A contract* was made May 28, 1891, with Mr. George H. Keyes, the lowest bidder, to complete the gravel grading from C Street to the sea-wall on the north side of the reserved channel, at 64 cents per cubic yard, the work to be finished by December 31, 1891. About 15,000 cubic yards of gravel had been delivered at that date, and about 900 feet in length of the street next the sea-wall had been completed. The rest of the work is well advanced, and is expected to be finished the present month.

Nothing has been done the past year to improve the crossing of Congress Street by the New York & New England railroad tracks. It is still dangerous for teams and travellers, both on account of the trains and by reason of the bad condition of the roadway.

The Cunningham Iron Works Company has begun and is now rapidly building extensive works for the manufacture of boilers and heavy machinery, on land purchased from the Commonwealth at the corner of Congress and B streets. It has now and will have more and more occasion to transport very heavy loads over this crossing in order to reach the city proper. The street ought to be paved and kept in good condition for the use of this and other enterprising corporations who may desire to locate their works on this territory.

A plan has been devised, and streets have been widened with reference to it, for a system of tracks by which all establishments locating on the land now owned by the Commonwealth may be directly connected with steam railroad lines. A license† has been given to the Cunningham Iron Works Company to build and maintain a temporary track across B Street, connecting its works with the tracks of the New York & New England railroad, until other means of connection shall have been provided.

L Street Bridge.

By chapter 388 of the Acts of 1891, the city of Boston was authorized and required to build and maintain a public highway bridge across the reserved channel, connecting

Congress Street as laid out and graded by the Commonwealth, with L Street as extended by the city to the southerly line of said channel.

The plans of the bridge, with a draw 40 feet in width, have been approved by us, and the city is about to award the contract for its construction.

Conditioned on the completion of the bridge before the first day of August next, the act provides that the Commonwealth shall reimburse to the city 40 per cent. of its cost. The city desires that the time be extended to the first day of December next. There seem to be good reasons for such extension, and we recommend that it be granted.

This bridge will complete the connection of Boston and South Boston by a broad and direct avenue (Congress Street) across the lands of the Commonwealth. It is to be regarded as an important and hopeful step in promoting the interests of South Boston, the city of Boston and the Commonwealth.

Commonwealth Playground.

By chapter 421 of the Acts of 1891, the city of Boston. was authorized to use temporarily a parcel of the Commonwealth's land, bounded by C, D, and Cypher streets and Mount Washington avenue, for a public playground, to be known as Commonwealth Playground."

"

This tract was part of a larger one which the city had previously been licensed to use for the same purpose by this Board. The city had inclosed it by a rough fence, and had spread a coating of ashes and some gravel over the surface. The fence has been moved the last season to the boundaries of the smaller area above described, but little. else has been done to the playground.

Provision for Continuing the Work.

The balance in the "Commonwealth's Flats Improvement Fund" on the first day of January, 1891, available for carrying on the work, was $100,694.86; to which there has been added during the year $2,609.41 income of the fund, $7,423.31 rents of land and proceeds of land sold, and $20,000 paid into the fund from the treasury of the Commonwealth under the provisions of chapter 93 of the

Acts of 1889 and chapter 9 of the Acts of 1891; making a total of $130,727.58 available for the work. Of this sum there has been expended during the year $61,424.96, leaving an available balance January 1, 1892, of $69,302.62. In order to provide for the work now in progress and in contemplation, it is estimated that it will be necessary to provide for the payment of $75,000 into the fund the present year.

HARBOR LINES IN BOSTON HARBOR.

A harbor line board, consisting of General Abbott, Colonels Gillespie and Mansfield, and Major Livermore, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, was constituted by order of the Secretary of War in 1888, under section 12 of the river and harbor act of that year, to consider harbor lines in Boston harbor. At the date of the last report, lines had been defined for nearly all of the frontages of the harbor, and were described in that and previous reports.

The harbor line board recommended the last year lines. for both sides of Charles River from Market Street bridge up to the Watertown dam; for the northerly side of the reserved channel, and for the main frontage of the Commonwealth's flats east of Slate ledge, at South Boston; and around Castle Island. These several lines were approved by the Secretary of War, January 29, 1891.

Plans showing the approved lines are on file in this office, and descriptions of them are appended to this report.

The work of the harbor line board has thus covered the entire harbor front from Breed's Island on the north to Moon Island on the south, excepting the South Bay and the frontage of the Navy Yard.

In almost every case where the State had previously established harbor lines, these lines have been adopted without modification by the harbor line board as the lines beyond which no structure of any kind shall extend. In some cases, an inner "bulkhead line," beyond which no solid filling shall hereafter be permitted, has also been defined. Upon the whole, the harbor line system already established

See Appendix, G.

by the laws of the State has been approved and confirmed.

The harbor line board has completed its intended work and has been dissolved.

CHARLES RIVER.

The Harvard bridge was opened to travel the first of September last, and is quite freely used by the public.

By an act of the legislature passed in 1888, the cities of Boston and Cambridge were required to widen the draws in the four highway bridges which cross Charles River next above the Harvard bridge, to 36 feet each. For reasons stated in a previous report, there was some delay in complying with the act. The work was taken in hand by the cities in 1890, and the widening of all the draws, has been completed the past year.

The Charles River Embankment Company has dredged from the river basin the last year about 166,000 cubic yards of material, and deposited the same upon its flats west of the Harvard bridge.

The filling of the estates on the Boston side, which was in progress at the date of the last report, has been practically completed, except some surface gravelling.

A large additional area of flats in the basin has been converted by these operations into deep water.

MYSTIC RIVER IMPROVEMENT.

This work involves the filling and improvement of about 90 acres of land and flats lying between the north and south channels of Mystic River. The original grant was to the Mystic River Corporation, in 1855, upon the condition of deepening and improving the river.

The Boston and Maine Railroad has acquired the rights and assumed the obligations of the original grantee. The time for the completion of the work was extended by chapter 240 of the Acts of 1891 to March 1, 1893.

During the last year 250,746 cubic yards of material have been dredged from the north channel of the river above Chelsea bridge, and deposited inside the sea-wall. From one-third to one-half of the required area in the north

channel has been dredged to the prescribed depth. About 85 acres are now filled to grade 14.5, and the remaining 4 acres require about 52,000 cubic yards of filling to bring them up to that grade.

In addition to the above, 21,877 cubic yards have been dredged from the south channel above the bridge, and the material carried to the South Boston flats.

The pile platform in front of the sea-wall on the north channel has been completed, 58,630 square feet having been built the last year. On the south channel, the pile platform above the bridge has been partially rebuilt and widened to its full width of 35 feet, 61,118 square feet having been built the past year.

The balance of the filling will probably be completed this year. The dredging in portions of the river has been to a greater depth than was originally contemplated, so that there has been no occasion for digging off the marshes. further up the river as provided in the act of 1855. The greater depth was required to adapt the wharf to modern vessels, which have a much larger tonnage and deeper draft than the vessels in use in 1855.

SOUTH BAY.

Early in the last year a topographical survey of the South Bay was made, and a harbor line laid down which was recommended to the General Court for its approval. The harbor line recommended was established by chapter 309 of the Acts of 1891, which also contained provisions intended for the improvement of the bay in sanitary respects as well as for navigation. All previous harbor lines were abolished.

The Roxbury Central Wharf company was licensed June 30, 1891, to fill about 43 acres of flats out to the new harbor line on the southerly side of the bay, the material for filling to grade 12 to be taken from the basin bounded by the harbor line. The work has not yet been commenced.

Applications are also pending for filling large areas of shoal water on the easterly side of the New York & New England railroad.