USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > The record of the town meetings, and abstract of births, marriages, and deaths, in the town of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1887-1896 > Part 42
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The specifications for these surveys and plans were approved by the Committee and the work has been done as rapidly as circumstances and current engagements would permit.
The results of this work are submitted to you herewith in the shape of
First. An index map, showing the territory covered by the investigation, with the various data referred to in this report
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lettered thereon ; also showing the system of drainage pro- posed as an entirety.
Second. A folio of plans and profiles showing details.
Probably the advantages following the construction of competent surface grades, drains and sewers are more dif- ficult of appreciation beforehand than those of any other public improvement. Yet it would seem that a thoughtful consideration of the general effect upon the health, conven- ience and property of citizens and tax-payers, produced by relieving door-yards, sidewalks, streets and gutters of sur- plus water : by drying the soil under and around the house, thus rendering the air lighter and less liable to retain offen- sive and injurious odors, and by furnishing permanent and reliable means of removing from one's premises the various house wastes which, without such speedy removal would neces- sarily have to be received, stored, and temporarily removed at considerable cost from expensive cesspools (under many circumstances objectionable adjuncts to a residence or any tenantable property), would carry conviction of the im- portance of such modern improvements.
Although in view of the current information on the neces- sity of sanity improvements of this nature it may be consid- ered uncalled for, I will briefly emphasize the importance of good surface and subdrainage by special reference to the more important results gained in the construction of surface grades and sewers.
In the first place, if it is desired to provide and maintain smooth and hard road sufaces, all work on the highways must be done in accordance with competent surface grades.
No amount of labor and good materials will avail to secure permanent results in this direction if no attention is given to . the drainage of the surface and the rapid removal of storm water and melting snow. Fortunately your town has availa- ble most excellent materials for making and repairing its
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highways, and by constant applications of this material the Dedham streets are at most seasons of the year rendered un- usually good for driving and general traffic.
Yet there are many districts in the main village and East Dedham in which the streets are flooded with water in the spring of the year, and sidewalks submerged and rendered unfit for foot travel by heavy rain storms at any season, all for lack of channels or conduits for conveying away the water and preventing its accumulation.
Not only does this condition of things greatly inconven- ience and annoy people, but it causes a positive damage to road surfaces and sidewalks by first softening the material of which they are made and then washing it away, or causing it to settle and the coarser substances to work up to the top.
An examination of the surface of an improperly drained street after heavy rains shows that it has become soft and allowed wheels to cut it up into ruts and furrows, and if there is much traffic the material is thoroughly churned and mixed.
In such case, after being thoroughly softened, it is easy for the original road surface to be gullied and washed away by a heavy shower of rain, thus wasting much good material which had been applied at considerable expense.
Now where there is not efficient surface drainage the above condition of things is sure to exist, and it is impossible to maintain, except at great annual expense, streets and high- ways which are always passable with comfort.
But the road surface is not all of the street : sidewalks and crosswalks are as important for foot travel as the road is for wheel traffic.
Common law and the statutes fully recognize the absolute rights of foot passengers to safe ways of travel, to firm, even sidewalks, free from gullies and channels, projecting stones and roots, blind holes covered with mud and water, and
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anything liable to catch the foot or wrench a limb. The laws make it compulsory on a town as a corporation to keep its highways in fit condition for travel, and the thousands of dollars paid in the aggregate by the towns in the State every year as compensation for injuries caused by neglecting to comply with the reasonable and proper requirements of these laws represent so much loss which might have been avoided by an intelligent provision for permanent improvements in the way of surface grades and competent drainage.
When a street is properly constructed it is first properly graded ; second, provided with side channels for collecting and carrying water ; third, provided with hard, smooth side- walks, held in place by firmly-set edge or curb stones and pitched toward the roadway sufficiently to shed rain-water and melting snow.
There is no reason why the same care should not be applied to the construction of roads and sidewalks as to private driveways and door-yards. With an exception here and there only, property owners are careful to provide good walks from street to door, and carriage-ways and footpaths around private residences are rendered dry by proper grading and the use of suitable materials.
Now there is no reason why one should hot step from such safe and comfortable surfaces on to a hard sidewalk, and pro- ceed wherever business or inclination may prompt without danger to limb and inconvenience or injury to footwear and clothing. And yet there are very many streets and footways in Dedham where to do such a thing is impossible if the weather be at all stormy or if a heavy rain has just fallen.
The improvements which are made in some towns in this direction are very noticeable and have become matters of local pride as well as satisfaction. The value of private prop- erty is much enhanced by the reconstruction of faulty streets, and though expense is frequently imposed on abuttors by
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reason of changes of grade in carrying out such reconstruction, yet there is hardly an instance where the result has not been an increase in the market value of the property affected.
