Evening Star Newspaper, October 29, 1881, Page 2

a nr. Important and Interesting Document. PRAINAGE AND SEWERAGE—WATER SUPPLY— RECLAMATION OF THE FLATS—OBJECTIONABLE STEAM RAILROADS DS THE CITY LIITS—HOW TO REMEDY THE EVIL. The following report, made by Lieut. Hoxle, Engineer Corps, U.S.A., to Major Twining, Engineer Commissioner, D.C., treats upon mat- ters of great public importance, and will be read with general interest: ExGixeer Department, D.C., ) WasninaTon, Oct. 1, 1881. § Major:—1 have the honor to submit the fol- lowing report of operations for the fiscal year ending June 30, ‘Sl, together with estimates for the fiscal year ending June 30, ‘83: SUMMARY STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS AND ESTIMATES. | S23 Deseription. Zug £235 223 Zz —f $28,806.35, $27,950 $23,510.00 | Eng. dept., salaries Eng. =, 1,500) 1,500.00 | 4,900, 5,000.00 | esenest 14,139.00 | 16,718.75 Wal | tribution to high and low service and laying 35,582.75 | 44,610.00 15,416.38 20,000. 39,000.00 14,990.00, 15,000, 30,000.00 =) 77,256.40, 50,000, 100,000.00 70,000.00 | 500.00 5,000) 5,000.00 5,400) 1,500 3,000 | beam 115,000, 4,990.22 4716, 2,962.31 25,000.00, | Drea’g ¢ Bats and completing fmol Outiet, ~ 369,206.09 charged to appropriation for 1878-9 | ‘and 1879-80. t Includes sewer and surface work. SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS. The revision of the special assessments has | been completed in accordance with the acts of Congress, approved June 19. 1878, and June 27, 1879. The detailed statement will be found in the report of Mr. Wm. 0. Roome, transmitted herewith. The net resuit of the revision is as follows: Original assessments. . Revised do. -84,875,546.45 - 3,711,669.92 | 51,163, 876.53, r assessment should stand. The agere- te decrease is therefore the net loss and is | 1. 240,525. i able or paid on the $3,085,021.31. pon the unpaid assess- ments. In the annual report of the Commissioners for | sued $5.150,050.47. this was predicat the redemption bonds, of $1.6 tal, $5,228,695.16. Upon an available surplus, after | per cent improvement | After that date and prior to the re prized by Congress amount of the original assessments fell short of the estimated amount by $353,148.71. The revisions have reduced them $1,240,525.14, giving a total loss of 31.593.673.85.. It would appear, therefore, that the surplus estimated in 1875 has been nearly absorbed, as to the princi- pal, by the revisions. The books of the special assessment office show a balance of uncollected tax, originally ized to the redemption of these bonds of | .131.55, upon which interest at 10 per cent is due from the various dates of the lien certifl- cates, beginning with A. D. 1873. This interest will continue to run at 10 per cent until the tax te paid. Fis not practicable to give from the special amesament office a statement of the 8 per cent bonds, but it may be assumed that the amount outstanding, including principal and interest, will not exceed $700,000. The interest is now Feoning at 6 per cent, the bonds having all ma- It is to be remembered, however, that the ects of June 19, 1878, and June 27, 1879, have virtually nezatived the law, which pledged the ‘ial assessment tax, collectable after May 29, tothe redemption of the 8 per cents, by making drawback certiticates receivable in pay- ment of this tax. Up to this date there have been received $244,752.41 of the drawbacks. There are outstanding drawback certificates amounting to $159,249.38, which are receivable at any time in payment of this tax, and for the poe pr 2 jon of which there is no other provision; and other drawback certificates ready for issue, Feceivable also at any.time in payment of this tax. and not otherwise redeemable,amount- Ing to $105,520 59. The former draw no inter- est. Upon the latter interest is claimed. Of | the former $100,000 more may issue. it is evident that no further concession can be Made to delinquents in this tax unless other — shall be made for the redemption of drawbacks and bonds. There has been presented to Congress, with @ach aanual report of the Commissioners since 1873, an approximate statement of the account Of the United States wi i ment tax. The rev Mis found that the amount chargeable to the Vaseu States Is 2... 3,324,707 ited by appropriations. 3,522,986 18 Balance to credit of the United States. ........ A $198,228 19 The rule of apportionment has been to place the United States in the attitude of the District Government with respect to the improvement Wherever United States property fronted upon the lin both sides of the street or avenue where im- proved the whole cost was charged to the gen- eral government. If upon one side only five- aixths of the cost was charged to the general ernment, leaving 0 yw law. adjoini acts making appropriations to pay the pportional part of the United States have neon passed si i871 pursuant to es Bared upon thi: It may, there! as- sumed that the basis of adjustment has had suf- ficiently the attention and sanetion of Congress, | and that credit should not be given the United Btates upon this account for other than appro- pristions specitically made for this purpose. Concurrently street improvements | end laying of wers, the cost of | whieh is the of the special assessments ac- there was undertaken by the board matruction of certain large | be assessed main sewers, of which the principal items of | Gost will azurezate $1,945.538.55. | To apportion “ost of these the board | of public works levied a tax differing in method | Qed proportion from that for the street improve- ments. The city was divided into its several Ratural « <e areas, and each area assessed, fm ady the completion of the work, for the cost of fhe corresponding system of drain- @ge required at an rate per square foot. i vution of cost could not rity of law was wanting for x in this manner. The action of the board of public works was eet aside by Congress, the portion of the tax collected was required to be refunded, and the Sewerace certificates to be redeemed. The burden Was thus lifted from the shoulders of the bene- fielaries and settled upon those who were not. 4s all of this was merzed in the general funding @f floating debt into bonds, of which the United States assumes one-half the payment, it would appear upon superficial examination that the United States should not be debited upon = ms Improvement account with any part this expenditure, because of equitable con- siderations. os A careful consideration of all the facts ap- pears to indicate the contrary. The present organic