588 



NEW YORK CITY. 



Public Works. This department of the city 

 government is under the charge of a commis- 

 sioner appointed by the Mayor, independent of 

 the Board of Aldermen, for a term of four years. 

 The present incumbent is Thomas P. G'ilroy, 

 with headquarters at 31 Chambers Street. There 

 are nine sub-bureaus, as follow : 1, for laying 

 water pipes, constructing sewers, walls, and 

 hydrants, paving streets, etc. (William H. Burke, 

 water purveyor) : 2, for the collection of revenue 

 from the sale and use of water (Joseph Riley, 

 water registrar) ; 3, for the care of all property 

 connected with the supply of Croton water 

 (chief engineer. George W. Birdsall) ; 4, for 

 grading, flagging, curbing, and guttering the 

 streets (William M. Dean, superintendent); 5, 

 for lamps and gas (Stephen McCormick, super- 

 intendent); 6, for streets and roads (John B. 

 Shea, superintendent) ; 7, for repairs of and sup- 

 plies to, etc. (William G. Bergen, superintend- 

 ent) ; 8, for the removal of incumbrances (Mi- 

 chael T. Cummings, superintendent) ; 9, for the 

 care of sewers (Horace Loomis, engineer). 



The annual report of this department shows 

 that in extending and improving the means for 

 the distribution of water 17 miles of mains, with 

 151 stopcocks and 163 fire hydrants, have been 

 placed, making now a total of 684-71 miles of 

 water mains, with 7,101 stopcocks and 8,739 fire 

 hydrants. There have been placed 1,568 new 

 water meters, making a total of 23,640 now in 

 iise. The revenue paid into the city treasury 

 for water rents, penalties, and permits to tap 

 water mains amountedto $2,923,513.46. 



The new aqueduct was transferred by the 

 aqueduct commissioners to the care and cus- 

 tody of the department on June 30, and a state- 

 ment issued by the aqueduct commissioners 

 showed that the total cost of the aqueduct up 

 to and including Dec. 31, 1891, was $25,309,- 

 990.95. Of this sum, there were paid out on 

 vouchers, pay rolls, etc., $2,967,050.88 ; on con- 

 tracts, agreements, etc., $20,690,099.03 ; for land 

 and land damages, $57,869.82 ; expenses of com- 

 missioners of appraisal, $2,098,362.70. The city 

 began to receive water through the new aque- 

 duct on July 15, 1890, beginning at the rate of 

 about 35,000,000 gallons a day, which by Jan. 1, 

 1891, increased to 60,000,000 gallons a day. The 

 supply through the old aqueduct, was reduced 

 from the maximum capacity of 98,000,000 gal- 

 lons a day to 75,000,000 gallons a day, making 

 the daily total supply to the city, with the 10,- 

 000,000 gallons a day received through the Bronx 

 river conduit, 145,000,000 gallons. During the 

 year this was gradually increased to 164,000,000 

 gallons a day, of which 150,000.000 came through 

 the two aqueducts and 14,000,000 gallons through 

 the Bronx river conduit. It is evident that, 

 with even the ordinary rainfall in quantity and 

 in its distribution over an entire year, much 

 larger storage capacity is required in the Croton 

 watershed for a daily supply of 150,000,000 than 

 for one of 98,000,000 gallons. The average an- 

 nual rainfall in the Croton watershed, according 

 to the records of more than forty years, is about 

 48 inches. During 1891 the rainfall was only 

 36-03 inches, or more than 18 per cent, below the 

 average. The consequence was that 14,700,- 

 000,000 gallons of water had to be drawn from 

 the'storage reservoirs, lakes, and ponds, and from 



Nov. 5 to 24, on account of the depletion of the 

 stored water, the supply through the two aque- 

 ducts had to be reduced to 100,000,000 gallons a 

 day, since which time the recent rainfalls have 

 enabled the department to gradually increase it 

 to 125,000,000 gallons a day. 



By next summer the available storage capacity 

 will be increased about 4,500,000,000 gallons by 

 the completion of the double Sodom reservoir, 

 arid about two years thereafter the three other 

 storage reservoirs now in course of construc- 

 tion will be completed, adding 22,000,000,000 

 gallons to the storage capacity, and making the 

 entire storage capacity 39,200,000,000. 



The quantities of work done in regulating, 

 grading, curbing, and flagging streets during the 

 year included : 170,912 cubic yards earth placed 

 in embankments ; 64,878 cubic yards rock exca- 

 vated ; 33,350 cubic yards earth excavated ; 27,- 

 029 lineal feet new curbstones set ; 8,354 lineal 

 feet curb reset ; 193,534 square feet new flagging 

 laid ; 31,640 square feet old flagging relaid ; 

 9,767 lineal feet picket fence built. 



During the year 1,118 new gas lamps and 103 

 electric lamps were placed and lighted on 15 

 miles of new streets. There are now 27.080 gas 

 lamps and 1,196 electric lamps in use, lighting 

 525 miles of streets, 2 miles of piers and bridges, 

 and 89 acres of public parks and places. There 

 are 1,307 miles of gas mains in the streets of the 

 city. 



In the care and repair of macadam roadways 

 70,172 square yards of new macadam superstruct- 

 ure were laid on Seventh Avenue, from 110th to 

 145th Street ; 103,662 square yards of roadways 

 were resurfaced with gravel, and 3,273 truck loads 

 of sui'face material were used in the work done 

 by the Maintenance Department in addition to 

 that done by contract. New pavements have 

 been laid as follow : 



GRANITE AND TRAP BLOCKS. gq. yd. 



On new streets, payable by assessments 54,161 



Repavements within land grants 70,711 



Repayments under $1,000,000 appropriation 160,765 



Eepavements under annual appropriation 80,010 



Total 365,647 



ASPHALT. Sq. ydi- 



On new streets, payable by assessments 9,488 



Repavements within land grants 3,301 



Repavements under $1,000,000 appropriation 133,033 



Repavements under annual appropriation 4,285 



Total... . 150,112 



Grand total new pavements laid 515,759 



The following is the present mileage of paved 

 streets on Manhattan Island : Cobbles, 3-34 miles ; 

 specification stone block, 197-25; square stone 

 blocks, 122-09 ; macadam, 24-24 ; asphalt, 24-89 ; 

 total, 371-75. 



There have been constructed and laid in the 

 streets: Gas mains, 41-89 miles; electrical sub- 

 ways and conduits, 35-68 ; single horse-car tracks, 

 10-10 ; single-track cable rails on Third Avenue 

 (completed), 7 ; single-track cable rails on Third 

 Avenue (uncompleted), 4-50: single-track cable 

 rails on Broadway (completed and paved), 9'80 ; 

 steam and salt-water pipes, 0-81. 



The contract for the Criminal Court build- 

 ing calls for its completion in five hundred 

 working days, of which four hundred and 

 thirty-one have been consumed. The average 



