Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1873.djvu/108

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788
PAPERS ACCOMPANYING THE

correspond- increase the size of the ventilating fan and of the engine that drives it, and to furnish and fit up another kitchen. About one-third of the amount of this estimate will be needed for those purposes, and the remainder will be required for painting and repairs necessary to preserve public property, and for such improvements in the furniture and fitting up of the wards and in the facilities for the medical and moral management of the patients, as are suggested by experience and the progress of this branch of the healing art.

4. For completing the river-wall and raising the boundary-walls at their intersection with the latter, $8,748.

The river-wall has been built on just one-half the extent of the river front, at a cost of $10,000, but as the average depth of the water is less along the line of the remainder of the river front, it is estimated that this part of the work can be completed for $7,788, and that the cost of raising those portions of the boundary-walls that were originally extended into the river as water-fences and now intersect the front wall so that the former cannot be scaled from the latter, not from the filling of earth behind it, will be $960, the two amounts making the sum of $8,743.

5. For the erection, furnishing, and fitting up of an extension of the center building of the hospital edifice, $35,956.

The center building of the hospital edifice contains the administrative offices of the establishment, the principal kitchens and store-rooms, the general-assembly room and the officers' quarters. The hospital was originally intended to accommodate a maximum of 350 patients, and the present center was planned for an institution of that size. The number of patients now under treatment exceeds 600, and is increasing, and more room is required for the assembling of the patients, both for worship on the Sabbath and for lectures, concerts, and exhibitions on other days of the week. The present assembly-room accommodates barely 350 patients and their attendants, and at least 100 of the inmates of the institution, whose mental condition is such that they would derive pleasure and benefit from being present on such occasions, are now unable to attend the Sabbath services and the entertainments on other days. Additional room is also much needed for all the other purposes for which the center building was designed and is used. It is proposed to add 45 feet to the rear end of the present structure, and by extending the assembly-room into the addition, nearly double its present capacity; and the two stories and a cellar below the addition to the assembly-room will afford the other rooms and accommodations that are needed.

6. For a coal-vault in rear of the east wing, $2,500.

The demand for increased accommodations has rendered it necessary to fit up two of the original coal-rooms for dining-rooms, and to use the remaining two as work-shops, and for some years it has been necessary to deposit the most of the coal used in heating the house, in a huge, unsightly pile a short distance outside of the windows of patients' rooms. By using the foundation walls of the house for two sides of the vault, it is estimated that convenient storage-room for 500 tons of coal can be secured for the moderate amount of the estimate.

7. For the erection, furnishing, and fitting up of an extension of the west detached building for patients, $12,000.

This building was erected in 1856 to accommodate 20 patients, and it may be extended so as to comfortably accommodate at least 44. The room is needed, and it can be obtained in no cheaper way, nor in any manner that will be more advantageous to the proper