EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 87 



GROUND IMPROVEMENTS AND MAINTENANCE WORK OF THE 



DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY AND CONSTRUCTION. 



Hermann W. Merkel, Chief Constructor and Forester; E. H. Costain, 

 Assistant Forester. 



Completion of Walk East Side of Bronx River. — The River- 

 side Walk from West Farms to Bronxdale was filled in and thor- 

 oughly paved where the old wooden bridges had been, and then 

 surfaced, as far as the location of the new Pavilion, with tar- 

 macadam. The finished portion is now in excellent condition. 

 This work necessitated the laying of 800 square feet of telford, 

 the hauling of 220 yards of earth, and covering with tar-mac- 

 adam surface an area of 16,500 square feet. 



Fence West Farms Block. — Just west of the Bronx River 

 at West Farms, the boundary of the Park was fenced with 

 a close-mesh steel wire netting, six feet high, on top of a 

 concrete coping, averaging twelve inches in height. This ne- 

 cessitated the building of 3,505 cubic feet of concrete coping, 

 and 597 lineal feet of two-inch wire mesh fencing of No. 8 wire 

 erected on steel posts, with a steel top and bottom railing. It 

 is hoped that this improvement will enable us to keep clean and 

 free from waste paper the shrubbery at that end of the Park. 

 The cost of the fence has been about $1,800. 



Erection of Yak Shelter, Yards and Fences. — This rock 

 shelter, sixty by sixty feet and onfe story high was built 

 from the material excavated from the sites of the new Work- 

 Shops, which we were obliged to dispose of. It contains four 

 large stalls for yaks, with vestibules and feed-rooms connecting 

 with each, and eight smaller rooms of wood and wire netting, 

 besides a large central feed-room. The cost of construction was 

 $7,717.58. 



The seven ranges surrounding this building necessitated 

 the construction and installation of six concrete water-troughs, 

 400 feet of four-inch drains, 400 feet of water-lines, six hy- 

 drants, 9,000 square feet of paving underneath and alongside 

 of the fences, and 7,200 square feet of telford. The material 

 for 1,200 feet of the fences, with their posts and gates, is on 

 hand, but has not yet been erected. The cost of this paving, 

 fencing, etc., when completed, will be about $2,420.00. 



Service Yard, Rocking Stone Restaurant. — A great deal 

 of work was done around the Rocking Stone Restaurant, 

 in enlarging the service yard, enclosing it with a concrete 



