The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-05-30
OUR MUDDY STREETS.

The rains of last week converted
the streets of Salt Lake City into a
sea of mud, disgrace to any civilized
community. No town or fair-sized vii
lage in the east is so badly provided
with roadways and sidewalks as this
metropolis of the Intermountain re-
gion. There is no good excuse for this
condition of affairs. An unlimited
supply of stone, granite and cement
Of good quality lie at our doors, and
the improvement of our streets in a
practical way could be accomplished
at very moderate cost.
Salt Lake is likely to grow rapidly
in wealth and population, but none of
US will live to See the day when we
can afford 70 pave all our wide resi-
oence streets from curb to curb with
asphalt, We must cut our coat accord
ing to our cloth and adopt some plan
within the means at our disposal in
dealing with the residence streets. We
enjoy the advantages of good natural
drainage and freedom from very Sc
we're weather which renders the prob
lem much simpler than in most cities
of the north and east.
Cement or granolithic sidewalks,
five or six feet wide, can be laid for
about one dollar per square yard, and
nothing more suitable can be got The
roadways should be boulevarded and
the driyeways narrowed up. A thir-
ty-foot driveway is ample for most of
our residence streets, and macadam
is good enough for our requirements
until we pass the quarter million mark
in population. There is not much
heavy teaming in the residence dis.
trict, and macadam roads sufficiently
solid for all reasonable requirements
can be constructed for $4,000 mile
The hills around the city are full OF
the right kind of stone, and the work
could be done by local labor under the
supervision of the city engineer. Nc
one need turn up his nose at macad
am. The famous boulevards of Chi
cago and the New York speedway are
nothing but that, and they are almost
as smooth as, and much pleasante1
to drive on, than any asphalt or brick
pavement that was ever laid.
One beauty of macadam road is
that it lasts forever. 1t requires to be
repaired from time to time, but SO
does any other pavement. The day
comes sooner or later when, asphalt,
brick, Belgian block or any of the
more expensive pavements become alb
solutely worn out, and have to be re-
built from top to bottom; but there
are macadam roads in England and
France today as smooth as billiard
table which are more than CEN
fury old. A little attention in the way
of keeping holes and ruts filled up
and rolling once or twice a year with
a good steam roller is all that is neces-
sary. The invention and development
of the modern steam road roller has
macadam in favor wherever
the public is sufficiently civilized and
imbued with modern ideas to appre-
ciate the advantages of good roads.
One roller does the work of dozen
horses and a score of men, and bears
the same relation to road-making and
repair that the reaper does to farm
work.
The losses sustained by our bust
ness men on account of muddy roads
and sidewalks are almost incalculable.
People, women especially, will not
come out to shop, and goods, outside
Of a few lines of necessary eatables,
will not sell themselves without being
seen. Salt Lake would be an ideal
place to live in were it not for this
literal stick-in-the-mud condition Of
most of the streets. A large number
If eastern tourists happened to be in
own while the rain was falling last
week. Almost anywhere in the east
hey have as much rain as that at this
season of the year, so the AMOUNT of
Moisture was nothing new to these
people; but it can safely be said that
he amount and sickness of the mud
vas revelation which did not do Salt
lake any good as an advertisement.