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CHARLES RIVER DAM BILL.

Drafted by Legislative Sub-Committee and Likely to be Passed.

The sub-committee appointed by the state legislature to take action upon the construction of the Charles River Dam completed a bill on Monday which was substantially approved by the parties favoring the dam and those opposed to it. The bill in its present form will be presented before the Committee on Metropolitan Affairs and Harbors and Public Lands in the State House today.

By provision of the bill the dam is to be erected at about the site of the present Craigie Bridge. It will be strong enough to withstand all tides and sufficiently high to maintain in the basin above a permanent water level not less than eight feet above Boston base. The top of the dam is to be at least 100 feet in width, part of this space being set aside for a highway. Provision is also made for a large lock connecting the two levels of the river.

The bill as drafted provides that the Governor and his Council, the Mayor of Boston, and the Mayor of Cambridge shall each choose a member of a commission to superintend the construction of the dam. These three men, of whom the Governor's nominee is to be chairman, will hold office for three years from January 1, 1904.

This Commission is to be given authority to dredge channels and to purchase or otherwise procure land from Cambridge or Boston. In addition it is to take measures to prevent malarial mosquitoes from becoming a source of danger in the basin.

The Metropolitan Park Commission will have absolute control of the dam and of the river as far up as Waltham, and the expense is to be met by extra appropriation.

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The bill makes provision for dredging in the Fens, for building sea-walls and for other matters of detail. In addition the act, if passed, will require the Boston and Maine Railroad to remove all tracks and other structures on the river within 400 feet of the lower face of the dam.

The Supreme and Superior Courts are given jurisdiction to enforce any of the provisions of the act which becomes law, if passed, on January 1, 1904.

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