The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-09-02
! CONTRACT AWARDED.
Paving Jobs Go to the McCar-
thy Company.
Lowest Bidder Lands Contract
This Afternoon.
The Property Owners Express
Their Views.
Jackson and Broad to be Paved
This Fall.
From Saturdays Daily.

From Saturdays Daily.
The board of public works met at l:3O
o'clock this afternoon and considered
the paving bids. All of the aldermen
in the city were present, as well as sew
raj interested property owners. After
a discussion lasting an hour and
quarter, the contract for paving Front.
Jackson and Broad and Lincoln streets
was awarded to the Mccarthy Improve
ment company of Davenport, Iowa, the
lowest bidder 1t is intended to have
Jackson and Broad and Lincoln streets
paved this fall and perhaps let Front go
until spring.
When the board was called to order,
the bids were taken up separately, and
those of the A Jacks company of Chi
cago and the Western Construction COM
pany of indianapolis were rejected be-
cause of irregularities in the bonds or
in not complying with the specifications.
President Porter stated that the bids
of the Barber Asphalt Paving company
and the Mccarthy Improvement COM
pany were proper in all particulars, and
that the Mccarthy company was the
lowest bidder on all of the streets.
A petition was presented asking that
I Bermudez or Pitch lake asphalt be used
in the pavement of South Broad and
Lincoln streets.
Engineer Thompson moved that the
contract for the paving of Front, Jack
son, South Broad and Lincoln streets be
awarded to the Mccarthy Improvement
company at their bid, being the lowest
bidder. President Porter seconded this.
Assessor Jordan asked whether the
Mccarthy company could complete the
work this fall.
President Mccarthy replied that the
specifications allow ninety days for the
completion of the work, and that the
work can be completed if the weather
is suitable, but he had understood that
winter closes down after Oct. 18th, in
which event concrete could not be laid
after that.
c.. NJ. Carpenter, representing the Bar
Der company, addressed the board at
some length. He compared the merits
of the Trinidad Pitch lake, Bermudez
Venezuela and California asphalts, main
tanning that actual experience has shown
the Trinidad to be the best, but that
theorists all pronounce the Bermude2
the best. His company bid on either
kind. While Trinidad asphalt has been
barred from two boroughs in New York
city, California asphalts have been bar
red from the entire city. The Trinidad
is not barred from Washington, in
spite of Professor BOWS report The re-
port against Trinidad in New York was
made by committee appointed by Tam
many, and politics cut figure with it.
City Engineer Rutan of Winnipeg classes
the asphalts in the following order:
Venezuela, Bermudez, Trinidad. Mr.
Carpenter spoke of the long experience
that the Barber company has had in lay
ing pavements. 1t has laid the finest
pavements in the world, and some poor
ones, but the latter had been the costli
est, as it had to repair them, and it
had learned from experience how to
avoid mistakes. Its pavements are
worth more to the property owners than
other pavements. The California as
phalt is artificial, not natural, being
a distilate of petroleum. The Mccarthy
company has never laid any asphalt, al
though it is good and reliable COM
pany
Carl Dice presented a petition from
Front street property owners, asking
that Bermudez or Trinidad asphalt be
used. He said that he did not like to
experiment.
A. G. Meyer thought that the contract
should 60 to the lowest bidder, if it
gave proper surety bond.
Alderman Jorgensen said that he had
seen some very poor work done by the
Barber company, and some of the best
pavements he had ever seen were laid
by other companies. He referred to the
Barber company as great money power,
and favored the other company, which
he thought just as responsible and de-
serving. If he had time he could get
ninety nine per cent of the people of
the city to sign petition for the Nc
earthly company.
W. J. Merchant favored letting the