Year: 1873

Quaint Roads and Queer K0nds-Bad


Roads and Good Roads, Etc.


In the REPUBLICAN Of July IL nacad-
amized roads were discussed. and some Ia
cidents connected with :he origin OF this
system of paving were narrated. So much
attention is being pad in New Orleans, just
at this time. to the subject Of street paving,
that reference to other methods OF road
making will probably no: be without IN
teIest. The great necessity OF pro-
gressive city is system OF paving that
will combine durability and cheapness-
minimum OF dust and noise and maxi
mum Of adaptabi!ity to climatic influences.
and Of capacity for speedy and inexpensive
repair. The GOO or 200 miles OF Nnpaved
mud streets which now disfgure the great
city Of New Orleans and impede its COM
merce can no. long be tolerated. Economy
in city administration is ore thing, short
sighted parsimony is another. The annual
expenditures of the city would be I'm.
mensely diminished if 20. one cent were
paid GU: for wharf repairs. but the
back action in the way Of diminuition OF
commerce would more than Offset the saw
ing. Take the present condition OF the
wharves in the Third District to witness.
A temporary saving almost as great might
be effected by cutting OH the gas from
the street lamps, or shutting of tie
water from the street hydrants, but the
city in the end would lose ten dollars for
every dollar saved by those cheese-paring
expedents. Sooner or later the streets Of
New Orleans must be paved. and the
sooner the better for the commercial pros
perity of the city. The only question is how
best to do it! With view to throwing
some light on this question. let me briefly
explain the peculiarities OF the best known
system of paving, adding some information
about the modes of road making, which
will probably be little familiar to the
majority Of the readers Of the REPUBLICAN.


Wood pavement is as old as the hills.
Mr.. Nicolson and his confreres are enti-
tied mot to the merit Of having in
vented it, but to the still more remark
able merit OF having persuaded the gov
ernment of the United States TO issue q
patent for q thing that the grandfathers
and great grandfathers of every Puritan
descendant in Congress must have used q
century or so ago. The whole Of London
was paved with wood before .he great fire
of l665. In England and Germany. in Bel
GUM and France, wood pavements have
been successfully tried and emphatically
thrust aside. The only importan: street in
the whole of Europe that now remains
paved with wood is Lombard street. Lon.
don. the den of the great bankers. When
wooden pavements were abolished IN all
the other streets of the British metropolis
the bankers of Lombard street petitiOned
for and obtained the right to keep up their
wooden pavement at their own expense.
They said it deadened the Cound
OF passing vehicles. So it does. They
said it raised little or no dust. And they
spoke the truth. Cons equently they have
TO- day the dampest slimiest. most uncom-
Portable pavement in the whole city, and
nave the pleasure of rebuilding it every
year, at gradually increasing cost. Their
action was not much more patriotic or far
sighted than that of prominent merchant
Of New Orleans. who recently declined to
have the street in front Of his house paved,
on the ground that the slush road now ex-
isting kept away carriages and did not
trouble him with dust, and as he did not
keep a carriage himself, but was content to
use the cars. he much preferred that mat
.ers should remain as they were. ''Princi-
pie must be maintained as Sam Weller's
friend said when he ate half crowns
worth Of crumpets at one sitting and then
blew out his brains to prove that ''crumpets
was wholesome"


What reasonable man can ever expect
wood pavement to be successful in New
Orleans. Lodged in dampn ess. with sur
face exposed to the air, it must rot. Very
few pieces or blocks offer the same resist
ance to the wear and tear of the passing
traffic: timbers of different ages. some ma
tured, some ImmatuYed, form their compO-
nent parts; consequently the surface of
the street offers on unequal resistance and
Near. Humidity and air alone would be
sufficient so destroy the ordinary wooden
pavements without the aid Of common tar,
which unpractised minds have canonlzed
into q panacea for all the weaknesses OF
wooden pavements. and which freely used
completes the destruction which the other
agencies have commenced.


Asphalt roads are . little better than
wood, but not much. That is when you get


sphait, which you very seldom do. There
are many systems OF making asphalt
roads, and several kinds of asphalt and
material used as substitutes. Asphalt is
mineral pitch. to be found in Cuba and the
island of Trinidad in liquid state floating
OF lake commonly called the Oil Lake
I, is found in France extensively. particu-
larly the description called rock asphalt,
which is congelaton Of the DRAWINGS from
some not distant bed Of asphalt passing
into bed of limestone. This rock asphalt
is used extensively in Europe. and is found
efficient. The mastic II asphalt has to be
gravel and limestone, and all reduced to
powder SO that the paste is equaized in
consistency. Applied in this way, it has
been found tolerably useful for streets and
very good for sidewalks. and in climate
like that Of England aud France the rock
asphalt remains firm during the summer.


Asphalt mus. be entirely freed from any
mixture of clay. for the very purest
asphalt will crack even in sidewalks not
greatly exposed to the rays OF the sun,
presenting ugly assures if mixed with any
foreign material. Asphalt unsophsticated
is q mineral pitch. But inexperienced road