Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-12-13
C0t.DWEATHER ENDS
WORK ON FEDERAL
ROADS THRU COUNTY
CONSTRUCTION WORK ON wv
WAY HAS BEEN SUSPENDED
UNTIL, spRiNG--PoRTioNs or
I ROUTE WELL ON WAY TOWARD
! COMPLETION.

StWork IN the federal highway fror
~. Louis To Chicago by way of Spring
held. Peoria. Henry, Bureau, Depun
lrTtry Valley, Peru. La Sale. Ottawa
Morris land Joliet, which was con,
iIenced early in the fall, has been
suspended on account Of cold weather
OPERATIONS will he resumed in thu
spring as early as the frost gets gu,
. OF the ground and it. is possible to pre-
ceed with the grading ana laying 0
concrete. The roads under construc-
lion will be opened to travel durins
The winter and closed again in III,
spring when operations are resumed
To the cast and west of Ottawa
large portion OF the grading has bee,
completed. while In some sections tn.
contractors have gotten so far a. /,
lay concrete The road between
Starved Rock and JoneSville is faf
enough advanced to insure completion
IN the early spring Work on the sec
tons between Ottawa and StarvaD
Rock will be rushed, it is said. 50 thai
most o: 1t will be done by midsummer
The section between Putnam am
Bureau Is practically completed :,
fur rs the grading Is concerned ant
considerable progress has been mad,
between Bureau and DePue and also
between Spring Valley and Peru. Il
Il expected that the road bed on thos,
sections will have Sufficiently settled
during the winter months that tn
work Of laying the concrete can b.
started a. soon as weather condition
are right in the spring The cXcavat
ing work was finished before wintel
set In and forced the contractors Il
abandon further efforts.
II Is hoped that in the spring wort
can be started on the DePue-Spriny
Valley section. which was tied up las
year on account Of dispute over
right OF way through the village o.
DePue. This question has been salts
factorily adjusted through confer
erce held a week ago in Chicago b
which the Rock Island Railroad will
cede to the Chicago. Ottawa an
Peoria Railway a strip of ground
thirty feet wide from Sullivan's eros
ing TO the interurban station. in orde:
that the interurban tracks may bt
moved south to make room for tn
Ivy Way between the C.. q. K =
racks and the Mineral Point gin,
plant fence, an arrangement which
viii obviate two dangerous grad
crossings.
approximately three miles of co.,
crete have been completed in The 81
cinity of Henry on the Chillicothe sec
ton, where "A crew of twenty-five mel
and huge concrete mixer have bee
at work all fall The gang laid a.
average of 200 feet Of concrete. sly
I cen feet vide, each day. After tn
surface was made smooth it was coy
cred with ;arpaulin for day OF
Two. then wet down and covered witt
earth for thirty days after which tn,
road may be opened fer traffic.
The work on the highway which L
done with modern road building ms
chinery. attracted intense interest |
the communities along the route an
all fall farmers and city Iwellel
drove out to the works in large nun
bers to watch the "dirt fly" and Sc
IN" hard road take definite shape.
The sand and gravel and cement
aud other materials uscn in the con-
struction OF the hard roads were
hauled from Henry in huge army
trucks. After the grading was com
pleted and the surface rolled and
cUmpacted by ten-ton steam roller,
iron beams were staked into place
sixteen feet apart running parallel
with the roadway. between whic
the mixed concrete was deposited by
the huge mixing machine which wa
operated by gasoline engine, These
beams also formed the rails upon
which a tampfng machine was operat
ed. the tamping machine smoothing
and shaping the surface after the
wet concrete had been roughly spread
about by men with shOvels As
quickly as ten feet OF roadway was
the machine was moved
ahead an equal distance, the mixer
and tamper being mounted on trac
ton wheels. The water for mixing
the concrete was pumped through .
main from a small lake on the