The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-10-08
SURVEYOR sT0DDARD's REPORT ON THE
FERRY LANDING,
Has the Ferry Company Bought HIM Upi
The following is the report of Surveyor
Stoddard, at the last meeting of the city
council, on the ferry landing:

Stoddard, at the last meeting of the cit,
council, on the ferry landing:
To the Mayor and City Council
The undersigned begs leaye to report that thu
requisite amount OF filling on The Eagle street Leve'
been done by the contractor but the last poa
place, they being left In pile at the north end Of
the Levee where 1t 10 very difficult TO move them
until the water goes down. MT Conway ihlorms s ne
that he will obligate himself TO Level the rock tt
tn proper grade as soon as the water falls, where
upon would recommend that you take such obli
CATION and settle with him. ,. -.
| would, say, however, that think 1t UNSAFE FOL
the boat to land there at the present stage OF water
there Is not enough water over the pile OF rock
oat the ana agd % nn,
j reach from them 10 shore. / would also suggest
you cause the surface rock OF the Levee to be broken
up and few loads OF gravel spread over IT,
I have made a blue mark on the plat: for the
present surface Of water, and pencil mark FOR the
present SHAPE Of the Levee at the north or lower
end see plat Of explanations
| There is now 2M feet Of water over the rock In
| question which is 40 feet from shore.
! The wharf boat and aprons reach 81 feet conse-
quenIy you VIII see the difficulty In landing at
| nresept Yours Respectfully,
| G. H. SToDDARD, City Engineer.
true copy S. F. COOKE City CLERK.
| Oct. s. 1874.
There are some curious circumstances
connected with this matter, When Mr.,
Conway had, as he thought. got his job
done, he called Mr.. Stoddard to examine
it, and Mr. S. said Capt. Robinson, want
ed little more rocked dumped in at a
point named, Mr.. Conway dumped two
boat loads in, and then called Stoddard
again. when he said Capt Robinson want
ed little more rock dumped in. Conway
put it in. The Wharf Master then, as d.
rected by the Mayor, notified the terry
company to move down. land he was answer
ed by the ferry managers that they did not
intend to go down until the aforesaid rock
was hammered down or taken out. And
now the conclusion is arrived at that if no
rock had been put in after Conway believ-
ed the Job to be completed, everything
would be all right
Was it trick of the ferry company to
get the rock put in in order to enable the
boot to stay where it is? Was Stoddard
paid aything, or granted any personal or
family favor for being used by the ferry
company for that purpose? If not, why
did he play into the hands of the compa-
ny instead of the city which hired him to
work for the people and not for the ferry
company? Or did he get pay from both,
and then play into the hands of the ferry
company? Either this must be true, or
else he is incompetent, did not attend to
his work, and is not fit to be employed as a
surveyor
He now reports p feet Of water oyer the
rock, and the ferry company claim that
their boat draws only u feet and yet
Stoddard says it isn't safe
The best way is to order the boat to the
landing, and if it don't suit the company let
them fix it till it does The city has OK
pended money enough for the ferry com
pany especially when we remember that
by every principle of right, justice, and
morality, the ferry company honestly owes
the people of this city SS,000-due on the
promise of Spencer 4 Robsnson, on the
charter of 1857. They have so much mon
ey in their pockets to-day which honestly
belongs in the city treasury And the
courts have decided that the city has the
right to designate the place for the ferry
to land. The people are under no obliga-
tons to build landing or build wharf
boat. That's the business of the ferry
company. Let them be required to land
at the proper place, or be sued every day
And if the landing don't suit them let
hem fix it till it does.