WATER WORKS-BOARD OF WATER COMMISSIONERS.

The site of the city of Detroit was occupied by Indian villages at the period of the discovery of the country in the year 1610. The legitimate settlement of the city by a white population was in 1701. The soil being underlaid by a stiff, impermeable clay, extending down to a rock base, no living springs of water could be reached, and to the natives and early settlers, as well as the present inhabitants, the river, which sweeps past the city, and is the outlet of the great northern lakes, was the unfailing source of their supply of water, which was only obtained, until 1827. by being drawn to the dwellings of the inhabitants in carts, or was carried in buckets, which were usually slung at either end of wooden yokes and borne on the shoulders of both male and female. The want of a distribution throughout the city of an ample supply of pure and wholesome water had long been felt, and the construction of a water works was agitated at an early day, but nothing decisive was done until 1825, when the works were commenced by Mr. Bethuel Farrand, under an act passed by the Common Council granting him "the sole and exclusive right of watering the city." In 1827 the citizens were first furnished with water from the works. The works continued in the hands of private individuals and compa nies until 1836, when they were purchased by the city, and were under the direct management of the Council until 18.2, when the Council placed their management under a Board of Trustees. By an Act of the Legislature, approved February 14th, 1853, the Board of Water Commissioners was org nized.

Of the Detroit River water, Prof. S. P. Duffield, who analyzed it, said: "I think it is impossible to find a

river water in the world more free from organic impurities."

The water is supplied from the Detroit River by means of an engine of the capacity of 18,000,000 gallons per twenty-four hours, (with two other engines in case of accident to the first, of 10,000,000), a reservoir of the capacity of 10,000,000 gallons; sixty-two miles of iron pipe and eighty-eight miles of wooden logs. The total quantity distributed in 1872, 2,782,292,578 gallons, a daily average of 7,601,892 gallons. In 1871, the quantity supplied was 2,300,150,605 gallons, a daily average of 6,301,782 gallons. The amount received in 1872 for water rates was $155,536.98; in 1871, $138,325.88.

BOARD OF WATER COMMISSIONERS.

Ways and Means.... Com'rs. Owen and Hurlbut.

Extension and Repairs, “

Farrand and Smith.

Hodge and Smith.

Commissioners in Rotation.

OFFICERS.

Chauncey Hurlbut.

Henry Starkey.

Sup't Extension and Repairs.... Benjamin B. Moore.

Secretary..

Total cost to date

$1,071,806 53

BOARD OF REVIEW.

"A Board of Review shall, on the nomination of the Mayor, be appointed by the Common Council. Said Board shall consist of three resident property-holders of said city, who shall hold their office for the term of three years, except that the three persons, first appointed, which shall be immediately after this act shall take effect, shall hold their offices respectively for the term of one, two and three years, as shall be determined by lot, on the first meeting of said Board, and thereafter one member of said Board shall be appointed each year for the term of three years, as herein before provided. The sessions of the Board of Review shall be held at the Assessor's office in said city, and shall commence on the first Monday in April in each year, and continue from day to day until all of said assessments have been fully and carefully reviewed, corrected and approved, which shall be on or before the fifteenth day of May.

"The Board of Review shall have power, and it shall be their duty, to equalize, alter, amend and correct any assessment or valuation, and to place upon the assess ment rolls of the proper ward any taxable property, real or personal, not already assessed, held or owned by any person or persons, and to strike from said rolls any property, real or personal, wrongfully thereon; but no assessment shall be increased or made by said Board without notice to the person or persons affected thereby, either verbal or personal, or written or printed, and left at the usual residence of such person, if a resident, and if a non-resident by a publication in some daily newspaper published in said city."-City Charter, pp. 136, 137.

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD.

Allen A. Rabineau.

George M. Rich.

James Burns.

MICHIGAN SOLDIERS' & SAILORS' MONUMENT.

An organization having for its object the erection of a monument to the soldiers of Michigan, engaged in the late civil war, was formed in Detroit in the year 1861, and was the origin of the " Michigan Soldiers' Monument Association" of 1865. The corner stone of the proposed morument was laid on the 4th of July, 1867, in the east Grand Circus Park, in Detroit, by the Grand Lodge of Masons of Michigan, with appropriate civil and military ceremonies. In August following, the Association became incorporated under the laws of the State, by the name of "The Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument Association," and in the month of September, 1867, they entered into a contract with Randolph Rogers, the distinguished sculptor of Rome, Italy, for the construction of an appropriate monument of granite and bronze, for the sum of $58,000. The whole of this amount has been secured by private subscription and accruing interest, and the statues were unveiled to the public on the 9th of April, 1872. The bronzes and ornaments are from the celebrated foundry at Munich, Bavaria, and the granite from the quarries at Westerly, Rhode Island. The whole structure is about 55 feet in height, being surrounded with a colossal allegorical statue of "Michigan." It is situated on the Campus Martius, opposite the City Hall, and near the line of Woodward avenue, the site having been changed by permission of the Common Council.

The trustees are fifteen in number, and the officers as follows: President, C. C. Trowbridge; Vice-President, John Owen; Treasurer, Wm. A. Butler; Secretaries, T. W. Palmer and James W. Romeyn.