Evening star., 1902-09-13

passed on February q, 1871, giving to the
Dlstrlct OF Columbia a territorial form Of
government. His prominence in that move
ment made him a notable candidate for
governor. but Gen. Grant, who was then
PRESIDENT, appointed Henry d. Cooke as
governor and Mr.. Shepherd was named as
the first member of the board of public
WORKS, which consisted at that time besides
himself of Mr.. A. B. Mullett, who was the
supervising architect Of the treasury; Mr.
John A. Magruder, who had formerly been
q mayor or Georgetown, and Mr.. s. p
Brown, gentleman who was born in
Maine but who had made his residence
IN N! the city T~s~. time and had been ac
officio was president Of the board of public
works and at it's first meeting Mr.. Shep-
nerd was elected vice president and execu-
i've othcer of that body, to whom was in
trusted the details of the work of CARRYING
out the comprehensive plan of improve
ments which the board adopted. This plan
contemplated improvements in every por-
tlon OF the District of Columbia and COM
prlsed almost every street and avenue in
the cities of Washington and Georgetown
as well as all the roads in the county. 1t
also provided. for the building of the main
sewer threhgh Sth street northwest and the
ROCK creek sewerage of the valley of the
IlDer. TIE plaH of sewerage was also en-
larged so as to cDver the entire District and
this was done hnder the estimates of Gen
q. $. Greene a distinguished civil engineer
and the father of Gen. F. " Greene who
was subsequently an assistant engineer of
the District under the present form of gov
ernment and who gained distinction in the
spanish American war. both in Cuba and
In the Philippines. Gen. Greene was made
civil engineer of. the District when Mr.
Mullett found that his duties in the Treas
ury Departments such that they would
not alioW him to perform the duties of chief
engineer * -~@e@-
Opposition of Citizens.
Although the plans of the board of public
works were Suhmjtta5 m tho
after they had been printed in the public
press, and were adopted by that body,
and the four miilion-dollar loan that was
necessary to carry them out had been voted
for by the people of the District there were
many who did not believe in the wholesale
operations that the plans contemplated and
the board was hampered by suits and in
functions in its early efforts, and in fact
during its entire existence. There We're
complaints made to Congress- and al each
session there were investigations into the
acts of the board and everything was done
by some of the most prominent citizens of
the District to discredit the work of i'm
proVement that was being done.
MIR. Shepherd, as the vice president of the
board and its responsible executive officer
was made the target Of all the complaints
that were made, and more abuse was
| heaped upon him than was ever showered
upon any other citizen of the District. In the
investigation which finally resulted in the
change Of the form of government of the
inquiry, and never did a congressional
committee show more pertinacity and more
bitterness than was displayed in the exami-
nation of the affairs of the board of puhiic
works. Notwithstanding these searching
investigations, the m EN- bers of the commit
tee concluded that the charges presented to
them, such as favoritism on the part
of Mr.. Shepherd who had the giving out of
| the contracts, and of corruption in the man
agement of affairs, were unsubstantfated
and he and every member of the board
emerged from that investigation without a
stain upon his personal integrity.
Made Governor.
In 1873 Gov. Cooke resigned and Mr.. Shep-
herd was made governor of the District,
but even then he exercised a careful con-
troll over the actions of the board and was
in touch with all the work that was ordered
although the details were carried ont in q
complete and efficient manner by his sue
cessor as vice president Of the board Mr.
Henry A. Willard. The life Of the board of
public works was about three years, and to
give some idea of the immense amount of
work performed under Governor Shepherds
supervision and direction it may be stated
that the contracts given out by him in
cluded the following: Curb set, linear feet,
81, 1856; brick sidewalks laid square yards,
], 1,176, ,453; concrete sidewalks laid SQUARE
yards, q, 2a5; flag sidewalks laid square feet,
1S5, 429; roadway, gravel square yards
103, $40; roadway, cobble, square yards 1856
122; roadway, bluestone, square yards,
70, 40; roadway macadam, square yards,
14S, ,926; roadway, Belgian and granite,
square yards, 1T ,69S; roadway concrete
square yards, 532, ,O32; roadway wood
square yards, 1,005, ,231; or in miles. assum
ing sidewalks at ten feet in width and
ing the county: Curbstone set, in miles
154.O9; brick sidewalks laid, 2OOO5; flag
sidewalks, 3G5; concrete sidewalks, $40;
gravel roadWaystin the county, 80: cobble
pavement, s. .95; Il bluestone pavement $50:
macadam pavement. city and county, 7.S7:
Belgian and granite pavement, 9.46; con-
crete pavement 2Ss4; wood pavement,
50 55; total sidewalk in miles, 207 10: total
roadway In city, y,sf18 Sc; total improved road
way in the county,. SO. Besides this there
was donesof grading about 3,340 GOO cubic
yards Inlsewers there was performed the
following work: :, ,Sash-run sewer ten-feet
span at outlet. 2,20O lineal feet; B street
intersecting sewer, twelve feet at outlet,
twenty feet ats outlet, 1000 feet; Tiber
creek, main stem, thirty feet at outlet,
2 473 linear feet; Tiber creek, eastern stem
nine feet diameter 1850 feet; Tiber creek,
$40 feet. OF the Boundary street inter-
cepting sewers there was completed of ten
feet diameter, 800 feet; nine feet nine inches
diameter, "a ,2oo sfeet; six feet nine inches
diameter, 900 feet, and in addition to the
above named main stems the following Sec
ondary brick sewers were laid: Seven feet
six inches inside diameter, 2O5 feet; six feet
six inches inside diameter, 8S5 feet; six feet
inside diameter. 3,S18 feet; Ave feet nine
inches inside diameter. 1870 feet; ave feet
six inches inside diameter. 4730 feet;
five feet Inside diameter, 4sO feet; four feet
inside diameter, 9.765 feet; four feet four
inches inside diameter, so feet; three feet
inside diameter, 1853 feet; three feet six
inches inside diameter. 8, ,150feet. There were
also laid of pipe sewers Of glazed earthen-
ware mostly OF twelve and fifteen inches In
diameter of bore, 3f7. .108 lineal feet, and
also an almost equal amount Of six-inch
house connections.
A government by commission was RECON-
mended by the committee OF Investigation
and a bill was passed by Congress on June
90 1874. General Grant. who had heartily
supported Governor Shepherd In his effort
to regenerate Washington and who believed
in his honesty OF purpose and who knew
his splendid executive, ability at once
named him an the first Of the Commission
ers, but the Senate declined to confirm him.
he then returned to hia' private business.