The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-09-28
OTTAWA GAYS.

OTTAWA GAYS.
The question of an additional factory fo
making paving blocks was presented at thu
last meeting Of the Business Mems Asso
citation. Messrs. Shaver, Williams ant
Hull did not offer any great encouragement
OF course these gentlemen understood thu
situation far better than any outsider can
and their opinion Is entitled to great weight
not only here, but with every man who i
contemplating entering the business, for
as they are all men of capital, II is presumed
their works are equal to the demand.
There is this much, however, that thu
Business Mems Association can tell thei
enquirer, and that is, The clay Is here
you can make the blocks here; but you
will have to hunt your own market If q
man can find Market he certainly can
make the blocks In Ottawa.
The FREE TRADER believes the clay
paving block is the coming pavior; but III
day can hardly be said to have come. 1t IL
new material, and like all new materials
however good, It has to make Its way In the
world against and displace other materials
which have already been accepted. Its
present chief competitor is the granite
block, material whose use is nearly uni
versal In the great cities of the country.
Yet the clay blocks have out.worn the
Medina stone blocks In Cleveland, when
laid side by side, They also make less
noisy street and one that can be- more easily
cleaned. In most places the cost of clay
blocks is less than that of granite and,
where given fair test, the cost of repairs
is less than for granite.
These facts are known to some civil
engineers; It is doubtful II they are to
most of that class of public men; and yet
with them depends largely the use of the
clay block as a pavior. If these goods
could once become recognized by civil
engineers on their merlts-known to all
city engineers as we'll as they are known to
John II. Sargent of Cleveland, the city
engineered Peoria, and few others,--there
would be no question Of the future of the
business. When the clay block can make
the granite block step aside, as the granite
pavement displaced the pine and cedar
block abOmination, the business will boom,
perhaps; but until that time comes, man
should know just what he can do before he
starts In the BUSINESS. 1t will not bear ex'
perimenting with or trusting to luck
IL Is only fair to say, however, that II
Ottawa has one national gift surprising,
par ercellence, all others, II Is her clays; and
she would be very shortsighted If any
effert to develop them we're neglected.
Certain folks, stupidity Ignorant of what
they are talking about, say Ottawa has
delft In great abundance mot knowing
that delft" Is Dutch stoneware--a man
ufactured article and not a raw material at
alb and clays suitable for porcelain; with
which Ottawa may yet rival Sevres and
Dresden !-thanwhich more absurd notion
cannot be conceived because (D those
wares are not made from a natural raw
material, and because (2) not one Of the
ingredients of those wares Is found here at
all. 1t Is not necessary for Ottawa to be
made ridiculous and absurd to attract atten-
tion to her Clays or make the town a great
clay working center. Her high and low
grade fire-clays, her brick. clays and the
terra Gotta, sewer pipe and stoneware clays
In her immediate neighborhood, are worth
far more to her as town,building raw
materials than would be the factories of
both Sevres and Dresden II moved to
Ottawa to morrow. But clays are perhaps
the hardest of all raw materials TO work
successfully. No novice should presume
10 touch them. They must be worked by
experienced men; and to work Ottawas
clays Into other wares than are now made
here, the men to do II must first be brought
into Ottawa.
There Is room In Ottawa for flower Dot
shop and wares of that class of earthenware
The clay Is here, and so is the man to make
II, II any one Ia anxious to 20 Into the clay
business In new line In Ottawa.
Making sewer pipe is also a good bus
iness just now In the West; but sewer
pipe maker must first be found and brought
to Ottawa to test the clays before any great
stir about that line Of ware can be expected
or any great claims for ability TO manufac.
ture canbe set up. The clay appears to be
here, but only an expert can say 30 potltively
A subscription paper is being circulated
among the merchants Of Streator to raise
funds with which to purchase the Santa F.
bridge at No. and fix It 80 that II can be