Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1868 — The Streets of Chicago. [ARTICLE]

The Streets of Chicago.

Probably the most expensive eity in America to build so as to render it convenient for the truusactions of an immense business, has been UTS city of Chicago. Tnfl~origin:il site was cxcecdinirly low, scarcely’ above the level of* the lake and traversed circuitously nnd irregularly by a sluggish muddy river, whose banks were hardly above water line. The soil, except directly along the. lake shore, was deep, sodden, ” and naturally worse than most prairie soils for road beds and.for foundations of buildings to rest upon. . j I'p to the year IcTf, there had been no paving or planking done. But the increase of business rendered it an absolute necessity that something be done to render, less difficult the transportation of reoods, lumber and grain that come by the lake and by teams to the infant city. Planks .were resorted to for relief from unfathomable mire. But this was only temporary, and in a few months, in the rains aiiif frosts of spring ami-autumn, they were almost as bad, in some., cases worse, than the original earth. Ten years later there were twenty-seven miles of pjaiik road in Chicago. The authorities then began to remove it gradually and replace it with Macadam, as the quarries to the southwest of the city, M ore opened, furnishing a good;quality of material. Cobble stones word also tried, but did not ]>rovF :V success upon the unstable foundation furnished by thriiatural soil. During all these early years, people thought to get along upon the imturftl grade, but the difficulties and inconveniences increased.— Drainage under ground « v as imprac-. ‘ tiepble; cellars and basements were I out of the question : then followed [. the grand ide; l , of raiding the city i to a grade that siioufd give a chance for sewers, cellars, and dry streets. This great work cmninejievd with -the filling of the Court flense square, in 185(5, and hns extended over a very large share of tligbusi-” i uess part of the city, until at presi ent the streets are fromflveto seven tVet :ib<.>v.' the natural surface. The material for filling-lias. •in a great mea-uro, bedn obtained by dredging the river. 1 hese iilied-up streets, though much dryer than the original, are so soft as to render the orditian’ kinds of paving of liti tic x.-di;/ after b.-iiig a -hurttime in ' ns6, 4nd tl;e eity l:?.‘-”,e-.'’.me<iuently, i been sti.l >Jeet ed to bam y taxation to.. keep -ti-eets tliU' paved., in repair, j i The invention of Mr. Nicholson, of. I'Bosiur, ever, >;:’.ve _a solution ! HoTTh‘ •pic.-t'-n whether or not Chi-1 }es..-<rw: ; s todinve fine and penna- 1 ■m.-r.t Nrw. ‘(‘hier’.go was the first ch', t i -.-Ire eXtt'n.-ivc test to the’ Ni< bolson pavement, and the test has resulted in the most favorable ‘ i'lanm r. The first of it was put I -down by Mr. S. S. Greeley, in the j-ycnn>’,">o. 1’ eonsisti <1 of about i - 0 square yards on AV ells street, I between South 'Water and Lake Tb.is-g:rve-auch ’Complete' srti'-fe.eth n that after sgreral years of trinl this style of paving has been almost exchfsivoly adopted’ by the eitv. The method of laying down thl’t pr.vchient inav be thusdescrihed: The ground is first levelled or rounded-off, so as to conform to the grrnii , then cpyyrod evenly with a coating of sand, Next cmnes the -suhstrm'tur'', which is a boards an inch tiiicli. laid close together in eoiU’scslepgthwi<e of die street.' The -flooring i-- Well tarred on both sides with hot tar and pitch. Tpc.n tb.is substructure the upper strjUuni of blocks is placed, P-e of pine, sawcil tliree inched thick,'fi-ix inches long, and from six to ten inylies wide, and, after being dipped iii coal tai-; are set up on end across the- street from enrb to curb, with their broad faces fronting up ami down the-street. The first line of-blocks being thus set, a line -of pickets op strips of boards, three inches wide, are placed on edge between the rows, every row being nailed through the picket into the blocks and penetrating t-he board below, thus making the whole close and tight. Then another row of blocks dipped in’hut coal tar as before is set up against thestrip, and s<i on alternately until completed. There is left between eacli two epnseeutivc fotvs'of blocks a Continuous groove or ceJT, seven-eights- of an ijicli wide and tliree inches deep, -extendiug Tramjiurb to eurk. The tiffing of tlii'se grooved is tlfe next operation, and. tly? is— done with screened gravel and coal tar. The gravel is heated hut and then filled into the.eells level with the surface; the coal tar, after being boated, is poured upon the but gravel, until tlto’eells are filieiL The oompqsF’ tion thus formed, is compactly rai»j med dowm»«»*-The •wheioa-surface is then thoroughly covered with hot coni Mr mixed with pitch; and immediately covered with fine gravel and common sand;mixed in about equal proportions, thrde-fluarters of an inch thick. Vs hen this is done; the pavement ircfin'fpTete and ready ■for'use. Sime ISd;) the city has avoided paying the patent fee to MtzNioholson. by Varying the plan of construction in soinv of its par-, tieulan’., There hYt! now about liftoVn tftilAf tri'pavement hr the kitv. During the putt year, «bta«* ,' • .-■*‘4’ ”7.-- . . ' .

cihitractcd for at nn expense of-¥2,-082,432.55, • Tho liberal plan originally adopted in laying out the citr/ of Chicago, has been observed,rn the addition!) aniTsiilfldivisions which have from lime to time been made, and the result is that the streets, with but few exceptions, rufi at right angles, and are uniformly wider than those of any other city of equal size on the continent. There are now about mx hundred apiles“ of sidewalk, thirty miles having been added within the past year; in the business parts of the city all newly laid are of fine, largo stone, — Prairie Farmer.