The visible difference between the streets of a town where highway improvements are intelligently made in accordance with a well-studied system of grades and those of a town where the annual appropriations for highways are applied without such a guide, though the work may be honestly done and with good judgment so far as circumstances will permit, is so marked as to cause much comment. In the course of my work I have had occasion to become acquainted with · many of the towns and villages in New England, and the differences in respect to local construction and improvements of the highways are conspicuous.
But in addition to and beyond this difference in appearance is the saving in expense resulting where the work, once well and permanently done, needs but little expenditure annually for maintenance. There are some towns in which the high- ways will before many years be in permanent condition for all time, -towns in which the ordinances require that all real- estate improvements, such as the erection and alterations of buildings, shall be made to conform to street grades prepared and adopted for the purpose of securing uniformity and com- petency of grade. It is evident that much future expense will be saved in such cases by compelling the erection of the new and costly buildings which are being added to the valu- ation of all growing towns year by year to be made on lines and levels which will need no change hereafter when street surfaces are finished to permanent grades.
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There can be but one conclusion by those of your citizens who will give this matter candid study, and that is, that the economy of making highway improvements in the way I have mentioned is too evident to warrant proceeding in any other way.
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A good street consists of
First. A proper grade or pitch.
Second. A cross-section which will shed the water later- ally into
Third. Gutters or side channels of proper dimensions to convey the water to outlets, or subdrains.
Fourth. Sidewalks sufficiently elevated above these side- channels to make them dry and self-draining.
Fifth. A substantial and porous road-bed.
Sixth. A surface of hard and waterproof material.
I do not assume that these essentials are unknown to your citizens, but it is evident that few of your streets have been constructed strictly in compliance with such details.
However, until they are, there will continue to exist the wet places, muddy crosswalks, irregular sidewalks and stand- ing pools of water, which mark several localities in the main village and East Dedham.
. The services and value of a good sewerage system can be appreciated in the following directions : -
First. In removing from dwelling-houses and other build- ings the many waste matters which require regular removal in order to maintain proper sanitary conditions.
Second. In making possible, by such removal, a free use of water for all purposes on the premises.
Third. In lowering the standing water level in the soil.
Fourth. In collecting waste liquids and filth at one cen- tral point of discharge where it can be systematically cared for, thus avoiding the existence of minor nuisances here and there, and -
Fifth. In removing storm-water as fast as it falls, thus preventing the accumulation of pools and the flooding of streets and private premises.
These advantages are of more practical value in some towns than in others. For instance, after a public water supply is
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introduced and adopted by the people, the danger of drinking well-water polluted by the leakage from cesspools and vaults is done away with ; and if the soil and contours of the town be such as to permit of the rapid subsidence of water to a low level, the use of properly constructed cesspools may be an expedient and practicable way of disposing of liquid wastes in ordinary cases and in small amounts. On the other hand, in towns where the settled territory is level and the sub-soil water stands near the surface, underground receptacles for house wastes are hardly permissible, and certainly not to be tolerated if a proper health standard is to be maintained.
Another condition which determines the utility and desira- bility of a sewerage system is the relative density or compact- ness of the population of a town. Where house lots are small and buildings are near together, even with a most permeable soil and low standing water level, the use of cesspools becomes impracticable, owing to the annoyance of removing their con- tents and the necessity of locating them near buildings. The majority of active manufacturing towns and villages come under this class, while many towns of quite large population, containing no condensed manufacturing territory and made up of large house lots and plenty of breathing room, having pure water to drink and favorable soil, hardly need the facilities for drainage provided by a complete system of sewers.
These views must not be held as disparaging the value o modern sewerage, nor as under-rating the importance of san- itary drainage, but rather as an unprejudiced contrast of the actual conditions which constantly come under the observa- tion of those engaged in preparing improvements of a public nature.
In a properly designed sewerage system the sewers are :-
First. Self-cleansing by being constructed with great care on mechanically true grades, and with smooth interiors.
Second. Deep enough to subdrain the basements of all a butting property.
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Third. Provided with man-holes for free ventilation and inspection and light shafts for locating obstructions or dis- locations.
Fourth. Arranged or provided with means of flushing in dry weather.
The system being successfully arranged, designed, and con structed in these important details, it further remains to conduct the combined discharge of all the sewers to a final outlet where it can be disposed of without causing injury or nuisance.
How this can be done will be seen from an examination of the plans submitted herewith, and the data obtained from the examinations made.
The plans prepared show the streets on a scale of forty feet per inch, with accompanying profiles on scales of forty and ten. These profiles show the present surface, the new surface grade, and proposed sewers with their various details.
The surveys from which these sheets have been prepared were made personally by Mr. L. L. Gerry, C. E., my assist- ant, and care has been taken at all times to insure their accuracy.
