The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-01-28
Estimate Of Cost Of Lowering
IL Tracks Z 81, 100, ,00Q.' Il y
One HALF u OF COST
Must be Borne by tho Tax
payers Of tho City.
If the High Estimates Cannot be
Materially Reduced the Project
will be Dropped.

will be Dropped.
The citizens committee was
dumbfounded yesterday afternoon
when the Erie and Big Four en-
gineers impaired the knowledge that
Marion is undertaking q million
dollar project when It considers an
improvement like lowering the
tracks of the two lines running
through the central part of the city.
ut is a preponderous consideration
for a town of $4,000. You are con-
sidering a Chicagoian enterprise in
a town of q few thousand. re-
marked one of the railroad engin-
eers in the course of the meeting.
The conference was opened at 2:3O
o'clock, Mayor Scherff called the
meeting to order and George B.
Christian, Sr., was elected temp0r-
AIRY chairman, and M. b. Chase was
selected secretary.
| Mr.. Christian opeend the discus
sion of the subject by explicitly ex-
planning the object of the PROPOSE
tion which the committee met to
/, consider. 1T Is a fair engineering
proposition in the interests of econ
omy to the railroads and convent
ence to the city of Marion. This COM
mittee," continued Mr.. Christian,
"is of the opinion that the three
miles of tracks running almost
through the heart of the city, can
be lowered and bridges built over
the crossings thus stopping the never
ending trouble with the blocking of
Streets"
Mr. Christian FIRST called upon
e. H. C0stin, superintendent OF the
Big Four, requesting that he lay
bare the result Of the plans and
specifications prepared by his en-.
gineers. Mr.. Costtn gracefully de-
clined and turnedJt the matter en-
tirely over to N. IL. AAlthouse, the
Erie's expert engineer.
Among his opening remarks, Mr..
Althouse disclosed that his esti-
mate of the total cost OF the con-
sidered Improvement would exceed
million dollars, or about $1.1OO,-
900. Mr.. Christian remarked that
the figures looked enormous, and re-
Quested that the engineer give the
details of his estimate.
Mr.. Althouse then spread before
the committee a fine map of the
central part of the city. showing the
Istreet crossings, amount of grades,
etc. He then proceeded to outline
the project. He explained that a
number of the strets, would have
to be raised or lowered in order
70 meet with the grade OF the road
|bed. His summary of the cost of
the improvement was as follows:
Track work $4,000; taking cara
of traffic, $50,00O; sewer. water and
gas pipe, $4,000; twelve bridges
land retaining walls for streets,
$3.50, 300; drain, inc.rding excava-
ton, $25O,000; sidings, $4,000;
interlocking, $4,000; retaining
walls for road bed. $4,000; taking
care of drainage, $4,000; damage
to property. $4,000.
or this estimate of more than q
million dollars, Mr.. Althouse de-
clared that, the railroads are will.
ing to stand one-half OF the total ex-
pense. This would leave over hall
million dollars for the city to pay
Those figures are certainly large
enough" remarked Mr.. j. Il. Lust
who Is one OF the leaders of the
project. And there II one thing
certain, he concluded, we must ge,
these figures down about fifty pei
cent lower before we can Eet the
people of Marion to even consider
such an Improvements.
Mr.. Christian was OF the opinion
that the estimate was entirely toe
high and that the railroad represen.
tatives were applying touch of the
soaring" stunt. Mr., Chase, how
ever, did little estimating OF his
own, and succeeded In lowering the
cost to $750,0OO. This question was
then put before the committee, will
the city tax payers stand for an
Improvement costing $375,OOO
The unanimous opinion was that
they would not Then what is the
use of considering tAit longer when
1t seems 4aIi impossipiItty for AiIs kt&
perfect It," remarked Mr.. Chase.
The committee finally determined
to have Mr.. Althouse leave thl
plans and drawings With the city
engineers and after they have beer
carefully looked over = meeting will
be called and In The terms of Mr.
Christian, "the matter Will be eth,
er rushed ahead or Knocked in the