THE PARIS WOOD PAVEMENTS. 245 



The location of the ancient Maha village, the scene of Black-Bird's death, 

 was on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River, about twenty miles above the 

 mouth of the Little Sioux River, a stream which flows into the Missouri on the 

 Iowa side. Some hills, or highlands, in northeastern Nebraska, are known at 

 the present time as "Black-Bird Hills," in memory of the great chief who for 

 many years held supreme rule over the destinies of a once powerful and warlike 

 tribe, which has given to the State of Nebraska the name of its principal city — 

 Omaha (0-Maha). 



Des Moines, Iowa, August, 1884. 



ENGINEERING. 



THE PARIS WOOD PAVEMENTS. 



The repairing of the Grand Boulevards has just been completed, and the Paris- 

 ians are justly proud of their new roadways, which are now covered with wood, 

 and as smooth and clean as a ship's deck. This transformation in the streets of 

 Paris was forced upon the municipal authorities. The very expensive system of 

 sewerage, with its canals and railways, which has long been regarded as one of 

 the most curious sights of the French capital, was greatly obstructed by the im- 

 mense quantities of sand which every heavy rain washed into the sewers from the 

 Macadam roads. Although the sewers are flooded every day with water from 

 the Seine, it was found impossible to remove the sand which got in from the 

 streets except by actually digging it out, at a cost of more than two millions of 

 francs per annum. Several committees composed of engineers, hygienists and 

 architects were appointed to find a remedy for this obstruction to the sewers, and 

 as a result of the joint investigation of all these worthies, it was finally resolved to 

 abandon the Macadam roads, because they were the source of so much trouble in 

 the sewers. 



The Engineers of Bridges and Highways were then sent to London to ex- 

 amine into the system of paving adopted in that metropolis, and they agreed, 

 after much study, to invite the Improved Wood Pavement Company to lay down 

 a specimen of its pavement in Paris. The conditions of the contract were pecul- 

 iarly onerous, and nothing but a full confidence in the merits of their system 

 could have warranted the company in accepting it. The company agreed to lay 

 down its pavement at the intersection of the Rue Montmartre and the boulevard 

 of the same name — a point dignified with the appellation of the Carrefour des 

 Ecrases (Smash-up Square) on account of the immense traffic and crowding there. 

 It was further agreed that the company was to wait two years for its money, 

 which was not to be paid even then unless the pavements were in a perfectly 

 good condition. This was in 1881. The wooden blocks were laid down, and 