The results as given in map form show the following con- ditions of the territory studied as regards its various levels, flat areas, present grades and flow of water, present relief channels, and difficulties in removing surface water.
The first study of the territory relates to improving the surface drainage, the second study to the future sewerage and subdrainage of the territory and the third study to the cost of beginning such improvements and carrying them so far as may be needed to secure dry streets, sidewalks, and door-yards.
There are two distinct districts involved in this case, divided by the low level line of the Wigwam Brook. The separation is natural and convenient, and the system of drainage may be separate and distinct in each case.
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This fact will allow an independent consideration of the main village, and. I will give the results of the surveys and study of this territory first.
High Street, the principal avenue, from Lowder Street to Village Avenue is practically level ; from Village Avenue to Chestnut Street the fall is 6.38 feet ; from Chestnut Street to Court Street, 5.58 feet ; from Court Street to Washington Street, north, 6.26 feet; from the latter street to East Street, north, 14.64 feet.
The upper portion of this street, between Lowder and Common Streets, now discharges its surface water into the valley drained by the brook passing in a southerly direction under Village Avenue, Highland, Court, and Washington Streets, into Wigwam Brook. Between Common and Wash- ington Streets, High Street is drained into the Charles River. Village Avenue, between High and Chestnut Streets, drains into the brook above mentioned.
The middle area of the village, bounded by High and Chestnut Streets, Village Avenue, Court, Metcalf, Spruce, . Washington Streets and Eastern Avenue, is a nearly level area,. containing by measurement about sixty acres. This area has no special summits or valleys, and for this reason will require special provision for surface drainage. The sur- face water must be collected at central points, and received and conveyed away by drains of sufficient capacity. The table of elevations and grades contains the levels over this territory, the highest point being the intersection of High and Chestnut Streets, elevation, 111.74; the lowest, the junction of Worthington and School Streets, elevation, 99.63.
The subsoil throughout this territory is largely gravel and sand, and of a character to permit the absorption and sub- sidence of much surface water.
The settled portions of the village lying west of this cen-
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tral area drain naturally and quite easily into the brook be- fore mentioned as passing under Highland Court and Wash- ington Streets ; that portion lying north of this area drains down a natural slope into the Charles River ; that portion lying east of Bryant and Spruce Streets drains into the meadows east of the New York & New England Railroad, and traversed by the Wigwam Brook. The surface drainage of the entire main village finds its way ultimately into the Charles River, largely through the channel of Wigwam Brook.
There are no sewers in this territory receiving and con- veying house wastes or fecal matters to an outlet, so far as I have been able to learn.
There are a few drains in the main village, East Dedham, and Oakdale, constructed at odd times, and without reference to any general plan, for the purpose of relieving low places of surface water. These drains are stone culverts, box drains, and pipes of different sizes and cross-sections and varying grades. In some instances they relieve one bad place at the expense of another lower down ; in others they cause a gully- ing out of surface channels into which they discharge. An examination of some of them this winter showed that in cold - weather the upper or inlet end becomes closed by ice, causing flooding of the surfaces they were designed to relieve.
It has been found impossible to locate and show all of these drains on the maps prepared, as no reliable information could be obtained as to the course and pitch in many cases.
Further, I do not readily see that any of these drains can properly be made a part of a competent and complete system of drainage, owing to their irregularity of construction and location. Certainly not much can be saved in expense by attempting to utilize them, and it would not do to make new plans conform to them in order to effect such saving.
. The town has the right to discharge its surface drainage
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into any of the streams flowing through its territory, but is prohibited by law from discharging sewage and unclean waste matters into the Charles River or any of these tributaries, or into the Neponset River or any of its tributaries above the mouth of Mother Brook.
The plan I propose for relieving the main village of sur- face water is shown on the map entitled Sewerage Study and is as follows : -
The main discharging point of all water collected in the central area of sixty acres described above, together with that to be removed from High Street, is to be at the brook at Washington Street, north. Starting at this discharging point, a main drain is to be laid thence to High Street, and termi- nated in a chamber constructed to serve as a storm overflow and relief for all surface water received at that point, which may be termed a central collecting point.
Beginning at Lowder Street, a main sewer is to be con- structed through High Street to this central point, and arranged to receive surface water through catch-basins located at proper points on the route.
This main sewer is to be relieved of a part of the surface water collected by a storm overflow at the junction of Common Street, where the surplus water collected above that point will pass off through the valley and brook now receiving the surface drainage.
Sewers in Chestnut and Bullard Streets are to discharge into this main sewer ; also sewers in Court Street from Vil- lage Avenue, Church Street, and Washington Street, south.
