The Billings gazette., 1909-11-30
URGES PAVEMENT
CONSIDERATION
Mayor Desires That Property Owners
Will Give Serious Thought to
Material Desired.
TO START NEXT SPRING
Desire OF Council to Have Everything
in Readiness for First Work as Soon
rs Frost Leaves the GrOund-Gut-
ters Will BE Placed by Jan. 1.

Il wish that the people of Billings,
and especially the property owners, in
front of whose places pavement is de-
sired, will give serious consideration
to the paving question within the COM
ing few months" said Mayor Thomp-
son Yesterday THE time is not far
distant" continued the mayor, when
the city will have to take the first
steps toward creating the paving dis
riots and awarding the contracts for
the work, and liberal discussion OF
the matter before that time arrives
cannot but help the council in deter
mining what paving material the ma
jority of the people favor.
The paving problem is perhaps go
ing to be the biggest question the pres
ent city administration will have to
contend with. 1t is something that has
to be settled very soon, for no pro-
gressive citizen will urge that the paw
ling of the business streets be post
'poned another year, and next winter
must not find us with our main thor
;oughfares clogged with mud like they
,are at present But the matter of
what kind of material is desired in
paving is still much mooted ques-
.tion, and it ought to be settled at
once The committee in charge ex-
poets to have the ordinances and reso-
.lutions covering the first paving dis
:trict ready for presentation the first
:of the year, and it is hoped that there
will be no hitch and that the actual
work can begin just as soon as the
frost is out of the ground. Billings
ought to have the greater part of its
business district paved by this time
next year, and it is up to the people
to discuss the matter now and decide
how they want it paved. We have
samples of wood block, vitrified brick
and cement and granite blocks at the
city hall, and interested parties will
be welcomed to inspect these"
In the meantime work on the i'm
provement districts is progressing at
a reasonable rate, although the side
walks will by no means be laid with
in contract time.
! Philip Wesch, contractor for the ce-
ment cutters, has about two-thirds of
his work completed and if the month
of December is reasonably fair and
warm enough to permit a continuance
of cement work, it is expected that
the greater part of the cutters will be
in place by contract time, Jan. l.
The sidewalk work is progressing
slowly, largely on account of the fail
lure of material to arrive as promised
The contract calls for the work to be
completed tomorrow, but the records
of the city engineers office and the
estimate which will be presented to
the council at it's next meeting will
show that barely a fourth of the walks
called for are in. The sidewalk work
however, can be engaged in during
the winter months and large force
of workmen will be employed until
the job is completed. When it is COM
pleted substantial cement block walks
will border every street between
Twenty-fourth and Thirtieth and the
Burlington tracks and the Northern
Pacific right-of-way, as well as about
two miles of walks on the principal
streets south of the tracks.