law, which took effect in June, 1878, @ssumes for the United States one-half the debt of the District of Columbia as existing at that | | trict, where it is very much needed. The pre: If the United States owned upon | y, (page 4) contains an approximate statement of this question, showing that after assuming one- half the debt of the District of Columbia, in June, 1878, the tardy justice ofthe United States is still far in arrears, approximately $16,000.00. Since this is the case, it requires but little re- flection to see that the elements of the 3.65 fanded debt have no significance. The assump- tion of one-half is a payment on account of a large arrears and has no further application to the account for special improvement than has the assumption by the United States of one-half the old bonded debt of Washington and George- town. It was not so intended. The annulment of the illegal special tax levied by the board of public works on account of the main sewers did not withdraw this class of work, when com- | pleted, from the operations of the law which authorized the aasessment of one-third the cost upon adjoining property, but equitable consid- erations make the law inapplicable. Congress has forbidden the equitable division of the cost in proportion to the benefit conferred and com- pels the alternative of not assessing at all. So the District loses the additional tax. It is not unreasonable, then, to assume that the cost should be equaily divided between the United States and the District of Columbia, the special improvement account of the United States being debited to this extent. In closing the subject of special improvement tax I am constrained to repeat the conciusion arrived at in 1875, and reiterated in 1879. The operation of the law has not been always uniform and equitable, and the latitude of executive discre- tion in administering it has not favored uni- formity of application. It provided that a rea- sonable proportion, not exceeding one-third of the cost thereof, should be assessed against the property adjoining and especially benefited by the work of improvement which the territorial government was created to inaugurate. For similar improvement under the preceding form of government the entire cost was assessed against the adjoining property. Under the present permanent commission government the United States pays one-half, the general fund of the District one-half, and adjoining property pays nothing. This is, the | opposite extreme, between which and the’cor- | | poration method of imposing the whole cost | upon adjoining property the law assessing one- third of the cost was the mean. In consulting the wishes of property-owners as to the location of needed improvements, it will be difficult. to find any law of natural selection to take th place of this. Under the corporation govern: ment the expressed wish of the adjoining own- ers Was a necessary preliminary to the execu- tion of the work and the consequent imposition | of the tax. Under the present government the absence of a special tax evokes contending claimants for the benefits of the work of im- provement. It is to be remembered that the “Rules for Revision” recognized the obligation of the Dis- trict of Columbia to replace the rotten wood pavements, for which a special tax is collected, With other and durable pavements. DRAINAGE AND SEWERAGE. Work has progressed rather slowly upon the Boundary intercepting sewer. Some difficulty has been encountered from subterranean springs, sand bottom and caving banks, but the princi- pal obstacle has been the delay incidental to contract work. The cost has been increased by the nature of the foundation required, and the delay has caused the loss of the advantage due to the lower prices prevailing at the time this work was first advertised. The lower and larger section, 22 feet in diameter, has been completed, and no further difficulty is encoun- tered at present in constructing the 20 foot sec- tion. In all about 3,000 feet have been com- pleted. It is proposed to begin the relief of the north- western section of Washington by constructing an additional main sewer in the Slash run dis- ent Sewers are too smail, and will flood nearly every housein this district insevere storms. Anestimate for this is presented herewith. Another severe storm, last June, sustains the record of the past twei ars and shows the necessity for ample capacity in the sewers. A rainfall occurred of 2.35 inches in the afternoon of the 28th, of which 1.566-1000 inches fell in 25 minutes, a rate of 38 inches per hour. The New York avenue sewer had just been completed. Its size is com- puted for a rainfall of 2 inches per hour, and it was severely tried, the water standing four feet above the arch in the manholes. It is to be regretted that at this time the lower part of the sewer was soniewhat obstructed by an awkward attachment of telegraph wires to the interior of the arch. This had, no doubt, some retarding effect upon the flow of water, and prevents a satisfactory comparison of the actual with the theoretical. It is very clear, however, that 2 The new system is making reasonable progress and willadvance more rapidly when a larzershare of the annual appropriations can be given to the work. Meanwhile a matter of growing importance is the repair and the incidental modernizing of the old system. The inverts of all the old brick sewers are rapidly wearing out under the in- fluence of transported sand and gravel. The repair must be effected by a complete renewal of the invert, with generally xchange of shape, and in every case with more durable material— glazed terra-cotta for the smaller sewers and traprock blocks for the larger ones. It will be practicable to effect this with the larger ones by working within the existing sewers, but the smaller brick sewers and all defective pipe sew- ers must be dug up and rebuilt. The 14th-street sewer, 41¢ feet in diameter, had a dangerous break in invert last sum- mer, 160 feet in length. The invert was re- placed with traprock laid upon a foundation of hydraulic concrete, at a cost of €3.72 per lineal foot. The work was done under many disad- vantages and without such appliances as will be used when this class of work is taken in hand. The cost may, therefore, be considered excessive. There are upwards of forty miles of brick invert that must sooner or later be re- placed with other material, but the average cost will probably be much less than that of the 14th street sewer repair, and, fortunately. will be distributed over a long interval of time. The completion