The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-04-03

The following report of Street Com
missioner Rowland d. Thomas was
presented at the reorganization OF
councils yesterday and ordered filed:
To His Honor, the Mayor, and Gentle
men of the Select and Common Coun-
ellis of the City OF Scranton.
Gentlemen: herewith respectfully
submit to you the annual report of the
street department, detailing the various
expenditures, etc, made by this depart
ment sunder the supervision of my pre-
decessor, Z. ]. O'Boyle, from April to
Sept. /, 1899, and under my supervision
the balance of the fiscal year.
Unlike in former years, l do not propose
to make any contracts for private sweep
ing but expect to do all the cleaning
by men hired by the day, thus bringing
all work of this kind directly under the
control of the street department and
with the new system of both flushing and
sweeping, l expect to be able to keep
the increased amount of pavement clean
as possible, with the amount of money
appropriated for this kind of work, al.
though the amount is inadequate; also
expect to adopt the system of sweeping,
known as the Block System" whereby
each man is given n certain amount of
territory, and is expected to keep the
same clean all the time.
The condition of the asphalt streets III
the city is very good since the greater
part of the same have been entirely re-
surfaced by the Barber Asphalt company,
as per contract with the city to keep the
said pavement in repair.
BRICK AND STONE PAVEMENTS.
The brick and stone block pavement of
the city is also in good repair, as most of
the brick pavement has been but recent
Ia lat1 .,NI, Lit. Nf
of repair is the old cobble pavement in
the different parts of the central city. 1
would suggest that some more substan-
tial kind Of pavement should replace this,
as II is hard to keep clean and in repair
The condition of the unpaved streets In
the outlying wards of the city is poor, as
a large percentage of the said streets are
located in the hilly portions of the city,
and where there are no sewers, conse-
quently, after a heavy rain storm, the
streets are very badly damaged by water,
so much so, that in the spring and fall
| many of them are almost impossible.
If some system of macadamzing the
said streets could be adopted, as Is, done
! in other cities, feel very sure that the
results would be satisfactory to all.
In connection, ] might add that l think
| 1t would be wise If your honorable bodies
would pass an ordinance fixing the width
| of wagon tires to be used within the city
| limits, as ii is well known fact, that
the use of such narrow tires as are gen.
| orally used in our city, is detrimental to
| having good dirt streets.
number of streets, such as Brook,
Cherry, Fig, Palm and Elm. in the Nine
| teenth and Twentieth wards, are in a
very bad condition. and l would sug-
gest that your honorable bodies appro-
pirate money for the repair of the said
streets, as the ward appropriation are
| inadequate; also Providence road and
| North Main avenue, which have been
the subject of comment for so many
years, are still in a deplorabe condition,
but it is hoped will be paved this coming
| summer.
| WOODEN BRIDGES.
From the fact that our bridges and
| culverts which are wooden structures,
| and those which have plank flooring, are
| growing older every year, and in conse-
! quence require more repairs each year
also the fact that in previous years the
| appropriation for the repair of the same
| has been so small, that they could not re-
| ceive the necessary repairs also that
| lumber and nails have advanced over
twenty-five per cent. since last year, you
| will notice why ] think the appropriation
| Is very small as compared with the
| amount of repairs that must be made this
| year. Take for example the Lackawanna
avenue bridge which has been patched
from time to time until now it must be
| replanked, at a cost of S575 for lumber
without the cost of nails, labor and haul.
ing. The Cedar avenue, elm street and
East Market street bridges must be re.
| panked this year. as we'll as the small