Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-04-27
THE COUNCIL COMMITTEE.
The Tour Of Pavement Investiga-
ton Completed.
Return Of the Aldermanfc Delegation
.-.What They Saw IN the Different
Cities Visited.

The council committee, composed of
Aids. Hampton and Negus and Surveyor
Paddock. au horized to inspect the prac-
tical usages Of the various materials for
paving purposes, which left Rock Island
one week ago returned this morning ,hav-
ing visited in the order named, the cities
Peoria. Bloomington. Chicago. Kansas
City, Omaha. Council Bluffs and Des
Moines. The committee made its iuves-
LEGATIONS thoroughly and searchiugly, and
brings with it samples of vitrlfied brick
used in Des noins. of cedar blocks used
in Kansas City and OF cypress blocks
used in Omaha, all of which are at the
Rock Island house, where property holds
ers interested are invited to call and in
spect Among the samples is a piece OF
cedar block that had been down seven
years and which is in as good condition
apparently, as ever. The committee has
not yet p repaired its recommendations or
decided upon them and will probably not
do 80 until It's report is made for the
council. An ARGUS representative met
the committee upon Its arrival and made
inquiry as to what observations had been
made
I'VE saw iu PEORIA" said Aid. Negus.
eleven blocks of brick, the material of
seven Of which was manufactured at OF
tswa. This was on Franklin street. and
it made very nice street. 1t had been
down two years. As rule the Peoria
people favor brick"
cat Bloomington there are four man.
ufsctories of vitrified brick. They have
no pavement there but brick; of course
they patronizs home industry. They
have three miles and-a-half of such
pavement already laid and have let cons
tracts for three miles more of brick pave
ment this year. The pavement has. with
the exception of one block, been down
but a few years; the excepted block is on
the west side Of the court house. which
was put down fourteen years ago as an
experiment. The repairs on that one
block in fourteen years have not exceeded
800. In Chicago. where we expected to
find some brici pavement, we were una
BILE to discover any. There has been
brick laid there on street intersections
gratis. but taken up. as not suitable and
worn out. Tho consequence is that there
is not foot Of brick pavement in Chica-
60 now. that We could find. We saw,
however. 1871 miles of cedar blocks-4S
miles of other pavement, including gran
lite, asphalt. etc. Cedar is the favorite
there. as they have no cypress"
1--WE spent two days in Chicago and
one in each of the preceding towns.
Our next place Of inspection was Kansas
City. There is no brick there, but the
city has SO miles of cedar. and this years
contracts are all for cedar. There are sew
eral miles of granite, but wood is the
favorite. Omaha has no brick, but
80 miles of cedar, seven miles of
cypress and about seven miles Of granite
On some of the streets the car tracks are
paved with Sioux Falls granite. and the
sides with cypress or cedar. Superinten-
dent of Public Works Bslcombe. says he
thinks cypress Ia superior to cedar. but it
has not been down long enough to afford
complete test. From his experience in
the south he is very much in favor Of
cypress. but does not feel like endorsing
1t too much before he sees the effect of
northern climates. Omaha also has sew
eral miles Of asphalt. In Council Bluffs,
which we also visited on our way, we
found cedar blocks the pavement, though
some Sioux Falls granite Is used. The
city has % miles of cedar"
''Des Moines has 33 miles of cedar
block all in good shape. five miles
of cypress in excellent condition, three
miles Of granite, TWO miles of asphaltum
and seven blocks of brick, material
they are manufacturing there and which
| consider worthless. the mater
ial being 30 poor that | could run
my pencil through it most anywhere"
Mayor Warner, of Peoria, informed the
committee that " hen he first inaugurated
a system of street paving by special as
sessment there was terrific howl and
threats of bsnisbipg him from the city.
etc. Nevertheless he went ahead and
forced the paving. and now everybody is
tickled and Mr.. Warner can be elected as
often as he wants to. His firmness and
persisteney in the matter Of street paving
has made him one of the most popular
men in Peoria.