The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-13
NM WORK TO BE RESUMED.
srpPLY OF GRAVEL RECEIVED
RON THE AUGUSTA ROAD.

surfacing to De Completed to
.,.d,eith-This, With the work on
n.olboIter Canal and That at the
con,ty Farm VIII Keep the Con-
tets Busy During the Spring
and summer MOnths-A Large
rorce Now at work Cleaning the
nitches Near the City.
s,ot Chaplin of the county public works
oorifed Yesterday that fourteen cars
,,,o,ista gravel had been delivered at
six-mile post on the Central railroad.
Is Gravel is to be used in surfacing the
ugusta road.
The appropriation made by the County
,mriss.oners in last years budget in
r5ad the completion of the Augusta road
an, the four-mi.e to the ten-mile post,
,Ionteith. It was expected to begin the
/ ark in December, but the continuous
ssvv rains which prevailed during the
in,er months filed the gravel pits with
4 ,tsr and made it impossible to get out
A ba Gravel. It was only recently that the
Enntv obtained sufficient gravel to make
4 h. repairs on Dale and Estill avenues,
Rendered necessary by the use of those
[kagons by the Seventh Army Corps.
we will begin the work of surfacing
n be Augusta road to Monteith this week"
Il aid supt. Chaplin. "A large force will
" nut on the work, and il will be pushed
II Readily until completed. This will require
Essveral months. The cost will be about
HslG0 a mile. Two steel bridges will De
@flaced on the road, one over Dundee canal
and the other over st. Augustine creek.
hone Of these bridges has already arrived"
The completion of the Augusta road to
Monteith is probably the only new road
\ which will be undertaken by the county
+ this year, un.ess a further appropriation
4 is made in the budget now under consid-
Grafton by the County Commissioners. The
commissioners are determined not to in
crease the county expenditures, however,
and the appropriation for additional road
work if any, will be small.
4 The Augusta road extension and the
sc0mpletion of the Buckhalter canal, to-
gether with the necessary drainage work,
4 will be sufficient to keep the county forces
'busy during the spring and summer
months.
We expect to complete the Buckhalter
canal to Lamar swamp by the middle of
August" said Supt. Chaplin. 1--WE cross
ed the divide about two miles from the
4 city limits last week. 1t has been con-
tended that a canal could not be cut
across the divide that would take the
water from the neighborhood of the city
and In, h. IL I-.,.a
the cut made across the divide for the
Buckhalter canal is of a less depth than
the cut made across the divide four years
ago to bring the water from Perry Bros
place into the Minis canal, which flows
toward the city. The Buckhalter win take
all the water from Lamar swamp and will
relieve the drainage around the city to
that extent. Several ponds southwest OF
the city have already dried up as the re-
suit of cutting the canal"
A force of seventy convicts has been
at work in the vicinity of the city for
the last two weeks, cleaning bitches, and
large part of the force will continue at
mis- work for some time to come.
The county has begun the work of clean
slg the dtohes around the city earlier than
Ssual this year." said Superintendent
Chaplin. about thirty of the road hands
removed to the Augusta road when the
work there begins. The ditch cleaning
force Of about forty men will remain at
thls work indefinitely and will move fur
ther out as the bitches around the city
are cleaned. Experience has shown that
a often viii grow up with grass and weeds
IN i've or six weeks after being cleaned,
and it win doubtless be necessary to give
them q second cleaning
The county now has a total of $40 con-
vets at the camps There are seventy
cleaning bitches around the city, seventy
on the Buckhalter canal, and the re-
malnder at the county farm, where th.
iand is now being prepared for rice, sugar
cane and other crops. The women. chill
oren, cripples and the worthless element
generally among the convicts are kept at
me farm, where they can be utilized for
hght work. Many of the convicts are in
such poor condition physically that they
are OF little value and would probably
sIarve to death If they did not get them
serves periodically convicted and sent out
TO the gang.