Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1894-10-18
ROADS RulLr ny TuE ANClENrs,
Tho Work ponc on prrhiStoric High.
way Not Equallrd in These Days.

Tho Work Douc on Prehistoric High.
way Not EQuallrd in These DAYS,
favtmruts and paving, problems
that have brought forth much harsh
language from modern taxpayers dur.
ing the past few years, seem TO have
been no less Il source OF trouble with
tho good people OF anrient times,
Even In prehistoric periods there
wrr, probably paving troubles At
any rate there were pavomentS. and
unless the prehistoric races were en-,
tirrly different from the people or Is.
day, there were certainly paving tlNnu.
hlcS and growing against the tax AZ,
SCISSOR and against road work. Hut
however much they may have grum.
hlNi IN those times. the taxpayers owl
IDENTITY received very little considca,
ton, else there would never have been
such roads rs have been found in
Peru, for instance, There says tho
New York Times, romans have been
discovered Of the greatest paved road
ways over built The roads Of the
Romans surmSS In magnitude any.
thing constructed since their time.
Rut IN comparison with the old Peru.
Wan roads, OF tho building aud his
tory of which no record has over been
found, the Roman roadways are III.
most insignificant, Through practio-
ally impossible mountain regions, for
distances variously estimated ut from
1000 TO 1000 miles, the ancient Peru.
VANS built their highways. twenty
feet wide, and In manner that would
put to shame In point Of durability.
any pavement laid siucr In the world.
These ruadways were built OF heavy
stone flags set with the utmost care In
n mysterious cement which with time
has 80 hardened that 1t IL harder than
tho stone itself. The first pavement
building In the world OF which there
Is any written reCord was that under.
taken Ivy ScmIramis, the great Az
syrian queen. After succeeding her
husband on the throne she set about
laying out great paved roadwnys all
over her empire, and she felt such
lustIhablc pride In this work that she
caused record of II 10 be- handed
down to her successors The Cnrtha-
gcnians also had paved highways. but
the Romans existed without pave
mcnts for 200 years after the cxpul.
sion of their kings,
II was not until Rome was about
ilvo centuries old that nny effort was
mnde to pave Its street, From these
efforts grew the great road building,
10y which, as much ns anything else,
the Romans managed to spread their
power The Via Appia, begun by Ap.
plus Claudius. 3t2 Is. c., was carried
forward steadily until II reached n
total length Of 800 miles, connecting
Rome with BrundusIum, 1t was com.
plcted In 30 Is. g. II wi,s built OF
large blocks OF slick, fitted to each
other with great cSactncss and laid
on deep substrata OF broken stone
carefully put down,
Road building and street paving
practically died out for tho time be-
Ing with Roman civilization. II was
not until 1884 that the streets of
Paris were paved. The work was
IHUt, anu WIS tOHllilfH ~ " hltliil
area. In London there was no paving
10 speak OF until 1893 Since That
time street paving has been one Of
the great questions with state and
municipal governments, ana endless
experiments have been made to de.
wise The best methods. From cobblc-
stones to bricks, the wooden blocks,
and macadnm, and stone blocks, and
asphalt, the progress has been stead.
lily carried on,
At the present time nearly all the
authorities agree that for pavemcnts
where the traffic Is not too heavy
asphalt Is the best material that has
yet been found, and experienced en-.
glnecrs say TINT no other substance
will ever be discovered that will ex.
coed It In point Of advantage,