The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1899-05-26
CITY COUNCIL.

""S Cdilcu StSSluI vi Tie
town council Tuesday afternoon at
which Mayor Upton presided, the EN-
tire board being present.
The object of the meeting was to per-
tect arrangements looking to the OPEN
ing OF Rosser street, which thorough
fare has been closed so long by reason
OF the impossible gully just north of
the Z. II NJ. depot. Formerly a bridge
spanned this gully. which is on the
property of the railroad, but the bridge
was demolished some two years ago by
the weight of a lot of cattle, and goat.
belonging to l.. II. Grobmyer. and
since that time nothing has been done
towards rebuilding the bridge by either
the railroad company or the city. al
though suit was instituted by the
city to compel the railroad company
10 build new bridge, and is now pend
ing in the supreme court.
The town authorities are getting
weary OF the ugly appearance of one of
the most central and popular thorough
fares, and are anxious and willing To
make almost any kind of an arrange.
ment which has for its object the i'm.
provement of this street.
lhe prime mover and agitator In
this laudable work and the man who
furnished all the headwork and brains.
was our public-spirited friend, MIR. E.
Bonner, who conceived the idea some
time ago, that when the railroad com.
pany began to dig down the hill IN the
eastern part of town, 1t would be an
easy matter for them in conjunction
with the city to Tx the street'and make
IT better than it ever has been. He wrote
a letter to Col. Rudolph Fink about
the matter, the consequence being tina,
Mr.. Fink came here to see about il
and he and Mr.. Bonner had lonp
talk. They both came to the conclu
sion that the present condition of the
street was damaging alike to the
interests of the railroad and the city
and having agreed on this, Mr.. Bon,
ner then submitted his ideas for the
improvement Of the street, which
briefly are as follows. That the rail
road company haul enough dirt and
dump it at the Rosser street crossing
to fill up the gully and bring the street
! upon level with the railroad tracks
that the city erect dam to hold thu
dirt, and put in sewer outlet acros.
Rosser street to carry off the water
The plan met with Mr.. Fink's appro
val, and speaking for the road he very
readily said " Yes, il the city will DIS
tribute the dirt and put in the sewer
the railroad company will haul the
dirt. and, Mr.. Bonner, l will hand YOU
letter to Mr.. Moliter, chief engineer o.
the system. with recommendation tina
what you ask be granted. "
Tuesday evening, Mr.. Holt, assist
ant chief engineer of the company was
in the city, and he and Mr. Bonner
decided to bring the council together il
conference with reference to the fore
going project. Mr.. Holt was scheduled
to meet with the board. but for som,
reason that gentleman failed to show
up.
This fact did not deter the council
and breezy session was held, which
lasted some two hours and a half.
Mr.. Bonner presented lis, plans ant
told the council what the railroad com
pany would do, and what was expected
from the city, but a number of the al
dermen were not able to understand
just what was wanted, and the boart
went in Il body to The Rosser street
crossing to have the matter explained
to them clearly.
When they had returned TO their hall
Mr.. Gatling moved that the city build
dam just west of Rosser street, put
in sewer, and distribute the dirt tC
be put there by the railroad company
The motion was seconded by Alder.
man Stone and carried.
Mr.. laugh moved that the Street
committee be instructed to buy two
carloads of tileing of such sizes as they
might deem necessary for sewering
purposes. The motion prevailed.
The Street committee brought in a
unanimous report recommending that
the city build park fence, band stand
and hose house, and that the council
adopt the Mcdaniel plans for the fence
and Ahlstedt's plans for the stand.
No action was taken on the commit.
tees report They were utterly il.
nored, and the matter is still unsettled
Mr.. Calling made lengthy speech
in opposition to the fence and hose
house project in which he said many
good and logical things, and many 9TH
ers that were not so good and logical