Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1899-12-02

| brought down to Main street in its natural
state and there dumped. Men with rakes
could separate the sizes and the coarser
stuff could be on the bottom, the finer
above and the sand and very fine gravel
be left on top. l showed why that svs-
| tenn would not work. He combats the
matter yet because he has discovered
underneath the mud OH our Main street
hard bottom presumably composed of
the gravel deposited there in DAYS gone
, by.
| Mr.. Hibhs has not kept up with the
times i'll the matter of road construction,
he does not know that there are books
printed, of several hundred pages con-
tanning simply the photography of road
making. lie does not know that the at
tempt to read such books alone would
consume the greater part Of mans life
time and he assumes that it is useless to
seek farther than Lewiston for examples.
He does not even give men credit who
have built roads and have experimental
with various kinds of paving materials
| No, he simply has discovered far, far
beneath the mud on our main street a
hard bottom and while standing on the
the edge of the sidewalk despatched with
mud he generalizes. 1t is strange and
to me an incomprehensible thing that
Mr.. Ribb's deductions from his obser-
street he has probed and found, differ so
much from the deductions of the tax
payers whom he sets himself up to
champion Many of the taxpayers have
depressed themselves as satisfied with
their thirty years or more experience
with gravel. They are willing now to
try crushed rock properly laid Next
they will take to asphalt, vitrifed brick
or wood. But Mr.. Hibbs stands on the
sidewalk watching the wagons bump on
the hard bottom so very far out of sight
and Eureka the pavement for Main
street is found. AT the same time they
want no more of its kind. They would
hate to lose it after spending so much for
it but they think the quality of goods
does not warrant increased expenditure
in the same direction.
Gravel can be used on a street for a
covering if properly done. In the first
place every stone more than an inch cube
should be thrown out. The earth should
| l. ,,,l :, 1,
sharp edges and angular corners should
be placed by hand; then the interstices
be filed with gravel not exceeding one
| inch in any dimension. 1t should be
: rolled hard On this should be placed a
layer several inches thick of gravel the
| same size and a thin layer of clay placed
| it hard. Then on top put about two
, inches of fine gravel not more than hal
e an inch i'll any dimension, with consid
cradle clay in it. Roll it hard. By con
e stantly patching and rolling, such ;
( gravel road can be kept looking well anc
e be made to wear well. But it will b.
: found by paving a block beside it with
v properly constructed roadway of crushed
1 rock (macadam), without binder, that thu
l city can afford to pay three times tn
il original first cost for the crushed rock
: over the cost of gravel, and at the end G
g ten years the costly (?) crushed rock pave
;. ment is really the cheapest by so pc
O 3cent. The crushed rock binds by reaso
IS of the angularity of its edges. The grave
= is compacted by reason of the clay actin
e as a cement. The cement occupies
IS large portion of the actual pavement.
e cements, and when it gets wet it ooze
lie out. Once the stones are set free froi
S, their cement they work like loose matt
At rial in a sieve. Then the pavement goo
Or to pieces 1t can be kept looking as we
ne as the crushed rock pavement, but ii cos
IS more. Therefore it is not suitab
st pavement when crushed rock is obtain
BILE at reasonable cost.
ct Local considerations affect the ado
ell ton or rejection OF materials for pawn
lie No general rule can be deauced as
ur which pavement any city should IL
Sc other than that the pavement which C
nj be constructed and maintained there
no the least expense is the best Rcmemh
at that it is the best for that particular
ON cality. If the people are not ready
en- brick, wood or asphalt, would advocf
ne properly constructed gravel roads ratf
ell than the present earthen roads, provid
nd there were no facilities for getu
To crushed rock. But with the excelle
Ell opportunity Lewiston has for getti
az rood roads of crushed rock it will
He foolish TO use gravel to any extent, If
,er is used at all. ERNEST MCCULLOUGH