National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-22

WASHINGTON, May IL, 1874
By Mr.. Wilson: @. Those are the sewers
charged up to the Government at S4.70! A. l
understand it so.
Q. Do you consider that statement about the
fair average cost of these sewers to the Board
of Public Worksi A. Well, there Is no assump-
ton about It; these are facts.
Q. But taking the whole pipe-sewerage of
the city, not embraced In the main sewerage,
which am not speaking of, do you think that
would be fair average price' A. 1t is not
STAIR" It Is q correct average price.
Q. What Is the whole number Of feet, If you
know, of pipe-sewer that has been laid in the
ethyl If you have any means Of determining
that, let US know. A. should think between
SOC, 900 and 400, 900 feet. But, for reasons un-
known to me, good many Of those assessment
tables which ought to have been published in
the report of 1873 were withheld and not pub
Iished, and therefore could not include that
whole amount of 400, 900 feet, which should
have been included. took the official data as
far as it has come out of the surveyors office;
the rest Of it Is buried there.
Q. Where are those papers nowi A. The
assessment-sheets have never left the survey
or's office.
Q. Who makes up these assessment-sheetsl
A. Mr.. Forsyth, acting; as believe, nominally
as engineer Of the Board of Public Works, has
large force engaged upon It.
Q. Does he make those sheets under your
direction, A. No, sir. . ..-.....'. . 81
Q. Does he report those assessment-sheets
to your officci A. No, sir.
2. Do you have any copy Of them there? A.
have asked frequently, and Icannot get them
/ don't know how It Is. have said frequently
that believed that the Board of Public Works
have q duty to look at these assessment-sheets
before the citizens of the District are charged
but without avail. / have further officially, In
board meetings, alluded to the fact that al
least copies of these sssessment-sheets should
be in the Board OF Public Works office; but ]
was told that It was not necessary to have du-
plicates of papers.
Q. So that you never had access to theml
A. have never had access to them. That Is
to say, might have gone to Mr.. Forsyth's Of
fee and asked him to hand out one sheet from
his safe; but this ! considered as below my dig
nifty. Iwant to see the whole thing in black
and white before me, rs ! have q right to do.
The assessments can be OILY compared. Iwish
circle-you send the best engineer in the world,
and he cannot say whether the whole thing is
correct without he has the assessment-sheets
of the six streets intervening there.
Q. Mr.. Bliekensderfer has made . measure
ment there, ard there have been measurements
madA by Colonial Forsyth and Mr.. Same, and
there is a discrepancy between them as to the
amounts of sewer that there Is there. Has
there been any sewer put in there since Mr..
Same made his measurements; If so, how
much? A. A sewer has been laid only last
fall. A member Of this committse-Senator
Stewart-I suppose, Is aware Of It,. It Is under
the sidewalk of the house which Senator
Stewart now occupies. This sewer was only
laid late last fall, Just before it froze. Then
another sewer, running from the circle south
over to Connecticut avenue, was also laid long
after the rest of the sewers were laid. This
sewer was laid after the street was concreted,
but before the top-dressing was put on last
June, think; however, l do not ik6to swear
to that, as / do not know positively.
Q. So there has beens sewer put in between
the time Same and Forsyth made their meas
urements and the time Mr.. Blickensderfer
made hist A. I'll myimpression anyhow; but
before / could say most positively should
have to look over the reeords. know only
this sewer was put in long after the sewerage
was put in. The other sewer in Senator Stew
arts square l am positive about.
Q. Do you know what amount of sewerage
had been done before the Board OF Public
Works was organized A. Do YOU mean tho
value of It'll ... .s......
Q. Yes; and the number of linear feetl A.
The number of linear feet I could not well say.
Pipe-sewer, should say between SOC, 900 aS,j
400, 900 feet. ...
Q. Before the Board Of Public Works was
organized, I mean. A. Oh, that is another
matter. Before the Board Of Public Works
was organized our estimates, concurring with
the estimates of other engineers, about ~
miles of brick sewers, equal to about 63, $50
linear feet laid 8 miles Of pipe sewers; that In
cludes all. However, l had been anticipating
that such q question would be most likely
asked, and, not liking to deal in assumptions,
but rather in facts, have, since { have had
my subpoena on Saturday, ordered the gentle
man under my charge, who has the sewers in
hand, to make map showing really all the
old sewers built before the Board of Public
Works went into operation, either by the cor
poration or by the Government. This map,
unfortunately, It was impossible to finish.
However, 1t Will be finished in the course of
the day, and then we shall have 9 correct
figure. s --.-- ..r -
By Mr.. Wilson: 9; Do you know how the
skating rink was filed, and where the earth
came FRONT A.. That was done before was q
member Of the board.
Q. Do you know where the earth came FRONT
A. No, sir. I
@. Do you know anything about the flag
ging around the Franklin school building,
where that came from7 A. The Tagging around
tho franklin school building is old tagging,
which myself had laid number of years ago.
This tagging was relaid couple of times, but
nothing else was done to It.. The Tagging does
not look as well as new, because always In
taking up you take the corners off and break
1t. had it laid under Mr.. BoweR's admins
tration. - ~
Q. Has Il been taken up and relaid by the
Board of Public Worksi A. Twice. .r
Q. Has the Government been charged with
it, A. I do not know.
Q. Do you know In regard to the gutter-1ag-
ging In Maryland avenue east, First to fifteenth
street, There is no gutter-Aagging there.
Q. Do you know what the United States is
charged for thatl A. don't remember. The
price Of the board for this gutter-fag Is, for
cutters, 12-inch tagging, furnishing and lay
ing, IS cents, and for f6-inch, so cents. The
board price Is, furnishing, %, aud laying, IL !;
which makes IS cents in one case and IS plus
IL makes 80 In the other case. ,.-,
Q. Do you know what that Ia charged to the
Government att A. No, sir ! have not looked
:: :Es E, 4 1887 linear feet of su't'FnAssiDs'
Q. Where do you find that : A. On page 412
Of the Governors answer.
Q. On what street or avenuei A. Maryland
avenue, between First street east and Bound
airy, as you called for.
Q. It Is charged there at $l.l5f a. Yes,
sir.
By the Chairman: Q. Is the present system
Of sewerage adopted by the board an efficient
one for the drainage OF the cityi A. Yes, sir.
So far as the principle Is concerned, is is cor
rect. The detail, especially where l have
differed with the board, Is this: That am
afraid that sooner or later we may have trouble
with the sewer IN B street, from Seventh to
Seventeenth street, and 1t was my plan TO have
an intercepting sewer run along New York
avenue across the Treasury Department, and
then intercepting all that higher ground north
of street, SO that, 10 fact, this B-street sewer
would take only the sewerage from z street