APPENDIX B B B.

IMPROVEMENT AND CARE OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-WASHINGTON MONUMENT.

REPORT OF COLONEL OSWALD. H. ERNST, U. S. A., OFFICER IN CHARGE, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1892.

OFFICE OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS,

Washington, D. C., July 9, 1892.

GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the following report of operations upon public buildings and grounds under the Chief of Engineers in the District of Columbia, including the care and maintenance of the Washington Monument, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892:

MAINTENANCE OF IMPROVED PARKS.

The care required to maintain the various improved parks and park places in good condition has been extended during the year. The operations have consisted in mowing and raking lawns and destroying weed growth upon them; scuffling, raking, repairing, and rolling gravel walks and roads and edging their margins; cleaning gutters and drain traps; pruning trees and shrubs and removing web caterpillars and bagworms therefrom; maintaining pavements and asphalt roadways and walks in a cleanly condition, and planting, trimming, and caring for flower beds and inclosing them with light wire fences. In the autumn some of the beds were planted with chrysanthemums for fall blooming and others with early spring flowering bulbs. In May and June the beds and vases were stocked with flowering and ornamental foliage plants for summer decoration, and water lilies were planted in the basins of fountains.

GROUNDS NORTH OF THE EXECUTIVE MANSION.

The wide roadway east of the Navy Department was resurfaced with fresh gravel and a cobblestone gutter, 172 feet long and 3 feet wide, was laid along the west side of the roadway at its north end. Repairs were made to the asphalt pavement at the entrance to this roadway and to the asphalt roadway and approaches thereto, leading to the north front of the mansion. These repairs covered an area of 83 square yards.

GROUNDS SOUTH OF EXECUTIVE MANSION.

The wide roadway south of the State Department was resurfaced with fresh gravel where required. Six large deciduous trees and 11 large evergreen trees were removed from the thickly planted groups in the southern end of park and replanted in the northwest corner, and 22 large flowering shrubs and 7 American elms were also planted in the latter part of the grounds, the trees being placed along the boundary line on Seventeenth street. The soil removed in these plantings was used in filling the low ground around the belt of trees which screens the President's stable. Two large Japan maples were also removed from this park and replanted in McPherson Square.

WASHINGTON NATIONAL MONUMENT.

The monument has been open to visitors daily, Sundays and holidays excepted, with the exception of one and one-half days in November, when operations which were in progress for the introduction of a new set of cables for the elevator caused the blocking of the entrance. The elevator has been run for the accommodation of visitors every day that the monument was open, with the exception of six days in August and three days in April, when repairs were being made to the boilers, and nine days in November, when the two new cables were being placed in position. The new cables are of steel wire, with hemp centers, and are each 1,060 feet long and 1 inches in diameter. Grooves in the main and vibrating sheaves were turned out before the new cables were placed in position. The old cables were sold at public auction and the proceeds deposited in the Treasury. Monthly inspections of the elevator and its machinery were made by an agent of the builders, and daily inspections of the safety appliances on the elevator car were made by the employés at the monument before starting to carry passengers. The storm door and casing at the entrance to the monument and the window frames at the top were repainted. All of the presented tablets in the interior walls of the monument were cleaned, and the usual care required to maintain the interior of the shaft and its surroundings in a neat condition was extended. An apparatus for lubricating the elevator guides and a new sheave for governor rope of car were placed in position, a new section placed in the rope, and four compression oil cups for lubricating placed upon the main bearings of elevator drum. Necessary attention has been bestowed upon the electric-light plant, and three additional electric lamps have been placed upon the lower floor of the shaft. The electric lights have been in operation every day that the monument was open, with the exception of seven days in July, one in December, three in April, and one-half day in June, when repairs to the dynamo engine or the boilers were in progress. On those days the interior of the monument was lighted by the station oil lamps on the landings. Four galvanized-iron ventilators of small size were placed in the roof of engine house, the overhead ironwork and pipes in engine room repainted and a new water-pipe connection made, necessary repairs made to the dynamo engine, and a new drain valve placed on the cylinder of elevator engine. The two boilers were thoroughly cleaned twice during the year, a new set of tubes placed in Boiler No. 1, two new arch plates placed in the fronts of furnaces, the bottom blowpipe from boilers extended and connected with sewer, two new seats placed on safety valves, new packing placed on all valve stems, necessary repairs made to the main steam pipe, and the outside doors and casings of

boiler house repainted. The ceilings and walls of rooms in lodge house were calcimined, the woodwork given à coating of hard oil, and the tin-roof covering repaired and repainted.

