The Pensacola journal., 1907-06-14
Geo. w. Howe Tells of Their
Success on the Pacific
Coast.
FLORIDA SAND so PARTICULARLY
ADAPTED TO SUCH PURPOSES
AND OIL is THE ONLY OTHER
REQUIRED CONSTITUENT.

The Journal has recently published
several articles dealing with the eX-
pertinent which Duval county is about
to make in building a sample mile OF
oil and sand road. The use of oil and
sand for public highways seems to
have originated in California and the
following letter to w. II. Knowles, or
this city, from a Pensacolian who is
now in Los Angeles, is therefore par
ticularly interesting at this time;
Oil and Sand Roads.
"As an enterprising Pensacolian
and president of the Good Roads So
ciety, l want to write you about the
system of road construction here by
the mixing of oil and sand. Since
coming to California, | have paid a
great deal of attention to this matter,
and am satisfied this system is the
solution of the good roads problem of
the south. The invention of the roil-
ing tamper has removed the last OBJ
lection, and the latest constructed
roads and pavements out here are sim
ply superb-as good as macadam,
and much less expensive to build and
keep in repair.
Local Application.
''Of course on account or distance
from material, these roads could not
be constructed as cheaply in Pensa-
cola as here, but even allowing for
this, no other road of the same eX-
AceIlence could be built for as little
money. II is necessary to use an oil
that contains at least so per cent
asphalt, and so far as l know, the
California oil is the only one that
contains this asphaitic base, but the
experts here tell me, and are conduct
ing experiments to prove their asser-
ton. that it will serve the same pur-
pose to take the pure asphalt and mix
with some light oil-say of Kentucky,
as the Texas oils have too much sui
phur.
How to Go About Il.
eff this is so, We could get the
natural asphalt from Trinidad, mixing
il as used, which would probably
come much cheaper than the Califor-
MIA article.
The actual cost of constructing the
best roads here is 1& to cents per
square foot, according to soil, and
the Petrolithic pavement people figure
that by getting the natural asphalt
as above, the cost would not exceed
8 cents in Florida-posSibly less.
'I am speaking of the best form
of construction, as an ordinary oiled
road could probably be built for con-
siderably less. They claim, which my
observation of roads here confirms,
that the purer the sand the better the
road and there is no question in my
mind that old Pensacola sand, mixed
with the right oil and properly
tsmped, would make an ideal road or
pavement.
Sand Like Santa Rosa's.
Here at Santa Monica, right on the
beach, with sand like Santa Rosa
Island, only discolored, they have con-
structed a superb boulevard that one
would mistake for macadam, simply
by properly mixing the oil and sand,
and then compacting by the rolling
tamper. A fine place for testing this
system would be the county road be-
tween Big and Little bayous.
II am satisfied that as soon as the
south wakes up to the beauty and
utility of these roads, there will be
great demand for them, and there will
be piles of money to be made by the
people who are first in the field with
the proper equipment and material