334 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 
However, I think there is a better material even than our hard limestone. 
The bed of the Osage river from the Trading Post to the Missouri, is full of a 
gravel that may be safely denominated perfect for the purposes of road-making. 
At every railroad crossing it may be had in unlimited quantities. It is not the 
dull, rotten stone-gravel of Ohio, but bright, hard flint, that rings like steel 
under a wheel, or the shoe of a horse. It does not require quarrying or even 
screening. There are several railroads crossing these beds, so that no one road — 
can have a monopoly; the best place, however, will probably be Warsaw, less 
than thirty miles south of Sedalia, the haul being from that point less than one 
hundred and twenty-five miles. Let our streets be prepared with the usual bed 
of limestone, and then covered with this gravel, and we shall have a roadway 
practically indestructible. It can be put down and repaired without the use of 
machinery or skilled labor. It will produce as little dust and be as readily 
cleaned as any other pavement. I have no doubt of its being the best for our 
purposes. 
Composition pavements, as used in the European cities, are made of Trinidad 
asphalt and crushed rock. They are delightful to ride over, and save the wear 
and tear of vehicle and animal to a very great extent. In icy weather this 
pavement is objectionably slippery. In Paris it isin use on many heavy busi- 
ness streets, while the Fleet and Cheapside, in London, on which are the heaviest 
iraffic of any streets on earth, are laid with asphalt pavement. It can then b2 
hardly called liable to the charge of want of durability. It would necessarily be 
more expensive than either of the pavements above mentioned, but the chief 
objection to it is that repairs are made with difficulty, a patch not being ordi- 
narily successful. 
The Granite pavement, or Belgian Block, I see is under consideration, but I 
do not understand how it can bear the test of comparison ‘The granite must 
first be quarried, then cut into blocks of even size, and afterward transported 
twelve hundred miles, each operation being peculiarly expensive. Experts must 
lay it on an expensive bed, and heavy curbings on each side are required to 
keep it in place. Nor is that the end, for in New York and all other cities we 
see as many groups of men at work repairing it as on any other pavement. The 
wear and tear on horses and vehicles is terrific, ten times more than on any other 
road, which is no inconsiderable item, while the noise in streets of heavy traffic 
isa thing to make one shudder. It is true this pavement is more in use in Eu 
ropean cities than any other, but that it is not universal, when it can be had, as I 
have said, in every hill, and labor so cheap, is one of the strongest argument$ 
against its use. For Kansas City to send so far for a material which is liable to 
such an indictment would seem to be the height of unreason. 
Wooden pavements have been discarded everywhere, and for many well 
known reasons are unworthy of discussion. 
If Kansas City must send away from her bluffs for material to make streets, 
let her bring the gravel from the Osage. 1am sure a drive down the Gravois 