of the intercepting sewers on Boundary street will extend this time. The sand and gravel brought down by the county streams is the principal agent of destruction of the old brick inverts, and this will be turned aside upon the hard trap rock invert of the new sewers. Some idea of the quantity of this material is given by the following statement, tor the two years ending June 30, 81, of the quantity obtained from Tiber sewer: 2,541 cu. yds. sand, sold 60c. pr. cu. yd.,$1,524.60 -, 402.00 .yd., 83.00 354.50 402 cu. yds.gravel,sold at $1 pr.ci 256 cu-yds.mniscellaneous stone soldat 166 cu.yds.gravel,sold at 50¢. pr. 3,365 cu. yds. material, value, .... $2,363.50 Jost of extraction, less cost of plant, . $3,050.00 ~. $686.50 But tothis must be added the wear and tear of the perishing Inverts. THE RECLAMATION OF THE FLATS. All of these features of the drainage system have the attention of Congress, and are cared for in the regular annual appropriations, but an | urgent need exists of immediate attention to the outlets of the sewers on the river front and the reclamation of the marshes, through which they must pass. Plans for the new river front were long ago prepared under your direction, and should be urged upon the attention of Con- gress at the coming session. The elements are simple and inexpensive. The plans contem- plate doing only what the river is doing itself, but too slowly. The work is necessary for the improvement of the riyer channel, and the dan- ger to the health of the residents of the District may Lapel be urged as an argument against further delay. There is nothing difficult or unusual in the work to be undertaken, and there is neither necessity nor propriety in copying blindly from any other locality. A sandy flat is forming in front of the city, because the river channel is wider here than is We | have only to fill this sufficiently to change it from marsh to dry land, and protect the border by an embankment that will not wash away. If flied a little above high tide it may readily be kept dry by surface drains and flood valves, and the embankment will keep off the freshets. This would be the first staze of the work. The filling to a desirable elevation above tide may be cheap- completed, afterwards, in dredging the river channel, and er Earp yn . = marsh disappears at the age e work. It is fortunate that we have not to apply the system of the low countries. Holland needs land for agriculture, and finds that the bottom of the sea on her borders makes fertile land. She builds enormous embankments, strong enough to resist the sea, and maint them under constant supervision, at great |. The outer slopes are strongly revetted. the inner — ps have dumb watchers in jocks . time. If it could be shown that an equi- table balance was struck in this, then the spe- cial account for improvements would be equita- bly credited with that clement of the funded soassumed. The report of the Commissioners of the istrict of Columbia for 1878 Inches of rainfall per hour is a moderate esti- | WATER SUPPLY. It is hardly of less importance that the addi- tional supply of water, so much needed in the higher sections of the city, should be at once provided. Estimates and plans have been pre- Sented from time to time, and it isto be hoped that the matter will receive the attention of Congress. If it be considered that the present daily supply of 25,000,000 gallons per diem is sufficient, it must be remembered that this | amount can only be brought in at an insufficient elevation, and more pumps would be necessary to give the high grounds their share. A quarter of a million dollars invested in metres, with suf- ficiently prohibitory rates, would reduce the | consumption to any desired and far below any | desirable quantity, but it is hardly advisable. In the use of pure water we are yet only one- half as high in the scale of civilization as were ancient Rome, Jerusalem, Byzantium. Their water supply was gallons capita, and it came long distances from many different sources in costly aqueducts. We have within easy reach a least flow of @ thou- sand million gallons per day of pure water, dash- ifig to waste aver the Great Falls of the Poto- mac. There may be some excuse for the wasted energy of Niagara. No field of enterprise seems great enough or near enough to take it in; but the Potomac has its mission in Washington. At present we need only a commencement—an ab- propriation sufficient to bring to the city what | can already be brought asfar as the distributing reservoir, and this is sorely needed. It cannot | be far in the future that agenerous supply, will |flow through the city for every conceivable | use. Then the reservoir on Rock creek will be needed. It will be a beautiful lake of 2,000 | acres, with rocky shores, and promontories jut- | ting out in every direction. It will have a wreatest depth of one hundred and forty feet, with all the advantages of this great depth of water, and a capacity of nearly two thousand millions of galions in the Yirst three feet of | depth. The rocky banks will be their own revetment. The growing timber in the pro- posed bed of the lake will pay for its own re- | moval. A dam of impervious masonry will close | the gorge of the lake, joining rock to rock on | either side. The cost will be €800,000 for the dam, and the price of 2,000 acres of steep rock hillside for the bed of the lake. For the pur- pose of the reservoir nothing further would be needed except legislation prescribing appropri- ate sanitary regulations. ‘The causeway of the 7th street road over Piney Branch would, perhaps, have to be raised slightly, but the cost would be insignificant. No other highways cross the site of the reservoir, | but a number of local county roads could be taken across by bridge and causeway at shallow points if thought advisable. A continuous drive around the jake would be constructed in the course of time, and the rest of the park would follow, covering the drainage area of Rock Creek within the District. RAILROADS. In compliance with your instructions I have | carefully examined into the question of the re- moval of the present steam railroads from the surface of the streets within the limits of Wash- ington and adjusting them tothe established grades of the city in such manner as to offer the least obstruction to ordinary surface traffic. In this investigation [ have kept in view the gen- eral plan and the several requirements pre- scribed by you. The result is shown in the ac- companying plans And estimates, which may be briefly explained as follows: The Baltimore