The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-09-10
A ROAR OF PROSPERITY
At the Asphalt Paving Works
In Topeka.
Our Pavements Are Beginning
to Look Beautiful Once More.
Carloads of Asphalt Arrived in Tope-
ka Yesterday and It Is Now Be-
ing Worked Up.

The old asphalt plant at the foot of
Topeka avenue, which has been a
roosttng place for owls and bats for
many years, is no longer desolate; 20
men are at work there. They are roll
ing barrels of asphalt up the incline,
where two men with axes in their hands
are waiting. They swing their axes,
and the slaves fall apart and reveal
mass of black material almost as hard
as flint. Then another man rolls the
barrel shaped mass onto the scales and
announces the weight which is put
down in a little book kept for that
purpose by the superintendent. A
colOred man with muscles like an OK,
then rolls the material off the scales
and with an ak breaks the substance
into small pieces which roll into
large boiler.
The black material is genuine refined
Trinidad asphalt which was received
yesterday from the refinery in New
York. There are five car loads of it and
100 barrels in each car. There may be
enough to make the proposed repairs
on the streets, but the superintendent
is by no means certain that there will
be.
w c. Drake, who is experimenting
the work, says that there is only one
thing in the way of commencing the
work in earnest, and that is the want
of dust. The dust is used in mixing the
asphalt and there is a car load on the
way, expected hourly.
The big part of the work on the pave
ments will be done now, for they are to
be put IN first class condition at once.
For this the city will pay the Barber
Asphalt company $40, 900. But for keep
ing the paVements in good repair for
five years more the company viii only
receive a total of $4,000 or 81, 600 per
annum-
The active work may commence late
this afternoon. If not then it will be
commenced tomorrow.
THE people seem afraid" said Su-
perintendent Drake to a Journal re-
porter, that we will not get the work
done in time for the Fall Festival but
they do not need to be afraid. We will
finish the work inside of three weeks
and the pavements will be in good con-
dition when Fail Festival week ar
rives."
Superintendent Drake says work will
be commenced on the west side of Kan
sas avenue at Ninth street and the
force will work north from that point,
completing the west half of Kansas
avenue first.
What will be done after that I am
not prepared to say" continued Mr..
Drake, but we will not slight any
thing"
The pavements are full of deep holes
where the concrete has been worn
away as well as the asphalt. These
places have furnished no end of op-
pOrtunities for ways. The street
sprinklers fill the holes with water and
they become miniature ponds. A few
days ago small boys improved their op-
portunity at the corner of Eighth and
Kansas avenue where there is an es-
pecially deep place worn in the con-
crete. Several spool boxes were found
and placed on the pond and labeled:
Boats to Let Three or four tiny
fishing poles with lines attached were
next hung out over the place and Ia
belled: mo Fishing Allowed"
When Mr.. brakes surface heaters
have passed over the pavements these
places will be cut out and filled with
what he calls binder This is a mix
ture of small broken stone and asphalt
cement. He says that he has found
that a thin layer of concrete breaks up
easily.
Kansas avenue will be resurfaced
from one end to the othe--that is the
surface will be heated and scraped off
and a thin layer of new asphalt put
down. To do this work five surface
heaters will be put to work and IS men
will constitute the street force Sew
en- teams will bring the material from
the plant, where it is now being mixed
About so men will be employed until
the work is completed. H. w Buckley
will have charge of the surface heaters
When this work has been done To-
peka may once more be known as the
city with the best paved streets in the
west