Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1908-05-18
BRICK VERSUS
WOOD BLOCK
DATA BY TnLS0N, REPUTED TO
EXPERTS ON STREET PAVING
IN THE UNITED STATES.

10 the Editor of he Evening Teller:
In reply to an article written by
Mr.. A. W. Kroutinger in the Morn
ing Tribune, desire to say that in
looking up his data IN the book pub
lished by Tillson, he undoubtedly
overlooked some very important
statements pertaining to both the
WOOD block and the brick pavements.
VIII endeavor to mention few
OF them and refer him to the num-
Der of the page upon which he can
find them.
AT page 299 is an article written
by the board of public works for the
Strand district in London, viz:
The system of laying wood
blocks during the past 20 years has
little altered. and the best pavement
Is considered to be the soft wood
(Baltic TIMBER creosoted and laid
with small joints. The cost of main
tanning 114,215 square yards in the
parishes of st. Margaret and St.
John for the year was So cents per
square yard"
At page 303, relating to the wood
block pavements used in France, Mr..
Tillson says that Norway spruce and
f!r were used at, first, but later pine
from the southern parts of France
and some pitch pines from Florida
have given better results Still later,
Australian woods have been used.
The average life of the pavemnts
has been from eight to nine years"
At page $685.:
ANY extended writing about the
wooden pavements of the United
States must of necessity be princi-
pally history. While during the
past 80 years many million yards OF
wood pavements have been laid, at
the present time there are few cities
that ar laying them to any xtent."
At page 300:
Spruce street in Philadelphia
was laid with hemlock, but soon
showed decay. Chemically treated
blocks also soon showed decay. FL
nally, in consequence of the slip
perry nature of their surface, their
deficiency in durability when of or
binary timber of their expense in
the ultimate, and in view of the re-
suits of experiences as far as they
have become known to us, we are re-
luctantly impelled to the conclusion
that wood pavements ought not al
the present time to be recommended
as part of the general system by the
city of Philadelphia"
The same committee also added
that since the report was writer
they had learned that the authori-
ties of New York city had determin-
ed to take up their decayed wooden
| ravements and relay them with
stone.
At page 81:
"Mr. M. A. Bowling, president o
| the board of public works, read be
fore the American Society of Mu
nicipal improvements, at Toronto
| an article, from which the following
remarks are TAKEN.
"'The almost universal failure o
wood street pavements in this coun
try has generally been the fault o
the engineers in selecting suitable
wood, or in taking proper precau
| ton to prevent it from decay. Ate
studying all the wood pavements II
this country and Europe, the In
dianapolis authorities laid red ceda
blocks, which were shipped from tn
state of Washington, without an,
treatment. Some little trouble wa
experienced on account OF tn
blocks bullying, and mainly OF
streets paved with plain blocks, blu
some trouble also occurred will
creosoted blocks"
In conclusion, Mr.. Tillson says, OF
papge 32S, that the experience o
the different cities that have trie'
wood as a paving material has beer
such that a pronounced success mus
be obtained before it will be agail
r:pyp. paragraph d:wk f T S II
taken up as a paving material. be
sides its lack of durability, 1t ha
teen objected to seriously on &C
count of it's unsanitary qualities
The varieties OF wood that hav'
been used in this country have ap
sorbed water freely, which has beel
as freely evaporated in warm wealth
ell, this being one cause of its un
sanitariness. This objection coui
probably be overcome to a great ex
tent. If not wholly, by chemica
treatment, but as it is claimed b.
many psychologists. no unhealth
germ exists in the wood itself, bu
/, is extremely doubtful when tn
success of brick and asphalt is con
sidered, that wood will ever come Il
favor in this country as a PAWN
material.
In regard to brick pavements, MI
;, Tillson SAYS, on page 259, that Steu