THE
NICOLSON PAVEMENT,
AND
PAVEMENTS GENERALLY,
BY
FRANK  G. JOHNSON, M. D.
Any pavement that greatly increases the destruction of
shoe, horse, vehicle, ease, comfort and convenience is not
economical, though it cost nothing and last forever.
NEW  YORK:
W. C. ROGERS & CO.; PRINTERS AND STATIONERS,
No. 26 JOHN STREET,
1867.




Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1867. by
CHARLES E. JENKINS,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern
District of New York,




PREFACE.
Believing there is need'of a radical change in the
method of paving, and, since the commencement of
its introduction in New York city, a few months
since, the Nicolson Pavement having given universal
satisfaction, and elicited from the people innumerable
expressions of gladness at the prospect of having better streets; and many inquiries having been made
as to its cost, merits, durability, &c., by thousands
who do not, as yet, comprehend its true character;
and many persons, though admiring it, still doubting its durability, for the mere reason that it is essentially composed of wood; and some going so far, for
the same reason, as to condemn it altogether, even
before seeing it at all; and, for the same reason,
freely admitting ourselves, that its durability, as well
as some of its other merits, is not, at first, so self-evident or easily appreciated; and yet knowing, as we
do, that its durability, and other superior qualities,
have been proven by years of actual test, as well as
being susceptible of scientific demonstration, we have




iv.
prepared the following pages, to set forth a few principles relating to pavements generally; but princi.
pally to describe the construction, explain the advantages and demonstrate the character of the Nicolson Pavement.
Though the word pavement, (from pavio, signifying to beat or ram down), includes more than the
streets of cities, taking in roads extending hundreds
of miles, park roads, foot walks, &c.; yet, this
pamphlet will be confined principally to that branch
of the subject embracing city pavements.
While we might have said less, there is one subject connected with pavements to which we have
barely alluded, but on which much might and ought
to be written. We refer to the cruelty and inhumanity of driving horses on stone pavements.
NEW YORK, February 27th, 1867.




CONTENTS.
Preface.......................................................... 9
INTRODUCTION.
Importance of Good Pavements............  -................ 11
What principally determines the nature of Pavements............ 14
Indispensible qualities.................................... 14
Pavements of other Times...................................... 15
REQUISITES OF A GOOD PAVEMENT.
First Requisite of a Good Pavement is a Flat and Even
Surface.
1st. The Form  and Action of Wagon Wheels Require it........ 17
2d. To diminish the Obstruction to Vehicles, and so render the
Draft of Horses more Effective........................... 24
3d. To make Riding Easy, Agreeable and Safe..................25
4th. To pevent the Breaking and Wear and Tear of Vehicles and
Injury to Freight -................................... 28
5th, To prevent Wear and Tear to the Pavement Itself, whatever
be its Mode of Construction, or the Nature of its Materials. 30
6th. To facilitate the Gleaning of Streets....3...................  31
7th, To increase the Capacity of Thoroughfares................. 34




6
8th, To render Walking more Agreeable, and the Streets more
Available to Pedestrians............................ 35
9th. To diminish Noise...................................... 35
10th. To make it Conform to the Foot of the Horse -............ 36
11th. To prevent the Horse from  Losing his Naturally Free and
Mechanical Gait  -................................  37
Second Requisite  of a Good Pavement is, to  have  it so
provided with Grooves or Cells as to afford a
sure Foot-hold for the Horse.
1st, Direction of the Grooves................................ 38
2d. They must not affect the General Surface 8................   39
3d. Their Depth must equal the Durability of the Pavement.....39
4th, Their Distance apart......................................  39
5th. Their Form must be adapted to the Corks of Shoes.........39
6th. Their Distance apart should be Uniform................... 40
Foot-hold on the Cobble-stone Pavement.................   40
Foot-hold on the Belgian Pavement.........................41
Foot-hold on the Broadway Russ Pavement................. 43
Foot-hold on the Nicolson Pavement........................ 43
Third Requisite of a Good Pavement is to have it slightly
Arched, and provided with suitable Gutters.
1st. To assist Vehicles to pass each other without Colliding..... 44
2d. To facilitate Drainage and Cleanliness of the Streets.........44
3d. To increase the Stability of the Pavement................... 44




7
Fourth Requisite of a Good Pavement is Stability of Structure: that is, its several Parts must be so formed
and combined together that, when put
down, they will retain their
Original Position.
First Requisite of Stability is, a Continuous and Adequate Substructure...................................................    45
1st. Necessity of Substructure is an unyielding Vertical
Support of the Blocks, to place and secure them
on a Common Level with one another............45
2d. To retain the General F.orm  of the Surface........47
3d. To assist in rendering the Pavement impervious to
W ater...........................................  48
4th. To prevent the Dirt from working up among and
from  under the Blocks...................... 48
Second Requisite of Stability is an unyielding Lateral Support of
the Blocks, to secure them  in an Upright Position........ 49
Third Requisite of Stability is Suitableness and Perfection of the
Shape of the Blocks-they should be Parallelogramic......49
1st. To secure the needed Flat and' Even Surface.... 50
2d. To provide for their Secure Lateral Support...  50
3d, To provide Foot-hold........................... 51
4th. To prevent the Displacement of Dirt, and the Infiltration of Water............................51




8
Why the Ancient Roman Pavements have not been
Adopted for Present Use..............................  52
Why the Art of Paving'has not kept Pace with Other
Improvements....................................... 53
Popular Prejudice and Opposition to New Ideas, Modes
and Things......................................           56.....
Failure of other Wooden Pavements, than the Nicolson,
not owing to Defects of Wood as Material, but
to the Inappropriate Method of Construction. 69
Why the Nicolson has sometimes Failed................. 6
DESCRIPTION OF THE NICOLSON
PAVEMENT.
1st. Preparation of the Ground -..62.......................... 62
2d. The Substructure....................................... 62
3d  The upper Stratum, or Blocks'.....................   62
4th. The Filling, in the Grooves................. 63
5th. The Surface Dressing....................... 64
Wood-out Illustrations of the Nicolson..............65




9
ADVANTAGES OF THE NICOLSON
PAVEMENT......................  69
First, as relate to a Flat and Even Surface................ 70
1st, The Surface is Perfect.................................70
2d. It conforms to the Nature of the Wagon Wheel............. 70
3d. It renders Draft of Horses more Effective....................  0
4th, It renders Riding Easy, Agreeable and Safe................. 71
5th, It diminishes Wear and Tear of Vehicles.7............                71
6th. It renders Cleanliness of Streets Possible.................... 72
7th. It increases Capacity of Thoroughfares..................  72
8th. It renders Streets Available to Pedestrians.................  72
Second, as relate to Foot-hold............................. 72
Ice and Foot-hold.............................................. 74
Foot-hold between Rail Tracks...................................74
Third, as relate to General Form  of Streets and Gutters.. 75
Fourth, as relate to the Peculiar merits of Wood over
Stone.........................................  76
1st. As relates to the Horse.....................................78
2d. As relates to Noise, Rents, &os............................  81
3d. As relates to Iron Shoes and Tires.......................... 84
4th, As relates to Shaping and Laying its Parts................ 84
5th. As relates to Water and Gas Pipes.......................... 85
6th. As relates to its Sanitary Propertie......................... 86
7th. As relates to Pleasure of Riding........................... 88




10
8th. As relates to its Universality of Adaptation..............  90
9th. As relates to Cost..................................... 90
10h. As relates to Repairs......................... 97
11th. As relates to Durability................................  98
1st. Durability as relates to the General Surface........... 99
2d. As relates to Lateral or Side Pressure................100
3d. As relates to General Form  of the Street.........     101
4th. As relates to Foot-hold...........................         102
5th. As relates to Decay................................. 103
6th. As relates to Attrition and Disintegration of the Surface, or the Wearing away of the Blocks.......104
Is'. Evidence from  similar Uses of Wood............ 107
2d. Evidence from  Scientific or General'Principles.  110
3d, Evidence from  the Ancient Roman Pavements...114
4th, Evidence from the Use of the Nicolson Pavement. 114
Tabular Statements of Amount in Use in Chicago 121
Official Opinion-Correspondence between the
Mayors of Brooklyn and Chicago..... 123
Economy  of the Nicolson Pavement......................126




INTRODUTCTIONT.
Importance of Good Pavements.
The streets of a city are public property. Everycitizen owns and makes daily use of them. They are
the only parts of a city in which all are practically interested. In point of necessity no other public work
can equal them. Yet the advantages of good pavements are overlooked and neglected.
The amount of travel on any railroad is many times
less than that on any principal streetof a city; for, over
the road, there goes only now and then a train, while
the street is ever crowded with men, women, and children, horses, and vehicles, constantly moving to and
fro; yet compare the enormous expense of three or
four hundred miles of railroad with the paltry cost of
only three or four miles of pavement. The traffic and
travel on all the gorgeous steamers dashing up and
down the waters of the Hudson, cannot equal the
freight and passengers borne through a single thoroughfare of a city, on wheel and axle. Yet the expense of
paving a street is but a trifling part of the cost of these
steamers, to convert the river to a highway.
The streets of a city, taken with edifices fronting on
them, suggest the idea of magnificent canals, deep
but narrow; and on the side walls of which have been




12
expended millions of dollars for substantiality and ornamentation; while, for perfecting the bed or bottom
of which, scarcely one per cent. of an equal expense
has been applied.
Through these canals there is a ceaseless rush of the
tide of life. Year after year, surging masses of beings
and objects, man and beast and vehicle, are promiscuously slipping, scrabbling, and jolting, rattling and
thundering along, with nought whereon to tread and
roll but endless piles of stones.
Between the side walls of any principal street of a
large city, during the existence of these structures
there pass and repass people, animals, and vehicles,
equal in the aggregate, to all such in the world; yet
never does one of these so much as touch upon the
fronts of these buildings, while every foot and wheel
must tread and roll, step by step and inch by inch,
over the imperfect, rough, gullied and stony track
beneath.
Hence, the most indispensable feature of public
streets is that of Pavements. The convenience and comfort of the public can, therefore, be in no other way
so much promoted as by radically improving them.
For all will admit that the art of paving is behind
the times; there being nothing, of so much importance, so poorly done.
The present mode of paving is violative of philosophic and mechanical principles, and miserably defective; there being scarcely a paved street in any city
through which it is a pleasure to ride; or, in consequence of noise, dust and mud, to walk.
This is not in keeping with the spirit of the age; for,
in the building of modern cities, skill and expense
have  been  freely  lavished  in  perfecting  every




13
public convenience, save that of paving streets. In
fact, man, with ingenuity and art, has come to apply'the inanimate forces to such an extent, that his
strength is as illimitable as the boundless power of
steam. Versed in science, and equipped with iron
charged with the elements of nature, he tunnels rivers,
and spans them with granite arches, big as the rainbow; he can move hills, and excavate the earth
beneath its waters; can keep the sea out, or shut it
in; can stretch an inclined water-track from lakes to
ocean, whereon to slide his ponderous traffic; can.
drive his floating palaces from shore to shore; can
find his way among mountains of ice to the poles;
can bore the solid mountains as with a gimblet, and
so walk through or over them, as suits his convenience;
can besiege a city and destroy it in a night, and make
a city in a fortnight; can pour a flood of water upon
a burning mass, and thus make the elements overpower each other-; can lay under ground arteries of
iron through a vast city, and fill them with burning
gas, that lights every dark hole, street and palace;
can divert and bring down to the metropolis whole
rivers, and drive them  a thousand feet high, and
supply every house with living streams of water; can
stretch his telegraphic wires and iron track over valleys
and mountains, from ocean to ocean; can construct
giant printing presses, and, with the speed of lightning,
ink his ideas and scatter them from brain to brain;
can run his electric thread of discourse with other
nations beneath the waters of the Atlantic; and can
even aspire to leap the ocean and the desert with
flying engines-yet he cannot, or at any rate, he has
not, invented a pavement for the thronged streets of
his beautiful and magnificent cities, that is not at




14
once destructive of ease and comfort, a violation of the
first principles of economy, an outrage to the laws of
humanity, and a disgrace to an age of civilization.
Bearing in mind the aggregate qualities and requisites of a good pavement, the ingenuity of man
cannot invent another so poorly adapted, to the wants
of modern cities, as the cobble stone pavement; notwithstanding it is the kind principally employed.
Considering the present development of the arts and
sciences, there is no reason why city streets should not
be as agreeable, for walking and pleasure riding, as
the roads in Central Park; and, at the same time, be
so substantially paved as to meet all other necessary
requirements.
A pavement to comport with other city improvements and conveniencies, such as gas, public water,
&c., should be, practically, equivalent to a universal
rail track.
What principally determines the nature of Pavements.
Though there be many requisites of a good pavement, yet the more essential of these are determined
by the unchangeable nature of the horse and the shape
of his foot, together with the indispensable circular
form of the wagon wheel; and the fact, that both foot
and wheel are unavoidably shod and bound with iron.
Hence, any pavement, whatever be the mode of its construction and nature of its materials, to bephilosophically adapted, must supply, at least, the following
Indispensable qualities.
It must afford and maintain an even and flat surface
for foot and wheel, and yet, provide a sure foot-hold




for horses. It must be firm and hard, to resist the
action of iron shoes and tires; and yet, it must not
possess that rock-like;solidity which renders the resistance too shocking to the horse, and the noise of the
horse and vehicle too deafening to man.
These, and other considerations of less importance,
such as cost, cleanliness, durability, &c., will be discussed somewhat in detail, as we pass on.
Pavements of other Times.
Some historians hold that paved roads were first
made by the Egyptians; others, by the Carthaginians,
but this is not material.
About two hundred years after the expulsion of their
kings, the Romans introduced pavements; and, for
durability and evenness of surface, constructed the
best paved roads ever known, before or since.
The most ancient and celebrated of which was the
Appian way, called the " Queen of Roads." This was
constructed in the year 311 before the birth of Christ.
It extended from Rome to Capua, thence to Brundusium, a distance of three hundred and fifty miles, and
was from eight to fifteen feet wide.
These pavements consisted of three distinct layers of
materials; the lowest was stone mixed with cement,
and nine inches thick; the middle, gravel or small
stones and cement, six inches thick, to prepare a level
and unyielding surface to receive the upper and most
important structure, which consisted of large polygonal blocks, accurately fitted together.
The good condition of Roman roads was considered
of so much importance that the charge was only intrusted to persons of the highest dignity; and Augus



16
tus himself assumed the care of those in the neighborhood of Rome. " The expense of their construction was
enormous."  What a reflection is this on the management and condition of the streets of modern citiesespecially New York!
"Though the paved roads of the ancient Romans
surpass all other structures of the kind that have been
made by civilized nations since their time, yet there
are found in Peru remains of works of a similar construction of unknown age, and exceeding them in
grandeur and extent. Such were the great roads from
Quito to Cuzco, and continued south towards Chili, laid
out through mountainous and almost impassable regions for distance variously estimated from fifteen hundred to two thousand miles."  They were built of
heavy flags of freestone.
In Central America, among the ruins of Palenque,
are also found pavements of large square blocks of
stone constructed with great skill and nicety. In the
middle ages but little attention was given to the paving
of streets in Europe. Cordova in Spain was paved in
850. Streets in Paris were first paved in 1184. Many
of the streets in London were in a perilous condition,
by reason of deep pits and sloughs, even as late as the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.  Holborn was
first paved in 1417; but the great market of Smithfield
remained without pavement two hundred years longer.
The various methods of paving, and the different materials employed, will be described and their merits considered in discussing the requisites of a good pavement.




17
REQUISITES OF A GOOD PAVEMENT.
First Requisite of a Good Pavement is a
Flat and Even Surface.
There are several reasons why such a surface is
necessary:1st Reason why a flat and even surface is necessary
is, that the Form and Action of Wagon Wheels require it.
In forming wagon wheels the aim is to produce a
geometrical circle; that is, a periphery every point of
which shall be equally distant from the center of motion, that the axle of the vehicles may be carried in
a horizontal plane; which is easily accomplished,
provided the periphery passes over a perfect plane
also.
But if the rim of the wheel passes over an imperfect
plane the circular form of the wheel is destroyed.
It matters but little whether the wheel be perfect and
the surface of the pavement imperfect, or the surface
of the pavement perfect and the woheel imperfect, so
long as the perfection of either is indispensable to the
perfecting of the other.
"Humpyty-bump " is no more desirable than "bumpyty-hump."
In this view of the subject, a cobble stone pavement,
though it constitutes the great majority of all modern
pavements, is the very poorest that can possibly be
made, if not invented.
Cobble paving stones average about nine inches in
2




18
diameter, and, being nearly round in form, will present but a single point of contact with the wheels of
wagons or the runners of sleighs; even though they
be laid so accurately as to bring the crown of every
stone into one common plane-which, by the way, it
is not possible to do, and if it were they would not
remain so.
Hence, a wheel comes into contact with such a pavement not in a straight line of a plane, but on points of
a plane, nine inches asunder; which, in effect, destroys the circular character of the wheel and converts
it into a polygon, with sides nine inches long. Suppose a wheel to be four feet in diameter, this polygon
would have sixteen sides. Now, suppose the wheel
to have sixteen spokes, these sides will reach from
spoke to spoke; therefore, a perfect wheel on such a
pavement, is no better, practically, than a sixteen-sided
polygon would be on a pavement of a flat and even
surface: as will be illustrated by the following diagram; which is drawn on a scale of one inch to the
foot.
AA represents the rim of the wheel, which is 4 feet
in diameter; DD, the paving-stones, which are 9
inches in diameter; with the crown of each lying in
the straight dotted line CC.
If the pavement were flat, every point of the periphery of the wheel would come into contact with this
straight line; but in passing over the cobble stones,
DD, it sinks down between the crowns of the stones;
as shown by the curves in the line CC; which will
cause the center of the axle to rise and fall, so as to
describe the zigzag line BB.
Now, as the distance of one spoke from another,
(nine inches) is the same as it is from crown to crown




19
Fig. I
of the stones, it would make no difference, with the
motion of the axle, if the rim of the wheel were
taken off; provided the ends of the spokes were made
to strike on the crowns of the stones; which would be
the same as converting the wheel, (by drawing straight




20
lines from spoke to spoke) into a polygon, of sixteen
nine-inch sides, and then rolling it over aflat pavement.
Such a pavement is wholly unmechanical, and is
but little better than a country road, filled with small
logs, to keep wheels out of the dirt and mud; and
riding through a city, thus paved, is like driving over
an endless stone heap.
As regards its relation to wheels, the Belgian pavement which, in amount laid, comes next to the cobble
stone, is not much better, unless it be laid with great
skill and care. For, although its general surface is
more even than that of the other, yet the following
illustration will show that many of the pieces, or
blocks, being unevenly cut, have only a single point
of contact with the wheel; for which reason, (so far
as it applies,) it has the same effect as the cobble
stone pavement in throwing the motion of the axle out
of a straight line; and which is illustrated by the following cut, drawn on the same scale as the other.
It will be seen that each of the blocks, has one
or more points higher than the rest of its surface;
shown by the letters r, s, t, u, v. Between these points
are corresponding depressions, shown by the figures
1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Most of these depressions are sufficiently
deep to prevent the curvature of the wheel from reaching to the bottom: hence, on an average, the wheel
comes into contact with the pavement only on one
point to a stone.
It matters not how slight may be the depression
between any two of these points, so long as the wheel
does not touch the surface between the points. Therefore the motion of the axle will be thrown out of a
straight line, as shown by the line BB; but not so




21
Fig. 2.!/                                     \\
C                                             C
much as on the cobble pavement; for the reasons
that, the oval form of the cobble stone brings the
highest point of each stone near its verticle axis, which
prevents them from coming nearer together than by a
distance equal to the diameter of the stones; while
many of the stones settle below those around them,




22
and this increases the space between the points of con,
tact.
But with the Belgian pavement, the blocks, being
square and smaller, bring the points of contact somewhat closer together; and, being irregularly uneven,
destroy the uniformity of the spaces between the
points of contact: and, again, the pieces being square,
or nearly so, admit of their being laid so as to remain
somewhat longer in a uniform position.
Nevertheless; this style of pavement, as it affects
the action of the wheel and axle, is not a radical
remedy of the defects of the cobble stone pavement,
but only an improvement, a step in advance of it;
and, in the same manner and for the same cause, keeps
the axle going constantly up and down, instead of
carrying it, as it should, and as it is possible to be
done, along in a perfect horizontal plane.
By the following illustration (Fig. 3), which represents a longitudinal section of the Nicolson pavement,
it is shown that the axle of vehicles can be borne along
in a horizontal plane.
DD represent the blocks or pieces of the pavement,
showing that their upper surfaces, (as well as all their
other faces,) are perfectly flat and lie in one common
horizontal plane.  The cells or grooves, GG, which
furnish foothold for the horse, being only threequarters of an inch wide, the curvature of the
wheel does not sink between the blocks at all; and,
consequently the axle, instead of describing a zigzag
line, as it does on the cobble and Belgian pavements,
passes along the straight line BB of a plane, parallel
to the surface of the pavement.




Fig  3.
AA
IX                                            \
Fig. 4 represents a transverse section of the Nicolson; showing, again, that its surface is perfectly flat
and level.




24
FiAg.M
A                                              \
2d Reason why a flat and even surface Is necessary is,
to diminish the Obstruction to Vehicles, and so render the Draft of Horses more EfIective.
On a perfectly level and flat pavement one horse is




25
as powerfil as two or three on an uneven surface.
On the cobble stone pavement, if it is in good order,
the vehicle, by being kept in rapid motion, will roll
from stone to stone with about the same ease that it
would on a flat surface. But the starting of a loaded
wagon, when the wheels stand between the stones, or
are down in some gully or depression, is quite another
matter; and it requires often many times the force to
start the load that it would were it resting on a plane
surface.
By referring to Fig. 1 (page 19) it will be seen that
the cobble stone pavement, in this respect also, is the
most objectionable; for each wheel of a vehicle, on
being stopped, will rest between two stones, in such a
manner that they may be said to be blocked or
" chocked." Hence before a vehicle can be started it
must first be lifted, so that it often requires the force
of several horses to start a load that one horse will keep
moving. Therefore, in such cases, "to stop is to get
stuck."  Yet, on a flat and even pavement, a horse will
start any load he can keep moving when started.
In this respect, the Belgian, though not as objectionable as the cobble pavement, is, nevertheless, very
defective; as will be seen in Fig. 2 (page 21). Even
the Russ, in Broadway, New York, is not free from this
objection; while it will be seen, by referring to Figs. 3
and 4 (pages 23 and 24) that the Nicolson is perfect;
there being no point of its surface more prominent
than another.
3d Reason why a flat and even surface is necessary
is, to make riding Easy, Agreeable, and Safe.
As before implied, the aim is to have all vehicles
move as nearly as possible in a horizontal plane; and




26
were a mathematically perfect wheel and plane practically possible, there would be no up and down vibration to the axle, and such a result would be easily and
perfectly attained. Yet, wagon wheels, to all intents
and purposes, may be considered perfect. But the
imperfections in the surface of roads and pavements,
producing so much'vertical vibration, diminished the
pleasure of riding to such an extent as to lead to the
invention and introduction of springs to wagons; that
is, for pleasure wagons, at first. But for other reasons,.as will be seen further on, they finally came to be
applied to all kinds of vehicles.
At first, then, wagon springs were invented for ease;and comfort, and were considered a luxury, and therefore, extra toll was charged for spring wagons, while
It was admitted they did less harm to the road. Well,may wagon springs be considered a luxury in these.days of cobble and Belgian pavements. Though the
former is the most disagreeable of all, to ride over, yet
(even the latter, compared with the ease of riding on the
Nicolson, is terrible.
It may be said that springs render these pavements
tolerably comfortable. This may be measurably so,
with light wagons on very elastic springs, or heavier
vehicles mounted on compound springs; after the
method of the New York omnibuses. But such are
only a small proportion of all vehicles; while the light
vehicles, after all, seek to get off of the pavements,
whenever pleasure and comfort are the objects of
driving.
It is true, the surface of the Russ, in Broadway, New
York, is tolerably flat, but a different defect in that,
(viz.: want of foothold,) together with lack of room,
renders pleasure driving, there, not only disagreeable,
but quite impossible.




27
But admitting that springs do diminish the rough
ness of the cobble and Belgian a trifle, yet the relative
difference of ease and comfort, in riding over the various styles of pavements, still holds good: that is, if
the use of springs, on the cobble stone, changes perfect torture to common misery; and, on the Belgian
blocks, diminishes ordinary misery to bear toleration;
then, on the Nicolson, it must render what was easy
and comfortable, positively delightful.
It is a waste of words to say more on this point: yet,
if there is any person so dull as not to see the truth of
these statements, it will only be necessary to put him
into a cart, with or without springs, or into any springless wagon, and drive him half a mile over each of
these three kinds of pavement, at a lively gait, and he
will be convinced —
It is doubtful if it would not actually shake to death,
kill half the people of New York city to ride in an unyielding lumber wagon five miles, at a rapid rate, over
a cobble stone pavement.
This subject of ease and comfort of riding is one in
which all are interested.
There is no harmony in the pursuit of pleasure, when
a man spends thousands of dollars for medallion carpets, for instance, to increase the comforts of his home;
while both he and his family are obliged to forego the
pleasure of riding, unless they first submit to the torturing process of driving fromfive to seven miles, out,,
and as many back, to find three orfour miles of pleasant road; when it is possible to lay a pavement directly
in front of his house as agreeable as any park road
can be.
Besides, the cobble pavement, and its consequent
holes and gullies and mounds, cause accidents and




28
harm, which in many cases would not occur on a pavement of a flat and even surface.
When speaking more particularly of the Nicolson,
further attention will be called to the peculiar ease and
pleasure of traversing level and noiseless pavements.
4tli Reason why a flat and even surface is necessary
is, to prevent the Breaking and Wear and Tear of
vehicles and injury to Freight.
The wear and tear and destruction of city vehicles are
enormous. Any wagon that is made for country use,
and, that, on country roads, tolerably free of stones,
would stand for many years, would be knocked to
pieces in a few months on stone pavements. In fact,
vehicles for city use must be made doubly strong and
heavy; simply because pavements are not flat and
level.
The cobble is much like a country road frozen
stone hard in mud-time, on which country people
think it quite dangerous to drive faster than a walk.
Countrymen, who, at home, have but indifferent
roads, abominate pavements and to save wear and
tear go a more distant route to avoid them; yet for the
same reason, they go out of their way to seek a rail
track, and change tires and axles to fit the rails.
City makers, of the lighter class of vehicles, will
warrant their work for a given time on common roads,
but not on city pavements.
Pavements are severe on vehicles for the reasons:
lst. By the unevenness of the surface, the felloes and
tires become sprung between the spokes, by striking
the crowns and prominent points of the stones.
2d. The spokes, tires, springs and axles are often




'29
sprung, strained and broken; in consequence of gullies, mounds and depressions.
3d. The side sliding of vehicles over rough pavements is trying to wheels. On the cobble stone,
wheels have no foot-hold, so to speak; they strike on
short inclined planes, and are continually receiving a
kind of short, side tripping, which strains every part
of the running gear.
4th. There is a hard concussion between the iron
tire and the rough, stony track, which, together with
a constant wabbling motion, starts and rattles every
joint of a wagon.
5th. The unevenness of pavements increases the wear
and tear of tires and runners, those indispensable parts
of all vehicles, at least 75 per cent.
6th. The elliptic springs, so valuable to all vehicles,
when the draft is applied above them, require a level
and flat pavement, free from all holes, gullies, and
abrupt obstructions, or else they are liable to become
broken, sprung and detached.
As before intimated, springs were first applied for
ease and pleasure; but it was soon found that they
were not only agreeable, but economical; for wheeled
vehicles, of every description, will stand much longer
when mounted on springs. On city pavements it would
be impossible to dispense with them. Even the
heaviest and coarsest trucks employ them-unless it
be coal and dirt carts.
In fact the roughness of pavements would ruin
many kinds of freight, were it not for springs. Yet a
smooth and suitable pavement would accomplish far
better results without springs, than the best stone pavement, with them.
Freight can be transported and vehicles run, upon




30
the Nicolson with more ease and safety, and with
less wear and tear, without springs, than on the cobble
or Belgian with springs.
5th Reason why a fiat and even surface is necessary is,
to prevent Wear and Tear to the Pavement itself,
whatever be its mode of construction or the nature
of its material.
A flat surface ensures an even and steady pressure
of the vehicle upon the pavement, while an uneven
surface produces a hammering action, which diminishes the pressure on some blocks or pieces and intensifies it on others.- It is this hammering, battering and
ramming down action that settles and displaces the
pieces, and produces holes and gullies. It also destroys the immediate surface of each block, by hard
and disintegrating concussion.
This is well illustrated by the action of car wheels
on their track. Though the rail is straight and smooth,
and the wheel perfectly smooth, true and circular, and
both made of iron; and though the ends of the rails
are on a common level, and rest in iron beds, and
firmly wedged and spiked down; yet, the very little
jar, produced by the wheels passing from one rail to
another is sufficient to make it impossible to prevent
the rails from being battered and bruised out of order
and place; while the balance of the rail, where there
is no jar, remains in perfect order for an unlimited
time.
If this be the result on a level iron track, so firmly
supported and bound, how much greater must be the
injury to a stone pavement, universally uneven, and
unsupported by any substructure or superstructure,




31
with the pieces simply laid on the ground and partially
rammed down.
In this respect, again, the cobble, Belgian, and
Nicolson hold the same relation to each other. That
is, the cobble is not only worse than the Belgian, but
the worst that can be invented. For, besides being
uneven as possible, its pieces have but a single point
of contact with the wheel, no flat base to rest upon the
ground and no plain sides to support each other in a
lateral direction.
By referring to the diagrams, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4,
again, it will be seen that in this respect the Belgian,
over the cobble, is quite a step in advance. Its pieces
approximating the form of a cube, though irregular in
form, size, angle, and sides, secure a more uniform
surface for the wheel, a broader base to rest on and a
better lateral support.
But the Nicolson, in this respect, having a flat surface for the wheel, supported with an adequate substructure, and its pieces having secure lateral support,
is a complete success; as will be seen when speaking
more particularly of this pavement.
6th Reason why a flat and even surface is necessary
is, to Facilitate the Cleaning of Streets.
Whatever there may be, connected with pavements,
that bears upon the cleanliness of a city should be
well considered; for the importance of keeping streets
clean cannot be overestimated.
Among the many reasons why streets should be
kept free as possible from dirt, are:1st. To prevent dust in dry weather. The nuisance
of dust, at some seasons of the year, is almost insuf



32
ferable; besides being injurious to the eyes and health,
destructive to clothing, dry goods, and merchandise
generally.
2d. To prevent mud in wet weather. Mud is also
destructive to clothing and often proves a source of
great annoyance, by being spattered, by horse and
vehicle, in all directions. Besides, mud renders the
pavements, in the streets and on the side-walks, so
slippery as to make it dangerous to both horses and
men. On flat smooth pavements, like the Russ, in
Broadway, it is almost impossible to cross the street,
among the interminable tangle of vehicles, guided by
reckless " Jehus," without hazarding limb and life;
while women and children are often compelled to pass
up or down several blocks to find a crossing at all;
and then, likely, be compelled to wade, ancle deep,
through slush and dark waters.
Unless the streets are kept clean there is a universal
stir of dirt. Mud is tracked from street to side-walk,
from side-walk to house; when dried it is swept to the
street again. Dust enters every door, window, and
crevice, lodging on every object and then again is
driven into the street.
3d. Streets should be kept clean to avoid pestilence
and disease.
It is well known that the condition of the streets, as
regards cleanliness, has much to do with the general
health of the community.
4th. Streets should be kept clean to prevent the mixture of dirt and snow.
To remove snow from all the streets of a city, by
mechanical or artificial means, is impossible. Yet
snow is the greatest obstruction to travel, especially
when mixed with dirt. The mixture of snow and dirt,




33
packed and rammed down, forms mounds and hummocks as resistant and unyielding, to horse and vehicle, as so many rocks, almost defying the force of pick
and axe; and often accumulating, one layer upon
another, until they resist the power of sun and atmosphere from the first fall of snow until late in the
spring; thus presenting powerful resistance to the
movement of vehicles, and weakening the power of
horses, by almost entirely depriving them of their
foot-hold.
Yet any fall of snow, if perfectly free from dirt, would
mostly melt and pass away, in this latitude, by two or
three days' action of a warm sun and the salt humid
atmosphere of the surrounding ocean.
As the cleanliness of streets, therefore, is of so much
importace, and the facility of keeping them clean so
much depends upon the nature of the face of the pavements, just refer back to the diagrams Nos. 1, 2, 3 and
4; which represent the surfaces of the cobble, Belgian
and Nicolson; and it will be seen that, in this, also, as
well as other respects, the cobble is the poorest and the
Nicolson the best pavement;'while the Belgian, though
superior to the cobble, is far inferior to the Nicolson.
Sweeping or cleaning, by any method, the cobble
and Belgian pavements, is no more feasible than sweeping, with a common broom, dirt and sand from a house
floor that is filled with half-bored auger-holes.
Streets will never be properly cleaned until they are
systematically and regularly swept. And this will
never be done until it is accomplished by machinery;
which is not possible except the pavements be flat.
This has been shown by experiment. Sweeping machines that worked well on the Broadway Russ, would
not operate, at all, on the cobble.
3




34
Compare the operations of an almost impassable
gang of men, armed with hoes, shovels and brooms,
working days and weeks, even, in trying to clean a
single street, by picking dirt and filth, with the sharp
corners of their instruments, from the innumerable
deep, triangular-non-get-at-able crevices in a cobble
stone pavement; and yet, leaving the work so imperfectly performed that you would scarcely know it were
done at all. Compare this, we say, with the performance of a powerful sweeping machine, marching once
up and down a thoroughfare and leaving it as clean
as a swept house floor.-Were flat pavements universal,
sweeping machines would be in common use; for inventors will produce what is possible and needed.
Besides, streets, as also pleasure roads, like those of
Central Park, should be swept instead of sprinkled.
lst, Because sprinkling will produce more or less fine
mud, which will be thrown by the wheels, besides
somewhat destroying the foot-hold of the horse-2d,
Because dirt and street accumulations, being allowed
to remain, however much sprinkling may be done, become cut, triturated and dried, when they will necessarily evade the broom  and shovel —d, Because
machine sweeping, not requiring daylight, enables the
cleaning to be done.in the night time, when the streets
and roads are not required for business and pleasure.
Besides, the dampness of the night prevents dust
from flying, which increases the chances of collecting
it; and, further, the shops, being closed, are not
disturbed by it.
7th Reason why a fiat and even surface is necessary is,
to Increase the Capacity of Thoroughfares.
By having a level and flat surface the speed of




35
vehicles is increased, as well as the power of the horse
to draw, and the vehicles to bear greater burdens.
Besides, it renders all parts of a street available, by
leaving the driver free to seek his way between and
among other vehicles, instead of giving his attention to
steering, here and there, to shun holes, gullies and
ridges.
Sth Reason why a flat and even surface is necessary is,
to render Walking more Agreeable, and so the
Streets more Available to Pedestrians.
Every person, on foot, is obliged more or less to
cross the streets; but walking on cobble stones is next
to impossible; at any rate, it certainly is very disagreeable, and trying to the feet and ankles. An
acknowledgment that they are unfit to walk on is
found in the crosswalks, made of flat stones, placed at
the corners. It is much more convenient, many times,
to cross in the middle of the block, to reach destination sooner, and to better avoid the rush of vehicles.
Although the sidewalks are intended for pedestrians,
yet the amount of street crossing is immense. —For
every block walked, a street must be crossed. Many
times, at certain points, the sidewalks could, and
would, be relieved by people walking in the street
between the curb stones, were a perfectly flat and dry
pavement, like the Nicolson, laid in all parts of the
city. Such a pavement, by affording universal crossing and sure foot-hold, would enable persons to pick
the best opening among vehicles and to avail themselves of it, to save the risk of losing life and limb.
9th Reason why a flat and even surface is necessary
is, to Diminish Noise.
The noise on a flat pavement, though made of the




36
same materials, will not be so great as on a rough and
uneven surface. Hence the noise of the cobble is greater
than that of the Belgian, and the Belgian, greater than
the Broadway Russ; while either is incomparably
more noisy than the Nicolson.
As the quality of noiselessness is of such paramount
importance, and the Nicolson, in this respect, standing, as it indisputably does, pre-eminently superior to
all others, the pleasure and advantages of this element
in pavements will be considered when the peculiar
merits of the Nicolson come to be more fully described.
10th Reason why a flat and even surface is necessary
is, to make it Conform to the Foot of the Horse.
No desire or skill of man can change the foot of the
horse. Its form and nature are unalterably fixed.
Therefore, the pavement must conform to the horse
and not the horse to the pavement.
The shape of his foot is flat on the bottom, and made
to come into contact with the earth on the outer portion of the hoof, while it is absolutely indispensable
that thefrog of the foot be protected; which is accomplished by providing a fiat and even pavement.
Here, again, the cobble stone pavement is shown to
to be not only a defective and absurd device, but an
invention to inflict untold suffering and cruelty upon
the noble horse.
The oval surface of the stones, and the deep depressions formed between them, make it impossible for the
horse to find a flat resting place for his foot, or any
two like places, or uniform surface, upon which to
tread with assurance and confidence. Thus his feet
are being continually wrenched from side to side, in




37
every direction; while the upward oval projections of
the stones are continually pressing against, and bruising the frog of the foot; on which no pressure should
be allowed; which is not only inhuman to the horse,
but destructive of his usefulness to mnan. (See figure
7, page 41.)
11th Reason why a flat and even surface is necessary
is, to prevent the Horse from losing his naturally
free and mechanical Gait.
The free and easy stepping of a horse depends much
upon the assurance afforded him by a firm, level and
uniform roadway. He soon acquires the muscular
habit, or habit of motion, adapted to the thoroughfare
on which he travels. But, where there is no uniformity of surface, he acquires no feeling of confidence, or
habit of an easy, mechanical movement.
Notice how insecurely a man steps on a cobble pavement, and how he hobbles along, instead of walking
with a firm and true step. His gait is entirely changed,
simply by coming from country paths or going from
fiat sidewalks to the rough city pavement. It is just
so with the horse. His gait is not the same, nor can
it be, on a rough uneven surface, that it is on a firm
level track.
This may not be observable to some persons, yet
every jockey knows it, and prefers a country road
when he desires to exhibit the movement of his steeds
to the best advantage.
So far, we have spoken only of flatness or evenness,
which is one of the three requisites of a good pavement that appertain to its surface. The next requisite
for consideration, relating to the surface, is Foot-hold.




38
Second requisite of a good Pavement is, to
have it so provided with Grooves or Cells
as to afford a sure Foot-hold for Horses.
The several reasons, given in the foregoing pages,
why the face of a pavement should be flat and even,
would also indicate that it should be one continuous
and unbroken surface. And so it ought; were it not
that the horse must have a stronger foot-hold, than
would be afforded on such a surface by the mere
consequent friction of his weight. But iron shod
horses, on such a surface, made upon any material
that will stand city use, cannot obtain the necessary
foot-hold for the various needed purposes of speed
and draft, except by means of heel or toe corks, or
both. And, as these cannot penetrate the solid substance of the pavement, it must be provided with
suitable corresponding depressions, grooves, channels
or cells to receive them.
So that, while for all other reasons, (some of which
appertain to the foot of the horse itself), a flat and
continuous surface is needed; it becomes, for this
reason, indispensably necessary to break and cut the
general surface into many small surfaces, with these
innumerable cells or grooves.
Though these grooves, being small, may seem subordinate to other considerations; yet, even as the flat
surface, itself, cannot be employed without them, they
become, even to it, as well as to the horse, absolutely
indispensible. Therefore, the manner of making them
is of no little account; as will be seen:
1st. Their direction. As it is principally the starting, drawing and stopping of vehicles that make the
demand for sure foot-hold; and as the wheel in its




diminutive dimension, (which is the width of the rim
or tire,) would, otherwise, have a tendency to work
into them, they should be made transversely to the
street. In other words, they must run across the line
of travel; and extend from curb to curb.
2d. They must not affect the general surface. To
prevent them from effecting the general flatness of the
pavement, they must not be so wide as to allow the
periphery of the wheel, in passing over them, to sink,
at all, below the general surface. Hence, they should
be no wider than is necessary to admit the corks of
the shoe.
3d. Their depth must equal the durability of the
pavement. That is, they must not only remain until
the pavement is otherwise worn out, but they must retain their perfection and efficiency, from the time the
pavement is laid until it is taken up. Hence, they
must not be mere shallow grooves, only slightly lower
than the general surface, like those that once existed
on the Broadway Russ; or mere accidental projections and depressions, like those of the Belgian, which
continually diminish by use; but they must be made
in the form of cells, as deep as it is intended that the
pavement shall ever wear down.
4th. Their distance apart. They must not be nearer
to each other than is required by the foot and shoe of
the horse; otherwise the general surface of the pavement, and its durability would be unnecessarily diminished. Neither must they be so far asunder, as to,
allow the foot to slip before the corks of the shoe enter
them.
5th. Their form must be adapted to the form and action of the corks. The corks forming right angles with
the face or bottom of the shoe, and their four sides




40
being perpendicular, determine that the grooves or
cells should have perpendicular sides, forming right
angles with the general surface of the pavement; so
that, however great be the speed or draft of the horse,
the corks will not slip out of the grooves.
6th. Their distance apart should be uniform. The
free and natural gait of a horse does not depend wholly
upon a flat surface and foot-hold, but upon his assurance of finding the foot-hold just on the spot wherever
his foot mayfall. Or, as, on city pavements, this is not
quite possible, the grooves should not only not be too
far apart or too near together, but they should be made
a uniform distance from each other; so that the slight
unavoidable sliding of the shoe-corks into the grooves
may be uniform, or not greater than a slight given distance; which enables the horse to acquire almost as
-much feeling of assurance and freedom of action as he
would on a good country road.
A horse submitted to uncertain foot-hold and indefi-nite sliding soon acquires a mixed and hobbling gait.that destroys his natural action.
An old Broadway stage horse would find it difficult;to speed off freely on a country road, while a country
road horse would find it impossible, at first, to take.the place of the old stager.
Foot-hold on the Cobble Stone Pavement.
These general principles, relating to the grooving of
pavements are grossly violated by the cobble pave-ment, in that that the depressions, instead of being such
grooves or cells as described, are cavities the tops of
which wholly occupy and so totally destroy the general




41
surface, both for wheel and foot, and yet entirely fail
as a foot-hold. The sides of the stones form rounded
inclined planes, on which, if the speed or draft be
great, the corks will not catch or fasten, however
heavy be the horse.
This is illustrated by the following diagram, which
explains itself.
Dg.7.
Foot.-hold on the Belgian Pavement.
Though the irregular depressions, and the seams
between the blocks, of the Belgian, afford a better
foot-hold  than the cobble, with  less unevenness
of the surface, yet these seams and depression, not
conforming in shape and size to the corks, come far
short of providing such a sure and reliable foot-hold,
as speed, draft, safety and ease of travelling require.
This will be more readily seen by refering to fig. 8; in
which the grooves formed by the seams, being triangular (at the top) will allow the cork, when acted
upon violently, to slip out. The seams being too narrow to admit the corks are of but little or no use.
The general unevenness or roughness of this pavement, which, at first, aids in affording foot-hold, after




42
71.  8.
a while becomes hammered and worn off; leaving the
face of the blocks very smooth and somewhat rounded;
so that, were it not for the nearness of the seams to
each other, it would be as smooth and slippery as the
Broadway Russ.
A steel file is best when new; and soon becomes so
deteriorated by use that its quality, as a file, is
destroyed; though its form and substance still remain.
So with the Belgian pavement: as regards foot-hold,
it is best when first laid; but the face of it soon
becomes, like an old file, too smooth to hold, though
it be not as flat as the Russ.
It can be observed on any of the pavements that
horses, struggling to start heavy loads, stand upon
their toes instead of placing their feet flat on the pavement. This is instinctively done to increase the foothold; as, otherwise, no hold at all could be secured.
Yet it is a fact that, the horse, to exert his full power
for draft, must put his feet flat on the ground; which
can be done only by securing foot-hold for his heel
corks, which is not accomplished by any present mode
of paving with stone.
How often the feet of horses fly from beneath them




43
and come to their places again like cannon balls, to
the destruction of their feet and limbs, when a system
of grooving like the Nicolson, to catch the heel corks
would entirely prevent it.
Should this be doubted, clear ocular demonstration
can be had by observing the pavement, and the effort
of horses, with heavy loads, on the up grade of Fulton
street, between Gold and Cliff streets, New York.
Attention is called to this place because of its convenience, the grade and travel of the street, and the
fact that the pavement is otherwise in good condition.
Foot-hold on the Broadway Russ Pavement.
This pavement, though more flat and even than
either Cobble or Belgian, furnishes hardly any foothold. Hundreds of horses slip and fall upon it daily;
and, some days, even thousands. In some states of
moisture and dirt, (not in freezing weather either,) no
strange horse could possibly make his way from Union
Square to Bowling Green, at a speed above a walk,
without falling several times, at risk of life and limb.
The seams are too narrow to admit the corks; and
even if they were not, they are too far apart to afford
suitable foot-hold.
Besides reasonable flatness and durability, this
pavement is a total failure.
Foot-hold oil the Nleolson Pavement.
All the foregoing necessary qualities and conditions,
in regard to foot-hold and grooving of pavements, are
supplied by the Nicolson; as will be shown in the
description of its construction hereafter.




44
The next and last requisite of a good pavement,
appertaining to the surface, relates to its general form,
which determines the face of the street.
Third  requisite of a good Pavement is to
have it slightly Arched, and provided with
suitable Gutters.
All pavements should be arched, and the oval
extended from gutter to gutter.
1st, To assist vehicles to pass each other without
colliding. A convex surface of the street has more
tendency than a level plane to throw passing vehicles
apart or away from each other; while, on a concave
surface, there would be a reverse effect.
2d, They should be arched to facilitate Drainage
and Cleanliness of the street.
For suggestions about gutters see description of the
Nicolson.
If the face of the street be rounded and provided
with a suitable pavement and gutters, much dirt is
necessarily washed off and carried away by heavy
rains.
3d,'They should be rounded to increase their Stability.
With paving blocks of geometrical form, that is,
those bounded by right angles, straight lines and
opposite parallel planes, the arch can be made so
accurately, and the side pressure, thereby, made so
great, that no blocks or pieces can be displaced in a
lateral direction.
We have, so far, discussed the three requisites of a
good Pavement that relate to its surface: namely;




45
flatness, foot-hold and form of general surface; which
are the results, rather than the construction of a good
pavement.
We now come to the Construction, that is to the
shape and dimensions of the several parts and their
relation to each other.
Fourth requisite of a good  Pavement is,
Stability of Structure: That is, its several
parts must be so combined together that,
when put down, they will Retain their
Original Position.
It matters not how flat and even may be the surface
when it is first laid, unless the general construction of
the pavement be such as to ensure its reasonable retention and preservation; for it makes no difference
whether the surface soon becomes rough, by the blocks
sinking and rising, or by being made so originally.
It is the same with regard to the foot-hold and general
form of the street.
The general construction and method of laying the
body of the pavement must, therefore, ensure an unyielding and enduring stability.
1st Requisite of Stability of Structure is, a continuous
and adequate Substructure.
1st, Necessity of a Substructure is, an unyielding
vertical support of the Blocks, to place and secure them
on a common level with one another.
As no material of a concrete nature can be produced,
to form a continuous and unbroken surface, which, for
city use, will at the same time resist the action of iron




46
shoes and tires and admit of cells or grooves for foothold, it follows that, whatever be the material employed for the upper stratum, it must be made in
blocks or pieces; and as the surface of the ground is
not firm enough to give these separate pieces an independent and sufficiently solid bearing, they must, of
course, be supported by a suitable and continuous
substructure; which shall, itself, be supported by the
general surface of the street, and thus made adequate
to hold the pieces, composing the upper stratum, on
a common level. Such a substructure is, to a pavement, composed of pieces, what a foundation is to a
building.
The unequaled stability of the ancient Roman pavements is attributable, not to the, face-dressing, or the
accurate joining, of their polygonal surface stones, but
to the unyielding substructure on which they rested.
These Roman pavements consisted of three layers.
The bottom layer was nine inches thick, composed of
stone and cement and constituted the substructure.
The middle, six inches thick, consisting of gravel and
cement, served to form the union or fitting of the imperfect lower surface of the top stones to the rough
ragged upper surface of the bottom layer. But this
middle layer is not needed, when the bottom of the
blocks is regular and flat, and the upper surface of
the substructure, level and smooth: as is the case with
the Nicolson pavement.
The manner of laying the Cobble and Belgian is in
direct violation of this method. The ground is simply
stirred up and shaped, and the stones laid side by side,
without special care as to their exact level with one
another, and dirt and sand scattered over and amongst
them. These are then brought, approximately, to a




47
common level, by simply driving them with a rammer.
Now if a few blows of a mere hand rammer will drive
them  down to a somewhat level position, then, of
course, a little longer appliance of the same feeble
means, unequally applied, would drive them out of
position. Hence, how can it be expected that they
will resist for years, the constant and powerful beating
and ramming to which they are subjected. It is simply absurd, to suppose that these bits and blocks of
stone, driven into position, as it were, with a blow of
the fist or the tap of a hammer, will not be unequally
driven stillfurther into the dirt, and so out of position,
when they are beaten, at every turn, with ponderous
wheels wreaking and whirling under the pressure of
enormous burdens. There is no stability to paving
blocks not supported with something more than loose
earth.
A cobble stone has no base-nothing to rest on.
Benig oval, it stands on a point. And such a pavement
besides being good for nothing, at best (more than to
prevent the cutting of the ground,) could be put out of
order by beating it, here and there, with a common
nail hammer.
The Belgian blocks, being flat on the bottom, rest
rather firmer on the ground. Yet, as regards their
verticle position, they are not reliable.
2d, Necessity of a Sub-structure is, to retain the generalform of the surface.
Without a substructure, to serve as a medium of
contact between the layer of blocks and the ground,
not only will some of the single pieces settle and rise,
but sections of considerable extent, here and there, will
give way and settle; thus forming holes and gullies.
These may be seen all about the streets; not only on




48
the cobble and Belgian, but on the Broadway Russ, as
well. These depressions occur where the ground, being
less firm, allows the blocks to bb beaten down. But,
were the blocks resting upon a firm and continuous
substructure, they could not settle, here and there,
wherever the ground might happen to be less firmly
packed.
3d, Necessity of a Substructure is, to assist in rendering the Pavement impervious to Water.
A pavement, however constructed and of whatever
materials composed, should form an impassable barrier to rain and moisture. Otherwise the infiltrations
of water from above and the exhalations of moisture
from below, together with freezing and thawing, at certain seasons, will more or less heave and disturb the
pavement; especially if the blocks rest directly on the
ground. Hence the need of a substructure to aid in
rendering the pavement impervious to water and impenetrable by frost.
4th, Necessity of a Substructure is, toprevent the Dirt
from working up among andfrom under the Blocks.
When the blocks of a pavement rest directly on
the ground, the constant action of horse and vehicle
has the effect, not only of hammering them out of a
common level, but it disturbs the position of the dirt, by
removing it from under one stone and driving it under
another; thus undermining some and upthrowing
others. From the same cause, the dirt works up into
the interstices and thus destroys the union of the
blocks.
This displacement of dirt, and its consequent injury
to the pavement, would be wholly prevented by intervening, between the block and ground, a dirt-tight
substructure.




49
Having considered the necessities of a substructure,
we come now to speak of the lateral support of the
blocks.
2d Requisite of Stability is an unyielding Lateral Support of the Blocks, to secure them in an upright
position.
The lateral support of each piece or block must
come from its surrounding fellows. It can come from
no other source. Each block must bear upon those
next to it, until the curb stones are reached.
In the longitudinal direction one piece rests against
another the whole length of the street.
That they do and must mutually support each
other in lateral directions is evident; for, if only two
or three stones be taken up, here and there, all the
blocks around about, will be displaced, and the pavement wholly torn to pieces.
Hence, as regards their lateral stability, it may be
said of paving blocks; " united, they stand; divided,
theyfall.'
3d Requisite of Stability is suitableness and perfection of the Shape of the Blocks
Though a pavement is composed of many blocks
or pieces, yet, they are but duplicates of each other.
And having, in all respects, a common relation to
each other, not only must they have uniformity of
shape and size, but their form must be such as to
afford a plain, uniform and broad-faced contact with
each other.
The form, best adapted to this purpose, is the quadrate or quadrilateral: the next best is the hexagonal.
4




Whether the one or the other of these be employed,
it is not sufficient that the blocks merely approximate
such forms, but, (if the quadrate be adopted,) they
need not, necessarily, be cubes but they must be parallelograms; that is, bounded by right angles and
straight-lined opposite parallel sides; executed with,
at least, all possible mechanical accuracy.
There are various reasons why the individual blocks
need to be thus uniform and accurately and peculiarly
formed.
1st Necessity of accurate Parallelogramic form of
the individual Blocks is, to secure the needed flat and
even Surface.
It being necessary, as before shown, to support the
blocks on an even and continuous substructure, in
order to retain them on a common level; it, therefore,
becomes necessary to have the blocks all equal in their
length or vertical dimension, and their face and base
parallel and at right angles to their upright sides, that
their upper surfaces may lie horizontally and fall into
one common plane.
Except by this method there is no sufficiently inexpensive means of producing a perfectly flat and fixed
surface.
2d Necessity of accurate Parallelogramic form of
the individual Blocks is, to provide for their secure
Lateral Support.
Since each block, as intimated, must rely upon its
surrounding fellows for lateral support, it becomes
necessary that the base of each block be made at right
angles to its four sides; that it may have a natural
tendency to stand in a perpendicular attitude, however
great be the downward pressure to which it may be subjected. If the base be not flat and at right angles to




the sides, then the block, when pressed and hammered
by heavy weights, will cant over, in defiance of any
possible lateral support, and thus slant the face of the
block out of the common plane.
Again, if the sides be not flat and at right angles to
each other, it will be impossible for the blocks to
afford each other responsive contact and resistance;
which will allow them, more or less, to cant over and
twist around in their places, and, so, roughen the
general surface.
3d Necessity of accurate Parallelogramic form of
the individual Blocks is, to provide Foot-hold.
Though such form of the blocks is not indispensable
to some sort of foot-hold, yet there is no other way of
providing foot-hold, that will be so cheap and durable,
as by the use of such a formed block; as will be more
clearly explained when giving the description of the
Nicolson pavement.
4th Necessity of accurate Parallelogramic form
of the individual Blocks is, to prevent the displacement of Dirt and the infiltration of Water.
If a pavement ought to be, as intimated, impervious
to water and resist the action of frost on the earth beneath it; then the blocks should be made with rightlined faces and right angles, in order that the seams
between and below them shall be so close that no dirt,
or even water, can work into them. The effects of dirt,
water, and frost in the interstices of any stone or mason
work is always detrimental to the stability of the structure;-especially is this true with pavements, which
lie only on the face of the ground and are being continually hammered and beaten.
The Cobble and Belgian pavements are in direct violation of all the foregoing conditions of stability of
structure, as is quite evident without comment.




The individual cobble stone has no sides at all,
either for base, to rest on; or face, to be traveled over;
or sides, to receive or give lateral support.
The Belgian blocks, in this respect, though far superior to the cobble stones, are still very defective: for
the reasons, that dirt will work between and frost will
reach below them. The earth will be displaced beneath them, and work into the interstices.'Water will
pass between them, causing the ground to settle and
let the pavement down in spots. Not being wholly
responsive in their lateral bearing and support, they
more or less cant over and twist around and leave the
surface uneven.
Why have not the ancient Roman Pavements been
adopted for Present Uses I
Having discussed, somewhat at length, flatness, foothold, generalform of the surface and stability of structure; and shown that the Cobble, Belgian, and Russ
are each, in some or all of these respects, a failure;
that neither of them will answer the needed purposes
of modern cities, the question naturally arises, why not
adopt the Roman method, and reproduce their substantial and ever-enduring structures 
It is true, the Romans had the best pavements ever
known, before or since their time —pavements which,
for ages, have withstood those elements and forces of
destruction that havecrumbled to dust all other structures of usefulness and grandeur. Sections of their
Appian way even still exist, over which Roman legions
tramped more than two thousand years ago.
Though such was the durability of these pavements,
yet they would not meet the demand of the present age.




53
In the first place, were they, otherwise, in all respects
suitable, their enormous cost, in these days of diffusion rather than concentration of wealth, labor and
influence, would render their general adoption impossible.
Again, the peculiar merits of these pavements, consisting only of flatness and stability, would not
answer for modern use; for, though they possessed
these qualities in a remarkable degree, and served
admirably the purposes of that age, it must be borne
in mind that, horses were not iron shod or wheels iron
bound; shoes and tires being introduced centuries
later.
The use of shoes and tires, in some respects, necessitating a change in pavements, this subject will be
alluded to when speaking of fitness of materials for
pavements.
Besides, the underground net-work of gas and water
pipes, in cities of the present day, requires a pavement
which will admit of being taken up and replaced with
greater facility, than would be afforded by these deep
and solid structures.
Why has not the Art of Paving kept pace with Other
Improvements t
Streets and roads are a necessity in all civilized
countries. All persons come into contact with them,
and are ever ready to condemn their bad, and to appreciate their good, condition. Yet, for some reason,
their importance has been overlooked, both in city
and country. There are, in the metropolis, between
curb and cross-walk, sloughs and gutters, (in New
York, for instance, around about Fulton and Wash



54
ington Markets,) filled, ancle-deep, with mud, garbage
and foul waters, ever offensive to the senses; and
over which hundreds of thousands of people must
daily stride; and at the very places too, where, the
thoroughfares being thronged with people and vehicles,
all attention is required to make a safe passage across
the street. Yet these gaps are so easily repaired, that
an ordinary farmer would not permit such filthy holes
to exist between his house and barn-yard for a week;
but our city authorities, aided by dignified, high
salaried, civil engineers, allow the befouling pits to be
stumbled over and into, day after day, for tens and
tens of years. Not only are city pavements miserably defective, as shown on pages back, but the road
ways and walks of villages, towns and the country at
large, are equally neglected and defective. There is
hardly a town or village, in which there are not, at
some or all seasons, sandy, muddy, hilly or stony
roads and walks, over and through which all the men,
women and children, from youth to old age, generation after generation, do not tediously plod their way;
when a little united effort would easily convert such
places and ways into hard and dry roads and walks,
to remain an every-day and perpetual convenience
to all.
The reason why so little attention and expense is
devoted to the subject of roads, walks and streets is,
that, "what is everybody's business is nobody' s business."  Streets and roads are strictly a public work,
of imminent necessity; and, by the Romans, being
so considered, they gave to them that strict care and
attention which they were wont to bestow on all their
works of public interest.
In this age and country the matter is reversed;




55
roads having been improved just in proportion as they
have fallen into the hands of private management.
In times of stage-coaching, in this country, turnpike
roads, which were managed by private enterprise,
were tolerable; but, since the introduction of steamboats and railroads, being abandoned and given over
to the public, they have become but indifferent roads
again. —Witness the development of travelling facilities under the management of private enterprise, in
the construction of railroads, river and ocean steamers, &c.-a development which, in boldness of undertaking, cost and success, and general benefit to the
community at large, is completely astounding, and
astonishes the world; and challenges comparison with
any Roman enterprise, private or public, and, relatively, converts her famous Appian way into a mere
cross road or byway.
What the Romans did, for convenience of travel,
by public, we do by private, enterprise.
Paving of cities, however, is still managed by public
authorities, and behold the miserable streets. House
and store-building is done by private management,
and witness the splendid erections.
Of the four sides of a street, heaven displays above
its soft blue sky and golden sun; on either side private enterprise displays its unbroken lines of magnificent structures of usefulness, so decorated with taste
and ornament as to tempt the camera and command
the admiration of the artist-and on the bottom, the
city government tumbles down a rough layer of cobble
stones, filled with holes, gullies, pits and sloughs, dirt
and mud, for horse and man to hobble over as best
they can.
Why such large, flat and costly flag stones in front




56
of dwellings and stores, and such mean apologies for
pavements? Because the curb stone draws the line
between private and public enterprise.
If the property owners, on some principal street of
New York, were to have the privilege, for all time to
come, of selecting and paying for such pavement as
they might prefer, they would invite attention, encourage invention, try experiments, make progress, and
soon have down a better pavement than the city authorities, backed by professional engineers, ever dreamed
to be possible.
Popular Prejudice and Opposition to new Ideas,
M1odes and Things.
To select the best means to produce desired results,
in the mechanic arts, constitutes invention, and invention implies something new; that is, new ways and
means of doing the same thing. And the only idea we
have of perfection, in this department of human affairs,
is, that nothing yet known or invented is more perfect.
Hence, all things mechanical may be still further improved. And the natural tendency of many minds is,
to forever seek for new and better ways and means of
accomplishing desired results. And were not this live
spirit of discovery and invention staid and counteracted by the dead weights and forces of popular ignorance and prejudice, selfish opposition and almost
hate, with here and there a few wiseacres, sitting in
high places, refusing to open their eyes for fear they
will see something-declining to look at the new moon
out of respect for the old, there is no calculating what
might have been the progress of civilization at the
present day.




New inventions and ideas of sufficient magnitude to
attract general attention always meet with this great
deaf and blind spirit. Mankind, not only the unenlightened populace, but the magnates in authority,
have carried this opposition and prejudice so far as to
persecute their greatest inventors, discoverers and bene -
factors; rejecting the most important improvements for
many years.
They would not be told, nor much less believe, the
world was round and turned round, but, still preferring
to believe it was motionless and flat, persecuted Galileo
for discovering the great facts; they would not encourage Columbus; pursued Harvey and harassed him
from youth to old age for telling them of the circulation of the blood; persecuted political and moral
reformers, generally; would not believe in railroads,
steamboats or steam; pronouncing them works of the
devil. The Paris Academy of Sciences early in this
century, being consulted by Napoleon on the subject
of steamboats, pronounced them, "a mad notion, a
gross delusion, an absurdity." New York newspapers,
in the nineteenth century, even after reluctantly admitting they might do for freight, seriously argued
that they would never do for passengers, as "the
wheels would spatter water so."  And even after
steamboating had come to be a magnificent success
for years and years, it was still contended, by even
noted engineers and philosophers, that an ocean steam-'
er, for a hundred and one good reasons, was all moonshine, and utterly impossible. They disbelieved in,
and opposed the use of iron ships, the telegraph and
the sewing machine; opposed the introduction of new
articles of food, as potatoes, tomatoes, pieplant, &c. 
even during its late famine starving Ireland resolutely
refused to eat corn meal.




58
In short, all new modes, things and ideas are, at first,
rejected and fought against; but gradually the darkness gives way, the light shines, and improvements of
true merit find approbation and come to be universally indispensable. Civilization refuses, at last, to part
with what she had once rejected and condemned. Her
tenacity for things old, is only equaled by her opposition to things new; she first condemns; then, admires; stigmatizes, then glorifies.
Yet the world is round and it turns, round; the
Western hemisphere does exist; and the blood does
circulate; reformers have gained their points; steam
coaches do whiz and thunder over hill and plain; and
steamboats do plow the river and the ocean; the "Great
Eastern" does float; the telegraph does flash our
thoughts with lightning, even through ocean depths,
five thousand miles per second; and the sewing machine does click its ten thousand stitches a minute;
and even Ireland does eat corn meal; and the world
is glad  as also the people will hereafter rejoice over
the Nicolson pavement.
Hence it is not strange that prejudice and opposition should be shown to the introduction of a new
material for pavements; especially when the new is
as unlike the old, as wood is different from stone.
Yet, as regards the Nicolson pavement, its advantages are so striking, every person who has rode over
or seen it, at once, admits and exclaims, that is just
the thing needed and desired if it will only stand.
But since the durability of anything is not tested by
looking at it, and wood being fibrous, and so unlike
stone, and, as pavement, being submitted to iron shoes
and tires, it is not strange that the question of durability should be raised.




59
But we think it can be demonstrated to any unprejudiced mind, that wood, taken in all respects, is
the best adapted material for pavements yet known.
And as soon as its merits, for this use, become more
widely known and appreciated, it would not be surprising to find it rapidly superseding and subverting
all other paving materials; not only in the West and
other places, as it is, but everywhere.
The failure of other Wooden Pavements, than the
Nicolson, not owing to defects of Wood as laterial, but to the Inappropriate Method of Construction.
Wooden pavements, like everything else, can be poorly made. And so, too, can the Nicolson. For success
or failure often depends, not alone upon the particular
general method, or kind of material employed for a
given purpose, but upon the exact manner of arrange
ment, appliance and perfection or imperfection of execution. Bad workmanship and poor quality, even of
the same material, will spoil anything. For instance
no one questions the general adaptation of wood, as a
material, for household furniture. Yet, for given articles, the wood must be the right kind, good quality
and well seasoned, the construction suitable and the
workmanship good; or the articles shrink to pieces
come apart and break down.
Success or failure often depends on the mode of
appliance; as, for instance, a chair leg, made crossways of the grain of the wood, would be good for
nothing. So, a farmer's beetle, used on its sides would
soon fail, but apply it to. the wedge endwise of the
grain and it endures for years. A knife must be
applied edge to the wood.




60
In machinery, sometimes failure or success will depend upon a drop of oil; hence the saying, " oil is the
half of a machinist."  The linch-pin of a wagon is a
small matter, yet it, or its equivalent, is as important
as the wheel itself. A screw, missing, may cause a
railroad disaster, or the loss of an ocean steamer.
In chemistry, exact kind and quantity are indispensable to success. It will not do, for whatever reason,
to say, this instead of that, or a little more, or less of
this or the other ingredient will do; for, no matter
how  slight be the deviations, the results are as entirely different and the failures as absolute, as if the
deviations had been ever so great.
In medicine, different, and even opposite results are
produced by giving the same medicine in different
quantities; or in giving the same quantities under
different symptoms of disease.
So, in short, to ensure success, the laws governing
mechanical matters must be as implicitly complied
with as those of mathematics, chemistry or any other
science.
So with wooden pavements. Prior to the Nicolson,
though the blocks were set on end, yet the structure
did not afford aflat surface orfoot-hold, or protection
from decay; either one of which defects would be sufficient cause of failure. Not being protected from decay, the wood became soft and tender, and so would
not stand the action of shoe and tire; and not being
grooved, became slippery.
Why the Nicolson has sometimes failed.
The Nicolson, itself, though adequate to meet all
the requirements of a good pavement, has, in some in




61
stances, been laid in such violation of the prescribed
rules and principles of its construction, that it could
hardly be considered the Nicolson at all.
In some places, where it has been laid on new-made
ground, it has settled; as, of course, it would; for it is
not expected, of any pavement, that it will support
itself in the air without resting on the earth.
Therefore, when we come to explain the advantages
of this pavement, it is to be borne in mind that, we
refer to such a specimen of pavement as answers to
the prescribed rules and modes of construction as are
given on the immediately following pages.




62
DESCRIPTION OF THE NICOLSON PAVEMENT.
1st. Preparation of the Ground.
The ground is leveled, or rather rounded off, in such
oval form as, by situation, width of street, &c., maybe
required; after which, in order to procure nice uniformity, it is thoroughly raked and made as smooth and even
as a house floor.
2d. The Substructure.
This consists of two inch white or yellow pine planks,
laid side by side, lengthwise of the street, so as to entirely cover the ground. The planks are then completely covered, by means of suitable brooms, with a
coat of liquid asphaltum and coal tar. The planks
are now turned, one by one, the other side up, and
treated in the same way with the asphaltum and tar,
and allowed to remain.  This constitutes the substructure, which is now ready to receive the upper
stratum.
3d. The Upper Stratum.
This consists of white or yellow pine parallelogramic




63
blocks, eight inches long, (with the grain of the wood,)
three inches thick and from six to ten inches wide,
with straight-lined faces and right angles; together
with strips of board, of the same material, four
inches wide, three-quarters of an inch thick and five
feet, or so, long; laid in the following manner. Beginning, for instance, at one end of the street, a series
or row of these blocks is set up on end, across the street,
from curb to curb, with their broad faces fronting up
and down the street. But before thus placing them in
position, each block is completely coated with asphaltum and tar cement, by being submerged in it. The
first line of blocks being thus set, a line of strips, a
section of which is shown by F (figure 4), also coated
with the cement, is laid and nailed up against the
blocks D D with one edge resting on the plank substructure E E. Now another row or series of the blocks,
treated in the same way, is set up against the strip;
and so on, alternately; until several rods, more or less,
are laid.
There is now left between each two consecutive rows
of blocks, a continuous groove or cell, three-quarters
of an inch wide and four inches deep, extending from
curb to curb, which constitutes the foot-hold.
4th. The Filling.
This consists of clean gravel, screened so as to vary
from the size of a pea to that of five-eighths of an inch
in diameter; together with asphaltum and tar; treated
and applied as follows: The gravel is heated very hot,
in suitable sheet-iron pans, and then filled into the




64
cells level with the surface. Asphaltum, also heated
hot, is now poured, (from a vessel provided with a
spout,) into the cells until they are filled with it, and
while the gravel is yet hot. And, (before cooled,)
this filling (of gravel and asphaltum) is swedged or
rammed; which is done by means of a bar of iron of
suitable width, two feet, or so, long and just thick
enough to enter the cell, which is placed edgewise on
the filling and hammered upon with a heavy rammer.
The whole surface is now treated to another finishing
coat or covering of the asphaltum and coal tar.
5th. The Dressing,
This consists of a layer of sand and finer gravel,
spread over the entire surface, about an inch and a
half thick, and allowed to remain; which becomes
partially pulverized and ground into the fibres of the
wood, washed and worn off by the action of rain,
horse and vehicle.
The pavement is now complete.
It will be noticed that, to firmly secure and support
the several parts and pieces, they are so arranged and
laid as to break joints; and that, while the intervening
strips separate the blocks at the top, to furnish foothold, they also serve to unite them at the bottom in
such a manner as to make them self-supporting, and
render the upper stratum, (consisting of the blocks and
strips,) one continuous and substantial body of wood.
The following cuts, drawn on a scale of an inch to
the foot, represent views of the Nicolson pavement,
as seen from different directions.




65
Illustrations of the Nicolson Pavement.
Figure 3 represents a longitudinal section, as viewed
from the sidewalk. E E shows the substructure or
planks; D D D, the blocks; F F, the strips; G G, the
filling. The dressing is not shown.
Fig. 3.
/                                    \
5!                     oI    ~!I I I ) 1 I'                    ~I I I I




66
Figure 4 represents a section as viewed from up or
down the street; E E showing the ends of the planks
forming the substructure; D D, the blocks, seen on
their broad sides; F, the strip, that separates the different series of blocks.
Fig'. M.
E A




67
1 --- I  I        IID
~~   ~a~_ ~. [~8.~,     \'      I    -  i 
Figure 5 represents a face view, as it would appear
when seen from above, after the dressing is worn and
washed off-the filling being left out on the right.
Figure 6, (see following page) drawn on a much
smaller scale, represents a transverse section extending from curb to curb, as seen from up or down the
street; the " strip" (F fig. 4) not being shown.
The curvature is over drawn, as the street would not
require to be so rounding. C C are the curb-stones;
E E, the substructure. The two blocks, D D, are
termed the gutter blocks; the face of which slants up
(instead of down) towards the curb, which brings the
bottom or deepest line of the gutter a few inches off
from the curb; the advantages of which will be explained further on.
The objects of the several parts and their general
arrangement will be fully explained in describing the
advantages of this pavement.




I
II
Ii
X  rt  -,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I
IIr
1~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I
II
IIS
And~~~~~~~~~~~~~




69
ADVANTAGES OF THE NICOLSON PAVEMENT.
Having previously described, somewhat at length,
the requisites of a good pavement, irrespective of the
material that might be employed, and shown that
neither the Cobble, Belgian nor Russ supplies these
requisites; we now propose to show that the Nicolson
not only meets all these requirements; but that, by the
superiority of wood over other materials, it accomplishes more; in that, that it constitutes a pavement
relatively noiseless, and infinitely better adapted to
the nature of the Horse and the action of iron shoes
and tires than any mineral or metal pavement can be,
however constructed.
In describing the advantages of the Nicolson, as they
relate to the requirements already discussed, it will
not be necessary to much more than call attention to
the construction of the pavement in connection with a
bare enumeration of these requisites, to show that it
supplies all the conditions necessary to insure perfect
success.
But in discussing the superiority of wood over stone,
as relates to noise, durability, adaption to the nature
of the Horse and iron shoes and tires, we shall undertake to show, that heretofore, a great mistake has been
committed in the selection of materials for pavements.




70
First. Advantage of the Nicolson Pavement
as relates to a flat and even Surface.
1st. The Surface Is Perfect.
By means of the substructure, which is as smooth
and uniform as a house floor; and the exact uniformity of the length or height of the blocks, together with
the fact that the face of each is a perfect plane, renders
the general surface of the pavement perfectly flat; so
much so, that the sweep of a straight edge or line
would touch upon or stroke the surface of every block.
Yet this perfection of the surface, (the first of the three
cardinal points of a good pavement), is obtained without depriving the horse of his sure foothold; while in
other pavements, though the surface is often sacrificed
to secure foothold, or foothold to obtain surface, yet
neither is obtained with any perfection; as is illustrated by the Russ and Cobble pavements.
2d. The perfection of its Surface conforms to the
perfection and nature of the Wagon Wheel.
Wheels, on the theory of their rims being everywhere
equally distant from their hubs, rolling over this pavement, carry their axles in a horizontal plane; while on
the Cobble, Belgian and Russ, they throw the axles
out of a horizontal plane, in every four to eight inches,
as is explained on pages 19 and 21, and illustrated by
figures 1, 2 and 3.
3d. Its Surface presents no obstacle to vehicles, and
so renders the Draft of Horses more Effective.
There are no points higher or lower than the general
surface, behind or into which wheels can be placed;
hence a horse can start all he can draw; while it




71
often requires the force of several horses to start a
load over the immovable chocks everywhere presented
to wheels on any of our city pavements, not even excepting the Broadway Russ.
4th. Its perfect Surface renders riding Easy, Agreeable, and Safe.
That riding over such a surface, in whatever style of
vehicle, should be at once more agreeable, easy and
safe, is so self-evident that it seems but folly, in argument, to more than say so. Still, when speaking of
wood, as material for pavements, we shall allude to the
peculiar agreeableness of traversing the Nicolson.
5th. Its flat and even surface prevents Wear and Tear
of Vehicles and injury of Freight.
1st. Ninety per cent. of the jar, which so soon starts
and rattles the joints and bolts of a wagon, is diminished.
2d. It does away with the side tripping or sliding of
wheels, which strains them more than do the burdens
carried.
3d. It prevents holes and gullies, which break
springs, axles and wheels.
4th. It furnishes a continuous bearing for the continuous rim of the wheel, which prevents the felloes
and tires from being sprung between the spokes.
5th. Where springs are applied below the draft, it
prevents the peculiar jerky motion of the axle, and
wheels which is unavoidable, and injurious on a rough
surface.
We shall omit to speak of wear and tear of shoes
and tires until we shall have discussed the durability
of the Nicolson.




72
6th. Its perfect Surface facilitates Cleanliness of the
Streets.
It renders cleanliness of the streets possible by facilitating the use of sweeping machines; only by means
of which will, or can, streets ever be kept properly
cleaned. And the surface being oval the dirt is partly
washed off by rains.
7th. Its surface increases the Capacity of Thoroughfares.
Its surface being equivalent to a universal rail-track
enables vehicles to be run in every direction, thus
rendering all parts of the street available. It enables
heavier loads to be drawn-admits of greater speedrequires less horses. In narrow and crowded streets
this is an important consideration.
Why horse railroads, only that, being smoother,
they enable the horses to do more work, as well as promote ease and convenience.
Sth. It renders all parts of the Streets available and
convenient to Pedestrians.
This and the foregoing enumerated advantages will
be more fully appreciated by referring to previous
pages, from 17 to 37.
Second.  The Advantage of the Nicolson
Pavement as relates to Foot-hold.
1st. The cells extending across the line of travel,
there is no tendency of the wheel, in its diminutive
proportion, (which is the width of its rim), to work
into them.
2d. The united faces of the blocks being continuous




73
from curb to curb, the wheels, so to express it, always
find a foot-hold in a side direction, and that side
slipping and tripping, so straining to wheels on a rough
pavement, is wholly avoided.
3d. The cells are so narrow that the wheels, rolling
over them, are not thrown, in the least, up and down;
and the axle therefore is not thrown out of the horizontal plane.
4th. The cells in size, shape, and distance apart are
perfectly adapted to the size and shape of the corks
of the shoe, and the size of the foot.
The sides of the cells being perpendicular and at
right angles to the face of the pavement, and the corks
being perpendicular and at right angles to the face of
the shoe, there is no tendency of the corks to slip out
of the cells until the foot is taken up; because the
shoes and the corners of the blocks lock together by
corresponding right angles, instead of obtuse angles, as
in all other systems of grooving. (See figures 7 and 8,
pages 41 and 42.)
This is so clearly illustrated by the following diagrams as to need no further explanation.
a        i




74
While the width of the cells is sufficient to admit
the corks, they afford no unnecessary space to allow
slipping after the corks enter them.
The thickness of the blocks, and so the distance between the cells, is uniform, and affords the horse reli-.
ance in finding his foot-hold; while the adaptation, of
the distance between the cells to the size of the foot, is
such that the greatest distance the foot can slip is not
over one inch.
Ice and Foot-hold.
Of course, when a pavement is completely covered
and buried out of sight, with a layer of ice, it is not
expected that its foot-hold, cells or grooves, will prevent
the horse from slipping. The horse will slide on ice,
of course, unless he be sharp shod, whatever be the
character of the pavement that rests some inches below.
Foot-hold between Rail-tracks.
The Brooklyn city Railroad Company has laid a
stone pavement between the rails on the up grade
curve on Fulton street expressly with reference to giving the horse the best possible foot-hold. And the
blocks selected, in size and shape, are more similar to
the Nicolson blocks than those of any other pavement;
and the grooves extend in a straight line transversely
from rail to rail. So that, except the difference of material and the rounded edges of the blocks, the surface
and grooves are like the Nicolson.
(See suggestions relating to foot-hold on previous
pages, from 38 to 44.)




Third. Advantage of the Nicolson Pavement,
as relates to the general form of the Surface
of the Street and Gutter.
So far as it is desirable to give the general surface
any particular form, the Nicolson is especially adapted;
for being composed of wood, its blocks and other parts
can be worked into any required shape with the
greatest facility.
This feature in regard to gutters is of no little importance.
As pavements are generally laid, the deepest point
of the gutter lies close up to the curbstone, which in
some respects is quite objectionable.
ist. The streets being oval and teams suddenly
sheering up toward and then away from the curb, the
vehicles are swung around against the unyielding curb
with great violence, which often snaps axles, crushes
wheels, and dashes mud upon the sidewalk.
2d. Vehicles standing close to the curb are often
smashed by being run into; when if there were
a few inches between them and the curb, the passing
vehicles, though coming in contact, would jostle by
without doing them any harm.
3d. The gutter being lower than the surface of the
pavement, stages and heavy teams, getting into them,
have, many times, much difficulty in sheering out of
them again.
4th. The union between the curb and pavement
being the lowest line of the street, the water washes out
the dirt and causes the curb stone to lean towards the
street and separate from the flagging.
5th. Though the sidewalk and curb stone are intended as a protection to pedestrians against horse and




vehicle, yet when the lowest point of the gutter lies
close to the curb the sidewalk is encroached upon by
the greasy hubs of wheels, and often with a continuous pile of snow and mud thrown up from the pavement.
6th. The gutter being lower than the rest of the pavement, tips the tops of vehicles down and towards the
sidewalk, which makes the getting in and out of close
carriages quite inconvenient.
To avoid these objections the gutter should have its
lowest point or line run eight or nine inches from, and
then slant up to, the curb as shown in figure 6 (page
68) illustrating the gutter of the Nicolson.
Such a gutter as this, by means of the Nicolson, is
made without additional expense; and prevents the
vehicles from encroaching upon the sidewalks, and
gradually eases up the side resistance of the curb
against the slewing vehicle; thus saving many a wheel
and axle, and avoiding danger of capsizing, and preventing the side chafing of wheels against the curb, and
preventing vehicles from encroaching upon pedestrians
by running too close to the walk.
Fourth. Advantage of the Nicolson Pavement, as relate to Material, or the peculiar
Merits of Wood over Stone, for Pavements.
So far, in the discussion, attention has been called
to surface, foot-hold, forms, construction, &c., and to
the several advantages resulting from having these requisites properly provided; without especially referring
to the material of which the pavement might be composed.




77
All must admit too that the requisites, as heretofore
described, are desirable and indispensable; and that
the Nicolson supplies all these qualities in a far superior manner to anything else. In fact, it is only by
means of wood that even these requisites can be so perfectly obtained. Yet the great and peculiar advantages of the Nicolson over other pavements result, not
alone from its construction and the supplying of the
requisites as, so far, set forth, but from the nature of the
material employed.
It would seem that the first conception of a pavement took the form of a cobble stone, and ineradicably
impressed itself upon the mind.
Cobble stones were easily found; they could be had
for the gathering and the freight, which, in times past,
cost little or nothing. Coasters and shipmasters many
times gathered them into their unladened vessels and
brought them to the seaport cities as ballast. But vessels, as a general thing, having come to be freighted
both ways of their passage, and cobble stones becoming scarce, and so more expensive, together with the
fact that the Belgian blocks can be had so cheaply
and so near to New York, have given the Belgian
pavement quite an introduction, within a few years
past. Nevertheless, this pavement, too, is composed
of hard rough stones.
Cobble stones should never have been brought to
the cities; but, being on hand, they should be employed
to fill in with, for docks and holes, the only use for
which they are suitable. If they are wholly unfit for a
pavement in some streets, like Broadway and Fifth
avenue, then too they are equally unfit for any street,
as John and Pearl streets, for instance. Why not?
For no vehicle enters or leaves Broadway without traversing other streets.




78
The idea that pavements must be composed of something very hard and resistant, like stone or iron, we
think can be shown to be a fallacy-a popular error.
1st. Advantages of the Nicolson, or Wood over Stone,
as relate to the Horse.
Pavements are for horses and vehicles. Though
many vehicles (horse cars) run on iron tracks, yet all
horses must go on the pavements. And vehicles, not being animate, are incapable of suffering and abuse; and
if the pavements be rough, hard, slippery or what not,
they can be made strong, light, heavy, &co, as may be
required, to adapt them to such pavement. Not so
with the horse. Man must take him as he is. Beyond
shoeing him, he can do nothing. His structure and
organism are unalterable, and therefore, any possible
adaptation of horse and pavement to each other, must
come by suiting the pavement to the horse.
In determining the material for pavements best suited
to the horse, we have first to observe the natural adaptation which heaven itself arranged and made perfect.
The horse in his wild state feeds upon grass which
grows on soft earth (not rocks) and which, with the
grass, makes a foundation as harmless and comfortable to the horse as a velvet carpet is to a man.
Yet humane and religious man, to gratify his selfishness, has not only captured and enslaved the noblest
animal in the world, but has dragged him off of the
great green carpet spread down by the good Architect
for his wild prancing snorters, and compelled him,
under the lashing abuse of heartless Jehus, all his
life, to drag the burdens of men over the rough and
stony street.




79
But we must have the horse; we cannot dispense
with him; nor can we give him his native sod to travel
on. But we can try to give him something better than
solid, bare, rough rocks, which unavoidably jar his
limbs, bruise his feet and ossify his joints. On these
rock-like pavements he is not only cruelly abused,
but half his usefulness is destroyed. So economy and
humanity both call for a pavement better adapted to
his nature, if it be possible.
And since horse and wheel must be iron shod, the
paving material employed must be sufficiently hard
and resistant to sustain the action of shoe and tire; and
yet be of such a nature as to modify the concussionaction and reaction-so as to take off that stunning,
rock-like shock, so ruinous to bone and muscle.
Efforts have been made to save the horse from the
injury of this severe concussion, by introducing rubber between his hoof and shoe; but this is impracticable and too expensive.-To prevent jar and noise,
rubber has also been introduced between felloes and
tires, but without success.
We must at least give the horse a fibrous substance
to plod his way upon, and so lessen the cruelty we must
inflict.
Hence, as wood is the only feasible fibrous substance
for the purpose, we must either employ it or stick to
stone, or plunge back into the mud and dirt street.
Travelling on stone constantly is unnatural to any
animal, especially to the horse, but it is not so much a
violation to traverse wood.
The wood, set up endways of the grain, has the effect
to modify the action, or the concussion, between the
iron-shod hoof and itself, so as to make it quite different to the horse. The bruising and ossifying effect is




80
not so great. Though the shoe makes no more perceptible impression on the wooden block than on the
stone, yet there is a different result to the horse. A
wooden pavement, even, is less injurious to the horse
when he travels on the ends, than when the action
comes on the sides, of the fibers; yet the wood will
resist and endure endwise of the fiber many times
longer than sideways; and, hence, the double superiority of the Nicolson pavement over a plank road.
As before explained, in the mechanic arts the relations of cause and effect are, sometimes, as unseen
and unaccounted for, except in results, as in any
other department of science.
All through the mechanic arts it is well known that
the results of concussion are modified by bringing materials of an unlike nature together. A wooden maul
and an iron hammer of the same weight may have the
same power in driving a chisel to frame a building, or
to drive a stone cutter's implements, yet the results of
the forces are different. Sudden cooling of steel hardens it; heating, softens it. Of two musical instruments,
apparently exactly alike, one will be worth many times
the other. A wagon made entirely of iron, though its
weight and strength be the same as one made entirely
of wood, will have a very different effect upon the passengers they carry. In fact, the effects of applying
the same billet of wood, endwise or sidewise, to any
purpose are as different as if materials of an unlike
nature were employed; both as relate to the results
produced by and upon the wood; whether the mode
of action be that of concussion or friction.
And so it is with wooden paving blocks. Though
not soft enough to be impressed, yet they have a
marked modified effect on the wear and tear of
horses.




81
There is no doubt but the same horse would endure,
other things being the same, a third longer on the
Nicolson than on any other pavement.
City horses are turned out in the country to recover
from sore feet and the general bruising they have received on the stone pavements. A common saying is,
"don't drive so fast on the pavement, or you will
knock your horse to pieces:" another is, " hold him
in until you get off the pavement:" another, "hold
him up now you've struck the pavement."
Why is it so important to have such good tracks on
race courses and parks, where horses but seldom go,,
and never for purposes of draft, and then have such
rough stony tracks where countless horses must travel
from morning to night, and from night to morning, and 
drag heavy burdens?
It is common sense-self-evident —that the horse,
adapted by nature to roam on the soft green sod, is
incapable of travelling all his life with impunity on an
unyielding rough stony surface.
2d. Advantage of the Nicolson, or Wood over Stone,
as relates to Noise, Rents, &c.
The noise of the city thoroughfare is one of its greatest drawbacks —its intolerable, yet immovable, nuisance.
And though the busy tread and constant roll of
wheels over the paved streets of the metropolis will
necessarily create at best a terrible clatter and racket;
yet the phrase, "thundering city," so often used
should be applied only to a cobble paved city; and the
expression  "deafening city," to a Belgian paved city;
6




82
while the term " humming city," might be applied to
a Nicolson paved city.
A completely noiseless pavement is not possible, and,
as it would be unsafe, neither is it desirable; yet the
thundering, deafening, rattling clatter of the stony
street is not only disagreeable, but a great hindrance
in the transaction of business. Along the thoroughfare it requires a trying, straining effort to converse.
City stages, though mounted upon the best of compound springs, make such a rattling noise that passengers are as unable to converse in them as they would
be in the midst of whirling spindles and flying shuttles
of a clattering cotton mill.
The Fifth avenuers of our beautiful cities may erect
their princely dwellings; adorn them with costly pictures and frescoes; and, with medalion and velvet carpets, render all movements about their apartments
silent and sylph-like; and, to catch the cooling breeze
of summer days and nights, fold back their lace and
satin curtains, throw up their French plate windows,
and gather about for social converse and pleasure;
yes, on either side and from end to end of the thoroughfare, the inmates of every palace may thus seek relief
and quiet; yet one coal cart alone rattling along
the stony way interrupts all conversation, and destroys
half the comfort and pleasure sought throughout the
magnificent avenue.
In trafficing thoroughfares the inconvenience and interruption to business is immense. Counting-rooms
and offices, which require the best ventilated and
lighted parts of the building, are often located, to get
rid of the clatter of the street, in some dark disagreeable, gas-lighted room.
An incontestible evidence that a relatively noiseless




83
pavement is required and appreciated for business
purposes, is in the fact that, wherever the Nicolson
pavement has been laid, the same rooms and stores
have rented for a third more than they were before.
In San Francisco, where the Nicolson was laid in one
of two adjoining parallel streets of equal standing in
travel and traffic, and the Belgian at the same time laid
in the other, the Nicolson pavement so much attracted
the travel and traffic from the other street that the property holders, at their own expense, to save their rents,
and trade, took up the Belgian and put down the
Nicolson. This has been the result in other places, as
well.
Many large real estate holders, instead of complaining of taxes, say they can afford to lay it every year,
at their own cost, and then save money out of the increased rents, which the tenants are willing to pay in
order to secure it.
In case of sickness the stone pavements are very objectionable; not only on account of noise, but the jar
of the vehicles, which the stone communicates to the
sensitive and diseased nerves of the patient. A rich
person can sometimes influence permission, and afford
the expense of having tan bark, or some other fibrous
substance spread over the pavement around his dwelling; but the countless poor, when sick, must suffer
and bear the racket and jar of the noisy rocky street.
The major part of such suffering would be prevented
by a general use of the Nicolson pavement.
There are many people, nominally in health, that
cannot, for the jar and noise of stone pavements, reside
in the city at all. While the constant irritation, pro-,
duced by the ceaseless rumbling thunder of the city,
more or less exhausts the nervous energy of all persons,
even the most robust.




84
Yet the cost of one ordinary painting,- or lace curtain, or carpet, or one pleasure wagon, or one horse,
or one fluted column, or fancy door-cap of a store or
dwelling, or the extra annual rent of a suit of rooms,
or the pleasure of transacting business one year in a
quiet store, or the comfort of relative quiet during one
siege of sickness would be ample to lay the Nicolson
pavement in front of any store or dwelling every year.
3d. Advantage of the Nicolson, or Wood over Stone,
as relates to Iron Shoes and Tires.
As the use of iron shoes and tires is absolutely indispensible, the materials selected for pavements must
have reference to this fact and the nature of iron. For
the action, or wear and tear of the pavement on these
is just as much a matter of consideration as their action, or wear and tear on the pavement.
As this matter of wear and tear of shoes and tires,
however, will be better understood after alluding to
the desirability of the Nicolson, it will be omitted
here.
4th. Advantages of the Nieolson, or Wood over Stone,
as relates to the Shaping and Laying of its Parts.
The several parts of the Nicolson, being composed
of wood and bounded by planes and right angles, are
brought into the desired shape with greater rapidity
and perfection than it were possible, if the material
was hard and the forms irregular. The implement
employed for this purpose being, probably, the cheapest, most perfect and effective, in its results, of any
labor-saving machine yet invented-which is the buzzsaw. One man, with one of these powerful saws, will
do as muqh execution, in forming wooden paving




85
blocks, as a regiment of men will do in getting out
stone blocks.
Besides, the perfection of similarity in their shape
and size, renders the labor expended in laying the
pavement equally simple and cheap. For the most
unskilled labor is competent to lay the blocks with
accuracy and perfection; which enables nearly all the
cost of the pavement to apply to the procurement of
the most suitable material; instead of expending the
labor informing and laying a material, which, in
itself costs but a trifle, and which, when laid, fails to
answer any of the requirements of a good pavement.
5th. Advantage of the Nicolson, or Wood over Stone,
as relates to Water and Gas Pipes.
The multiplicity of underground gas and water
pipes, in cities of the present day, requires a pavement
which can be easily taken up in small sections, and
securely replaced.
The Nicolson, being impervious to water and moisture, keeps the earth dry beneath; and, being a good
non-conductor of heat, the frost never reaches below it.
So, wherever it is taken up, the ground is in as good
condition, to be handled and repacked, in the winter
as in the summer.
The right angle character and uniformity of shape
and size of the blocks, together with the plank substructure, enable the sections taken up to be replaced
with a perfect fit, and on a level with the general surface.
To prevent it from settling, a lap-joint plank is run
under the edge of the undisturbed pavement and al



86
lowed to project under the edge of the returned
section.
To remove a section of this pavement, first take up
the blocks, and then, by means of a hatchet, cutoff
the planks. The same planks can be returned, by
using a lap-joint plank, as above explained.
6th. Advantage of the Nicolson, or Wood over Stone,
as relates to its Sanitary Properties.
The Cobble or Belgian pavements allow free infiltration of water and decomposed vegetable matter, which,
thus escaping the evaporative power of sun and air,
still undergo other changes and exhale in the form of
poisonous miasmata.
But, by means of the geometrical symmetry of its
parts, and their complete coating of asphaltum and coal
tar, the Nicolson is perfectly impervious to water and
moisture, and thus prevents infiltration of decomposed
vegetable matter, and obviates all miasmatic exhalations.
Besides, by the use of the asphaltum and coal tar the
streets are provided, throughout their breadth and
length, with a lasting and valuable disinfectant.
This superadded sanitary quality of the Nicolson
pavement, in large cities, is of great value, and, in
these days of precautionary science, should not be
overlooked.
From the many high scientific testimonials of the
sanitary merits of this pavement, received by its inventor, we select the following:




87
BOSTON, November 27, 1866.
SAMUEL NICOLSON, Esq.:
DEAR SIR-I am familiar with your Patent Wood and Pitch
Pavement, and with most of the improvements you have made
n it, and can confidently express an opinion on its adaptation
to the cities of our Southern States, and to those of the West
India Islands.
It not only does away with muddy streets and makes a clean
and comfortable roadway, but it also obstructs the rising of
pestilential emanations from decomposing vegetable matter in
the soil, but also chemically, if coal tar is employed in the composition, the phenic acid of coal tar being one of the best
known antisceptics, meeting and decomposing any malaria that
may come from below.
This opinion, which I originally expressed to you in my let
ter of December 5, 1854, has been, as I learn, amply verified by
subsequent experience in Chicago, Toledo, and other of our
Western cities.
If so simple a device as a good pavement will render healthful, cities which are now annoyed by pestilential effluvia from
the soil, your invention will prove one of the most efficacious
sanitary applications that has yet been made, and I am strongly
impressed with the belief that such will prove to be the result
in many cities of the Southern States, and in the West and
East Indies.
I have seen your pavement in the streets of San Francisco,
California, and know that it is highly approved there, and that
an imperious demand for its extension throughout the city
existed while I was there last year; for all agreed that it was
the best pavement in the city.
Respectfully your obedient servant,
CHARLES T. JACKSON, M. D.,
State Assayer to the Commonuealth of Massachusetts.




88
NO. 20 STATE STREET, BOSTON, 
November 28, 1866. i
SAMUEL NICOLSON, Esq.:
DEAR SIR —I have had abundant opportunities for observing
the excellent qualities of your pavement while subjected to
constantuse, and its special adaptation to situations where the
road bed is naturally moist
Apart from other features of this invention, and deserving of
attention, is the sanitary influence of this construction.
In the cement used by you the powerful disinfectant carbonic
acid is found, and the vapors of this substance will neutralize
miasmata and destroy the germs of mould vegetation, which
are constantly exhaling from the surface. We may confidently
expect to find the vicinity of the pavement protected from
those diseases produced by miasmatic exhalations, and in this
view the substitution of your pavement for other kinds becomes
a great public benefit.
Respectfully,
A. A. HAYES, M. D.,
Cons. Chemist and State Assayer.
7th. Advantage of the Nicolson, or Wood over Stone,
as relates to the Pleasure of Riding.
If such magnificent and costly roads, as those of
Central Park for instance, can be afforded and coniidered necessary, merely for the pleasure of riding
and driving; why should not the pleasure of riding
and driving constitute a still greater consideration in
business thoroughfares and resident avenues; over
which there must pass a hundred vehicles, horses and
riders to one that traverses the roads of Central Park.
No vehicle can even reach these same pleasure roads




89
of the Park, without first passing, many of them, for
miles over the rough and jolting pavements of other
streets and avenues. Why arrange a public garden
so as to compel all its visitors to travel over a bed of
thorns to reach a bed of roses? Why lay a rough
rocky pavement in Fifth avenue, one of the long,
narrow, crowded, yet magnificent gateways to this
pleasure-driving Park?
Again: pleasure is not so much promoted separate
from, as in connection with business. A man who
drives and rides eight or nine hours a day, with heavy
loads, over ruts, holes and gullies, down town, cannot
make up for the wear and tear and discomfort, by
hitching up to a light wagon and taking an hour's
turn in the Park-can't ruugh it over the Belgian and
Cobble stones six days in a week, and then heal the
bruises and smooth the wrinkles with a little expensive "pleasure" driving Sunday-might as well say,
transact business, and suffer, in your counting-room
all day, in mid-winter, without any fire, to save the
expense of stove and coal, with a view of making up
for the suffering by sitting around a good fire at home
in the evening.
The Nicolson pavement is no less appreciated by
the hackman, stage-driver and teamster, as an everyday comfort, than the Central Park roads are by
sportsmen and opulent pleasure-seekers, as a now-andthen recreation.
The agreeableness of riding on smooth roads is made
up principally by the steady view it affords of the
surrounding scenery; for, whenever we ride, we are in
the midst of an actual live picture; a constant view
of which we cannot avoid. If this great panoramic
picture is made to appear as if it were being constantly




90
jerked up and down, by being ourselves jolted over a
rough road, half the pleasure of beholding it is, of
course, destroyed. Hence, in this respect, the motion
of riding is agreeable just in proportion as the track
approaches a perfect plane.
Therefore it is, together with the fact that wood
diminishes the noise, softens and modifies the concussion between itself and the shoe and tire, that the
Nicolson affords that peculiarly agreeable, swinging,
floating motion, almost as perfectly as the floating of
an open boat in still water, which intensifies the pleasure of riding to the utmost degree.
8th. Advantage of the Nicolson, or Wood over Stone,
as relates to its Universality.
The Nicolson is suited equally well for all kinds of
roads. It is alike adapted to the heaviest vehicles
and loads, or to the lightest pleasure buggies; to the
crowded business streets of the city, or its boulevards
and park-roads; for private walks and bridle roads;
or for country thoroughfares, as a substitute for plank
and McAdamized roads.-In short, wherever it can be
afforded, it is good for any vehicle; even from the
boy's velocipede to the iron founder's ponderous
truck; and for the foot of man and every beast, from
a dog to an elephant.
9th. Advantage of the Nicolson, or Wood over Stone,
as relates to Cost-Fitness of greater importance than
Cheapness and Durability.
In this age and country, the saying, s' penny wise
and pound foolish," is too often made the rule of




91
action, instead of that better axiom  that "what is
worth doing at all, is worth doing well."
This is the case when cost takes no account of durability, and vice versa; for, cost and durability being
strictly relative considerations, a thing, in the abstract,
might be very cheap, yet dear; or dear, yet cheap;
depending upon the relative durability. And so, in
the abstract, the durability of things depends upon
the relative cost. And, as these must be considered
with reference to each other, so must both of these be
estimated with reference to still other qualities; such
as feasibility, necessity, comfort, pleasure, destruction, &c.; in short, everything embraced in the idea
of general fitness.
The truth of this statement is too evident to need
illustration. Yet this idea of relative importance of
different qualities has its limits. That is; a thing
might be cheap, but good for nothing at all; or, being
good every way, yet so dear, as not, possibly, to be
afforded; and so on. For instance, a coat, made of
sheet-iron, lined with zinc and wadded with saw-dust,
might be at once cheap, durable and warm; yet, for
want of suitableness, utterly unfeasible. So it would
be with cast-iron boots and tin hats. A wooden railtrack would. be cheaper and more comfortable than
an iron one, yet absolutely impracticable for want of
strength, as well as durability. Golden dishes, though
more suitable and desirable than fragile porcelain,
are, for general use, impossible, because of insufferable cost. Lead is good to resist acids, but it would
make a poor stove; and though it would make a bad
gun, it is excellent for bullets.
This adaptation of one thing to another, of means to
end, causes to results, in nature, is special, universal




92
and perfect. But in art it is otherwise; there being
more or less imperfection of fitness in all things, pertaining to the mechanic arts especially. Therefore,
in judging of the qualities of anything, as suited to a
given purpose, it is necessary to keep in mind all the
desired requisites and conditions. Yet, generally,
there are some qualities and objects which, in importance, decidedly preponderate over others. For
instance, the leading objects of windows are, (so to
express it) to keep out cold and let in light, to keep in
heat and let out vision; as well as to let in natural
heat and not let out artificial heat. These leading
objects are so well accomplished by panes of glass,
that their fragile nature, though rendering them easily
broken, is never urged against them. If pieces of
sheet iron were used, though they would not break,
and might cost less, they would be opaque; and as
transparency is indispensable and toughness not, of
course, glass is selected. Yet glass would be still
more perfectly adapted if the quality of toughness in
the iron were added to its transparency; but this is
impossible. Hence, if glass should cost many times
its present price, still it would be the cheapest known
substance for the purpose.
The cost and durability of an article have relation
also to its destructive effects on other articles coming
into contact with it.
For instance, if glass so affected the light as to produce insufferably sore eyes, it still would be unfit for
windows. Suppose of two boots, one of them would
wear out a stocking every day, and produce a new
"corn" every four weeks; and the other one would
wear out a stocking every month and produce no
corns, at all. Who would say that the one boot were




93
not cheaper than the other, though it cost ten to one?
A run-away horse, purchased'to-day, at quarter price,
may, to-morrow, destroy the value of a kind and
gentle one, by dashing to pieces a valuable wagon.
A cheap but insecure harness, by breaking, the first
time used, might cost the value, not only of horse and
carriage, but even life and limb. Suppose a new
sort of coal, for fuel, could be introduced into market
for one-fifth the ordinary price, and as valuable as
any other, only that some peculiar acid in it would
destroy a new stove, burning it, every fortnight. Who
would contend that such coal would be cheap at any
price 
In comparing two different articles produced for the
same purpose, if'capital can be commanded to meet
the purchase, it is no argument against the one or the
other, to say it costs more, unless it be shown that its
extra practical worth is not equal to its extra cost.
And in estimating such worth, all practical considerations must be taken into account; even including
ease, comfort, convenience and appearance.
Otherwise it might as well be contended, for instance,
that a live horse cost more than a dead one, or a sound
one more than a lame one, a handsome one more than a
bad looking one; or that a fine beaver coat costs more
than a linsey woolsey one; or that a paper shirt costs
less than a muslin one; or that fresh meat is dearer
than tainted; that a rail-car costs more than a wagon;
a railroad, more than a turnpike.
Though these ideas are not new, and everybody
acts upon them daily, in all the common affairs of
life, yet they are often grossly violated; not only by
individuals, in a small way, but by governments,
on a grand scale; and, among others, this subject of
pavements stands out as a remarkable instance.




94
Within certain limits, the cost and durability of
pavements are of minor consideration, compared with
the many other far more important requisites.
Before cost and durability, come flatness of surface,
and foot-hold; and above all, fitness as relates to the
organism of the horse; then as relates to noise,-ease,
comfort, &c.
In fact, the general cost of pavements bears so small
a relation to the many indispensable advantages of
having streets well paved, that it seems simply absurd
to say, in argument, that an acknowledged good pavement costs one or even two dollars, per square yard,
more than an admitted poor one; or that the poor one
will last a year longer.
But if cost and durability can be seriously urged as
the leading considerations, then a mud street is best
of all, for it costs less and lasts longer than any other.
Yet it is not at all suitable, for reasons too obvious to
be mentioned. Again, solid blocks of polished steel,
though they formed a perfect plane, cost immense
sums (or cost nothing) and last forever, would not be
suitable, for quite as obvious, though altogether different, reasons.
If cost and durability of a pavement have any relation to its destructive effect on the objects that come
into contact with it, then there is no limit to the reason
why the Nicolson, or wood instead of stone, should be
employed. For the wear and tear of shoes, horses
and vehicles are many times greater on the cobble,
Belgian and Russ, than on the Nicolson-on stone than
on wood. —The wear and tear on the objects that traverse a pavement, under any circumstances, are a thousand fold greater than to the pavement itself. In other
words, many thousands of dollars worth of shoes,




95
horses and vehicles can be worn out on a few thousand dollars worth of pavement. Therefore the destructive effect of the pavement upon the objects moving over it, is more to be avoided than the destructive
effect of horse and vehicle to the pavement.
Hence, any pavement that greatly increases the de
struction of shoe, horse, and vehicle-ease, comfort and
convenience is not economical, though it cost nothing
and last forever.
It will be contended that tax payers will not consent to be taxed for a good pavement. This is presuming that the tax payer is "penny wise and pound
foolish."  For the Nicolson will save him seventy-five
per cent. of his horse shoeing, fifty per cent. of the
wear and tear of his horses and vehicles; and increase
the value of his real estate twenty per cent.; to say
nothing of the pleasure and comfort of having his
property surrounded with pleasure roads, equal to
those of Central Park.
The trouble is not in getting the tax payers to co'nsent to be taxed, but in getting the city government to
consent to the property holders laying the pavement,
even at their own individual expense, that they may
reap the benefits and profits of it.
Taking New York city, for instance, the relative
cost of the Cobble, Belgian and Nicolson, is respectively $2, $3, and $4, per square yard.-Of course,
where stone is dearer and wood is cheaper, there would
be a double difference in favor of wood.
Besides, is there any argument why the Cobble.
should be abandoned, and one dollar a yard more
paid for the Belgian to take its place, that is not equally applicable to show that the Belgian should give
way for the Nicolson at an equal extra cost, if (all




96
things considered,) it can be shown to be as much
better than the Belgian as the Belgian is better than
the Cobble? Why not say the Belgian costs a dollar
per yard more than the Cobble, as well as to say that
the Nicolson costs that much more than the Belgian.
If the tax payers prefer the Belgian at a dollar more,
then they will prefer the Nicolson at a dollar more
also; provided it be worth as much more than the
Belgian, as the Belgian is worth more than the Cobble;
of which there is not a shadow of doubt.
As'figures don't lie," and as some minds yield to
no other argument-and not even to this unless they
express dollars and cents-we here make an application of a little arithmetic.
Suppose a street to be 40 feet wide, and a building 20
feet wide; and we have for that building, (to pave its
half of the street;) forty-four and forty-four hundredths
square yards. Suppose the Cobble costs $2, the Belgian $3 and the Nicolson $4 per square yard; and that
the several pavements will last ten years. This will
give $44.44, difference between the Belgian and Nicolson for ten years, or $4.44 for one year.
There are, even scientific men, those who are rated
as civil engineers and political economists, who, while
they admit the superiority of the INicolson, seriously
contend, in print and public places, that the intelligent
tax-payers will not submit to this paltry additional
cost for a better pavement; which is presuming too
much upon the stupidity of those who pay the bills.
Without again enumerating the many advantages
of this pavement to the tax-payers, we assert with that
confidence which is based upon actual figures, that
any tax-payer, keeping a horse, (if there were no other
pavement in his city,) would save money enough in a




97
year, to meet this extra tax of $4 44, in the shoeing of
one foot of one horse.
It is foolish to suppose, for a moment, that the intelligent tax payer, after freely contributing to build fine
cities and introducing all the modern improvements of
convenience and ornamentation, will now refuse to
bear a small tax for this last and completing, this
indispensable improvement. If he will bear a tax of
two and three dollars for the Cobble and Belgian
pavement, which ruin his horses and vehicles, diminish his pleasure and comfort, and that too without
developing the full value of his real estate; much more
will he'willingly pay an additional dollar, to save his
horse and vehicle, promote his pleasure, ease and convenience, and to increase the value of his property.
In view of its being less destructive to the objects
traversing it, the Nicolson, even at many times its present cost, would be cheaper than any other pavement;
while, at its nominal cost, it is the cheapest and most
economical pavement which it is possible to invent.
10th. Advantage of the Nicolson, or Wood over Stone
as relates to repairs.
In estimating the relative cost of two articles for
a given purpose not only must the relative first cost
and the relative durability be considered, but the
comparative cost of repairs must also be taken into
the account. And in this comparison, the Nicolson is
also superior to all the stone pavements; for, its blocks
resting on an unyielding substructure, and being immovably supported in all lateral directions, it needs
no frequent repairing here and there in spots, as do.
the Cobble and Belgian pavements.
7




98
This extra cost of repairing the stone pavements is
far greater than the extra first cost of the Nicolson.
And, as expense of repairs is. part of the actual cost
of anything, the Nicolson really costs considerably
less than either the Cobble or Belgian.
11th. Advantage of the Nicolson, or Wood over Stone
as relates to durability-General suggestions.
Wherever the Nicolson has been lai  i he hundreds
and thousands who gather around to witness the process, and the hundreds of thousands who pass over it,
invariably exclaim: "That is just the needed pavement, if it will only stand." Every body appreciates
it as answering all requirements, save that of durability. In fact, its numerous other merits, over stone
and other pavements, are so apparent, that the pave
ment needs only to be seen to be pronounced a
perfect success-"~provided it will prove sufficiently
durable."
Such expressions of doubt, however, come from
only those who have no practical knowledge of the
subject. This doubt of its durability by the masses
who so readily perceive its other good qualities,
comes from the fact, that wood, being so unlike stone,
it seems incredible at first' sight, that it can be substituted for it-especially for such severe use as paving city streets. This inference is so conclusive with
many, that no amount of evidence would satisfy them
short of an actual test. Yet there is conclusive scientific evidence of its durability.
But to satisfy all, even the most incredulous, there
is not wanting either kind of evidence; for the Nicolson, as will be shown, is no new experiment; it having




99
been extensively used in many parts of the country
for years.
As there are several ways in which a pavement may
fail, so there are, of course, several required features
of durability; for it matters not whether a failure
comes from one deficiency or another, so long as failure
is the result. For instance, a pavement that does not
continue to afford foot-hold cannot be considered
durable, though it retain all its other qualities; and so
with each of    other needed requisites.
1st. Durability as relates tolthe evenness of the general
surface.
The importance of a flat and even surface, and
the necessity of a substructure to support it, have
been discussed elsewhere. Hence it is only necessary
in this connection to show how admirably the Nicolson maintains its evenness of surface.
It is apparent to any observer that, however great
be the weight of a freighted vehicle, it never has but
four points of contact with the pavement at a time.
And these points of contact are so small that each of
them will not occupy but a small area of a single
block. Even the heaviest wheel may rest on the mere
corner of a single block. Now it is also evident that
this pressure cannot be rapidly transmitted from one
block to aiother without depressing them, unless they
have a larger area on the ground than their own independent bearing will afford; which is not the case
with the Belgian or Cobble pavement. But the Nicolson, having a plank substructure, spreads out or extends the base of each block in all directions; in the
aggregate, equal to the area of an entire plank. So




100
that each block, in its turn as the wheel passes over it,
has as much bearing on the ground as if it were sixtyfour times its own size-that is, supposing the plank to
be one by twelve feet, and the blocks three by nine
inches. It is, therefore, impossible for one block to
settle lower than another, unless the plank be broken
in two, which is not possible, while it rests on the
ground.
Hence the durability of the Nicolson against a disturbance of its general surface, or the formation of
holes and gullies, is unsurpassed by any modern structure, not even excepting the Broadway Russ.
This want of uniformity of surface is one of the
present defects of the Russ, notwithstanding so much
expense and care to have the blocks well laid.
2d. Durability as relates to the Lateral or Side Pressure.
As each block in its turn is submitted to the forcible action of the entire pressure of the wheels passing over it, with often a powerful side strain, from
both wheel and horse, it becomes necessary that each
block be not only well secured, but, for the integrity
of the whole pavement, it must be immovably staid in
all lateral directions, as well as from beneath. The
construction of the Nicolson pavement admirably supplies each of its blocks with this indispensable support.
The exact uniformity of the shape and size of the
several blocks, together with their parallelogramic
form, enables them  to support each other. In fact,
they fit together so perfectly that, when laid and cemented with the asphaltum and tar, they constitute, as




101
regards lateral stability, a solid unyielding mass.
Besides, the base of each block, being flat and at right
angles to its sides, and resting on a flat substructure,
there is no tendency of the blocks to cant over, from
any amount of pressure that fails on the pavement in
perpendicular lines.
No matter how flat and smooth may be a paving
block, or of what composed, or however suitable, if it
cants over, for want of side support, it fails to produce
a level surface, and, so, a perfect pavement.
Hence this feature of durability is as important as
any other.
And in this respect, too, the stability of the Nicolson far surpasses that of any other small-block pavement ever produced-that is, any pavement not composed of large slabs, such as constitute the upper
layer of the Appian way.
8d. Durability as relates to the General Form of the
Street.
The substructure and the perfect union between the
blocks, together with the asphaltum  and coal-tar
cement, prevents the dirt from working up between, or
out from under, the pieces; and, so, obviates the displacement of dirt below the pavement.
The lines of blocks extending from curb to curb, and
affording each other such responsive bearing and
resistance, together with the oval form of the street,
gives the pavement, in maintenance of its general form,
the support of the arch.
An English report, speaking of the new pavement of
Cheapside and Holborn, (two of the principal thoroughfares of London,) says, "it is based upon broken




102
granite instead of loose earth which is constantly
working through the interstices, and vitiating the solid
bearing which the stones should possess. A further
security against its working into holes is given by
dressing each stone accurately to the same breadth,
and into the same form, so that each tier of stones
spans the street like a bridge. This is an improvement
on the Roman system; they depended for the solidity
of their construction on the size of their blocks, which
were irregularly shaped, although carefully and firmly
fitted."
In the Nicolson the plank substructure takes the
place of the broken granite.
4th. Durability as relates to Foot-hold.
Foot-hold should continue until the pavement is
otherwise worn out. Yet stone pavements, like the
Russ and Belgian, soon become polished as smooth as
glass, and yield no foot-hold besides what can be
obtained in the seams of the blocks.
But the fibers of wood, becoming filled with sand
and gravel, do not admit of a smooth polish, like stone
or iron. So that, even irrespective of grooves, the
Nicolson affords better foot-hold than other pavements.
The durability of foot-hold is one of the peculiar
merits of this pavement, for while foot-hold, in other
pavements, fails first, in this it never fails, before the
structure otherwise yields. The cells are from three to
four inches deep, and their filling, being composed of
gravel, asphaltum and coal-tar, works out so as to
leave their depth, at all times, just right for the corks
of shoes; and never any deeper.
The grooves or cells, therefore, of this pavement can



103
not fail, until the body of the blocks are worn away
or down to the " strip," a depth offour inches.
The difference of the quality of foot-hold, on a
stone and on the Nicolson pavement, is illustrated by
the difference between a new and old file.
While the difference between the durability of the
Nicolson and other pavements, in respect to foot-hold,
is the same as the difference between two files, one of
which soon becomes smooth and worn out, and the
other remains as sharp and cutting, and so as good as
new, until the body of the file itself is consumed or
worn away.
5th. Durability as relates to Decay.
It is well known that coal-tar makes the most protective and durable paint in the world, in places
exposed to the elements; for, being perfectly impervious to water, it protects from decay produced by
changes of moisture and dryness. And, having no
affinity for oxygen, it does not waste away by oxygenization and consequent disintegration.
As every part of the Nicolson-substructure, blocks,
strips and filling-is completely saturated with, and
poured full of this antiseptic, protective and preservative substance, it is not possible for the wood to
decay during the period that any pavement can, consistently, be expected to last.
The asphaltum  and coal-tar not only coats each
piece of wood for its own protection, but it fills up the
seams between the several parts of the pavement, and
cements them all together, so as to render the whole
structure impervious to water from above and moisture
from beneath.




104
6th. Durability as relates to abrasion of the immediate surface or face of the Blocks.
We now come to speak of that feature of durability of the Nicolson pavement, respecting which
there is so much doubt in the minds of those who have
no knowledge, either of the power of wood to resist
the forces of concussion and friction, or of the practical results of the Nicolson where it has been tested
for years:-that is, the durability of the Nicolson, or
wood, to prevent itself from being materially hammered to pieces, on the surface, by concussion, or worn
away by friction.
The nature of the action or contact, to which pavements are submitted, is that of both concussion and
friction, from hoof and wheel.
Now, it is well understood by all, practically versed
in the mechanic arts, that where these two modes of
action are required, it is always an object, either to
increase or prevent attrition and disintegration. For
instance, a stone-cutter seeks to wear away the surface
of stone, with a grooved hammer, by the force of concussion; and an ax-maker wears away his axes to
an edge, on revolving stones, by the force of frictionL
while the same stone-cutter strives to prevent the abrasion between his maul and chisel produced by concussion,; and the machinist tries to prevent attrition,
between all revolving parts on their bearings produced
by the action of friction.
Hence whether the object be to increase or prevent
abrasion and attrition, the first step is to ascertain the
effect of one substance or material upon another when
acting upon each other by concussion and friction.
For some materials work admirably well together to
produce, while others work equally well to prevent,




105
abrasion and attrition. For instance, a stonecutter,
since he must employ steel chisels, seeks such material to act upon them as will prevent the disintegrating effect of concussion; not only on the chisels, but
on the driver itself; hence he uses a wooden maul
instead of iron. So with the farmer, he employs a
beetle or wooden sledge, instead of an iron hammer,
to act upon iron wedges. The stone-cutter, too, uses
hardened steel instead of soft iron for hammers to
batter away the stone; the blacksmith employs steel,
instead of wood hammers, to batter down rivets, bolts,
&c., by the force of concussion. The ax-maker employs stone instead of wood to grind away his instruments by friction. While the machinist makes gudgeons and their bearings of unlike materials to diminish the power of friction; and, for the same purpose,
adds between them lubricating substances; as oil;
while the stone-polisher, to increase the action of the
friction, puts between the stone and rubber sand and
water, instead of oil, and so on.
In selecting materials, however, that will work
together to the best advantage to promote or prevent
attrition and disintegration, it is generally the case,
that the choice of substances is only on one side. That
is, for instance, the stone-cutter must take the stone as
he finds it, and adapt his tools to it; and, as steel
chisels are necessarily employed, he seeks for such
materials for a maul as are suited to the steel tools and
itself. So he not only employs wood, but such wood,
and uses it in such a manner (endways of the grain) as
is the very best suited to protect the chisels and itself.
So with the ax-maker, since he must employ steel for
his axes, he selects not only stone, but such stone as
will most effectually cut away the steel.




106
So, too, since hoof and wheel must be shod and
bound with iron, there can be no choice of materials
that shall act on pavements; hence, such material, for
pavements, must be selected as is best adapted to protect itself and the iron shoe and tire against the disintegrating effect of concussion and friction. And
since more or less dirt and grit are always scattered
over the pavement, and often water, (by rain and
sprinkling,) these facts too must be borne in mind, in
choosing a material best suited for a pavement.
Starting with the fact then, that iron shoes and tires
are indispensable, and that the nature of their action
on the pavement is that of both concussion and friction; the next question to determine is, whether wood
is not better adapted than either stone or iron to prevent attrition and abrasion, not only of the pavement
itself, but of the shoes and tires, as well; for the protection of these also, against extraordinary wear and
tear, makes up the importance of this feature of durability.
If the Nicolson pavement had never been practically tested, and wood not employed in various other
ways, to resist the disintegrating force of concussion
and friction, it is true, it might naturally enough be
inferred, that the durability of so soft, fibrous, and
porous substance, for such purposes would, in all
applications, be inferior to the harder and homogeneous substances of stone and iron.
But the Nicolson has been tested; thoroughly and
extensively; and thus demonstrated to be a grand
achievement, by the incontrovertible evidence of success; to which must yield the most stubborn opposition and prejudice.
While there is abundant evidence  in various




107
branches of the mechanic arts, irrespective of such
practical test, to amply prove that wood will endure
for pavements.
Besides; there are scientific principles with which
to satisfactorily demonstrate the superior durability of
wood.
I st. TheE Evidence of durability drawn from  a few
of the many similar uses of wood, and other illustrations.
All through the mechanic arts, where the forces of
concussion and friction are brought to bear, if the
object be to prevent attrition and disintegration-wear
and tear-substances of dissimilar nature and hardness are brought together.
In case of concussion, for instance, the carpenter
employs a wooden mallet to act on iron-shanked
chisels, or iron hammers on wooden-shanked chisels; the caulker, a wooden iron-bound hammer to
act on steel implements; the stone-cutter, a wooden
maul on steel chisels; the farmer, a beetle or wooden
sledge, on iron wedges, alid so on.
Now if either of these drivers were to be made of a
Belgian paving block, or any kind of stone, and submitted to the same use, it would not last one day;
while some of these wooden drivers endure for many
years; even a life-time.
In case of friction, for instance, the machinist employs,instead of iron, brass bearings for iron gudgeons;
while, in some instances, wood or leather is more
durable than either; as in tobacco machines, where
grit gets between the bearings; or as in the case of turbine water wheels; the lower gudgeon of which, it is




108
found, can be supported longer with a piece of wood
set up endways of the grain, than by the hardest steel,
or any other substance; the clock-maker causes a
brass wheel to act on a steel verge.
Again, where the object is to cut away, disintegrate,
wear and destroy the material by concussion, substances of a similar resistant nature, though of unequal
hardness, are brought together,
For instance, the stone-cutter acts upon the stone
with a hard roughened hammer, and steel chisels; and
the steel engraver cuts away his plate with still harder
steel implements; and so on.
And again, when the object is to increase attrition
byfriction, hard and resistant materials, of dissimilar
hardness are brought together.
For instance, the hardest steel implements are rapidly worn away and brought to an edge, by the use of
grindstones, whetstones, emery paper and the like.
A tempered file cuts an untempered one; while the
lapidary cuts diamond only with diamond; the stoneworker cuts away and polishes his work by an
iron plate working on sand and water; large blocks
of stone and marble are sawed by simple smooth
blades of iron, sliding over sand and water; and so on.
These are but few of the illustrations of which there
are thousands.
Now if these various materials were accidentally
brought together without reference to their adaptation
to produce desired results, we might put oil on the
marble slab and on the grindstone; and make gudgeon boxes of granite, and lubricate them with sand
and water; or make a farmer's beetle and carpenter's
mallet of stone; or use wood for whetstones and grindstones; and the like.




109'
How long time, for instance, would it require to
sharpen a dull chisel, axe or scythe on a wooden
grindstone; or to wear out a wooden grindstone, by an
attempt to sharpen such implements on it; or how
long time would it take to saw (endwise of the grain)
a six foot cube of wood into boards, with a stonecutter's gang of saws, compared with the time needed
to saw, into slabs, a similar block of marble.
Even a stone-cutter's grooved or ten-ax hammer cannot cut away soft wood, endwise of the grain, as rapidly as it can the hardest granite; while the hammer,
used thus, would last forever.
Notice now the similarity between some of these
operations and the action of shoe and tire on pavements.
For instance the corks of shoes, and tires, together
with grit and water, act on the stone pavement much
like the stone-cutter's compound ax-hammer and
polisher, and the sand and water.
The use of the hammer is to break off the inequalities of the surface, to prepare it for the polisher and
sand and water; while the object of the whole process is, to smoothen and polish the surface.
To prove that the action of shoe and tire is similar;
take a large block-say four feet square-of all kinds
of stone, from soft free-stone to the hardest granite,
just as they come from the quarry, and lay them
level with the pavement in Broadway, and in a short
time, each of them will become as smooth as glass.
This is the state of the entire pavement of Broadway to-day, as also of all other stone pavements,
after being a short time laid-even the surface of the
Cobble stones themselves become very smooth and
slippery.




110
In this comparison, the materials and the modes of
action are the same. The material in both cases acted
upon is stone. The hammer is made of blunt steel
blades, which answer to the steel corks of the shoe;
the tire is steel or iron, and answers to the polisher or
rubber; the grit and dirt of the street, sprinkle water
and rain, answer to the sand and water. The force of
the hammer is that of concussion; while the polishing
process involves the action offriction; the action of
corks and tires is that of both concussion and friction.
The polishing is done by cutting away the surface;
and in the act or process of cutting away, the destruction or cutting is generally reciprocal. For instance,
if a wooden grindstone, (to use the phrase) will not
wear away a steel scythe, neither will the steel scythe
cut away the wooden grindstone; but a stone grindstone, (to use the expression) will cut away the steel
scythe, and so will the steel scythe cut away, or wear
out, the stone.
So it is with a stone pavement. It will wear the
steel corks and iron tires; and they, by their resistant
nature, will cut and wear away the stone pavement.
But if a wooden grindstone will not wear away the
steel scythe, nor itself be worn away by it; then will
not a wooden pavement wear away steel corks and
iron tires, or be itself worn away by them.
Numerous other similar illustrations might be given
to prove, that wood is more durable for some purposes
than the hardest homogeneous substances.
2d. Evidence of durability drawn from general principles.
The cellular and fibrous character of wood gives it
altogether different physical properties from homoge



111
neous substances. By acting upon the side, of a billet
of wood, by concussion, or friction, or both, the fibers
will be easily broken and separated. But if these
forces are brought to bear on the ends of the fibers,
the wood will manifest great resistance and endurance. Notice how much greater is the force required
to cut, mar or bruise a bit of wood on the end of the
grain than on the side.
The reason why a block of even pine wood will
endure the concussion-force and action of the stonecutter' s ten-ax hammer longer than a block of granite,
is because the particles of the fibers, though softer,
being tougher are not disunited from each other by
the action of the hammer; but are hammered closer
together. When the granite is acted upon, its surfaceparticles, though  hard,  are  disengaged-disintegrated-separated from one another, and driven off.
The wood being so much softer than the hammer, it
(the hammer) is not affected at all by its action on the
wood.
When the fibers become well hammered down closely
together the wood is said to be "broomed"; and
when thoroughly "broomed," its power to resist the
force of concussion, surpasses the credulity of those
not practically acquainted with the subject. A single
wooden maul will, sometimes, last a stone-cutter for
thirty years, and be used ten hours a day, all the
while.
Wood is also equally durable against the action of
friction. The reason why wooden bearings (endwise
of the grain,) will last longer than steel, iron or stone,
is essentially the same as the one just given.
Again, the steel or iron gudgeon of a turbine waterwheel, for instance, is one of the most difficult things




112
in machinery to find a durable bearing for. Every
thing has been tried; and wood, (endwise of the grain),
is at last found to be the most durable.
The iron, in the friction-action, being harder, smoothens the wood; and the wood being too soft to cut the
iron, polishes it. This action goes on until the attrition is practically nothing. This principle is recognized in machinery by selecting materials of unlike
hardness for gudgeons and their boxes or bearing,
generally.
This principle of bringing substances of dissimilar
nature and hardness together to prevent attrition,
disintegration, wear, &c., has been recognized and
acted upon from  time immemorial, all through the
mechanic arts.
And there is no instance where it is, or can be
employed more scientifically, and therefore to better
advantage, than in the adoption of wood for city pavements.
The exposed surface of the Nicolson is at first covered
with a layer of coal-tar, sand and gravel.
By the time this is scattered, washed, and ground
off, the surface of the wood seems to appear to the
eye, and to be exposed to the actual contact of horse
and vehicle upon its fibers; but upon closer examination it will be found that the sharpest and hardest
instrument will not penetrate, or even reach the grain
or surface of the wood itself. The sand and gravel,
adhering to the wood by means of the coal-tar, become
partially pulverized, and driven into the grain of the
wood, by the iron shoes and tires, in such a manner
that the exposed surfaces are actually coated with an
impenetrable layer of pulverized sand, which, though
it completely protects the wood from wear, does not




113
destroy its quality of preventing a severe concussion
with the iron shoe and tire.
It is this coating of the wood with a mineral surface,
combined with the brooming of the wood by the shoe
and tire, that renders it impossible to drive a nail into
the pavement after it has been a short time in use.
The same is true of a wooden beetle, &c.; yet a nail
can be driven into the same wood, endwise of the
grain, easier than in any other way, before it is
broomed.
The shoe and tire do not wear off this hard mineral
surface, for the reason that its lower side is supported
only by the grain of the wood, which does not place it
between two hard substances, but it penetrates and
follows down into the grain of the wood.
But, with the stone pavement, the iron and stone
coming in contact by concussion and rubbing, and
both being perfectly resistant in their nature, they
necessarily pulverize and triturate each other.
Since steel edged hammers, iron rubbers, sand and
water, are brought to act upon, each other by the
forces of concussion and friction, expressly for the
purpose of disintegrating, cutting and wearing away
the stone, it is absurd to make use of the same materials and forces-corks, tires, dirt and water, concussion and friction-where the first object is to prevent
disintegration, cutting and wearing away-not only of
the pavement, but of the corks and tires, as well.
If steel chisel and harthstone, steel scythe and grindstone, will cut and wear each other away; then will
steel corks and stone pavements, iron tires and paving
stones, do the same. Steel and stone, iron and stone,
reciprocally cut and wear-mutually destroy.
The laws of forces, of wear and tear, are not sus8




114
pended to suit convenience, to humor prejudice, or
satisfy selfishness. In these, as in all other matters,
like causes produce like results.
3d. Evidence of durabilityfrom the durability of the
ancient Roman Pavements.
Though the upper stratum of the ancient Roman
pavements was flat and even and firmly supported,
yet the durability of these structures was not owing so
much even to these qualities of a good pavement as to
the fact, that this very principle, of causing materials
of an unlike resistant nature to act upon each other,
was practiced. For, in those ages, as horse shoes and
wagon tires were not known, organic and fibrous substances-hoof of the horse and wood of the wheelwere brought to act upon the stone pavement; instead
of iron shoes and tires upon wood pavement.
The action of iron-wheeled Broadway stages, New
York trucks and the like, with their iron-footed teams,
is far more destructive to stone pavements than would
be unshod horses and wooden-wheeled chariots.
4th. