Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-01-31
GUM WOOD IN TOWN STREETS
USE For DEsPIsED TIMBER WHICH
MAY MAKE 1T VALUABLE

MAY MAKE 1T VALUABLE.
The black and tupelo gum trees,
which find their ideal home in the
Dismal Swamp and other marshy
places of the South Atlantic and Gulf
States, will probably play an impor
tant part in solving the street pay
ment problem which vexes the Off GERS
Of every municipality. Experts who
have experimental with the timber of
this tree, which hitherto has been con-
sidered almost worthless. say that it
makes an ideal paving block when
properly preserved.
A representative of a large wood
preserving company of New York,
which makes speciality of the manu-
facture of street paving blocks, has
just left Washington after confer-
ence with officers of the forest service
regarding methods of wood preserya-
tion. His company is now dealing
almost exclusively in black and tupelo
gum and he is highly elated with the
experiments which have been made.
Wood is now considered the strong
est kind of factor among the mater
ials from which the ideal street pave
ment of the future will be manufac
tured. 1t is pract cally noiseless. and
this quality is very desirable in large
cities where there is much traffic.
/ When properly preserved and laid, the
best wood pavements are said to resist
wear and tear as we'll as any other ma
terial now in use
Wood received bad reputation as
a paving block in this country when it
was laid In various cities a number of
years ago. 1t failed because Amer.
cans at that time knew practically
nothing about wood preservation for
paving woods, laying the wooden
blocks just as they We're sawed. Of
course, wear, tear and weather soon
made the pavement almost unfit for
use. Foreign nations first made sue
cessful experiments in the preserva-
tion Of wood used for paving, and now
Uncle Sam has also learned some very
important things about the manufac.
ture of wooden paving blocks and in
some respects has gone the European
manufacturers one or two points bet
ter.
The company, whose representative
has been in Washington comforting On
those matters of wood presei vation,
has just completed three cylinder
treatment plant at Norfolk, Va,
where the wood will be impregnated
with creosota and rosin by the pres
sure cylinder methods. The natural
of the wood makes it wear
we'll, and the chemicals forced into
the fibre will render 1t immune from
decay for many years
The turning of black aud tupelo
gum to account. on SO large a scale. is
q matter of Importance In connection
with the waning timber supply.
Lumbermen haYe always considered it
an inferior wood. Except for SPECIAL
uses. such as mauls, malIets, board for
wagon and cast beds, and for other
purposes where a wood is wanted
which will not split. black gum has
been rejected by farmers and lumber
men. It grows over toIerably wide
region, and is abundant on the low,
marshy lands near the coast of The
Southern States. 1t finds it's ideal
home In the Dismal Swamp, where
other woods, especially cypress, once
grew In great abundance
Severe tests have shown that black
and tupeio gum, when given q proper
preservative treatment, is an excellent
material for street paving. The blocks
are cut to stand on end about three
inches thick, four inches wide, and
about eight inches high. The wood
Is not very hard, but its toughness
gives 1t superior wearing qualities.