The Iola register., 1901-10-25
lola IS SURE A HUMMER
IL is Astonishing What One Can See
by Driving About the East Side
These Days.

Visitors come to lola and are driven
about aud go wild over the town, its
present growth and its evident future.
And the old residenter listens, smiles
complacently and decides the visitor
is from some sleepy old village. But
the lola man who will get out and
spend the time required to wander
over the east side will himself be en-
Unused by the hustle and stir.
out in Brooklyn Park rows OF
houses have sprung up since spring,
neat home-like houses that somebody
is living in They are cottages, most
of them, containing four to six rooms,
but they are neat, clean, painted and
have gas and waterto make life enjoy
able Store buildings are going up
in "Bricktown, " which by right ought
TO be christened more suitable name.
The streets are busy, teams coming
and going, dirt, brick, iron, lumber
ties, rails, groceries and country pro-
duce Do every street wagons are
passing
There are the foundry, the planning
mill, the vinegar works and Nichol-
sons smelter further east, all chug-
ging away for dear life and switch
engine snorting up and down adds to
the scene. Then the Standard Acid
Works looks bigger every time you
see il. The mammoth condensing
buildinc in which train loads of sheet
lead have been placed, the three huge
furnace blocks, all keep workmen
busy
Gangs of men are excavating the
roads along the street railway and
others are finishing the grade of the
road from the old townsite to Rock
Creek. Looking out east the road APP
pears lined with tall poles, on one
side line of telephone poles, on the
other the tall poles, straight as an ar
row on which the arms for the trolley
wires and the line Of the long distance
phone are strung, Bricklayers are
finishing the wall of the l20 foot car
barn for the electric line u short dis
tance this side of Rock Creek. and
workmen are laying the concrete
foundations for the engine and boilers
in the power house, which is finished
up to the roof The machinery is eX-
pected any day and the concrete ioun
dation will be ready, with huge bolts
imbedded in six feet of solid masonry.
A 350-horse power engine. all but new
as it was used but few months when
the line owning it was sold, will be
given life by two $50 horse power
boilers. The car barn adioins the
power house on the west and switch
from the street car line crosses to it,
Water for the plant is secured from
Rock Creek, which swings close to the
plant on the north,
One of the most interesting sights,
however. is the new cement bridge just
being finished for the road over Rock
Creek, few feet south of the old iron
bridge. 1t it l20 feet long and con-
sists of three arches. The difficult
part of the work was to build wooden
framework that would not give. This
was accomplished by building three
half wheels the rims OF which consist
of a solid semi-circle of two by four
scantlings. A wedge at the hub can
be knocked out aud the entire frame
work loosened so it will collapse and
the scantling may be removed and the
bridge rest on its own weight. The
foundations were eXcavated to solid
rock in the creek bed On this the
three arches, connecting where they
rise from the ground and the sides eX-
tending so as to present solid face,
save where the three arches permit
water to pass under. The holes be-
tween the arches will be filled with
dirt the walls smoothly cemented and
an ornamental coping made along the
top on the side walls At the sides
over each arch protrudes handsome,
grinning lions head, The bridge is
drying out and will soon be one solid
rock which those who know say will
last for years and years, needing no
repairs, never iarring and getting bet
ter with age. Mcclure ANA Guy, the
local concrete company, are building
it, and it should prove al ohiec' les
son to both the city and county in,
bridge matter if it proves all that is
expected.
Barring accidents of delay and bad
water thirty days will complete the
electric line, says Mr.. Crouch, who
took REGISTER reporter over tn
line recently. And the whirl of
the electric car will not make a adiscord
in the hum of industry which is going
up from lola right now. She's the
best town of her size on earth and you
can't make her Go Way Back and Sit