taken
to keep the current within due bounds,
there is a possibility that it may change
| in time so as to strike the bank higher
up, and rebounding towards the hrkan.
sas shore, cause a bar TO form along
| the lower part of the present landing or
return to the course il occupied in 1888,
when the mouth OF Wolf river was some
six hundred yards farther to the north.
east than at present, or about opposite
Sycamore street, and the bank of the
Mississippi was along the present Navy
Yard wall, on the west side of Promen-
ade street, thence about the cast line Of
the Western Foundry, and COINED the
present shore again, just below the foot
| Of Jefferson street
The best method of restraining the
current would probably be that adopted
ut Cairo and 81. louis; that is, TO cover
the bank with a heavy rip rap until a
complete protection is formed, so that
the current is prevented from under
mining or washing the bank.
There is a large private interest in
volved in the preservation of the upper
portion of the present line Of the river /;
and in the event of any action being
taken for its protection, it would appear
to be oaly right that these should con-
tribute their proportion toward the ex-
pense Of such work.
Should it be deemed inexpedient at the
present time to enter upon an under
taking that will involve so large an ex-
nenditure as the above proposition,