The premise behind Public Works, A Treatise on Subjects of Interest to Municipal Officers is that the Trustees of a California town have commissioned McCullough to explain "what the Trustees would be dealing with" from the point of view of engineers. Don't let the dry title fool you, this book will be of interest to many readers because it gives tips about things in the community that most people rarely think about but know are important. For example, the first four chapters deal generally with issues of health and safety (Streets, Health and Cleanliness, Drainage and Sewage, and Water Supply). McCullough write that enforcing sanitary laws is more important than just having the laws on the books. He explains that the biggest threat to the health of a closely settled community is undrained soil and the chapter on water discusses the best choices for water supply. Neither of the chapters are highly technical and instead are clearly written to be understood by the layperson. The second part of the book is about planning and includes chapters on Surveys, Contracts, Plans, Municipal Ownership and Bonds. Though it may seem odd for an engineer to write about finances and bonds, in the context of the book it makes perfect sense. In McCullough's experience, if a municipality is underfunded, then public works projects will fall short of what is required to have a healthy and functioning community. Public Works, A Treatise on Subjects of Interest to Municipal Officers imparts the most important considerations for town planners and manages to do it with great efficiency. Its focus on the basics is relevant for any town anywhere in the world. This short treatise on public works projects is an important summary for engaged citizens. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. This text has been digitally restored from a historical edition. Some errors may persist, however we consider it worth publishing due to the work's historical value. The digital edition of all books may be viewed on our website before purchase.