Daily camera., 1897-08-10
SIGNS OF PROGRESS.
A. Sure Indication of Growth In
American tiles
The Number of Miles of Street Pave
ment Shows Their Material De-
velopment-SOme Inter-
estfnE Figures.

There is no surer way of determin-
ing the growth of an American mu-
niCirality IL respect of material devel-
opment than by comparing the relation
which it's paved streets bear to it's un-
paved. The civil engineer is an impor-
tant functionary in the foundation Of
municipal corporations in the United
States, and especially in such of them
as are in the region west of the Ale
ghanies. Iut street .aveEents are ex-
pGasi~e, AID it is not until a city is
opule1t enough to enjoy the luxury of
d big municipal debt and q large credit
that the question of modern and i'm
proved pavements secures adequate at
tention.
In Boston, for instance, one of the old
cities, there are 312 miles of paved and
14O miles of unpaved streets. In Balti-
more there are 306 miles of paved and
only At miles of unpaved streets. In
Philadelphia there are 942 miles of
paved and 433 miles of unpaved streets.
But in the newer cities of the country
this condition is reversed, and Chicago,
which has 1000 miles of paved, has
1,500 miles of unpaved streets. In St.
Louis the number of miles of paved
streets is 370 and of unpaved 500. In
Omaha there are 50 miles of paved
streets and $50 miles of unpaved. In
Minneapolis, a city which is growing
rapidly in population, there are 9S
miles of paved and 500 miles of un-
paved streets. In Brooklyn there are
SIS miles of paved and 999.5 miles of
,npaved streets. The pavement of
Brooklyn streets, which is now a sub
Iect of local grievance and complaint,
shows a certain fbackwardness, which
it is expected the Greater New York
project will do away with by making
available the municipal credit neces-
sary for the issuance of bonds for new
pavements. At the present time
more than 260 miles of Brooklyn streets
more than one-half the whole length
of paved streets-have the primitive,
unsatisfactory and unpopular cobble-
stones. There are 10 miles of streets
paved with granite, 60 miles, especial
ly in the neighborhood of the parks
and parkways, macadamized; Al miles
paved with Belgium blocks, 40 miles
with asphalt, and one mile with still
more primitive method, practically un-
known to New York, though quite ia
miliar in Philadelphia-brick pave
ments. A meeting was held in the
annexed district of Brooklyn last week
for the purpose of agitating the ques-
ton of the improvement of the pave
ments of that city, but in this respect,
as in some others, Brooklyn, for OBJ
vious reasons, is much behind New
York.
In this city there are no streets
paved with brick, and there is less than
one-quarter of a mile of cobblestone
pavement in all. This is to be found
in one of the streets of the Ninth ward.
There is a small section of town-a par
ton of one street-paved with wood,
but wooden pavements have long ago
been voted failure in practical opera
ton in New York. The city has 105
miles of granite, 142 miles of macad-
amized roads and streets, "a miles of
asphalt. and 90 miles of Belgium pave
ment. The city Of Philadelphia, much
larger territorially than New York, has
81 miles of Be. rum block pavement,
172 of asphalt. 152 macadam, 76 ofvetri-
fed brick, II of granolithic, three of
Stag. and nearly 200 of coFDblestone.
The growth of an American city is
shown clearly by the number of miles
Of improved pavement in streets, and
it is believed by public works officials
that after January l, 1898, there will be
a visible improvement in all the pave
ments Of the city outside of its present