How the Streets of a City Are Surfaced B- ; ; ; fffK HOM,INO TIIK STONE IIASE WITH 1110 HOLLER Photo by n Staff ArtlBt. PUTTINO ON TIIK ASPHALT SURFACE Photo by n Staff Artist T IWKNTY years ago lliurn was not u foot Of HHplllllt street paving ill Omaha. UiHt Tuesday night wan laid llit laxt Hiimru yard of a ill J -trlct that briMiKlit tliu nggrcgutu Ui to 31. C mlli'a of HtroolH covered with tlilH material. Tliat first Job ilono two decades ago was ot nn expense of $2, 1)8 a 8(iiaro yanl. The work of this fall ami winter Man been no cnmpllshcd at an nvernge cost of $l.f0 a square jard. That Ih exceedingly low, much lower than any llguro that lias before been secured In normal (lint's. In lS'.i", however, when tin' big competitive light between three pnvlug comianles was on, Omaha illil some paving at a price of $1.10 a square yard. Omaha wiih u pioneer In asphalt paving. The II i Hi work of (bat kind done In the Fulled .States was of an experimental sort In llrooklyn In 1870. Fifteen years later there were but two cities In the countiy that had as much asphalt on the streets as tliu (late City. Omaha now stands seventh In the list. When the llrst asphalt was laid hero only two cities, Washington ami llrooklyn, had any nt all. The last thirty days has Been a race be tween tliu pavhiK companies and Jack Frost In Omaha. Dolnyod by IUIkIoiir complica tions (ho city engineering dupnrtmi'iit de spaired for a tltno of over gutting Btnrred on the. work planned for this year. When all obstacles were finally clenred away and the labor begun It was put forward with a rush. As a result thero Is now 10,000 yards ot additional asphalt surface for street trnvel. Aee omiillnliiiient In Iteinarl. utile. This Is faster than paving was ever before laid In Omaha and the most satisfying feature of It nil Is that the work Is well done. The mixture lias been even richer than usual this year, ami the layers bavu been rolled and compacted I ImiDUIily, UioukIi rapidly. Thi) total length of the streets that have been covered In this short time Is two miles, and that Is a great deal of paving to lay In thirty days, It has meant absolute, system, extensive equipment and tliu em ployment of great numbers of men and teams. At one time during the progress of tho work on Twenty-eighth street thoru were 120 men working on tho spat, llesldes this there wero llfty more getting out tho ma terial at tho plant and 100 more driving wagons to and fro with loads ot tho com pleted mixture. Most of tho work this fall has been dotio by the Western P.ivlng and Supply company PUTTINIi ON TIIK FINISHING TOUCHES WITH A "LlOIlT" STEAM HOLLER-Photo by a Staff Artist. The Cranl Paving company did the re mainder, about MOO nquaro yards. In addi tion to tliu entire repavlng ot streets done In tho last month thcru was mime, patch lug earlier In the fall, the total expense of Ibis being J S.r.OO. This Kin also of asphalt and l.fiOO yards were laid In tho holes on Sixteenth street, while It took 3,000 moro to repair Cuming street. All the work dono since November 1 has been repavlng and In all cases It has been a matter of replacing cedar blocks with as phalt. That has done nway with the neces sity of laying a concrete base, for tho six Inch bottom ot this substance which sup ported tho blocks was used again. I'ecnllnr I'entnre nf Kepin Inn. This has greatly facilitated the repavlng although some time was consumed in (tiling in the extra depth with broken stouo. Ctilar blocks aru six Inches long and they tiro set on an inch ot sand. This makes seven Inches above tliu concrete which must be tilled In order to keep the pavement at Its old level. The asphalt top surface is but an Inch anil a halt In thickness, the binder of the samu depth. That leaves four Inches to go. llrokcu stone is called into service as a substantial material for the tilling Wero It not for the fact thai the height ot the surface must bo main tallied, this stone could be left out with no injury to the pavement, and it is not used m the original asphalt paving. Hostile the low cost pur square yard this repavlng Is In still another sense n light llnanclal burden to tho taxpayers who must eventually settle for It. Poyment Is provided for on a ten-year basis. Tho ex pense to each foot of abutting property Is divided equally over this period of time, m that In few cases will It become, a troublesome tax and In none an oppression. These 10,000 square yards of broken stone, binder and asphalt represent a great amount ot material, both In quantity and weight. In the llrst place, 320 carloads of broken stone were used In tho base. This