The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-04-11

dent Thomas c. Mendenhall of the
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, chair
man of the highway commission; his
| associates, William E. McClintock of
Chelsea and o. w. Ross of Newton;
William n. Davenport, secretary of
the metropolitan board; Frederick B.
Stems. chief engineer of the metrop-
olitan board, and E. NJ. Mills, engineer
of the reservoir department; County
Commissioners Capt Emerson Stone of
| Spencer, George W. Cook of Barre and
! Henry G. Taft of Uxbridge District
Attorney Gen. lockwood Hoar, counsel
for the commissioners, and its en-
gineer Lucian A. Taylor of Worcester;
Selectmen George L. Wright, Montra
willie, Flagg and n. L. Kendall of
Boylston; Selectmen A. ]. Scarlet,
John c. Hastings and Aaron Goodell of
West Boylston, and F. P. Holt, select
man of Holden.
About noon the party rode to West
Boylston, where some took dinner at
the Central House while others had
dinner served to them in the hall.
Shortly after o'clock Chairman
Mendenhall called the hearing to Or
townspeople present, and a number Of
sympathiZing friends from other places
were there. Mr.. Davenport, the boards
/ secretary, opened the hearing by stat
ing that the county commissioners not
accepting the proposes route Of the
metropolitan water board an appeal to
the state highway commission had been
made; therefore the present hearing.
After making a few perfunctory re-
marks, Mr.. Miller was CALLED. He sad
/ the distance of the proposed road was
9200 feet in length. He gave some COM
parative figures showing the length Of
/ the two roads The distance, he sad,
1 by the proposed (marginaD road from
I the BoylstOn Centre post office to
! the West Boylston post office, is 4.50
/ miles; the distance by the Dover road
1 is 3.46 miles. The distance from the
4 town hail of Shrewsbury to the West
/ Boylston post office by the proposed
road would be 7.54 miles, and by the
/ Dover road no miles For the inhab-
/ itants of the southerly Part of the
! town of BOylston the proposed road
would be shorter than the Dover road
The next thing brought out in the
! examination of Mr.. Miller was the
amount of travel over the present Do
( yer road and the Scar Bridge road, So
1 called. This was a source of considers
/ BILE comment all through the hearing.
/ The witness said that a man had been
stationed at the cemetery, Where be
+ counted the teams passing in both di-
rections from $50 a. IN. to $50 p. IN.
( Here is the result: Dec 6, 1898, Dover,
( 0; Scar Bridge, %; Dec. 5, 1898, Dover,
! l; Scar Bridge, go; Dec. TO- 1898, Dover,
/ Z; Scar Bridge, 50; average, Dover, g;
/ Scar Bridge, 80.
| Continuing. Mr.. Miller stated that
the marginal highway would cost les
! timated) S33, 500 and the Dover road
/ $4,000. The latter road, according to
/ this estimate. would be SO feet wide
! with a 12-foOt arch for a water chan
mel. The witness thought that the
water board road had less grades than
the basin route.
/ In the cross-examination by District
! Attorney Hoar, the fact was brought
out that the marginal road runs for
! long distance along a side hill, open to
! the winds, and where a good deal of
cutting and fitting was required
Chief Engineer Stems was the next
witness. His testimony was specially
I in reference to the action of the waves
/ on the embankment Of the roads, par
! ticularly concerning the maintenance
of the Dover road.
! The witness declared that the action
/ of the ice, in its expansion and con-
| traction, would be greater than the
waves.
The board then closed its side of the
case, and the remonstrants were Civ
en- an opportunity to present their side
Of the rzatter- Attorney General Hoar
opened with a few preliminary remarks
| in which It was stated that the cost
should not be taken into consideration;