The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-24
SLATE FOR PAVING
e. w. PEET SAYS WHEN CRUSHED
1T MAKES AN IDEAL MA
TERIAL
MUCH USED IN THE EAST
Experiments Have Convinced Chair
man of Good Roads Committee
of Commercial Bodies That
1t Should he Used.

E. w. Peet, chairman of the committee
on good roads of the consolidated COM
mittee of the commercial bodies Of St.
Paul, is one of the ardent supporters of
the movement for the improvement o.
the roaGways of the state. He has thor
oLghly investigated the different Kinds
of paving that can be used in the state
and has done this with view to ob-
tanning data as to cost, supply and dura-
bility.
He expresses himself as being well sat
isfied with some of these experiments,
especially those with crushed slate which
has proven satisfactory in Pennsylvania
and certain parts of Europe. OF the suit
ability of using slate for paving purposes,
Mr.. Peet says:
u have recently thoroughly investi,
gated a new material crushed slate, for
making good pavement in cities and viii
la geS, and for coating country roads, par
ticularly in thickly settled portions. AL
though new to this section of the country,
crushed slate as pavement and a ma
terial for good roads is not an experiment.
1t is and has been used extensively in
Europe, where there are the best roads
in the world, and in Eastern PennSyl-
Yania, where the slate is abundant. 1t
has been used in making roads which are
noted for their good qualities. 1t makes a
smooth, elastic roadway and is one or
the cheapest and best materials that can
used is due, no doubt, to the fact that
slate quarries are not found in all parts
of the country.
Minnesota has an inexhaustible sup
ply. At Carleton, in Carleton county,
there are immense slate quarries and
there is now completed and in operation
large mill or mandatory run by water
lower, the st. Louis river for crushing
and grinding the material as well as for
making the best quality of brick, which
is uneXcelled for paving as well as for
building purposes
The material can be furnished at a
very low price and. as favorable arrange
ments can be made with the railroads
for transporting it, and as it costs very
little to lay it, it is a very economical
pavement. The cost of constructing road
ways or pavementS of this material, in
Guiding cost of transportation and eX-
pense of laying is less than half of that
of macadam. The great economy in the
use of this material arises from the fact
that it can be laid upon dirt without any
foundation of stone. The surface of the
street or road is smoothed and rounded
and from two to five inches of this
crushed slate spread upon the dirt and
covered with a coating of powdered slate
and rolled, or where there is a good deal
OF travel rolling is not necessary. It
packs and binds, does not crack, does
not cut through and forms a smooth,
hard surface, imperviOus to water, does
not wash out and can be easily kept
IN repair 1t never is muddy and requires
no more sprinkling or care to prevent It's
being dusty than macadam or asphalt
ut is particularly we'll adapted to resi-
dence streets IN large cities and to all
the streets of the smaller cities and VIII
lagos. A coating of this material two
or three inches thick on a country road
will make a fine, smooth, hard roadway
that is uneXcelIed by any other, as shown
by the actual experiences in Europe and
in Pennsylvania, and in Carleton and Clo-
quet and the roadways in that vicinity,
where it has been used for some time,
gives entire satisfaction
"A small section of pavement of this
new material has been constructed in
st. Paul and in Minneapolis on residence
streets and on business streets and it
is proving eninently satisfactory. This
material is certainly worthy of investiga-
ton by all interested in the subject, both
on account Of its excellence and it's econ
omy."