The times., 1898-10-28

existing and proposed highways is sixty
square miles; about fifteen square miles
are included In the settled portions of
the District, leaving forty-five square
miles covered by paper plan. The orr
gin, development. characteristics. and ex-
tent OF the plan of Washington should be
reviewed in order to appreciate the rea-
sons for general and specific features of
the extended plan.
Mr. Richards then sketched the history
OF the District of Columbia and told of
the surveys and plans OF l. L'l;nfant Mr.
Richards said:
Some of the best artistic features con-
ceived by L'Enfant have never been de-
veloped, partly because they We're located
in marshes and low ground
In March, 1888. an act was passed
by Congress to provide n perma-
nent system of highways in that part of
the District of Columbia lying outside of
cities 1t provided that said system
shall be made as nearly in conformity
with the street plan of the city of Wash
ington as the commissioners may deem
advisable and practicable
study of the System.
THE act created a commission composed
of the Secretary of War, the Secretary of
the Interior and the chief of engineers
of the United States army, with authority
for alteration or approval. Their final ap-
provai and the record of the plan in the
Office of the surveyor made IL a fixed
guide for future subdivisions.
THE first study of system under this
act was coincident with the completion of
a typographical map of the Dis
trict made with plane table by the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.
II was printed on sheets to a scale of 400
feet to the inch. with contour intervals of
five feet, each sheet covering one square
mile. AT first they were printed in four
colors-streams in blue, contours in yell
low. trees in green and property lines in
black, but a reprint was made in black
leaving Off the trees. They were COM
plete, accurate and Very acceptable. with
one eXception-the scale was unfortunate.
Two hundred feet to the inch, or better
one hundred. is necessary for office work
in grade studies. To one not acquainted
with Washington's environs little at
tention to this map will reveal a section
of remarkable topography. The city prop
er lies on rolling ground of from ten to
one hundred feet above mean tide, and is
surrounded by ridges and plateaus three
or four hundred feet above tide which
have been eroded by numerous streams
into hollows, and deep, narrow valleys
Here was presented problem In topo-
graphical conditions quite different from
the city, where cuts and fills of forty feet
We're rare. close checkerboard plan over
the suburbs with maximum grades
Of s per cent wsuld in places double any
cuts and fills in the city, while Ii covered
a section five times as large and never so
valuable. The promoters and friends of
street extension who had urged its needs
before Congress We're wide in their views
as to straight extensions, and were given
a fair hearing by the District authorities.
The field work made in aid of the stud
les was of a very simple character. A
system of coordinate lines was extended
over the District. permanently marked,
and these connected with triangulation
points of the Coast and Geodetic Survey,
and with the various subdivisions, num-
bering about seventy, with an aggregate
of one hundred miles of streets. All sub
divisions and points of reference were
plotted on the streets by means of their
geographical positions, most of the exist
ing highways governing to some extent
the actual locations of the proposed
streets.
To-day one-fourth of a million persons
occupy fifteen square miles, and We may
roughly conclude that the whole District
in another century will be fairly well
settled The establishment of its plan, of
course, may be extended without end
n. P. Lewis, engineer of highways of
Brooklyn, presented the report of the
committee on street paving. The commit
tee advocated the grooved rail and set
forth the advantages of stone or brick
paving against the rails on streets where
traffic is heavy. Asphalt between the
tracks and on the outside of rails was
said to be effective where the traffic is
moderate.