central building is designed to furnish rooms for the various offices of the institution, apartments for the families of the superintendent and steward, and other officers, and dormitories for domestics, and the kitchens for cooking the food for the whole household; and connected with it is the building for the steam-engines, the machinery for warming and ventilating the whole establishment, and the washing, drying, and ironing rooms. The wings are intended for patients, one for males, and the other for females. The cost of the hospital at Mount Pleasant furnishes no just criterion for the cost of building this; the price of materials and the wages of labor have since nearly doubled; and besides all the materials must be transported from greater distances. The commissioners estimated that it would cost not less than one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars to construct the central building; and that the two wings would cost not less than two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars each. The act of the General Assembly appropriates only one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for the erection of the hospital, and contains this proviso: "Provided, that the erection only of such portions of such buildings shall be undertaken by said board, under the provisions of this act, as may be completed and made ready for occupancy by the appropriation herein made." Under this limitation, the commissioners were at a loss to determine which portion of the building to undertake; if they constructed the central portion, the appropriation would be exhausted, and ample provision would be made to accommodate the officers of the institution, and conveniences for warming and ventilating the whole hospital, but no apartments to be warmed and ventilated would be provided for patients. If they constructed a portion of one of the wings, apartments indeed would be provided for patients, but no means of warming and ventilating them, and no accommodations for officers. Reduced to this alternative, the commissioners eventually determined to erect two transverse and one longitudinal sections of the north wing. This portion of the wing was all that could be conveniently constructed without constructing the whole wing, for which the appropriation was insufficient. The commissioners accordingly advertised for proposals and received bids for the work according to the provisions of the law, and awarded the contract to Mr. David Armstrong, of Dubuque county, for the sum of eighty-eight thousand one hundred and fourteen dollars. So much time, however, had been consumed in selecting the site, procuring plans and advertising for proposals, that the contract was not signed till the seventh day of November, 1868. Mr. Armstrong gave the required securities, and entered upon the execution of the contract. But the past season has been so unfavorable for the work, the rains have been so continuous and so excessive, that the manufacture of brick has been interrupted, the roads being much of the time almost impassable, the transportation of materials to the ground has been hindered, and the work generally much retarded, and the contractor exposed to great and unforeseen losses, if not to absolute ruin. It gives the commissioners great pleasure to do this justice to Mr. Armstrong, and it is nothing more than justice, by saying that, notwithstanding his misfortunes, he has executed his contract, so far, with the utmost fidelity. His work is all substantial, excellent, and in every respect equal to the specifications of his contract. Mr. Armstrong offered to make the foundation of the building of granite, without any additional charge, instead of the Farley or Anamosa stone, required by the specifications, The commissioners, considering this change a great improvement, gladly accepted the offer. It is a source of satifaction to know that the hospital will stand on a foundation of imperishable granite. Notwitstanding the many impediments which have obstructed the progress of the work, the commissioners believe the portion of the building under contract can be finished by the first day of December, 1870, the time prescribed for it to be done. There will then be ready for occupancy a sufficient number of rooms to accommodate about seventy-five patients, but, as it was before remarked, there will be no means of warming and ventilating these rooms; no kitchen and no apartments for the officers. After this work is done, the commissioners estimate there will remain unexpended of the appropriation about twenty-five thousand dollars. This sum might be used to erect a temporary building for a kitchen, and for the machinery for warming and ventilation, and some of the rooms designed for patients might be used for the officers. By this means a part of the hospital might be put in operation at an early day. Such an arrangement, however, would be inconvenient, and after the completion of the central building contemplated in the plan, this temporary building will be useless, and it will be necessary to remove it. The construction of such a building, therefore, the commissioners regard as a waste of the public money, and they accordingly determined, before undertaking it, to await the action of the legislature. It is the decided opinion of the commissioners that the interest of the State requires that, at least, the central building and the whole north wing should be finished as soon as it can be conveniently done; indeed, they believe it would be good economy to proceed at once to the completion of the whole hospital. They entirely concur in the opinion expressed by the commissioners who superintended the erection of the hospital at Mount Pleasant, that a "hospital should be erected as a whole, and not in detached parts." As it was observed above, the land procured for the site of the hospital is unbroken prairie without a building, a fence or a tree upon it. The commissioners respectfully recommend appropriations for building a barn, for fencing the land and setting out trees, and for improving the grounds, as they do not understand that they are authorized to use any of the existing appropriations for these purposes. The hospital is one mile from the railroad at the nearest point, but is two miles distant from the railroad station, and the road over which nearly all the materials for the construction of the building must be transported, is, in a wet season like the past, much of the time bad and sometimes impassable. The idea occurred to the commissioners of having a horse railroad constructed from the hospital to the nearest point on the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad. So great would be the saving of expense in transporting materials, that the contractor was willing to construct the road at his own expense, if the right of way and necessary facilities for a connection with the railroad could be obtained. Accordingly, the commissioners applied to the railroad company to allow the connection and to provide the necessary facilities, representing to the company the great advantage it would be to the State. Very much to their surprise, the company refused their application. Such a railroad would pay for itself several times over by saving expense in transporting materials for the building; and after the hospital is finished, it will be necessary to transport over the road annually, nearly two thousand tons of coal and other materials for its supply. If the State possesses the power to require the railroad company to afford the necessary facilities for the connection, the commissioners recommend that the power be exercised, and that an appropriation be made for the construction of the road. In execution of the authority conferred on them by the seventh section of the act "to permanently locate and provide for the creation of an additional institution for the insane," the commissioners appointed Mr. George Josselyn superintendent of the work. Mr. Josselyn was employed during the whole period of the construction of the hospital at Mt. Pleasant in a responsible position on that work, and afterwards was steward of that institution for several years. The commissioners esteem it fortunate that they were able to secure the services of a superintendent so experienced and so competent. He has discharged the duties of his office to their entire satisfaction. The expenditures of the appropriation to December first have 2,157.81 26,260.04 $35,744.90 Superintendent per diem, stationery, and expenses... Total..... A detailed account of the expenditures is herewith submitted, marked "A." An estimate prepared by Mr. Josselyn for the appropriations necessary for building a barn, fencing the land, setting out trees, and improving the grounds, and for constructing a horse railroad from the hospital to the Dubuque and Sioux City railroad, is also herewith submitted, marked "B" and also Mr. Josselyn's report on the condition of the work on the hospital, marked “C.” While the commissioners were yet at the beginning of their labor in this enterprise for alleviating the sufferings of "minds di eased," one of their number, Mr. Albert Clarke, was sudden y stricken down by the hand of death. They feel with deep sensibility this solemn admonition to themselves. Mr. Clarke was a man of superior talents, cultivated and invigorated by a finished education, and of the highest probity of character; yet he was a man of such a singular, retiring, unambitious modesty, that the knowledge of his worth was limited to a narrow circle. His appointment on this commission was calculated to afford a more conspicuous exhibition of his merits and open a wider sphere for his usefulness. He made the construction and administration of hospitals for the insane a study, and he made himself master of the subject. He won the confidence and esteem of his associates on the commission, indeed they felt that they might safely entrust the whole business to his judgment, It affords his surviving colleagues while they deplore his loss, a sad satisfaction to give their testimony to his virtues. Hon. George W. Bemis, appointed by the Governor to fill vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Clarke, qualified himself according to law, and on the 21st day of Jaunary last, took his seat on the board. December 1st, 1869. MATURIN L. FISHER. |