The morning call., 1891-04-18
THE ART OF PAVING.



An oId-Timo Contractor Tells of His Own
Experiences.
Editor Morning call Having read in the
editorial columns OF The CALL of April 10Th an
article headed 'WatchlulnesS in Paving" II
brought TO my mind recollectons of thli ty years
ago at n time when we had no such streets as we
have at present Then the streets were laid with
Oregon plank and the material taken from the
sides of old ships that were broken up for that
purpose. l remember that the millionaire Con
O'Connor had 4 contract for laying kearny
street, from Jackson TO Pacific. with old oak
plank taken from ships sides, and all OF the
streets were laid with similar material until
Alexander Houston came down from Sacramento
and commenced business as a contractor. His
first work was building sewers and paving with
cObble- stones jackson street west from Mont
gOmery, Washington street from Sansome to
Stockton, and then Clay 10 Powell. AT that
time he was the only contractor In The city VINO
was building sewers OF brick and uSiug coDOle-
stones for paving, and these streets have re-
mained paved with the same material ever since,
and no articles ever appeared In The papers win
reference TO poor or extrayaCant pavements I'M
III the new systems OF paving sprang into exist
ence.
Tie first alleged improvement was the intro
duciOn OF the patent wood pavenlen.s. known
respectively as The nicholson" and Tie per
ry" The propci ty-oWners favored these pave
ments, and readily ado!,ted them until they
proved TO be failures. Next came Tie granite
pavement, with which portion VI Clay street
was laid, cobbes having been first removed.
This pavement cost 40 cents per square foot.
1he next experiment was with basalt roe .
Quarries were opened IN several places and tue
Board OF Supervisors advertised for bids for paw
ing with that mat rial; but the men who from
time TO time have been elected TO I'LL this position
of Superintendent of Streets have had no Idea
how these baSalt blocks should be laid, and they
have continued to lay them IN the sam manner
IN which the old cObOe-stOne paVements were
laid aud for that reason The cry goes up that
The stone pavement IS failure. II the men
a at n lneI ~ q
Streets fully understood their business aud were
CAPABLE of pei forming the duties pertaining there
TO- We would never hear any complaints win
reference 10 the ineffciency or the extravaganza
OF the basalt-Toek pavement.
Now, Il WORD about The sewers. l am tolerably
familiar with the work done IN the Old portion
OF the city, and my opportunities for judging OF
their construction are fortified by the IacL that
built most OF them, aud can therefore speak from
absolute knowledge. Tie material used for
cementing tile brick together was lime mortar,
containing about TWO barrels of cement TO a block,
and OF all the sewers constructed III those days
not one has ever cost the city $50 Tor repairs.
But when a neS Superintendent OF Streets was
elect d The whole order OF things was changed.
Cement was USED instead OF lime, and five bar
Trls OF cement were consumed TO the block, Win
four inches OF brlckwork up TO the spiing OF tie
arch aud that Is tile reason why The sewer on
Pine street IS caVlng In, and why so much money
Is required TO Keep them III repair. me rats
from the Side sewers dig away the sand from be-
hind the four-lnch wall, and there Is nothing
10 support the wall, and 1t falls back
for the reason that 1t is eggshaped, and
sou cannot make an egg stand on its end without
support from some quarter. The best surveyor
the city had In It's service evidently knew 10th
ing about the philosophy OF building sewer.
or he never would have submitted for adoption
the plans when he did. The idea OF having a
5X3 inch drain to 12-iuch irOu-stOne pipe is
simply ridiculous, and within few yeats every
one oil these drains viii have to be replaced with
brick sewers at the expense OF tue city. Mir.
Smith may understand The science of surveying
and drawing plans Tor the construction OF such
work but lie is not practical worNnlan. and
knows nothing about sewering or paving. If
Ar. MduSou, Engineer in Chief OF the state
Board OF Harbor Commissioners, had been 4
practical man he would have had 4 concrete
foundation under all ttat baSalt pavement which
has been laid around the city front where The
heaviest tedmtnr Is done. He has not even rec
commended Tie paving OF single block In that
manner since he has been in Office, but now he
has COM to tie conclusion that all basalt pay E.
in order that The ring may be able 10 get better
price for the poultice pavement, so designate d
by THE CALL, for II is nothing more or less, to
look At 1t alter II is laid down?
Where there Is any tfaiiic THIS sort OF pave
ment tells lis own story, but there is money IN IL.
| speak OF Thar | know, and which you also,
know now. am pleased TO tote the action OF
THIS last beard, ut we want the speeibca Ions
changed In HE office of tie superintendent of
StteetS, aud that tile sand snail be pr pared for
tile laying Of streets. which must he done with a
towel, ard nor with a paving hammer such as
Is us-u n laying cobOie-stoBes. II this Is done,
L viii warrant good street for years to come
without repairing. i am an old contractor and
have baeu in this city for forty years, and
draw my conclusions from practical knowledge
and not from theoretical deductions. C. W. D.