There were 156,870 visitors to the top of the shaft during the year, of which number 108,701 made the ascent in the elevator and 48,169 by the stairway, making a total of 613,175 persons who have visited the top since the monument was opened to the public on October 9, 1888. Numerous acts of vandalism occurred during the year, consisting principally in writing upon the walls and chipping and defacing the presented tablets. Arrests were made whenever the perpetrators were detected. The most flagrant act of this character was the removal of three of the four remaining silver letters from the "Nevada" stone. An unsuccessful attempt was made to remove the fourth letter, and to prevent that being carried off also, it was removed by the custodian and sent to this office. During an electric storm on June 27, 1892, the monument was struck by lightning. The current followed one of the lightning conductors in the shaft (which are the four hollow wrought-iron Phoenix columns standing in the well of the shaft and which support the elevator machinery and guide the car) to within about 20 feet from the floor, when it left the conductor and, in the form of a ball of fire as large as one's fist, struck an iron plate in the floor of the shaft. It then jumped to the heater pipe adjacent and continued through to the engine room, where the only damage done was the burning out of two electric lamps. It also charged the machinery with electricity, as the assistant steam engineer, who was in the act of opening a valve on the elevator engine, experienced quite a severe shock, but sustained no injury. Later (about 5:40 p. m.) on the same day the monument was struck a second time, when, as reported by the watchmen on duty, the current seemed to leave the conductor at the same place and explode on the floor.

WASHINGTON MONUMENT GROUNDS.

The work of grading the low grounds along B street north was continued during the first half of the year. About 10 acres were roughgraded, completing the grading of that portion of the grounds, excepting about half an acre near Fourteenth street, which was occupied by gravel and stone piles, etc. About 3,500 cubic yards of earth filling was received, without cost to the United States, from various persons who found these grounds a convenient dumping place, and used in grading. Of the newly graded ground 6 acres were sown down in grass seed. About 1,300 cubic yards of soil was used in surfacing a portion of the ground. The low ground east of the lodge house was graded, surfaced with soil, and seeded; 2,825 linear feet of cobblestone gutter, 2 feet wide, were constructed along the margins of roadways, 5 additional brick drain traps built and 8 raised to proper grade, 67 feet of 6-inch and 420 feet of 8-inch terra cotta drain pipe laid to connect the traps with main drains, and the edges of the lawn surfaces bordering the new gutters sodded. The driveway in front of the lodge, and portions of the new roadway north of the monument were coated with fresh gravel, 250 cubic yards of material being used for the purpose. A piece of roadway was constructed branching off from new drive and connecting with that entering from Fourteenth street, near B street north, and a triangular piece of lawn surface formed thereby was sodded. A foot walk 10 feet wide was constructed from the northeast corner of the monument to the entrance at Fifteenth and B street north,

and an asphalt pavement 5 feet wide and about 585 feet long, covering an area of 325 square yards, laid on the center of same, the space on either side being constructed with gravel. A board walk about 320 feet long was laid from the terminus of this asphalt walk out to the Fifteenth street entrance.

GREENHOUSES AND NURSERY.

There are 16 greenhouses in the nursery grounds, numbered from 1 to 16, and covering an area of 24,787 square feet. There are also 2 brick potting sheds, 9 frame buildings used as shops and storehouses, 1 large lath hous eused for storing plants in the summer, 2 open sheds, and 766 feet of cold frames 6 feet wide. One hundred and eighteen feet of the cold frame and two of the frame buildings were constructed during the year. One of the new buildings is 18 by 20 by 25 feet and two stories high, and will be used as a storehouse. The other is 36 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 10 feet high, and will be used as a storehouse and toolhouse. The latter was not quite completed at the close of the fiscal year, the work remaining to be done consisting of covering the roof with tarred felt and glazing the window sashes. A frame building which was constructed during the previous year, but not quite finished, was completed in July, 1891, by laying a wooden floor on the first story and shingling the south side of roof. The entire superstructure of the large palm house, 22 by 24 by 100 feet, was rebuilt during the first part of the fiscal year, but during a severe storm on November 23 the house was blown down. The framework was lifted from the brick walls and carried a distance of 6 feet, striking against the ends of a range of greenhouses north of the palm house; the ridge timbers broke where jointed in center and about 40 feet of the roof fell in on the plants; 110 linear feet of the brick foundation wall was demolished and about twothirds of the glass in the house was broken; 68 small and medium-size plants were totally destroyed and a number had their foliage broken and bruised. The work of rebuilding the house was immediately commenced and completed in December. The damage to the other greenhouses and cold frames consisted of the breaking of about 310 lights of glass, which were replaced. Necessary repairs were made to the several greenhouses during the year. In five of the greenhouses 1,049 linear feet of old staging, from 3 to 4 feet wide, was torn out and replaced by new material, and repairs made to that in other houses. The flues of boilers and furnaces were opened and cleaned, leaks in the joints of hot-water pipes repaired, and new air vents put in where needed; 255 feet of new beading and 4 new rafters were put in, 240 feet of 6-inch strips placed on benches, and 2,674 linear feet of additional temporary shelving for plants put up. New doors were placed in House No. 9, repairs made to the sashes in some of the houses and on cold frames, and minor carpentry repairs made as required. A plank floor was laid in one of the potting sheds, a closet for storing tools built in another, all broken glass in the greenhouses replaced by new, the roofs of three houses reputtied, and 8 new water tanks for the houses and 465 plant boxes made. A new frame was placed upon a brick pit 75 feet long and 6 feet wide, improvements made in two water closets, and a stationary wash basin placed in the office and necessary water and drain pipe run for its service.

During the autumn of 1891 about 6,682 chrysanthemums were sent out for planting in the various parks. There were planted in the greenhouses for winter bloom 2,076 roses, 367 begonias, 68 rose geraniums,