A STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



calculated by Mr. Vkkers^ agreeably to drafts furnished by 

 me, for a cover similar to that marked No. 1. delineated by 

 Mr. Adam Traqiiair from my sketches. I mention these 

 facts, not with any view to individual merit, but to shew con- 

 temporaneous opinions ; for I communicated every thing to 

 those with whom I acted, as I occasionally met them. I pre- 

 sented an estimate (as correct no doubt as those generally are) 

 calculated for this design : made at my request by Mr. Wil- 

 liam Garrigues and Mr. Samuel Robinson^ then superintendant. 

 It may be applied to any other with no great variation. It 

 amounts to eight thousand dollars, a sum bearing no impor- 

 tant proportion to the loss of capital, by the decay of the 

 structure on which it has been expended. No. 2 and 3, are 

 other designs for covers, which I have procured to be made. 

 No. 2 is an improvement on the first sketch, made with the 

 assistance of Mr. Dorseij and Mr. Traquair* Mr. Chven 

 Biddle furnished the sketch No. 3." 



" It is a mistake, in my opinion, into which some respect- 

 able gentlemen have fallen, that the timber will be benefitted 

 by remaining, for a season, uncovered. The leakages during 

 rains, or the meltings of snows, percolating through almost 

 all the joints of the frame and the platform, sufficiently refute 

 this idea. Every week and month this finish to our work is 

 unnecessarily delayed, is an advance to ruin. No time should 

 therefore be lost in preparations for the cover, which I have 

 always considered as a part of the original plan ; and not a 

 new, or additional measure, though the exact de^gn, or ele- 

 vation, was not specially fixed." 



" No person can regret more than I do, the unforeseen but 

 inevitable expenditures of the stockholders. None can give 

 them more credit than I do for their patience, under long and 

 unpleasant privations. These will, however, now, with the 

 success of our work, be remunerated. But it is their interest, 

 and our duty, to secure what, with uncommon difficulties, and 

 such heavy expences, has been accomplished. Their stock 