An s laid In depths varying from four liuiics to nine. Tho total weight ot It was about 0,000 tons and Its slzo 7,000 culil. yards. In the binder that came next were i.lo cars of small stone, or 2,300 cubic yards, and fifteen cars of Trinidad asphalt, or 30'j tons. Hinder stone ranges down from Inch square blocks to those of pea size. Next came the top layer, the asphalt surfacing. This comprised fifteen more cars of asphalt, ninety cars of sand, or 1.S00 cubic yards, eighteen cars of lime stone dust, or 210 cubic yards, and 100 bar rels of oil. liriiaku Mnlerhi! In I'nimI. This material Is gathered from all parts of the country The asphalt comes from Trinidad Island, off the coast of llrazll. From tho sandheds of tho Missouri and I'latto rlvors come that Ingredient. The stone Is from quarries at Weeping Water. Thus a Kinslderablu portion of Omaha pavement Is of Nebraska products. Tho three layers aro put down in the order named, stone, binder and asphalt. Each Is rolled ami compacted. No special period of time need Intervene between tho laying of one and the addition of the other nbovo It. Tho uso of tho binder Is a comparatively now method. It Is found to bo tho best satisfactory method of binding and Inter locking thu wearing surfaco to tho bnse. Another method Is to have a layer ot as phalt In place of this binder, nnd the wear ing surface on top of this. Of very slmplo composition Is tho binder. It Is raeroly a mass of stoncB glued together with tho bitumen or asphalt. The wearing surfaco, or what Is known as tho nsphalt Itself, Is more complicated In Its structure, This top layer is In reality but an artificial sand, stone. In which tho asphalt and oil comprise the matrix which keeps tho sand together. Its Impervlousness Is rendered still moro absolute by tho addition of tho limestone dust, which nils every little crovico and Intorstlco loft between tho grains ot sand. Tho proportion of the components In tho asphalt layer shows that it contains but n small amount of asphalt. Fully 80 per cent Is sand. Five per cunt more Is oil and limestone dust. The other 15 per cent Is tho bitumen. This asphalt Is very pure, be ing refined at Long Island. It Is hewn out In chunks nt Trinidad by miners with picks, and shipped to this country In that condition. At the refineries all tho foreign substances are removed, liquefaction being tho principal process. Then thu asphalt comes to tho Omaha plant In barrels, solidi fied onco more. Hero It Is melted In great cauldrons, and then the mixture is made In vats. When sand, dust, oil and asphalt aro properly commingled to the desired consistency, tho v. win int-it-ii I'd in I in 1 1 I mi in m'iMrwi iirtsti.- ".imnis, especially prepared to keep It Cot till It reaches the plaeo where It will bo laid. It leaves tho plant with a tempera ture of 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and Is nuver below 3S0 degrees when It arrives on the scene. The workmen nre ready to receive It, and here Is where they put In their careful work. Tho hinder lies ready nnd tho top layer Is dumped on In wagon loads. Then It Is quickly scattered and n huge steam roller run over It, compacting, leveling nnd smoothing It. In cold weather, when It la feared that the compowltlon will cool too much boforo tho big roller can do execution, a very small roller Is first used, then larger ones by degrees. Places along tho sides which tho roller cannot reach aro smoothed with heavy Iron mirfnees on n handlo which men heat In a nearby flro nnd shovo hack and forth along tho spots where nttcntlon Is needed. CleurliiK Anil) I lie llulililoli. Tho task Is completed, but the millions of old half-worn paving blocks which wero torn up from tho concrete base in all theso district Just completed nro yet to be ac counted for. A glniico through tho back yards and woodsheds of Omaha peoplo will show where tho cedar has gone. Tho poorer classes swnrm nfter thu blocks all day long by tho hundreds, bringing overy method of conveyance, from nn apron to n wagon and team. They will tnko all they can got. and tho paving peoplo never have any troublo In gutting rid of this material. Other peoplo buy them In largo quantities, hiring men with wagons to got them. Fuel Is tho object of nil. Tho sand, meanwhile, and tho small chaff nnd rubbish from tho blocks, Ih scraped up and carted awny to somo dump, thero to become a portion of some future geologlcnl strata In tho ngos nhead jjjl HOW THE OMAHA SCHOOL CHILDREN CONTRIBUTE TO THE All) OF THE NEEDY SAMPLE PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN HY A STAFF ARTIST ON TIIF DY UFFORE TH