Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-07-14
Give Ia Better Stones,

The city has gone to large expense for
stone breaking and street rolling ma.
chimes, and they do their work well and
Justify their cost Z; but the condition of
the streets that have had the benefit of
these improved appliances is not such as
it should be for the reason that the lime
stone quarry which has been selected for
the stone supply furnishes very poor ma
terial for the purpose. The stones are
Too soft and grind in the breaker into
dust and on the street soon show signs Of
wear they are, in fact, sbale or slate
rather than limestone. The men who
selected the quarry sh ould have known
tbs unftness of the stones, for they were
condemned long ago for street purposes
by their predecessors In Office. Their use
should be stopped, for it is great waste
Of money to put them on the streets. The
street commissioner now refuses to use
them on streets that have much heavy
hauling upon them ; and they should not
be used anywhere. The dust that comes
from the stone breaker is used as a top
dressing, with no advantage whatever, as
it at once turns into mud.
This condition of things is much az.
gravatea by the street watering carts,
which have become an absolute nuisance.
The water is applied so copiously, to save
the need of repeating the application,
that the streets are made muddy, so that
vehicles cannot be kept clean and with
the more serious i'll effect, SO far as the
city is concerned, that the soft stones
used in macadamizlng speedily become
disintegrated, and the streets require to
be recoated. Where trees line the streets,
~ they do 80 many, the roadway never
becomes dry and can never be good. The
streets should be hard and firm, and GER.
tainly should never be made muddy by
watering carts, whose purpose is simply
TO Lay the dust. If their practice cannot
be reformed, they should be prohibited,
and the citizens be left to their old prac-
tice Of watering the streets with hose
from the pave wash. 1t seems to be the
clear duty Of the city authorities to pro.
hibit artitcially made muddy streets,
both to save its paving and to save the
annoyance ofperpetually muddy vehicles;
which is not slight to the wagon owner.
There Is no excuse for the use Of poor
stones, because good ones can be had
quite as conveniently. There is no better
Limestone for street paving than the fine
quarry on the poor.house grounds within
the city limits. They can be readily
crushed by the stone breaker the per.
centage OF fine stuff obtained will be
small, and twill moreover make a good
Top dressing, that will pack the stones
and not turn into mud on the first rain
1t is folly to put stuff on the streets tha
Will need soon to be carted Off again a
mud, and meanwhile be an annoyance t,
those who use the roadway. The cit,
authorities acknowledge that they ar,
culpable for continuing it. It would b.
cheaper TO pay the quarry owner hi,
damages upon the contract and move the
breaker to a better quarry than to con
tnue to apply to the streets the worth
less stuff; and the removal should b,
made at once good macadamizing can
mol be done with poor quality of stones
Let US have good streets now that W,
have good machines with which to max,
them so.