The Topeka state journal., 1897-09-11
DETAILS OF PARADES.
Floats Should Not be Over Ia
Feet High.
Mr.. Patten VIII Provide "Wire
Lifters'' Wherever Needed.
Procession Cannot Countermarch
Where Floats are Large-Mat-
ters That Need Looking
After.

Those who are building floats for the
Fall Festival parades must be careful
not to build them too high. Last year
, several of the floats were wrecked by
the trolley wires before they had reach
ed Kansas avenue. The floats that
Dudley & Joslyn are building for the
Committee of Fifteen will not be over
u feet high. 1t is part of the contract
of the builders that they will furnish
wagons and horses and that the floats
Will appear in the parade and cover
the line of march without any disaster
Mr.. Dudley said: Last year we We're
told by the City railway officials that
the wires would be raised SO that 10
foot float would go under without be-
ing damaged but we had one of our
best floats badly damaged before it
reached Kansas avenue and we are not
going to have that happen this year. L
have measured the wires and the lowest
point L found was II feet inches and
we have built all our floats so that they
will go under this low place whether it
is raised or not. One of cur floats is 20
feet high but about feet of it is ar
ranged so that it can be lowered when
any low wires are reached. We had
the promise of the Railway company
last year that the wires would be rails
ed to a height of Is feet and they did
not keep that promise and this year we
are going to be prepared"
Mr.. j. NJ. Patten, general manager of
the City Railway company said: we
foot float will go under without being
damaged. The wires all along the lines
of march will be raised by men with
long poles. They will be raised, as have
said, 16 feet but they cannot be raised
any more than that and 1 would advise
people to make their floats IA feet and
not build them clear up to the limit of
16 feet. 1 know that some of the pa
rades will be very long and that the
wires at the different points will have
to be kept up all the time and this will
be done. 1t will take quite a number of
men to do it but the people can rest as
sured that we will carry it out as we
have Said.'
Some of the Santa Fe floats that are
being built in Topeka are between Is
and 16 feet high. Mr.. G. w. Kouns
has notified the different Santa F'e del
egations from out of town that their
floats can be 16 feet high and a great
many are being built within a few inch
eS of that height.
Some of the floats are nearly 16 feet
wide and the distance between the
wheels of some is IA to 16 feet. These
large floats cannot be turned in the
street but will have to go around a
block. The Santa F'e parade is expect
to countermarch on Harrison street
from Ninth to Fifth. This cannot be
done according to these estimates and
some other arrangements must be
made. When these large floats turn
corner it will take the entire width of
the street for them to turn in. They
will have to make a long turn from
one side of the street to the other and
if a part of the parade is coming in an
opposite direction on the same street
that they turn into it will cause a great
deal of trouble and delay.
The Committee of Fifteen has ar
ranged for the parades to form in the
vicinity of First street and to turn
south on Kansas avenue at First street.
1t seems to have been overlooked that
First street is used by the tracks of the
Rock Island railroad and there will be
some difficulty in turning the floats on
that street. By turning at Second
street the tracks will be avoided and
the parade will not have to leave the
pavement.
Topeka avenue from the end of the
pavement to the fair grounds should be
graded before the floats can be expect
ed to pass safely over. At present it is
in a poor condition and is on a slant
from the car tracks to the gutter. Many
of the floats are likely TO be racked to
pieces in going over it. If anything is
done, work should be commenced at
once and the road bed well rolled so
that the wheels of the heavy wagons
will not sink into the soft earth.