406 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



COST OF WORK. 



The average cost per cubic yard of masonry laid during July and August, when 

 the work was well under way and the conditions favorable, is as follows: 



Quarrying face stone, average for month's work, 

 Labor of laying masonry, .... 



Labor of pointing, ..... 



Mixing mortar and concrete and crushing stone, 

 Cost of cement, . . . . 



Cost of sand, ...... 



General expenses, superintendence, etc., 



Total, ..... 



$0.35 



•53 



-•15 



.20 



2.00 



• J 5 

 .27 



$3-65 



It was found impossible to reach anything like these figures except under the 

 most favorable conditions. 



The stone used for backing was paid for as excavation of rock, the cost of the 

 labor of excavating the same during July and August amounting to forty-six cents 

 per cubic yard. 



The main wall is coped with concrete twelve inches in thickness, laid in place on 

 the dam in sections about ten feet long. Each section was allowed to set before the 

 next was laid, thus making a transverse joint to allow for expansion and contraction. 



The dam was constructed in about seven months, the work beginning in April and 

 ending in October, 1898. With the exception of the cement, iron work and 

 contractors' supplies, which were transported by wagon from North Creek, this work 

 was remarkable for the favorable conditions obtaining. Facing, backing, riprap, 

 broken stone for concrete and lining, and earth for the embankment were all obtained 

 immediately at the dam site. Sand and wood for fuel were delivered by boat directly 

 at the work, both being obtained on the shore of the lake a few miles away. The 

 timber and lumber, except the oak, which came by rail, were obtained at sawmills 

 within three miles of the work. The use of the old dam as a coffer dam made 

 "bailing and draining" a comparatively small item of expense. 



In connection with the foregoing it may be noted that similar conditions are 

 found at many of the dam sites examined and projected for water storage on 

 upper Hudson. Suitable materials for the construction of masonry dams are found at 

 most of the sites, and it is one of the marked coincidences that at many of the sites a 

 hardpan bank occurs on one side of the river valley resting on granite rock, which 

 forms the bed of the river and extends up the other side. 



In view of the peculiar circumstances of the letting, it was deemed desirable to 

 keep much more careful force accounts than are ordinarily kept on such work, the 