The Bullard Street sewer is to receive the drainage of County Street ; the Church Street sewer, the drainage of Village Avenue as far west as Chestnut Street, Norfolk Street, and Franklin Square ; the Washington Street (south ) sewer is to receive the drainage of School Street, Worthington Street, Court Street from School to the summit west of
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Marsh Street, and a portion of Court Street from the summit just named to a point near Richards Street, Spruce Street as far as Spring Street, and the upper level portion of Spring Street.
A portion of Ames Street, the hollow in River Place, and a · portion of Maple Place are to drain into the main High Street sewer through special drains to be laid for the purpose in each case.
Eastern Avenue from the New York & New England Rail- road and Bryant Street are to drain into the outfall section of the main High Street sewer, to be described directly.
. The heavy dotted red line on the " Sewerage Study " shows the area which will be relieved of surface water by this system of drains. . Its area is approximately eighty acres, and comprises the territory of the main village which it is practicable to provide with systematic sewerage having one outfall or point of discharge. With the exception of the ex- treme points on Washington, Court, Highland, and Ames Streets, it will be possible to drain estates and basements located one hundred and fifty feet from the centre line of the street (which is to be the location of the sewer in nearly every case) at levels not exceeding seven feet below the re- vised grade of the street opposite.
By extending a special drain for the purpose, surface water can be arrested by means of catch-basins, and con- ducted into the proposed sewer at any of the extreme points defined on the map, thus somewhat enlarging the territory bounded by the dotted line.
Beginning at the central collecting point first mentioned, at the head of Washington Street, north, an outfall sewer is to be constructed through High Street to a point under the new railroad bridge. This outfall sewer is to be of sufficient capacity to carry all of the sewage proper of the main village as collected by the sewers shown on the map from the area of eighty acres.
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This outfall sewer is to receive no storm water, except such slight quantity as it may be advisable to admit for flush- ing purposes. Its elevation at the Wigwam Brook is to be such as to bring its crown about two feet below the bed of the stream. The central chamber at the head of this outfall section at Washington Street is to be so constructed that all the sewage and waste matters collected and received at that point from the several branch sewers (including of course the main High Street sewer) will flow on uninteruptedly, by the overflow channel, through the outfall section and to the point under the railroad bridge. When the various sewers begin to receive surface water the flow will increase at the central point until it overflows a mechanical obstruction designed for the purpose, and passes off through the drain laid in Washington Street, north, to the brook. The outfall sewer will convey enough of the storm water to insure the removal of all sewage matters scoured from all parts of the system by the first inflow of surface water, thus rendering the overflow water clean and proper to be discharged directly into the brook at Washington Street. In the same manner, the overflow water discharged at Common Street will be rendered clean and free from odor.
I have prepared a table giving the size and elevation of the several sewers proposed. These sewers are also shown on the map, together with the principal points at which it is pro- posed to receive surface water.
An examination of the detail plans will show that the rate of inclination of many of the sewers proposed is moderate. This is rendered necessary by the flatness of the territory to be drained. The average depth of the main sewer in High Street will be about thirteen feet ; and this can be increased if for any reason it appears to be desirable. The standard depth for sewers in well-executed plans varies from twelve to fifteen feet. By lowering the grades proposed for the
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High Street sewer, the inclinations of the several branch sewers can be increased, although it does not appear to me that this is necessary.
Each of the sewers proposed is to have a man-hole at its upper end, with siphon arrangement for flushing, the water for the purpose to be obtained from an adjacent hydrant. Such artificial flushing will be required only occasionally ; but the opportunity to admit fresh water into the upper end of the sewer should, in my opinion, always be provided.
By the operation of the system of drainage above de- scribed, all storm waters and the floods caused by melting snow and ice will be removed from the streets before they can cause damage or inconvenience. If the surface grades of the streets are reconstructed and made to conform to the new grades shown on the detail plan submitted, the side channels or gutters properly shaped and protected by permanent paving, and modern catch-basins constructed in the grade valleys to take the run of water in these channels, all the unfavorable conditions of dampness, standing water, flooded sidewalks and gullied street surfaces, which have been described in this report as now having a local exis- tance in the main village will be remedied, and the result will be such an improvement as can hardly fail to receive hearty public approval.
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In regard to the various details of the sewers proposed, the following appurtenances, appliances and materials may be noted as necessary to a proper operation and mainte- nance : -
First. Branch sewers are to enter main sewers without curves, the point of junction in each case being a man-hole with channels in the bottom and frame for inserting flushing gate. These man-holes are to be large enough for convenient entrance, and are to be finished at the street surface with a heavy removable cover of iron perforated for ventilation.
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Second. Light shafts through which a lantern can be lowered are to be placed at unimportant angles in the sewers ; changes of direction when made from necessity are to be angles and not curves. By means of these light shafts and man-holes it will be possible to inspect the sewer and locate obstructions.
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