St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-17
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
Discussion of the SMALLPOX Dis
patch and the Street Lines.

OIScuSSlOn OF the SmhatlsPOX bis
patch and the Street Lines.
The board of directors of the chamber of
commerce transacted the following business
yesterday morning:
The committee on streets, roads and parks
recommended that Como avenue be widened
20 feet on each side, making it in all 100
feet wide, from Rice street to its terminus,
and also the opening and extending, by
condemnation, of Como avenue, 100 feet
WIDE through Como Villas to Warrendale,
around the shore of the lake. The park
committee of the city council are about to
make topo graphical survey of the land,
all the way to the fair grounds. Messrs.
McClung, McMurran and Curry have al
ready dedicated double the amount of their
land necessary for the avenue, but Mr.. Rob-
ertSon has not dedicated his land yet. The
report was adopted.
The following resolution, offered by Mr..
Cochran, was adopted:
Resolved, That the committee on nomina-
tons be requested to ascertain whether those
directors chosen at the annual election who
have never attended meeting of the board
intend To accept the Office, AMI if not that the
committee on nominations report the names
OF gentlemen whom they recommend to ill
the vacancies.
SMALLPOX.
Dr. Day, from the committee on health
and sanitation, made verbal report to the
effect that there is no smallpox in ST. Paul,
and that the false dispatch sent out from
this city saying that smallpox existed here
was sent out by a man in the Minneapolis
Tribune Office. In this respect, the doctor
said that our sister city was behaving very
badly indeed, and was not acting in a
friendly manner at all. He regretted this
very much, and felt that she was falling into
bad ways.
The committee to whom was referred the
resolution in regard to the old street lines of
st. Paul proper, reported that it had care
fully considered the same and regard it as
one of the most dangerous resolutions ever
presented to the chamber, and, if carried
out it is liable to involve the city in eXpen-
sive litigatiOnS, and render them liable to
all mistakes and errors which crept into the
original plats, owing to the loose and care
less manner in which these surveys were
made.
The resolution assumes that parties have
been misled as to the corners and lines by
city officials; that they made extensive i'm
provements, relying upon said lines,
whereas in reality the city officials have
never given any lines in any part of the
city in their official capacity, but, on the
contrary, are prohibited by resolution of
the common council from doing so. 1t
would be utterly impossible at the present
time to make a resurvey Of ST. Paul proper
and reproduce the original stakes, as every
trace of them, with few exceptions, have
long since disappeared, and their locality is
only known to the local surveyors, who
guarded them at that time. Scarcely any
block within the district mentioned holds
out in recorded length, and no system
could be devised which would establish the
corners in such manner but that some par
ties would be injured by being obliged to
remove valuable buildings, or to relinQuish
ground held on the certificate of local sur
Yeyors, who are ready to swear to the origi-
nal stakes.
1t was the opinion or the committee that
these matters can only be settled by courts
OF law, and that the parties interested
should bear the expense of this litigation,
instead OF throwing it on the city at large.
The committee is further of the opinion
that the city should not under any circum-
stances relinquish its right to any ground
covered by Improvements, whereby I'M
slightly jagS are made in the streets. or
where the width of the roadway or side
walk are encroached upon.
AS substitute for the resolution the
committee would recommend that the COM
mon council be requested to authorize the
city engineer to increase his force, at an
expense not to exceed $4,000 per
year, and make an accurate sur
vey of all the new territory
added to the city and to establish the lines
of all the new additions, where the stakes
still remain, by putting in sufficient num-
Der OF permanent stone monuments to pre-