The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-09-25
WORK ON THE STREETS.
The Systematic Way In Which. I'm
provemsnts Arc Being
Conducted.
a Carrying Out OF the Original
Design Regarding the
Grass Plats.

Davis street. Eiums Believed 10 Ne FIXED
1t Lsss-The sosthsast Part Of
the Town.
II takes time ana II takes money TO make
city beautiful, no matter what the natu-
raj advantages may be In the matter OF To-
cation and surroundings When hslsne
was laid out. the site was selected more
with the view OF being near the original
placer dieoines OF Last Chance Rulch than
With any idea OF finding \ location thAt
could b identified with little trouble and
small expense. II remained for the skill OF
her ensinesrs and the money and muscle OF
her citizens, to make Helena what she -
to-day-an attractive, and In most parts. =
pretty city, despite tho fact that nature has
no arranged matters that there 10 NO easily
accessible poins from which ths entire
place can b taken in with one comprehsn-
awe glance. Tho multiplicity OF gutohss,
smaller or larger, within the corporate lin
its Of Helena, the steep hills 10 BE- climbed
OF cut through. and the deprsssions to BE-
Ukl6Q Upv EANAO tA0 10y AA& SAs le"S-
Of streets and the construction OF . system
Of sewerage or surface drainage which Will
dc The work of carrying of the water with
out damage to property, . difioult matter.
Thousands Of dollars have been spent on the
streets Of the city in grading and regarding,
cutting down and filing If. Much Of this
work has been but = temporary s~xpsdient,
and subsequent events have shown that
changes were needed. Mayor Curtin, At
the outset Of his administration, decided
that what work was done on the streets
should be done with the idea of perma-
nenoy. Hit appolntee as street commits
sioner, q. G. Stubs. has q large force of
men employed in all parts of the city.
There are 90 many things going on that it
keeps the street commissions moving
around as fast AZ a horse can carry him.
There il a foreman for nearly every large
gang OF men, while J. II. Boucher acts az .
general assistant. +. ..
The general plan carried out In the street
grading At present is to make = cut where
ever ono il necessary, and use ths sxea-
waited earth for filling in where there Is =
depression. In doing this the question OF
propar surface drainage 10 kept in view.
The original intention of allowing An op-
p%ortunity to property owners to beautlfy
the street in front of their houses il being
carried out. The design was all along to
allow for q roomy sidewalk and = four
foot grass plat between it and
the gutter. In very few places-so few, in
fact, that they are looked upon Al curios-
ities-has this been done. Wherever there
is any grading done now the place for the
2, ass plat il carefully levelled off and = gut
ter dug m the outer edge. since the city
has done this there is no doubt bat that at
~ carly = day as possible one will be able
to move along many streets of Helena and
see long rows of green grass between the
sidewalks and the street. On many of the
principal tho~rouRhfares, where the grades
are stsop, stone cutters have been put in.
This ID particularly noticeable on Broad
way. Sixth avenue. Grand street. and State
street. The cutters formerly made on
for ordinary rains, but a heavy storm was
sure to wash deep gullies or else fill up the
cutters with debris and sand. The stone
cutters are expected to be able to stand any
amount OF water. A regular system of
cutters il being built at street
crossings also. Instead OF continuing the
crosswalks from one sid of ths street to
the other without a break, a cut is made for
the gutter, and gutter plates laid over the
openings. Tho greatest amount of work
on she sewerage system has been done on
tho Davis street 1ume. The wooden fume
has been covered from its beginning up in
Dry guloh to ita present terminus below
Eleventh avenue. From there on a defec-
ton is being made a little to the east by
means of a sewer of stone walls, which will
have q plank top even with the grade of
Davis street. This stone sewer will run
along she front of the contiguous lots. 10
that the wooden top will answer the double
purpose of a sidewalk and to keep the
water in. Crossing tho different streets
whloh intersect Davis street along the line
OF the fume large wooden c~alverts have
been built up to the surface. This has been
done at all crossing except one. whore the
fumew was already on grade. These e~ulverts
are expected to carry the water across
without letting it o,srtew at tho
ering on the top of the fume will, NO
doubt, prevent any overflow along Davis
street. The trouble with the fume has
been heretofore that large quantities Of
debris have washed down and choked mp
the space whore IL was confined at the
end of the fume a grating was constructed
to catch the debris and ALLOW nothing but
water to enter the fume. Since then tho
street commissioner has decided that it
would be better to stop the debris further
up the gulch. From First street 10 the
upper 0uu OF LQ0 uQn0s on tuO 0R6t BlQ0 OF
Davis street there il a gully through which,
on the occasion of heavy storms. tho water
has rushed down to the fume with its piles
of debris. This debris in turn choked up the
fume and caused the water to bach mp and
form q staRnant pond, which would be sew
eral days in draining of. At First street 4
bridge has been erected with stone abutment,
and the part east of Davis street which was
designed for the bed of First street has
been filled in with earth. Across the upper
end of the bridge Il grating will be placed.
and this with the embankment made by
Milling in the bed OF First street. will stop
all the debris there in one spot, and make
it easy of removal after a storm, besides
allowing nothing bus water to pass down
into the fume. Another bridge has been
built and Il similar fill IL being made At
Third street, east Of Davis. The next most
extensive sewer improvement is that on
Boulder avenue. The sides of ths old fums
crossing the avenue had cavsd in. They
are being rebuilt and extended up to the
surface of the strest, instead of being sew
sral feet underground as heretofore.
The most extensive piece of street work
is the cutting through of Lawrenbo street
from Main to Rodney. The cut, at its
deepest part. will be twenty FIVE and one
half feet below tho original surface. There
is q little army of men and teams at wotk
in this Ont. which is being made gradually
until it gets down to the established grade.
Flows run along the upper edge OF the cut
and turn the dirt over into the openiu q