and Ohio road now enters the city limits at Boundary street, between 9th and 10th streets northeast; crossing Boundary a fe: fect below grade; passing in a soutwesterly d rection across 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th, L, K, I, 5th, 4th, 3d and 2d several feet above the grade of e follows Delaware avenue on grade as far as E street northeast, and thence several feet below grade across D street and North Capitol to the depot on New Jersey ave |road breaks the grade of nearly | it crosses within the city limits, ie to the improvement of the m of the city. It effectually )rovement of North Capitol street within less an two squares of the Capitol grounds. On ti | reets which it crosses at grade there is the | ordinary danger from that source to the city traffic, and this upon such an im | thoroughfare as Massachusetts avenue, within a short distance of the Capitol. The Metropolitan Branch of the same road enters the city limits at Boundary street, between Ist and 2d northeast, and continues down Ist street on grade to Delaware avenue. where it unites with the Washington B Down to this point it is open to the o objections to steam railroads w greater part of a narrow street at grad cross the intersecting streets also at grade It is peopdoed to unite the two branches of this road at some point outside the city limits, to be selected by the company and bring them into the city at Boundary street, on the line of 12th street east, and on the establish city grade. Thence the road will follow the line of 12th street southward, on the grade of the street, to G street, at which point the grade changes so as to enter a tunnel at the north building line of Maryland avenue. Following the line of 12th street, sonthward, the tunnel continues to Lincoln ‘square, and passing be- neath this square turns into the line of North Carolina avenue, which it follows to the west building line of 2d street east. At this point the city grades fall precipitously to the low ground, and a short open cut connects the tun- nel with an elevated road which follows the same line of North Carolina avenue to the in- tersection of New Jersey avenue and E street southeast, crossing this intersection at an ele- vation of 22 feet above the city grade. Up to this point the line is intended for the exclusive use of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and is desizned for two tracks only. The Baltimore and Potomac railroad now enters thecity limits atthe Eastern Branch, be- tween Land M streets south, crosses 15th, 14th, 13th and 12th streets, and thence in tunnel along the general line of Virginia avenue and K street south, to the west building line of 6th street, where it emerges upon the grade of K street, and follows the line of this street. con- forming approximately to the street grades to Canal street. Thence along Canal street to Virginia avenue, along Virginia avenue to Maryland avenue, and along Maryland avenue to the Long Bridge, conforming ‘to the street grades. From the western terminus of the tunnel to the Long Bridge, this road is open to the or- dinary objections to steam railroads, which oc- cupy the greater part of a narrow street at grade, and cross the intersecting streets also at grade. When the line is upon the avenues there is plenty of space forthe tracks and the street trattic also, but the objections incident to being on the street grade are in full force, and complaints are numerous that the avenues are made use of as freight “ depots, for making up trains and loading or unloading freight. A change is quite as much needed here as in the case of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, in the northeastern section of the city. ‘This road has its depot at 6th street and Penn- sylvania avenue, which is reached by branches from the main line on Virginia avenue and Maryland avenue, down the line of 6th street, running across the mall and cutting off the Capitol from the Executive Mansion and public buildings. When the privilege of this location was granted to the company the mall, east of 6th street was unimproved, and the objection Was not so obvious. At present this improve- ment is progressing by annual appropriations and the presence of the depot and tracks is a serious and unsightly obstruction. These branch lines are open to the common objection of occu- pying the greater part of a narrow street at le. At is proposed to deflect this road, where it is in tunnel, at 8th and Virginia avenue, north- ward along the line of 8th street, continuing in tunnel to street south; thence along E street to the west building line of 3d street Southeast. At this point a short open cut connects with an elevated road, which continues on the line of E street to the intersec- tion of New Jersey avenue, crossing at 22 feet above the street grade and coming up alongside the elevated road of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad at the same elevation. up to this point, this line is intended for the exclusive use a cya — ee railroad and is for two B. Pran this point a common line of road with four tracks continaes to the Long Bridge as follows: An elevated road along the line of E street to Virginia avenue, crossing South Capitol, Dela- ware avenue and Ist street, at a suf it ele- vation above street E street is to be widened to 160 feet by ® narrow strip from reservation 17. This leave sufficient room for street traffic on spend side the ele- vated road; and the latter have suitable openings beneath it for the intersecting streets. From the intersection of avenue and E street, the elevated road follows the line of Suases orcene 2s paiat bet ween die aii 6th streets southwest, wi 8 short 0] cut fol- lowing the same line connects it at the east io | of 2d street east im’ ‘tunnel, and crosses 1t are crossed with sufficient ‘eigpes eres the elevated road to pass under at their present grades. From the east building line of 7th street the tunnel continues along the line of Virginia avenue to Maryland avenue; thence along the line of Maryland avenue tothe west building line of 12th street, where an open cut commences, tollowing thesame line of Maryland avenue tothe east building line of 14th street. Here it terminates in the street grade. where the present causeway of the Long Bridge com- mences. It is proposed te widen this causeway to 160 feet, and raise the grade uniformly out to the bridge abutment, which is to be fifteen feet above tide. A roadway and footwalk will con- tinue on each side of the railroad tracksto within a suitable distance of the abutment, at