The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-11-01
ASPHALTEOR PAVEMENT
WONDERFUL GROWTH OF THIS MOD.
ERN SYSTEM OF ROAD MAKING.


An eminent scientist. with long
string of capital letters after his name,
has made asphaltum out of dead fish
and sawdust. The experiment wasa sue
cess-as IN experiment-but the pro
duct would hardly do for II Broadway
pavement; besides. II Is too expensive.
Scientists have also made diamonds.
and may do so again, but the stock
of the Kimberley mines Is still quoted
at premium. II Is reasonably GER
tain that. for years to come. the
worlds supply of asphaltum for pay
ture's storehousc.
Twenty-four years ago commission
of United States Government cngi-
neers had Pennsylvania avenue, from
the Capitol to the Treasury building,
in Washington, ID. c.. paved with as
phalt This was the first time asphalt
had been used i'm paving n thorough
fare on this continent To-day In 100
cities and towns In the United States
and Canada there are 26,000OO0 square
yards. or 300 acres. of asphalt pave
ment i'm use. The asphalt pavements
of this country it is estimated. would
make street twenty-SiX feet wide
and 1850 miles long. or considerably
more than the distance from New Norl,
to New Orleans.
For twenty years prior To the intro
duction of asphalt in America Il com
position of bituminous rock. composed
principally of limestone pounded fine
as Hour, was used in paving the streets
of some of the larger cities in Europe.
In all Europe there are little over
3,OOO,O0O square yards of this pave
ment to-day. whereas In the United
States there are being laid annually
about 2j00.000 square yards of as
phalt. The American composition is
mixture of sand and asphalt which
forms kind of artificial sandstone
which retains rough surface The
bituminous limestone rock of Europe,
however, taxes high polish under
continuous traffic and becomes cX-
ceedingly slippery, making it danger
ous in bad weather.
In the 5oroughs of Manhattan and
the Bronx. of New York city. alone.
there are 14j miles of asphalt pave
ment. and contracts have been let for
the construction of twenty miles addi-
tional The New York City contracts
call for the expenditure of Sl,3000O0
for asphalt pavement in the near flu
ture. These contracts require that the
pavement shall be guaranteed for
from ten to fifteen years.
Asphaltum. which only recently has
been made useful to man, was abun-
dant in the very backyard of early
Egyptian civilization, but there is No
authentic record to show that the en-
lightcned RameScs H., or the other
Pharaohs took advantage of the depos-
its. The shores of the Dead Sea in
Palestine are covered, in places. with
asphaltum, and il Is abundant near the
Caspian Sea. Asphnltum also occurs
in Brazil, Venezuela. the island of
Trinidad, Cuba and Mexico In Eu-
rope it is found in Val de Travers and
different parts of Switzerland and in
Sicily. In the United States asphal-
tum has been found in Kentucky,
Texas and the Indian Territory. but it
Is so sandy as to he difficult of prepar-
alton for commercial purposes.
In the State of Bcrmudcz, in Venc.
zuela, and In the island of Trinidad,
n British possession, just Off the Vcne-
zuelan coast and almost opposite the
delta of the OrlnoCo River, asphaltum
deposits assume the curious form of
large lakes. In general appearance
these deposits resemble Il sea of black
mud. This asphaltum is pure btu
men in nearly solid form. The Trim
idad lake" is about 10 acres In ex-
tent; that in Bermudez comprises
about 1000 acres The surface Is Just
sufficiently firm 70 support the weight
of n man. and may be walked upon
with ordinary precautlon. 1t would
not do to stand still in one place for a
very great length OF time, however. as
there Is danger that the person so
doing would gradually sink out of
sight. An article the weight of full
grown man If left in the lake" over
lowed up by morning.
The Trinidad and BermudeZ aspnal-
tum is distinguished for its cohesive
ness. This makes it valuable CONNER
clally. but would also make 1t exceed
lngly unpleasant for any one so
thoughtless as to drop off to sleep on
the surface of one of the lakes" He
might be chopped ont all right in the
morning and the sticky asphaltum
pried off with cold chlsel, but the eX-
pericnce would be somewhat dlscom
forting,
The lakes" have been sounded to
depth of over 200 feet and no bottom
reached TO the asphaltum, so it may
safely be said that the supply Is prac-
tlcally ineXhauStible. As the stuff Is
dug out more of 1t slowly oozes up
again into the hole thus made, ana in
short time, although carloads may
have been carted away, the surface of
the lake" is perfectly even, and there
Is no external evidence that the deposit
has been disturbed. These deposits
have been worked for years. Two
thirds Of the asphaltum used on the
streets of the cities of the United
States has come from them, yet so far
as outward appearances go they are
the same, almost, as they were when
the first carload was taken away.
Asphaltum OF good quality looks very