Evening star., 1896-06-20

CalifornIn's Highway bureaus Rock
Crushing Plant.
FIOm tn. San francisco


Following close upon the heels of recent
events in road improvement agitation. the
good roads convention at Santa Cruz. the
supervisors convention at San Jose, and
the universal stirring up of the question
throughout the state. comes the opening of
the state roek-crushins plant. at Folsom
penitentiary. on Saturday last, June 6. The
cIusher is one-half a mile from the Folsom
power house The power is conveyed by
means of compressed air through a Lafel
turbine wheel and a six-inch pipe. At the
machine the compressed air rushes into a
receiver. where 1t is heated by the Injection
of a fine Jet of steam no larger than a pencil
point. This crusher is the largest of it's
kind in the United States. The foundation
is 81 feet deep in solid rock. filled up with
granite blocks IS inches thick. The weight
of the rock-bunkers, when full of rock. Is
nearly 5.DDOO,D pounds. The main shaft of
the crusher is about as large as the shaft of
the line-of-battle ship Oregon. Its capacity,
running a. full velocity, is 10 tons an hour.
or almost two tons of crushed rock per
minute. This great engine is a product of
home labor. 1t was built by the Union Iron
Works at cost of 10000. The total cost
of the plant represents an outlay If built
by ordinary labor. of $1Oo, 900 but the use of
convict labor represents an important saw
Ing TO the state. On the state property
there is unlimited supply of the finest
Kind of trap-rock for road-building pur-
poses. which the highway bureau is author
iZeG to use The cruSher IS operated by the
same agency which oversees also it's dis
tribution- For this purpose an elaborate
set of blanks has been prepared to insure
that all the rock sent out goes to the roads
for which it Is designated The contractor
must file applications with the mayor or
board of supervisors and with the bureau;
he must have all kinds of certificates from
the board of supervisors that he has been
granted the contract, and from the city
engineer that the estimates are correct be-
fore the rock is shipped.
We have much to learn from the Roman
people in the matter of road construction.
They had the greatest system of highways
the world has ever seen. At one time
twenty-nine great roads centered in Rome
and there were 800 state roads throughout
the empire.
These highways. which extended through
what is now Germany, France, Spain, and
even into England. and south into Africa,
were built to withstand the heaviest of
traffic They were eXcavated 4 feet deep
and filled with four solid layers of rock of
decreasing size. the bottom layer being of
solid rocks. hewn and fitted by hand with
mortar and cement poured into the inter-
stices- Smaller stones We're then laid in
and the top finished off with something like
the macadam of the present day. On these
great thoroughfareS the Roman prisoners
labored. and, in time of peace road-ma king
was the occupation of the soldiery. Oppo-
nents of convict labor usually base their OBJ
Jectlons on the ground that 1t throws out of
employment certain amount Of free labor
by the introduction into the market of goods
at low prices which would otherwise have
to be made by free labor. However, the
fact is that the convicts employed at rock
crushing in Folsom do not compete at all.
but actually create work for others The
fact is that rock crushed by outside labor Is
so expensive that it cannot be used by the
state or counties for road making at all;
whereas. the stone prepared by the convicts
Is supplied by the state for road building
at a nominal charge, te., that of the oil and
waste used on the machinery and the cost
OF transportation to the point where it is
to be used.