The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-03-09
City Engineers Report.

This department of THE HERALDis indebted
to City Engineer IT. a. Perkins for a COPY of his
first annual report for the year ending February
a. $780, which, upon perusal, proves to be
document of absorbing interest. Prior to Mr.
Perkins appointment the office of CITY engineer
OF Ogden was practically vacant There was no
record or note OF work done, in progress, or in
contemplation. Such notes as had any existence
were held as private property by individuals
Whom the city mad from time to time employed
When the una1ded eye of its supervisor of streets
was deemed insufficient. No grades had been
Established; the office record was a blank The
only record ahord1ng any information whatever
was plat of the original entry, with its Dur-
chased extensions and its ACCOMMODATING renort
this plat being the result of eighteen DAYS
field work. admittedly inaccurate and incofu-
plete as 1t 49, says Mr.. Perkins, lit is monu-
ment OF good work done in q fooliShly limited
time and under d most niggardly appropria-
| tlon. For the result attained under such adj
verse conditions, Mr.. Perkins takes pleasure
In comphmenting Mr.. Washington jenkins the
g1neer who had charge of the work spoken of
1t will readily be seen from the above that the
ONCE OF city engineer during the past year was
no SlnecuTe and this fact will become more fuIlv
apparent when the results attained are fully
understood. Briefly detailed the matters dealt
with have been as follows: Grades have been
established upon over ten miles of streets,
amounting TO seventy blocks; nearly three
miles have been leveled and profiled prepara
tory 10 the establishment of grades thereon;
nine blocks have been. oss-sectioned and the
yuan calculated IOT grazing DIV contract.
nearly four miles districts have been graded by
the city under directions from the city engineers
office.
There are in the city 149 named streets and
avenues and about twenty-five unnamed making
about TWO hundred miles of highway; an unesti.
mated number of alleys and quite a number of
county roads; The total number approaches
three hundred miles OF tloroughfares. Of which
about seventy-tive miles may be said to be i'm
proved
One OF the most trying problems before the
engineer once was the Edehnlte location of the
city streets and the preservation of such Ioca-
tlon substantial stone monuments marked
ana numbered, have been planted at street in
terSecuonS, and angles and distances ascer-
tanned and recorded with great exactness within
The city plat proper. The variance between
record and fact in all street and land lines in the
city made this work exceedingly arduous
quite number oS street have been accepted
and opened by the CITY, or vacated and closed
amp several have become highways by usage
Plans and estimates have been made for twenty
SIX crsSs, walks; about two miles of asphaltum
tar and Drlck SIDEWALKS have been laid In
street numbering, fourteen hundred and sixty
ass garments have been made, assigning about
Two thousand numbers, and nearly all the num-
DerS assigned have been placed on the build
lngs This matter involved an immense amount
of work
The work done by the engineers office in pre-.
paratlon 1or a complete system of sewerage has
Deen extended and through, and the final result
VIII be attained within the next month and in
ample time for construction.
contracts amounting TO over fifteen thousand
dollars were drawn in the engineers Office and
the work directed and supervised in detail.
During the year the city accepted thirty add
lions and subdivisions The plating of all the
property within the corporate limits under
''Fells assessment plat, or chart and method"
an undertaking OF considerable magnitude is
being done under the supervision of the city en-
cheering department
There were made in the Office over five hun
dred maps, plats, protiles and drawings: a svs
tematic record of street numbers was perfected
and completed; the Office acquired and now
holds mass of notes and information of ines
t1mable value, the transcription of which for re-
cord and reference is now under way; the Weber
river and bluff line thereof was carefully mean
dered and located; detailed SURVEYS. levels
plats. profiles and estimates have been made Of
several streets proposed to be opened. The
total expense OF the year amounted to ony
S., 1884.
In conclusion, Mr.. Perkins says that of the
work for 1880 sewer construction is of the first
Importance. 1t will involve much extra work
in the engineering department, as local assess
ment plats, ordinances, the issuing and filing of