Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-24
STREET PAYMENTS.
some Valuable Information from Promin-
ent Men of Other rCities-UnPleasant Ex-
periences in Toledo.

The people of Plymouth, especially
those who reside on streets which will
be paved during the present year, are
deeply interested in securing for their
streets the best pavement known. Just
what that pavement is is at present an
important query in the minds of many.
The ordinary cedar block probably
has few friends. Brick is greatly in
favor. 1t gives better satisfaction every.
where than any other paving material.
PAVEMENT EXPERIENCE IN TOLEDO, 0.
Anent street pavement the following
from the Toledo, o., Blade of Feb. Is
will be of more than ordinary interest:
"Since the engineer has discovered
the ruin cause on asphalt psvements
by the recent cold weather, quiet in
vestigation has been started on other
pavement5 in the city and some very
strange discoveries are being made.
Numerous new spots have been found
in the asphalt pavements which leads
| W lnC OCliCl thoO ocPhoiO pow
ment in the city is ruined, with the pos
sible exception of those paved last year.
Even the cedar block pavements have
not escaped. On one street the founda
tion was raised and cracks were noticed
all over the pavement. The cracks did
not run in zig gag manner, following
no of tho hlnaHc h,f n
split the blocks square in two. On Vir-
gInia street, the upheaval of the asphalt
has moved the curbiDg out of line in
some spots, and the depresslons In some
places are over six inches deep.
"a peculiar fact in connection with
this is that none of the brick pavements
are harmed, and scarcely any of them
show any effects of the cold weather
Even the engineers cannot explain this,
and it has been source of wonder all
day at the engineers office as to what
causes the brick paving foundations to
remain in condition, when the asphalt
is in such bad shape.
"a contractor said this morning:
Asphalt is all right for this part of the
the country so long as the temperature
will not go below two degrees below
zero. Four degrees below zero, if it
continues any length of time, will ruin
the best asphalt pavement in the
country"
AS TO CREOSOTED BLOCK.
indianapolis, while not the only city
in the United States that has given at
tentlon to creOsoted block, has probably
used it more than any other American
city. Its experience, therefore, is of
some value. w. 2. Fishback, of the
law firm of Fishback & Kappes, says:
indianapolis has been experiment
ing with various kinds of street paving.
We have now in use here the round
cedar block from Georgia, the asphalt
so called, the soft red cedar or pine
blocks from the Pacific coast: the brick
pavement, one macadamiZed street and
several streets which have been laid
with the southern pine creosoted. The
difficulty with the asphalt pavement is
that it is chemical compound that must
be prepared and put down at certain
temperature. 1t is almost impossible to
put safe guards around it that would in
sure 1t to be of the best quality. None
of our engineers have been able to test
it and sole reliance for the genuineness
of it is in the honesty of the contractor,
which, as far as my observation has
gone, is a very poor reliance. None of
our asphalt psvements have stood the
test during the five or seven years guar
antee and the cost of repairing them is
getting to be an enormous burden
upon the city.
"The advantages of brick or block are
that the material can be watched by the
assistants in the engineers Office in
such way as to secure q compliance
with the specifications. After all the
value of the pavementb of whatever
sort depends upon strict adherence to
the specifications and this, it seems to
me, can be secured better with the
southern creosoted block pine pavement
than any other"
1T is NOT A CRITERION.
Charles +. Smith, president of the
Indiana Bicycle company, Gays:
Our block pavement in Indianapolis
has not been long enough in use to be
very much of criterion.
"We have had couple of streets laid
with cedar block which lasted about IL
years. These were not replaced on sc-
count of the decay of the wood, but the
round blocks wore off and became very
rough and uneven.
1.-THE wood streets which we have laid
recently have been of soft pine creoso-