Year: 1871

BOsTON, July 25.


Editor R,ttland HeYa7d:-Coinciden
in time with the exposure of the great
frauds of the New York city administra-
tion, by certain papers, we have had the
exposure of little fraud by some con-
tractors in this city, who were engaged
to cart earth from Fort Hill to territory
that i being raised at the south end. 1t
appears that they delivered the e.rth TO
private parties ut one of the wharf5 close
by, who shipped it to parts and for purpo-
ses unknown, thereby cheating the district
needing the earth, and collecting full pay
for less distance travelled. This practice
could not go on long in this city undis-
covered and uncorrected. This leads to
the matter of the Fort Hill Improvement
I spoke Of in my last. A hill little less
than one hundred feet high, and pro-
portionately broad, has almost entirely
disapp before the attacks on all
sidca, and good portion of its earth went
to III Ike a new avenue outside of all the
commercial streets and crossing the
wharves for long distance much
needed Improvement greatly due to the
exertions of exMayor Qpincy. But the
credit of getting the public courage up to
the pi'ch of cartiug away the broad and
high hill, which had come to be surIoun-
ded by bueiut $. strcets, was largely due to
the energy and courage of our former
townaman, Peter Butler, Esq, an exten-
sivr ironware merchant whose store, like
many others dealing in helvy good1, has
for years been somewhere in the vicinity
of me slope OF this hill. The magnitude
of the undertaking called for steam
shovel, and that novelty in the way of
excavatiug has be come f.miliar as pile
driving to US. The new streets are rapid
ly being filled with new stores and are
used for groceries. iron and steel, leather,
and warehouses for f ut and Wet Iudia
goods. Vars ego the ceAttr Of the dry
goods trade was near, and to the north of
this section but it has moved nearly a
mile away, closely followed by the boot
and shoe trade, and that by the leather
trade, and now this new ground is taken
by the increasing wants of the shipping
interests. By leaving this point on the
east side of Boston and going mile and
a half to the west we come to where the
Boston and Albany Railroad enters the
business portion of the city, close at hand
is a large territory Of low lands and
houses which was filled in to a higher
grade three or four years since, when
hundreds of houses were raised to a new
level. But, as was predicted then, this
for magnitude and import
ance is being equalled in the filling in new
territory, raising houses, laying out new
avenues, in the parts immediately adjoin-
ing it. This railroad has, at great ex-
pense made its track wider, made huge
thick granite walls at it's sides, and new
iron bridges have been built over it for
the streets above, these bridges being
raised from the former level for the mod
ern high passenger cars. All of this has
been quietly going on more or less con-
stantly for years of time. We have new
iron-bridge connecting this part of the
city proper with that of South Boston,
which is great ornament to the city,
though ridiculed on account; of it's engi-
neering shortcomings. the heavy swing
bridge, being too heavy for it's foundation
seems determined to sink them into the
bed of the ship channel deeper and deep
er still, tendency that will sometime
come to an end. Those who ridicule, for
get that it was owing to stingy appropri-
ations at the first, that the best engineers
would not undertake the job.


One of the most ridiculous things about
our improvements is that Of finding, q
few wears after, street has, with all it's
buildings, been raised and filled into q
new grade at great expense and with
some injury to houses in the raising, that
the new level is too low. For later i'm.
provemen,s intersecting it with the later
more generous plans, prove at once how
weak has been the courage OF public au.
in the past. But in justice to
them it can be said that no public i'm.
has been ever suggested that