Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-05

! means will be taken by inserting expansion
! joints to avoid this trouble in the future.
| No instance occurred of walks having been
| thrown by frost. although during the past
winter Washington experienced the coolest
weather known in the city since the estab
| lishment of the weather bureau. If not the
| coolest that has ever visited the District
| of Columbia
Gives Good Results.
| 1T has been found that the policy adopt
| ed by the office concerning permits for side
, walks to be laid by parties other than the
| District has given mos excellent results.
Formerly private parties were permitted
| to lay walks in the street whenever they
| SO desired This resulted in many walks not
! being laid at proper grade. and where the
walk was of brick 1t was frequently laid
unevenly and of material of inferior quail
| ity or. If of cement, the work would be
| poorly done that the walk would begin to
| break up or become uneven within year
| or two and frequently within less time The
| policy was therefore adopted of requiring
permit for every such construction by
| private parties If the walk was to be of
cement the permit required that it should
| be laid in accordance with District Speci-
fCations for this class of construction, and
the party desiring the work done was
qUired to deposit amount sufficient to
pay the cost of a District inspector upon
the work at the rate of 81 per day. If the
walk was of brick, the party taking out
the permit was required TO deposit an
amount sufficient to relay the brick in case
1t was not laid with A sufficiently good
surface and at proper grade. These re-
qurements are not believed to work a hard
ship to the property owners in view Of the
very low contract price at which the Dis
trict can lay the walks-one-half OF which
Is paid by the District-so that the only
way the property owner can save money
by laying the walks himself Is by putting
down an inferior grade, which is the very
thing the office Is trying to avoid. Owing
to the manner In which the work Is now
managed by the office. the only case in
which the property owner desires TO do the
work himself is where some emergency
arises and he does not feel willing to walt
until his turn arrives for the District to
build his walk for him.
Street Railways.
THE year has marked a new era in the
street railway history of the District. All
the street railway lines In the District Of
Columbia except the Capital Traction and
Mount Vernon lines-viz.. the AnaSostla
and Potomac River Railroad COMPANY, the
Belt Company, the Brightwood Railway
Company, the Capital Railway Company.
the Columbia Railway Company, the Eek
ington and SCll!ers' Home Hallway & IN
pany, the Georgetown ami Tennallytown
Railway Company. the Maryland and
Washington Railway Company, the Metro
pOlitan Railway Company, the Washington,
Woodsido and Forest Glen Railway Com
way Company, Washington and Glen Echo
Railroad Company. and the Washington
and Great Falls Electric Railway Com
pany-haVe been COnsolidat ed under one
mana cement termed the Washington Trac-
ton and Electric Company. Free trans
fers are given at all connecting points of
these various lines except al such places
whore the issue of transfers would make
possible a perpetual ride for one fare. AL
though under one management, it Is UNI
derstood that the organ ization Of each COM
a1orr a Of
serving for ALL
During the year the old lexington and
Soldiers Home Railway, now the City and
Suburban, has been equipped with a mod
ern underground electric system In the city
and overhead trolley outside of the city
limits; the Columbia Railway, which was
operated by cable, has been changed to I'M
foreground electric within the city and ex-
tended In the county to Deanwood by the
double overhead-trOlley system, connecting
there with a road running to Chesapeake
bay. Permits have also been taken out for
the reconstruction of the Anacostia Belt
Great Falls, Brightwood and Tennallytown
lines. and work Hereunder is being pushed
fast as practicable, although 1t is UNDER
stood that considerable delay has been
caused by the difficulty in securing steel
rails and other construction material.
Thorough Work.
The work Of reconstruction, as far as
carried out. has been done in most thor
ough manner. On the streets S-tnch groov-
ed rails have been used, 1t having been
found by experience that rails Of this
depth give much greater stiffness and con-
sequent less disturbance of the paving. rs-
curing less repairs to the roadbed mat
ter which becomes of great economic i'm
portance where the streets are provided
with an expensive pavement On streets
provided with sheet asphalt pavement the
companies have laid either yitirified nv
scoria block Immediately adjacent to the |
rails, double row being laid longitude |
nally outside Of the rails and a single row
longitudinally inside of each rail- This |
construction has given much better re- |
suits than the former method of laying |
the asphalt up to the rails.
The construction adopted by the con-
solidated companies upon all roads where |
the lines have been reconstructed provides
for metallic return Of the electric current |
The system used within the city Is Identical
with that previously in use on the Metro
politan and Capital Traction lines, and
where the roads operated outside Of |
the city by the overhead trolley the cars
nave been provided with a double trolley
the return wire being similar in situation
and capacity to the feed wires Most of
the recent charters granted by Congress
which have permitted the trolley to be
used have required the double trolley, with
feed wires and return wires situated as
above indicated, and with the further
proYiso that no pole of any DYNAMO pur-
nishtng power to the road shall be In any
manner connected with the earth.
The Sewers.
Mr.. D. L. McComb. who has been super
intendent of sewers for many years, was.
at the request Of the governor of Havana,
granted leave of absence to visit that city
Tor the purpose of assisting the engineer
officer In the preparation of plans for a
modern drainage system. Since his depar-
ture the duties of the office have been per-
formed by Mr.. o. L. Ingalls,, who submits
the report In the absence of Mr.. McComb
During the year the large Rock creek
ana street fntercepting sewer was ex-
tended from 25th and Water streets across
the old naval observatory grounds to near
2lst and Water streets. a distance of LBS
feet me Iiber creek and New Jersey ave-
nue. hlgh-level intercepting sewer has been
completed between I'd and streets south
east ana Delaware avenue and street |
southwest. distance Of 1910 feet Work ia |
sun in progress on this sewer, which passes
through the western portion of the Capitol |
grounds. OF the northerly portion of this
sewer $40 feet have been completed
The length of sewers constructed during
the fiscal year was:
Feet |