, 1873-11-30
THE NEW CUSTOM.H0USE,
statement Of tho Amount Of Work
Accomplished.
An Immense Amount Of Material
:: Placed in Position.
0ver Fifteen Hundred Men Employed
:. the Past Season.
Nearly Two Millioua Of tho Appropri.
alton Expended,

3sosi1y 4Wo Mlul0n8 OF tho Appf0prl'
alton Expended.
Ground vaa broken for work on tho now Gov
esnment building in thia city on tho 11th day
Of September, 1879. aud tho fhll Of that yoar
was taken up In preparing tho work for an.
Garment commencement The following spring. Tho
sudden closing In Of winter prevented actiyo
oporations upon tho foundations .boing carrlca
forward beyond tho space of sixty. dayu FROM
the commencement, nnd the work WAS virtually
suspended on tho 18th day OF November, 1874
Labor waB again begun OIL the 7th day of May
Of tho present year; aud continued without
Abatonent until Tho 18th day Of Noyonsbor list,
whon operations upon tho stone work 'coased.
Tho working timo upon this building Inns bcon
1ittlo lese than nine months, and 1t is an as.
eertion susceptible Of proof by references to tie
facta, that thora has nover ,boen ss much 'work
done, nor M much accomplished, toward tho
construction OF q public building in tllis conn-
try, in tho saao space Of time, MS hna boen done
aud accomplished thus far upon tho Now Oil
cago PoHt-O Ofico aud Custon1-IIouse, '"-
This building, AZ is well known by most poo-
pic, Is locato1 upon q block OF ground In tho
worry heart Of tho city, bounded north and aouth
by Adans and jackson streets, and: eaas and
west BY Dearborn aud Qlart stroeta. It. is $40
foet long by 25o wido fronts on four streets,
Adams, jackson, Dearborn, and Clark ; 1t will
be tpreo atoriea, basement aud attic In height,
being 100 foot from tho pttrmont to main cor
NICE, with towers 100 feot high at caoh corner.
When finished, It will bo the lsrgass building
owned by tho Government outside tho District Of
Columbia. :' -. =.
Tile lot upon which tho building is located uas
conveyed to the Government III August, 1s73
tho Hon. n. D. Judd, ap Disbursing Agent Of tho
Government, paying thorofor Sl,250, 900 to tho
Bigo1oW estate. Fl:
Work Oh the foundation Of the structure sras
begun on tho 11th day Of soptcmber, 1879, aud
carried forward by . force Of nearly 200 1aborcrs
until tho It'll day Of November, 1872, when tho
closin In OF cold weather stopped tho work for
tho winter. Labor was resumed on tho 7th OF
May, 1873, and has continued without abatement
until tho 18th Of November inst.
In the excavation 81 the aito OF tho building
there wore removed q ,ol5 cubic yards of oartli,
equal to oNo and ono.elghth miles ofthe Eric
Cnual.
Tie entire floor Of tho excavation was paved
with concTcc, fur feet deep, which required
pave c1nrk stsuot dlstanco Of 254 miles. and Q
inches thick.
Tloro hayo been used in the footingo, piors
and sil1-eourso OF tito base1nont story Of the
u
would nalc solid column 10 foet square and
1900 feet hgh OF tl,is stone, l05, ,S74 cubic feet
arc Of Buona Vista saud-hto,le in blocks varying
In weight from to II tons. =
Tho cutting on this stoto amounts to 1856 B14
superficial foot, or something over three acres.
This amount Of stone, if applied aa facing for
buildings i'll the usual HA4unor, would build ono
and oue-Bizth miles Of frontage Of four-story
buildings.
In laying tho above atsne and concrete there
hare becn l,sel 4,a34 cubic yards Of eaud, and
1886 barrels OF conlout and 3D., 800 gallons Of
wRter, for which latter itcIn the City Of Chicago
has been paid G106.5G, tho wntor being measured
through meter, aud charged by tho city.
Although tho brick woik LAS boen Just bagun,
thore have nlrcady been used 54l 600 BRICK,
which would bo sufficient to construct any of tho
Of IRON bare bccu used, which would be sutfl-
cieut qunutityto to bald 1T1 miles Of railroad.
The above aro the most prominent "details OF
tho work, although any one item pertaining to
tho construction Of this building would DO enor-
nous compared with any other structure III the
city. Tho cost Of the work SO far completed iB
s3a3, aa17 .08, OF which amount <s47,G52 was OK
pended for shopg, Sheds. tools, derricks, nteam
englnos, machinery, fcnce sidewalk, scaifolding,
ato.
The building is At this time about completed
up to the level Of tho fret story and tho greater
portion Of the stono for tho frat story ia already
cut. Owing. to the cold weather, however, 1t has
boon decided not to set any more stone until the
The number Of mon employed upon this work
at one time las been ns high as 1,G0o, divided as
follows j..
At the quuEry aear Cincinnati, paid BY the con-
tractor who furnishes tho stone, about. COO
6tonecuters, pall by contractors. ........ g7d
IronWorkers at Bouon's foundry. to
Employed by Tho Government 1t tho building 275
Total i coo
Below arc glyen in detail the classified dis
hursements on account OF this work. MI tie
money having becn paid at Tic Cuatom-HouBo
By tho DiabuFsipg-Agcnt, Collector Judd:
Eor sic OF ,e5o, 600 90
for b1one-ctttn8 1Z3,l7O.D3
EUR Il 4ttI1
LNf IA4sho. 1tu3t.bt
Au2}ZdJ.59
For l4bof ray-folla., Ill 90
For 1olsceancous.. 1Q5, 5o0.02
Tho design for this building was worked out
by Supervising Architect 4. 3. Mu}iett, poraon-
ally, aud he has given worry close attention to the
dotails and finishing throughout no leaa in tla
supervision Of tho work ut tho building than in
the drawings at Washington. Tie plans and
drawings OF every atone are made In tho Office OF
the architect ns Washington, one copy being sent
to the quarry and tho other to tho Office Of the