the same grade; but m nearing the abutment, these roadways will be made to rise gradually above the grade of the tracks and an arched way above them. This will leave the lower chords of the bridge for the road-bed of the railjvays, and the viaduct upon the upper chords of the bridge will carry the or traffic of vehicles and foot-passengers above the tracks. | A new bridge to replace the Long bridge is indispensable. When the channel of the river is contracted to its proper width by the new water-front, scouring vill inevitabty take place around the piers of the present bridge. and the probability is that the first freshet thereafter would carry it off. It is not ot proper construc- tion for the use required of it in the future, and cannot properly accommodate two important railroads and the local yehicular traffic. It is proposed to construct a new bridge upon the general plan here outlined, of ade- quate strength tnd capacity, and with stone piers at intervals of about 250 feet, sunk to a solid foundation, if practicable to bed- rock, like the piers of the aqueduct bridge. Borings taken many years ago indicate the probability of finding the rock at a reasonable depth, but are not’ conclusive as to this. A draw of sufficient size to accommodate the nay- igation ofthe river will be needed. In order to afford the railroad companies an opportunity to negotiate freely for the purchase of sites for the new depots they require, it is thought best to leave to the companies, respectively, the selec- tion of the site as well as the option of combin- ing in an union depot or erecting separate depots as they may elect, imposing only the con- | dition that the lication and grade of such depot | or depots shal! be subject to the approval of the Commissioners of the District. After a careful consideration of various routes and plans for accomplishing the purposes here stated,I believe that the plan presented will give the most satisfactory results. On the part of the District it presents the following advantages: Two buildings for depots, which now obstruct he crown and improvement of the city are to be abandoned. Several miles of track now laid through the streets of the city asif through wild land re- mote from human habitation, or running on grade across and along populous streets and avenues are to be put under some a sufficient depth to enable the street traffic to pass over them, or lifted sufficiently above the grade of the streets to enable the traffic to pass under them, maintaining the present grades of the streets, This is accomplished in the case of every street on the line of each road after its en- trance into the city, except two (4%¢ and 6th), which can be specially provided for,and two others Me and 13!¢), which can be similarly provided for should they ever require it. The latter are short streets, only three squares in length, in- tersected by an open cut near their lower end. They will probably never need a crossing. The advantage of this disposition of the railroads is not alone the security obtained for the ordinary city traffic. It effects.as well,areclamation ofthose narrow streets now wholly occupied by the tracks, and prevents the use of the streets as freight depots or for any purposes other than through transit. Theresult will be a very great improye- ment in the value of realestate, now depreciated because of the present state of ‘affairs. The proposed lines follow, while in excava- tion, the course of a ridge, upon which the sur- | face flow of rainfall naturally divides. The effect | upon the drainage system of the city is there- | fore a minimum. There is very little interf ence with the At Maryland avenue it | will be necessary to deflect a3!¢ foot diam. se" | to G street. and along G to 15th. The lower portion of the intercepted sewer then becomes available for the drainage of an additional area | south of it, and nothing is lost by the change. No other sewers of any importance are intercepted. The same pecuilarity of following the ridge aifords the advantage of very short open cuts connecting the tunnel with the elevated road, | the sudden descent of the surface grades at the end of the ridge favoring tne transition. Thus | the Baltimore and Olo railroad crosses the line | | | street and New Jersey avenue, only one | Square distant, by ‘elevated road at 22 feet above the grade of'Néw Jersey avenue. The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad crosses the line | of 8d street east in téinel, passes below the ter- minus of 2d street, afl crosses New Jersey aye- nue, also, 22 feet ’alove grade. This prevents interference with the ‘travel of any intersecting street. The surplus excavation, which will be quite a large amount, will be nsed_for filling Delaware avenue and other strects in the vicinity of the Capitol which cross‘the line of the old canal, and for reclaiming the Potomac flats in the vi- cinity of the present Long Bridge. The route proposed appears to offer a number of advantages to the railroad companies. The right-of-way is given, throughout, on the line of public streets and avenues. No condem- nation and purchase #f land is necessary. The lines are short and direct, with easy curves, except at one point on the separate line of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, the cor- ner of 8th and E, where the are of the curve is 90°. On the line of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad the maximum cut is 35 teet, and the line isa short one; on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad the maximum cut is 35 feet, and on the combined line from New Jersey ave- nue westward it is only 20 feet. All tunnels will, therefore, be built in open cut, with very little danger of any trouble whatever from un- derground springs. The material excavated will be a strong clay, with some gravel and per- haps sand. No rock excavation is probable. This work will present much less difficulty than does the Boundary sewer, now in course of construction. There the maximum cut is 45 feet, and water is round, at a depth of 30 feet, in considerable quantities, with sand and gravel, that wash out rapidly from beneath the overly- ing clay, bringing down the side banks into the excavation. The shallow cut makes it practicable in the construction of the tunnels to provide readily for unlimited ventilation. The grades are sufficiently easy, the maximum being 58 feet per mile, much less than has here- tofore been found practicable in this class of construction, the ground being exceptionally favorable. The Baltimore and Ohio railroad