The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-03-06

D The village survey.
An item in the report of the Village
! Trustee meeting suggests that few ex
= tracts from the surveyors final report
will no prove uniptertsting. As is
well known the Rev. E. H Randall Of
POultney was employed to make sur.
: vey of the village in order to prepare q
map of its streets, and to establish the
grades thereof, as well as to set monu
ments or marke for the grades and for
curb-stones. He has completed this
contract and his report, wi b its accom-.
panying maps, was submitted to the
Trustees Monday evening.
Mr.. Randall says: AT the outset a
careful and exhaustive examination OF
the Records of Highways in your town
disclOses tho not uncommon fact, that
it would not be possible to make sur
vey of the street lines beyond an ap
proximate degree Of accuracy; and that
while the property lines along the streets
were not altogether Indefinite, they
were not sufficiently reliable to be q
original location of the streets. How
ever, after comforting with the commit
tee it was decdedto fix upon a centre line
for each of the streets, rs nearly mid
way of the lines of fences as circum-
stances and existing conditions would
allow, carefully endeavoring not to dis
turb said conditions more than was pee
essary to get at this desired result.
This Centre-line. therefore. is not
claimed as being located exactly where
the original line of the reefs was laid
it only approxImates to that line with
in reasonable limit In mos of the
streets the line, as fixed by this survey
il about midway between what appears
to be the property lines on eithe side of
the streets. In some streets. because of
certain irregularities, there were slight
departures from this method; but the
stones set TO indicate the curbstone
lines and & AIDES will sufficiently deter
mine the position of the streets as laid
by this survey, which in fact affects
nothing outside the line of the curb
stones
Generally speaking. about one-third
Of the entire width OF the street was
given to sidewalks -one-sixth to each
walk. Hence 81 foot street would
give % feet to sidewalks, and A feet to
carriage traffic"
The report goes on to note the pecu
! ari les which may vary this general
statement in places, and the surveyor
continues:
Except in few cases. specially
noted, monuments are set with their
tops fifteen u.s. inches below the grade
OF the curbstune and the centre of the
street which are to be OF the same
height.
The street is intended to slope uni
fOrmly from its Ce ire line to the curb
stones, forming the cutters at the curb
stones six or eight inches below its top.
This may be a little more or little less,
depending upon the amount of water
likely to require room for easy and rapid
disposal. If properly built. and kept in
order as to form and Gle nliness, an
eight-inch curb will make an ample
gutter for any street in your village.
Cutters should be paved about four
feet from the curbstones-ths will tend
to keep the stone in position and to pre-
vent uneven wear of he cutters "
MIR. Randall explains that iron bolts
are driven at all intersections of, and
angles in, the Centre-lines. noted on the
maps and detail plans. He then gives
such details of surveys, ETC., bv streets
in alpha betical order. We omit all but
he names Of the reefs: Adams Beach.
Brad ord, Branch. County, Depot, Di-
vision. Elm, Gage, Grove, Hall, Hunt.
Hillside, Lincoln Main, Maple. Mil,
Morgan, North. Park Pleasant. Putnam,
Prospect, River, Saff brd, School. South.
Silver, Spring. Sc tt (see SaffnrdJ,
Uuion, Washington, Weeks, Willow
Dewey avenue. The en- ire length of
Centre lines OF stree s. not including |
Scott street. is 1871 miles.
The surveyor tx lains further: I'm |
making these surveys a 50-foOt street |
tape was used; and, unless there was
unusual steepness. the measurement fol |
lowed the gener surface of the ground.
AT some points there were suspicious of
magnetic disturbance owing possibly. to
telegraph and electric light wires. rail
road tracks, and metal structures Of
buildings, etc. These. however. do not
seriously harm the general result, even
If they exist at all.
The elevations noted are interesting.
Mr.. Randall says: The elevations are
all referred 10 Datum line assumed
100 feet belotC the water-table of the
Graded school building at a point di-
rectly over the cornerstone thereof
We omit references to the maps and
give them as stated in the report
These are permanent benches of YER
tical reference, which together with |
their elevations above the Datum line
are as follows: |
On the door i'll of the court house,
"a 81 feet.
'On the door sill of The John S. Hol-
den Manufacturing company's Office,
81. 40 feet.
''On the corner stone of the Roman
Catholic church. 80 81 feet.
On the water liable Of the Bradford
millat the extreme ME-. corner, l57 As
feet.
"On the door sill Of the Battle Monu
ment, 27l.6l feet.
This at oint Is 1877 feet above the
door sill of the court house. and l7l.6l
feet owe the water BILE of the schOol
house.
1.-The threshold of Moons carriage |
shop is 1901 feet above the Datum
line"
Th' Sc extracts from the volumious |
report and accurate maps will give the
reader an idea of the work done. II GER
tainly Is a movement in the right direc- |
ton. Had this survey been made years |
ago and acted upon, the condition of
our streets, with no additional outlay |
than has b, en- made, would have pos
sessed much greater attractiveness, 10 |
say nothing of utility. We pc all |
future work performed on our streets |
will be in accordance with this plan and
the place to begin is at tn. Corners. |
Commence there this year and continue |
TO improve up to grade until the whole
village is thus treated. We commend
these considerations to the coming vii
lage meeting.
Our Village Fathers.
RaOuIar nn.stinv nf the truats % March