Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1872-09-28
THE LOST ALLEY.

A/"St week we puDnHne0 cOnmuM-
cation from Mr.. F. Henry showing the
width Of the tier of blocks cut by the
north and south line dividing the the
claims Of Sylvester and Swan, to be,
according to the official plats, $50 feet.
Below we publish letter from Mr..
John NJ. Swan, who originally laid off
and plated "Swan' Is Addition to Olym-
pia," fully corroborating Mr.. Henry's
position. If an inspection of the plats
leaves any doubt upon the point, Mr..
Swans testimony will generally be con-
sidered conclusive. He ought to know
even better than the City Surveyor
whether he intended to make those
blocks 24O or $50 feet deep. But since
Mr.. White has written letter to the
Transcript for the purpose of informing
the public, that, to use his own Ian
guage, "said tier of blocks does GER
tainly contain only 24O feet and contain
no alley" those who have a tolerable
knowledge Of his distinguishing charac-
teristic will scarcely expect him, under
any circumstances, to modify this opin-
ion or to acknowledge his error. Hav-
ing once said "this horse is not nine
teen hands high" he will stick to it, to
the extent of trying to ride him full
tilt under sixteen hand gate cap.
And, if we are not mistaken in tho
relative strength of material he will go
through like dose of salts.
OLYMPIA, Sept. %, 1872.
Ed. STANDARD: Having seen an arti-
Gle in the Olympia Transcript Of the
2lst inst, over the signature of MIR.
Chas. A. White, purporting to be in
reply to an article published in late
number of the STANDARD from Mr..
Francis Henry, relative to the City
Surveys in Swantown (Which later arti-
Gle I have not seen) and dsclaiming any
participation in what may be news
paper controversy, yet learning by re-
peated rumors that our city council is
about to make material alterations and
changes in the surveys of Swantown,
some of which changes are based upon
grave error made by Mr.. White in his
recent survey as shown in his commu-
nication to the Transcript, and as am
informed the same error exists in his
report of surveys made to the city
council, I am impelled to state what /
know about town plats. The error to
which refer is, where Mr.. White as
sumes that the range of blocks between
the East line of Jefferson street and
the West line of Cherry street is only
24O feet. am informed he recon-
mends the council to place the reduc-
ton made on said blocks to charging
some one of the streets in Swantown,
and rumor has it that our city coun-
Gil are about to follow the sage recon-
mendation. I am not stranger to
the fact that town councils are ambitious
of assuming authority beyond the pow
ers delegated to them, even at the ex-
pense of consistency or common justice,
but, that our present council should
attempt SO ridiculous O stretch of pow
er, as to take from the lot owners in
the above said range of blocks large
percentage of their property (which
they have bought and paid for) and add
it to some street already wide enough
GO feet am unwilling to believe, and
should rather think am misinformed
on the contemplated action Of the
council. t az Hl1 5'i.s..at
There are two phases applicable to
tho ffor ~, o,,ookio,, orI which ,,,o,,
he worthy of considerations:
LIST, That even if the surveyor, Mr..
White, should Gas any one may) make o
mistake, the cause of such mistake
should escape the notice of almembers
of the council. The failure to detect it
does not bespeak for any extra atten-
ton on the part of the council to the
duties devolving upon their position.
I'd, That on finding an apparent
error, the council should with seeming
haste jump at so unwarrantable q con-
clusion as that Mr.. White survey must
be correct and all previous surveys
wrong. s34l J.aa ga. j~ $3.50 f4HW fiD
With such great disparity, the
council should have gone outside of
Mr.. Whites report for information to
either verify the report or show where
and how the error existed. 'leu Z. ~
I shall here briefly state, for those
concerned, my own connection with
the surveys of Swantown. Having
made the original surveys of that place,
and operating with chain (of two
poles) which was between three and
four inches too Tonga circumstance
Of which I was not cognizant at the
time-the excessive length of chain in
wolves an undue extension of the sur
veys equal to about ten or twelve inches
to one hundred feet. For that error
hold myself blameable to. those con-
cerned. I suppose it is scarcely neces-
sary to add that had taken the pre-
caution to prove or correct my chain
before commencing the said surveys,