The Oskaloosa herald., 1906-08-30
PLEASED With WORK
CURLING Contract Satisfactory to
People of Watseka

The Watseka, (Ills.) Republican
of August %, has the following words
of praise for local people and their
work:
"The work on the Mulberry and
Cherry street improvements is being
rapidly pushed. The macadam on
Mulberry street is about finished
while the combined curb and gutter
work for both streets is all done, the
job accepted, the contractor paid and
both the board of local improvements
and Mr.. Carbon are happy.
For square dealing the Carbon Con-
struction company, Of Oskaloosa,
| Iowa, sets a fine example. The COM
pany not only fulfilled their contract
to the letter but did even more. For
instance, the ordinance stated that
the curb wall must be five inches
thick and that the depth from the top
of the curb to the gutter must be tlve
inches. The flange or gutter part
also had to be five inches thick. The
members of the board inspected the
work at different places and the mea-
surements in most cases showed near
er six inches than five. Mr.. Carbon
in estimating on the material prepare
tory to bidding figured on $50 barrels
of cement, but he used about 200 bar
rels more. Although the ordinance
called for a coating three-eighths Of
an inch thick, the completed coating
is more than this.
"The members of the board of local
improvements feel that the city had
square deal and have only words of
praise for Mr.. Harry Carbon, the jun
ior member of the firm, who superin-
tended the work.
Mulberry street now is one of the
handsomest streets in town, and it is
doubtful if any country town can show
any prettier. The addition of the
gutter greatly enhances the appear
ance of the street Mr.. Carbon has
recently put in $4,000 feet of the same
work in Danville. The finishing on
such work is the important part, and
the work on Mulberry street is all
that could be asked for. 1t is not an
easy matter to get the curbing in a
straight line but in this respect Mr..
Carbon was successful. The drive
ways to the lawns are perfect and the
graceful round corners at the inter-
sections are geometrically correct and
are pleasing to the eye.
"The advantage of having a gutter
in combination with the curb is self
evident. The place where most Of
the scraping is done when the streets
are cleaned is hard and will stand the
wear and tear. The old principle,
make the corners strong" applies in
street building the same as anything
else
"The material used is also of vital
Importance. This is composed Of
crushed stone and cement. A heavy
wagon accidentally bumped against
the curbing and broke off corner.
The grouting was so solid that the
small stones which were in the course
of the crack were split in two instead
of being pulled out.
SIX weeks were required 10 do the
work on Cherry and Mulberry streets
and sixteen men were employed all
the time. The material was manu-
featured on the ground. A machine
which has been on the market but a
short time was used to mix the COM
position and it was run by gasoline
engine. 1t turned out about $50 cubic
feet day. This machine can mix
better and finer than man can and
of course much faster. 1t is of an
improved pattern and the products Of
older machines suffer by comparison"
/ Bio Ear of Corn.