have the longest and most expensive independent line to run, besides providing for connections outside the city limits. Tie connections of the Balti- more and Potomac railroad remain as they are now. On the other hand, the Baltimore and Obio railroad acquire a valuable franchise in the crossing of the Potomacon the line of the Lot Bridge. Plans for the proposed improvement are transmitted herewith, and detailed estimates have been prepared, under my direction, the computations being made by Mr. Geo. W. Bailey and Mr. John F. Alexander. The following isa summary: For the Baltimore and Ohio railroad (construction for two tracks),open cut on 12th street northeast,from s. b. L of G street ton. b. 1. of Maryland avenue, 431.41 lin. feet, at $61.75,. Brick tunn northeast, Lincoln Square, and North Carolina avenue from n. b. 1. Maryland avenue to w. b. 1. of 11th street southeast, 3,253 lin. iets at £06.08. i junken road, protected by paral walls and iron railing, with Dean tunnel crossings at intersecting streets‘on North Carolina avenue from w. b. L. of 11th street south- east to w. b. 1. of 2distreet south- 2,988 lin. out of sunken $314,337.39 To! Pree 810 lin, ings af 8198.07... Open cut frem w. b. L of 2d street southeast to beginning of clevated road, 405 lin.feet, at.$61.75...... Elevated road (viaduct) on North avenue E street south to New Jersey, avenue, 520 lin, feet, at $81.50... ‘otal ‘hd Ohio for Baltimore * ae Toad (viaduct) on E street jew Jersey avenue, 625 lin. ft., for four tracks—I road ‘viaduct) on E street south and ‘irginia avenue toa point be- tween 41¢ and 6th streets south- west, 3,408 lin. ft., at $146.25... tunnel at e.b.1. of 7th street southwest on Virginia avenue, Suiiken road, protected en walls and iron railing, with beam tunnel crossings at intersecting streets, on Virginia avenue and Maryland avenue from e. b. |. of 7th street southwest to w. b. 1. 12th_ street southwest, 1,398.15 fin. ft., sunken road, at $136... 551.5 lin. ft. crossings at $276.85... Open cut on Maryland avenue from w. b. 1. 12th street southwest to 14th street southwest, 1,171.23 lin. ft., at 61 . $78,556.70 Total for the combined roads west of New Jersey avenue... $1,000,551.54 SUMMARY. Independent line Baltimore and Ohio to New Jersey avenue. $959,878.60 Independent line Baltimore and Potomac to New Jersey avenue.. $405,393.95 Combined line west of New Jersey avenue $1,000,551.54 Grand total vee $2,965,824.09 The first two items would, perhaps, suffice for the oe sheet adding the cost of a temporary wooden trestle from New Jersey avenue to 4'¢ street, and Leas | the more expensive con- struction of the viaduct until it shall be con- sidered heppprect d to put the roads under ground west of 41¢ si The beam tunnels might for the present be omitted, and temporary wooden bridges be substituted for them. The grand total represents a considerable ex- penditure; but the cost may be urged as an ob- jection to any plan for changing the present location of the tracks, and would be urged with much greater force against any other line than the one selected, if it served the purposes in- tended in this one. No temporary scheme should be considered at all. It is better to let the tracks remain as they are than shift the nuisance to other localities, only to be shifted again. That the present plan is an economical one appears in this that it serves the purposes intended at a minimum of cost. The 4th avenue improvement in New York city, designed to accomplish precisely the same results, has recently been completed. The length of the line differs but little from that of the one here proposed, yet the cost was about $6,000,000. It was economically constructed, under thoroughly competent and careful man- agement. The lesser cost of the proposed route through Washington is due to the natural advantages of the line selected. As the cost of the bridge will depend largel: upon the depth to which the piers myst be Ah to reach a solid foundation, and this has not yet been ascertained, no estimate is given tor this. ‘Thé building of the causeway, having side slopes of earth, will constitute a part ot the reclama- tion of the flats over which it will extend, and will be made from the surplus excavation for the tunnel. The small amount of masonry required for joining the side roads over the tracks at the commencement of the viaduct will rest on piles to be driven betore the filling begins. Tam indebted to Mr. Allen Campbell, formerly commissioner of public works and now comp- troller of New York city. for the detailed plans of the Fourth Avenue improvement, recently completed in New York. These have been care- fully studied in connection with the proposed improvement here. R. L. Hoxts, Lieut. Engs., U.S.A. Major Wm." Twining, Corps of Engineers, U.8.A., Engineer Commissioner, D.C. seeing The Weary Plowman Still Plodding. $81,053.92 ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX DIFFERENT READINGS Room 43, War De Wasnrxetos, D.C., Oct he Editor of THE ING STAR: —In your issue of the 1 from the Evangelical Messenger “8 Literary lish Curiosity,” in twenty-six different readings, of one of Gray’s well-known lines. Enclosed I send you one hundred and thirty-six (136) dif- ferent readings of the same line. ConsTaNtT READER. Plowman ptods his homeward way. The weary plowman plods his way homeward. ‘The weary plowman plods homeward his way. The weary plowinan homeward plods his Way, The weary plowman homeward his way plods. ‘The weary plowman his way homeward plods. The weary plowman his way plods homeward. The weary plowman his homeward way plods. ‘The plowman weary plods his home: way. ‘The plowman weary plods his way homeward. The plowman weary plods homeward his way. ‘The plowman weary homeward plods his way. 