Documents of the City of Boston

1872, $1,617,227.03. Total amount received in the treasury from sales of land and buildings, $133,947.77; which has been used for purchasing the loan created for carrying on the work.

The Shawmut Avenue Bridge over the Boston and Albany Railroad. A contract was made, dated November 26, 1870, for constructing the north abutment and a pier for this bridge, with Charles W. Parker. The work was begun about the first of March, 1871, and completed July 24, 1871. The City Engineer's final estimate made the cost under this contract, $11,638.43.

In March, 1871, a contract was made with Colby and Trumbull for constructing the south abutment for this bridge. The work was begun about the first of May, 1871, and completed about the first of September, 1871. The cost, as per said Engineer's estimate, was $7,011.80, making the total cost of the masonry for the two abutments and central pier for this bridge, $18,650.23. Dec. 30, 1870, a contract was made with G. W. & F. Smith, for the construction of the superstructure of the bridge, to span the space from the north abutment to the pier. It was subsequently decided to extend this bridge over Orange street; and a further contract was made with the same parties, dated March 7, 1871. A description of this structure may be found in the last report. The work was completed Sept. 29, 1871, and has been well tested by the passage of gravel trains, drawn by a twenty-ton locomotive. No indications of weakness have been discerned, and competent judges pronounce it the strongest and best bridge yet built in the city. The cost of the superstructure was $33,636.50, making the total cost of the bridge and abutments; $52,286.73.

The Indiana Place Retaining Wall.- March 22, 1871, a contract was made with Colby and Trumbull for the reconstruction of the retaining wall in the northerly side of the Boston and Albany Railroad, from the Shawmut

avenue bridge to the brick block opposite Porter street, in accordance with the plans and specifications prepared by the City Engineer. The work was begun in March, 1871, and completed Oct. 20, 1871. The cost, as per said Engineer's certificate, was $30,395.71.

The Castle Street Retaining Wall. A contract was made in October, 1871, with Clapp & Ballou, for the construction of this wall, in accordance with plans and specifications made by the City Engineer. This work is still in progress, and will probably be completed by the middle of June. There has been paid on this work up to April 30, 1872, $21,665.95.

MILTON BRIDGE, OVER THE NEPONSET RIVER, AT MILTON LOWER MILLS. This bridge has been widened about twenty feet on the easterly side, and a new retaining wall, about one hundred and forty feet in length, has been built on the Boston side of the river, to hold the filling caused by widening this approach to the bridge and raising the grade of the street. The plans and specifications were drawn by the City Engineer for the whole work except grading the approach. The bridge structure for the portion widened is built of iron, resting upon the stone abutments or retaining walls on each side of the river, and upon seven intermediate stone piers, each five feet in diameter, and firmly bedded on the rock bottom of the river; these piers are placed about thirty feet apart, and sustain a continuous longitudinal plate iron girder, three feet deep and two hundred and forty-seven feet in length, which supports the outer ends of a system of cross-girders, composed of twelve-inch I beams, placed about six feet apart, the other ends of which are supported in part by a twenty-inch I beam, placed longitudinally along the present easterly face of the old bridge, and secured thereto, and in part by the new retaining wall. A contract was made for doing all the masonry and iron work with the National Bridge and Iron Works in July, 1871. The work was com

pleted in a very substantial and thorough manner; and the total cost was $22,797, of which the town of Milton paid the sum of $5,000.

BACK BAY BRIDGES. - Plans and specifications for permanent and substantial stone abutments and iron bridges at the Huntington-avenue crossing of the Boston and Albany Railroad, and at the Newton-street crossing of the Boston and Providence Railroad, were prepared by the City Engineer in the latter part of February, 1872; propositions were invited and received, and contracts awarded before the first of March. The entire masonry for the two bridges was awarded to Jonas H. French, Charles W. Parker, J. S. Colby, and C. A. Trumbull. The contract price, with subsequent additions to the amount of work required, was $96,905.00, the work to be completed, ready for the iron work, by the fifth day of May. The Huntington-avenue bridge contract was awarded to the Boston Machine Company for the sum of $40,800, the bridge to be completed within thirty days from the time when the abutments should be ready. The Newton-street bridge contract was awarded to the Atlantic Works for the sum of $14,500, the time given being the same as for the other bridge. The abutments are of substantial granite masonry, resting upon piles cut of a grade of four feet above mean low water. The total number of piles required was 1,780. The masonry is thirteen feet thick at the bottom, four and a half feet thick at the top, and twenty-four feet in height from the piles to the top of bridge seat, and is in character and style similar to the masonry in the abutments of the Shawmut-avenue bridge. The bridges are of the same style as the Shawmut avenue, but of different dimensions, as the spans and widths are different. The Huntington-avenue bridge is to be eighty feet wide, and the length of the girders, including the bearings on the bridge seat, is eighty-six and

a half feet. There are fourteen of these girders, four and a half feet deep at the centre and two feet and eight inches at the end, and each one weighs about eight and a half tons. The Newton street bridge is to be fifty feet wide, and the length of the girders is sixty-nine and a half feet. There are nine of these girders, three feet deep in the centre and two feet at the ends, and each one weighs about six and a quarter tons. These girders, in both bridges, are strongly X braced, and tied together at top and bottom with L iron ties and braces. They are proportioned to carry safely one hundred and fifty pounds per square foot, including their own weight, without straining the iron more than one-fifth its ultimate strength. The work is progressing finely, and there is no doubt of its completion in the specified time.

Having given in the preceding pages a summary of the financial operations of the year, and of the various undertakings of the city, I ask attention to the details of the report, and the statistical and other information which follow. Respectfully submitted,

ALFRED T. TURNER,

Auditor of Accounts.

APPROPRIATIONS AND PAYMENTS.

CITY AND COUNTY.

1871-72.

Statement in brief of the GENERAL and SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS made by the City Council to meet the Expenditures of the CITY OF BOSTON and the COUNTY OF SUFFOLK, for the financial year which began with the first day of May, 1871, and ended with the last day of April, 1872, with the revenue added to those appropriations as authorized by ordinance, and balances from 1870-71; also of the payments by Drafts made by the Mayor and other authority on the Treasurer against said Appropriations, by which is shown the result of the year, with the balance carried to the Sinking Fund for the redemption of the Debt of the City.

The excess of Expenditures over the Appropriations in some cases was met by Transfers from the Reserved Fund and other Appropriations, duly authorized by the City Council, and in other cases by authorized Loans. by tables on pages 54, 55, 56.

OBJECT OF APPROPRIATIONS.

These transfers are shown