20 REPORT OF THE 



Office of the Chief Engineer and Superintendent 1 



Prospect Park, > 



Brooklyn, December 30, 1885, j 



To the Brooklyn Park Commissioners : 



Gentlemen : 



The work during the current year upon the several parks, 

 parkways, &c, under the jurisdiction of the Brooklyn Park 

 Commissioners, has been of a character similar to that of pre- 

 ceding years, and comprehended mainly such systematic main- 

 tenance as the varying seasons demanded and the means at our 

 disposal allowed. 



Sheer necessity has required the expenditure of money upon 

 certain portions of the work, such as renewing the superstruc- 

 ture of the roads, walks, &c, which ought not by any fair inter- 

 pretation to be included in ordinary maintenance ; but the 

 public advantages derived from these expenditures were so 

 clearly enhanced by the work, and the work itself was so essen- 

 tial in its preservative character, that the doing of it was prac- 

 tically vital to an intelligent discharge of responsibilities rest- 

 ing upon the Commissioners. 



Nearly half a mile of the main West Lake drive was re- 

 surfaced in continuation of similar work which had been done 

 in the preceding seasons. The road gutters for a length of 

 some 1,500 lineal feet were widened, and six large silt basins 

 were constructed and connected by 12 -inch pipe with the main 

 drainage system, with the view to more thoroughly intercept 

 the flow of water over the more steeply graded portions of the 

 roadway. The surfacing material used for these repairs was 

 the Boa Hook gravel, inn-chased for this purpose. This sec- 

 tion of the drive, which had formerly been in bad order, was 

 restored to good condition. There was expended upon this 

 work about $6,000. The grading and planting was renewed 





