New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-02-28
tho Champiain Canal from the south end OF
the guard lock above Schuylerville to Bull
lard,s Bend. The following were some of the
principal items which made up the quantity
Sboet rrenared by the engineers.

lard's Bend. Inc Iouowmk wero son'o VI va"
principal items which made up the quantity
Sheet prepared by the engineers:
Earth excay alton 10000 yarls
Solid rock excavation. ......--.-..-.- 800 yards
Embankment.. -.......'''--..'.--''-' i'"W yssus
Slope and pavement wall. a,ooo yards
D pr. Tsii vail in cement 200 yards
IJore tho pripcipal business seems to be earth
excavation. of which there are 10000 yards,
while an unimportant item is that of rock ex-
cavation. 300 yards. Any person, not admitted
TO the circle of the Canal Ring. competing Tor
the contract, would have offered 10 DO the
earth excavation at moderate though re-
muneratve price, not less than thirty cents
per yard, while the solid rock would not re-
ceiye much of his attention. Not so the men
who were awarded the contract and dld the
work. They, being well aware that the guam
tty sheet did not represent the true quantities Oh
worl, to be done, offer to do the earth excaya-
ton at eight cents per yard. This makes
D.. 200 for tho 10000 yards, against Sl2,0oO
which would be q fair price for the work
proyided any honest bids were received.
When the bids are opened the great difference
between eight cents for 10000 cubic yards ana
thirty cents for the same, determines 10 whOm
the contract shall be awarded.
Two or three years after We find that the
work has been finished and now let us see
what the State had to pay for. Instead OF
40. 900 yards of earth excavation there are only
2s.g72, amounting to $2,3l7 70. Butthe next item
is 81. 39s yards Of solid rock, instead of three
hundred yards, amounting at SO to $112,f76!
Dry wall, 5,729 yards, at So, is S171S7 and
loose rock, 2O77 yards, at 81. is s6,231--tho
oIoJ how inn
and so yards respectively. Mr.. Davis does not
tell us whether or not the measurements OF
the work done are honest but admitting that
the work paid for actually was done, the
swindle is stupendous, tho contract having
been let to the lowest bidder for less than
$4,000 and the whole amount paid by the
Auditor in pursuance of the contract having
been $l46,3l6!
In connection with this swindle Mr.. Davis
mentions another by tho same contractors
why has Mr.. Davis neglected to give the pub
lie their namesf They had entered into
contract to construct stone dam across the
Hudson River at Fort Miller, On the
form of a crescent. This was fair contract
for the State, but in the Spring of 1871 line
was incorporated into the Canal Approp1a-
ton bill, directing that the Fort Miller dam
shouldsbe built "onsalline parallel wfh tho old
"st,ucture, and not exceeding twenty feet be-
Glow the same.n This little change in the
location and plan cost the State over one
hundred thousand dollars. 1t called for
large quantity OF the kinds of work which,
in the quantity sheet, were stated at small
amounts, and the prices named in the con-
tract for all those amounts were high; but
brush and gravel filling, and all lOw-priced
work named in the old contract. were not now
required after the change OF plan; 1t would
not answer to fill the space of twenty feet be-
tween the old dam and the new with brush
and gravel; the price per yard, in the con-
tract, was only ten cents, but for loose stone
the price was three dollars.
But now mark how neatly this second
swindle is made to dovetail into the hrSt
The loose rock excavated at Billiards. Bend
for three dollars a yard is dumped INTO the
space between the old dam and the new FOR
three dollars more q yard, so that 1913
yards of stone dug out at Billiards. Bend and
thrown into the Hudson River have cost the
State of New-York SS2,4SS The total cost OF
the Fort Miller dam, as settled by the
Auditor and exhibited to the Assembly by
Mr.. Davis, was Sf45,743 SO, or more than one
hundred thousand dollars more than the
original contract price. As Mr. Davis re-
marks, these swindles could not have been
accomplished had either the Engineer Depart
ment. or the Board of Canal Commissioners,
or tho Legislature been proof against the cor
rupt appliances of the Ring which has roooed
the State of millions of dollars and gwen us
anything but perfect canal. And that Ring
it is our deliberate opinion, has prevented the
proposed amendments to the Fifth Article oil
the Constitution from being submitted to the
popular vote.