PUBLIC WORKS OF CHICAGO.

(Fourth Annual Report of the Department of Public Works to the City Council of Chicago, December 31, 1879.)

Chicago covers an area of nearly 36 square miles. There are 650 miles of streets, of which 135 miles are paved, mostly with wooden blocks. In 1879, 67 miles of streets were paved, of which 80 per cent were of wood, 4 per cent of Medina stone, 1 per cent of Macadam, per cent of cobble stone, 6 per cent of 3-inch oak-plank, and 7 per cent of cinders. The wooden pavement consists mostly of 6-inch cedar blocks, using Lakeshore gravel and composition-tar as binding. The cedar-block pavement costs 1.12 dollar or 4s. 8d. per square yard, and is estimated to last in good condition ten years.

"For the construction of streets of secondary traffic, Mr C. S. Waller, the Commissioner of Public Works, recommends the employment of Macadam on the following system: Prepare the road-bed so as to be even and compact throughout with a 15-ton steam-roller; let the first covering be rubble stone, carefully placed by hand, broadest surface down; cover this with 12 inches of Macadam, 6 inches at a time, thoroughly rolled to bond it well; then top it with 4 inches of crushed trap-rock, or some other equally hard stone, accessible and not too expensive, that will not disintegrate through the action of the weather, nor pulverise under the pressure and wear of vehicles upon it; roll this down thoroughly so as to compact and bond it well, and it will give not only a durable but a pleasant street to drive over.

"There is scarcely any limit to the durability of such a street with proper and timely repairs.

"Street-cleansing was effected by contract, at a cost of per mile for the year.

89s. 3d.

"The water-supply was delivered by the North Pumping Works, at a cost of 41s. 5d. per 1,000,000 gallons for ten years, ending in 1879. In 1879 itself, the cost was only 23s. 6d. per 1,000,000 gallons when coal cost 17s. 3d. per ton. The duty of the engines amounted to about 47,500,000 foot-pounds per 100 lb. of coal. At the West Pumping Works the duty amounted to 46,500,000 footpounds. The total quantity of water distributed daily in 1879 was over 56,000,000 gallons, being at the rate of 118.7 gallons per head of the population. The mains of cast-iron are from 36 inches to 4 inches in diameter. The number of meters from ğ-inch to 4-inch in use at December 31, 1879, was 2067; and the quantity of water measured by meter amounted to 2,312,964,750 gallons for the whole year. There was an increasing demand for water as

a motor for elevators. These-123 in number-absorbed 2 per cent of the entire quantity of water supplied to the city.

"There were 3224 miles of sewers at December 31, 1879, of from 6 feet, in brick, to 1 foot in diameter, in vitrified clay, of which the cost of construction averaged 13s. per foot run, including the cost of catch-basins and outlets. The sewers are flushed by water drawn from the fire-hydrants into a large wooden tank, which is conveyed by horses to the man-holes. The water is there delivered into the sewers."

P.S.-Up to this point the distances I have gone over are as follow: New York to Boston, 196 miles; Boston to Buffalo, 499; Niagara to

Detroit, 296; Detroit to Chicago, with visit to Wyoming oil-springs, 388-total, 1379 miles.

PIERCE CITY, MISSOURI, July 1881.

The heat is now "pretty tall," to use an American phrase-90° in the shade, and in the south even greater; but the journey is most pleasant, there being many orchards on the side of the railway, and well - fenced land next Chicago, but a good deal of wet land and marshy places. At Lemont, 25 miles south, there are many good quarries of limestone. All the railways are enclosed; and the farms are prairie-land, in large fields of from 50 to 100 acres in extent, worth from 10 to 15 dollars per acre. There is a canal near the railway, and the Rankikee river, 400 feet broad or so, runs through a flat country. The crops are good, but later than usual here. Some common pipe-tile drainage is now going on similar to Scotland.

Dwight is 615 feet above the sea, and the land is worth 50 dollars per acre, all prairie ; but the buildings are poor. Chatham is 610 feet above the sea, with good land. Nilwood is 214 miles from Chicago, and 610 feet above the sea, with good enclosed land. The trees

are now suffering from the locust or grasshopper, and their chirping goes on all day and night. The land is well enclosed, and may be taken at 50 dollars. At Godfrey I examined some arable land 700 feet above the sea, as well as an adjoining farm belonging to Mr Sidway,

and found the farming very much behind that of our country-rather shifty; but it effects the purpose. There are many very fine farm homesteads and well-laid-out farms near this, with a singular taste for having them coloured red.

The

At Alton I first saw the Mississippi, and disappointment is not the word for my feeling. It is a very dirty, muddy river, with a rapid current-the level banks upon each side covered partially with scrub, and no large wood near it. The river is about half a mile wide at the utmost, and much rotten wood floating down upon the surface, spoils its appearance. soil is deep loam, and well cultivated in some cases; while in contrast there are neglected wooden homesteads, and fields allowed to run to waste. The land is worth much more than it sells for 100 dols. being the outside price. The whole is very nearly level, diversified only by small hillocks, 10 or 15 feet high, which gives the ground a rolling appearance. There is no water that seems drinkable.

From Chicago to St Louis by Alton is a distance of 305 miles, and there are several lines of railway, each boasting itself the best. St Louis has a population of 350,522, and is 550 feet above the sea. The approach is not striking, the land being level, low, and very swampy-looking. It is boasted that St Louis is a much better city than Chicago, but this I doubt. Both are no doubt fine, and the States