670 REPORTS OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE. 



The chairman submitted from the superintendent the following communication : 



April 6, 1847. 

 Dear Sir : On consulting with the Commissioner of Public Buildings in relation 

 to the use, by the committee, of the old fence around the Mall, between Seventh and 

 Twelfth streets, to enclose the lot of the Institution, between the same points, he 

 agrees to allow so much of the same as is necessary for this purpose. 



I have made an estimate to determine what the expense would be of removing, 

 repairing, and enclosing this open fence with a live feet height of palings, and found 

 it would amount to four hundred dollars. 

 The circuit of these grounds is 3,680 feet. 



Mr. Dixon reports that the expense of conducting the water from the market- 

 house pipe to the building, will cost six hundred and fifty dollars. 

 Eespectfullv submitted. 



EOBEKT MILLS, 

 Assistant Architect and Sup't Smithsonian Institution. 

 To the Hon. Kobert Dale Owen, 



Chairman of the Building Committee of the Smithsonian Institution. 



On motion of Mr. Seaton, it was — 



Resolved, That, for the purpose of conveying to the building a supply of water, as 

 well for the builders as for the permanent uses of the Institution, the consent of the 

 Commissioner of the Public Buildings be requested for drawing a supply from the 

 water plug at the Centre Market-house, to be conveyed thence, by a leaden pipe, to 

 the Institution. 



Resolved, That an arrangement be made with some responsible contractor for lay- 

 ing said pipes, provided the cost thereof does not exceed $650. 



Resolved, That the resolution of the 30th ultimo, in regard to the digging two 

 wells, be and the same is hereby, rescinded. 



Resolved, That Mr. Downer, or some other responsible person, be employed to 

 build a substantial paling fence around the Institution ground, provided the same 

 cost not more than $400, and that the fence be as high as the present rails will per- 

 mit with safety. 



And, on motion, the committee adjourned. 



Twenty-second Meeting, April 9, 1847. 



Present, Messrs. Seaton and Owen. 



Mr. Owen stated to the committee that he had spoken with one of the Eegents, 

 Mr. A. D. Buche, on the subject of procuring a steel plate of the Girard College, 

 from the managers of the said Institution, on the same terms proposed to Mr. Stew- 

 art, as mentioned in his (Mr. O.'s) report of April 6 ; and that Mr. Bache promised 

 to write on the subject to the principal manager of the Girard College, and to com- 

 municate the result to the committee. 



Mr. Owen also stated that he had written on the same subject to Mr. Bichard 

 Bush, Begent, from Philadelphia, requesting him to use his influence to procure for 

 us the said plate. 



Mr. Seaton stated that he was about to write a similar letter to Mr. Ogden Hoff- 

 man, one of the vestrymen of Calvary church, New York, with the view of procuring 

 a plate of that church on similar terms, as a specimen of the lancet gothic style of 

 architecture ; and that he would communicate the result to the committee. 



Mr. Owen submitted from the contractor, Mr. Dixon, the following: 



Washington, April 8, 1847. 



Gentlemen : After minute examination of all the quarries on Mr. Peter's land, 

 it is extremely doubtful to me whether or not a sufficient quantity of the stone on 

 which the contract is based can be procured in any of his quarries, as that stratum 

 seems to be nearly exhausted. There seems to be abundance of stone in the bed 

 under which No. 19 has been worked off; but it appears to be of a much deeper 

 color, and a great deal harder in its texture, and could not be cut at anything like 

 the price of No. 19 stone. 



There are, I am told, a great many quarries of sandstone on Seneca creek, on Mr. 

 Vincent's* land ; but knowing that your Board was about to adjourn, I hastened 

 back to make this statement, and had not time to examine them. 



Bespectfully, &c, JAMES DIXON. 



To the Building Committee of the Smithsonian Institution. 



* Supposed Charles Vinson : see p. 43.— R. D. O. 