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Plods the Ploas ne aes His homeward weary way the ie esrad ro os eeeneme weary the piowman ! $497,638.75 | Term HISTORY, ANCIENT AND MODER: h inst. you pub- | THE KNIGHTS OF THE BED FLAG. A Curious Chapter About Auctioncers. N—VARIOUS SYMBOLS OF THE FRATERNITY—THE Avc- TIONEERS WHO SOLD AN EMPIRE—OTHER FAMOUS SALES AND SALESMEN. The “Letter from an Auctioneer,” published below, contains some novel and interesting information. It is from a forthcoming volume entitled “Letters from a Lot of Odd People,” edited by Mr. Charles Lanman. LETTER FROM AN AUCTIONEER. It is a motley world with which I-have to do, and next to that of the grave digger, mine is supposed to be the joliiest of all ordinary occu- pations. Indeed, the calling Pe aa people for the highest bid is the burthen of my perennial song, and the human hopes that have at the utterance of my “last call,” cannot be numbered. Excepting a noted scholar who never listens, and a fashionable woman who has been spoiled by flattery, I am the most inces- sant talker in the community. It is my trade; I receive my revenue from my tongue; but the cost of it ia greater than can be estimated—for Perpetual contact with suffering saps my heart Of its best affections, and my jolly manners are asham. But my object in this letter is not to play the moralist, but merely to submit a little gossip about my trade. MY FIRST SALE toek place many, many years azo, and the arti- cles sold were a lot of carpenter's tools; they belonged to a merchant, who had receivedthem for debt, and the purchaser was a young man who, in great poverty, was just commencing the occupation of a carpenter. The merchant pitied him and gave him his patronage. but still his struggles azainst poverty were unceasing. To- day that merchant is an old man, and papas | hammer every vestige of his property has passed | out of his possession, and the children of that poor carpenter are owners of many houses and men of business influence. The smallest sale that I remember to have made was of a breastpin, which had been left with a pawnbroker. by a poor widow, when she parted with it to obtain the means wherewith to keep her children from starvation. It was a | family relic, which had come through three gen- erations, but the widow died and the relic was not redeemed and had to be sold. The gold in that bit of jewelry was intrinsically worth | twenty times more than it brought, but the braid of hair which it contained had been es- teemed by the broken-hearted woman as with- out price. THE MILLIONAIRE WHO BECAME A BEGGAR. The largest estate I ever sold was inherited by & man who never performed 4 single day's hon- est labor in all his life. He fared sumptuously every day on the fat of the land, kept the best of horses, looked patronizingly down on all those who could not match his ¢scutcheon, and for a term of years lived and flodrished as if he had nothing to do but enjoy the pleasures of life. But a change came over the spirit of that man’s dream, and to-day he would not scruple to go upon an errand for his next door bor and to receive the fee of a shilling for the service. The lands and the great houses which were once his property, and much of which I sold under the hammer, are now owned by the hard-fisted man who once held the plow or gathered in the harvests on his estate. A GREAT SACRIFICE. Of the many sacrifices of property which I have witnessed in my day, perhaps the most striking instance was that of a manufacturing establishment, which cost two hundred thou- sand dollars, and under a foreclosure brought only fifty thousand dollars. In that case there | was no Special sympathy extended to the vic- | tim, for he had been a mean and selfish man, as | well as a drunkard and otherwise depraved. When I was a boy, I wanted a certain clerk- ship in the town where I live. and to secure it I applied to a man whose influence was un- | | bounded. He was one who had received mil- lions inthe way of business, and he lived in| | princely style, having both a town and country | residence. I obtained the position, and while | ing for a stinted support, my patron nd the papers were filled with enlogies | the departed, allof which he well deserved. For several years his widow lived in solemn splendor, when she died, and among those who followed her to the grave there was not one who was of kindred blood. In the meantiine, I had become established in my profession, and I was called upon to sell, under the hammer, not only the elegant country seat of my old friend, but hundreds of rich and beautifal things, as well as a superb library, which had been a’ source of comfort for one of the most noted and purest men of his time. THK AUCTIONEER’S LOT NOT A HAPPY ONE. Can it be wondered at that, with such inci- dents as the foregoing, constantly happening in my experience, I should sometimes feel sick and tired of my profession? And in com; myself to. the grave-digger, as I have ie, utter more pathos than bathos. When the gray has performed his task, the per- son for whom he has cut away the sod, is en- tirely at peace; but not so with the victims of my hammer, for its sound is too often—alas! how often?—the very knell of blasted hopes and of the deepest physical and mental suffering! It cannot but be, that thecriesof unfortunate they often from under the humanity, as they heel of the rich men of the world, are heard by the all-mercifal! How much, gentlemen—how much for this beautiful?—. mind was wandering. I have no desire to re- count og Ahaha exploits or experiences as an auc- —— Doust say Serroia ck in defence of my ing. lass Jerrold, George A. Sala and other noted writers haveattem ver aportion of my fraternity with ri » but I think that, in ‘so doing, they were more foolish than funny. They have branded us as ignorant and dishonest, and chiefly gifted in dealing out words without ideas. ‘Such intimations are simply slanderous and untrue. AN HONORABLE FRATERNITY, In my experience of more than forty years Ido not remember to have heard of a single auctioneer who had been hanged, imprisoned or driven into obscurity because of his crimes, and yet Ican recall many merchants and lawyers, and even statesmen, whose names are linked with infamy. No. this trade of ours is as re- ie as any other, and wegentlemen of the hammer cannot, in that manner, be ‘whistled down the wind,” albeit our more remote ances- ae were, undoubtedly, a hard lot of adven- T3. 4 BAND OF FIFTEEN THOUSAND AUCTIONEERS. By turning over the pages of history, we find that there once existed in a single city an entire army of auctioneers, and that an empire was once sold by auction. It was in the second century and in imperial Rome. The men who had the management of affairs were known as the Praetorian oe they numbered be- tween ten and fifteen thousand: They were in reality the owners of the empire, and when there happened to be a scramble for the position of emperor, they offered their property for sale. Yes, ~‘they ran out upon the ramparts and with a loud voice prociaimed that the Roman world was to be disposed of to the highest bidder by public auction.” The first bidder was one Sul- who oe to pay to each soldier the equivatent of 2800 in | gold, but a senator named Didus Ju- lianus bid $1,000, when the empire was at once knocked down to him, and the gates of the The policy or morality of that ti be there rans- indeed be no doubt as to its (Ucn AUCTIONEER'S SYMBOLS AND CUSTOMS. auctioneers of those old days in the hat had a habit of ¢ omice, and t ground, as the ‘symbol continued Babylon, and the “slave auctions” of modern America? The former | have read of with slight amazement, but the latter I have witnessed with Ripening) in, and have not a word to say fence men who could thelr fellow-beings under the hamwer—but, thanks to the war of our rebellion, such thing again be tolerated on American soil. Like all professions, this one to which Tbe Jong, has been annoyed. if not damaged. by une incipied imitators. In this country, about ifty years ago, mock auctions were quite com- mon, and with their “puffers” and “barkers” for along time they had a tendency to throw discredit upon the regular auctioneers. A faith- fuland true auctioneer is one who should, at all-times, be above suspicion. He never at- tempts to raise his prices by fictitious while on the otber hand purchasers never combine to suppress exact position which he should eccupy ts an agent for both the bnyer and the ofthe property sold. In later times, however, quite a larze number of men have acquired hon- orable reputations in that profession, both in England and this country, and many of their ex- Ploits have passed into the history of commerce. SOME BIG SALES. Some of them have sold real estate in New York and other leading cities to the amount of many millions ina single day, and I have my- self witnessed the sale in that city of whole cargoes of raw cotton or sugar and molasses, as as grain, which went off in the brief space of thirty minutes. The rudiments of my knowledge as an auc- thoneer were obtained during my residence in New York, and chiefly from the most dis- tinguished man in that business, who has lived in this country, John Haggerty. He was a seller of dry goods, in the original packages, and when I knew him, about the year 1835, his sales were 80 enormous that the annual com- missions paid by him to the city authorities amounted to more than 830,000. He com- menced business at the close of the last century, acquired a large fortune and lived to be almost a centenarian. The style of his firm passed through many changes, but was always noted for its high character. Mr. Hagwerty was one of the first men who, soon after the New York Herald was established, prosecuted the editor for libel and recovered damages. The offense, which the grand jury thought of sum- cient consequence to notice, consisted in calling the auctioneer O'Haggerty,” but as time progressed the famous editor, James Gordon Bennett, and the auctioneer, vecame good friends. In recent times T have known whole lines of shipping, as well as interminable railroads, to be transferred from one manor company to another, under the hammer. And what treasures in literature and art have the dingy shops of auctioneers in Londonand New York, into the mansions palaces of the rich. Think for moment of the ROXBURGH LIBRARY, which contained ten thousand lots, and was sold in 1812. Forty-two successive days, ex- cepting Sundays, were spent in hammering that vast collection of treasures into money. who obtained prizes manifested their ee shouting, while those who were vanq uttered their sorrow in groans; and while I can- not say what was the total yield of that library, Ido remember that one ‘of the books brought the equivalent of $11,300. THE HEBER PALE. But a sale of books took place in 1834, belong- ingto a man named Heber, which was even more remarkable. It contained 146,827 vol- umes and was sold for what would now be $900,000. Wemay, indeed, be, what Sala has called us, the Bohemians of commerce, and as he is himseif the very head and front of Bohe- mianism in Europe, I suppose there is no appeal from his decision. In the city where I live there are not more than a dozen auctioneers, and for that reason we are known to everybody, and when the time serves, we of the tommon sort are as regularly sent for to ply our trade as the clergyman or lawyer. When anybody is to be sold out, one of our fraternity must, of necessity, be on hand. Excepting one class of the community, we sell more property in a year than do all the others beside—for when the merchants, and they are of every grade, have spent years in doling out thelr wares and then become insolvent, we step t and at one fell swoop sell all their goods, as wi as the houses they occupy, and perhaps the whole of their landed property. It is a sad truth, indeed, that the taps of our hammers have consigned many once rich, as well as near and dear friends, to the ways of poverty; and may we not say that many of our exploits have become classic, because of their connection with men. of note in literature and art—tor who has not heard of the scattered libraries and pictures of Johnson and Walpole, Southey, Lamb, Web- ster, Dickens, Thackeray, Cox, Turner, Kennett and a host of others—but none of those noted rales will never of sense, indeed and universally cove but fleeting as time, and often us uesrt tending as the grave. White or Brown Bread! The earliest agitator inthe matter observed two years ago, when traveling in Sicily, that the laboring classes there live healthily and work well upon a vegetable diet, the staple article of only people so supported. northwestern province can walk 50 or 60 miles a day with no other food than ‘chapatties,’ made of the whole meal, with a little ‘ghee,’ or Galam vi a bura trom a00'te OO posean x carry ens of from 400 to 600 ve pe tacs only, with the occasional addition of fruit and The Spartans and Ro- mans of old time lived their vigorous lives on bread made of wheaten meal. In northern as wellas southern climates we find the same thing. In Russia, Sweden, Scotland and eise- where the poor live chiefly on bread, always made from some whole meal-wheat, oats or Tish habit to prefer. "White bread alone w lish it to prefer. W! support animal life. Bread made grain will. The experiment has France by Magendie. Dogs were the of the trial, and every care was taken to eq lize altthe other conditions—to proportion quantity’ of food given in each case to tl weight of the animal experimented upon, and so forth, The result was sufficiently marked. AY . salty At the end of 40 days the dogs fed solely on white bread died. e dogs fed on bread made of the whole ined vigorous healthy an healthy human being, if fed solely on white bread for 40 days, would likewise die at the of that time remai health for an of time if fed solelyon wheat-meal jot a piece of strong evidence &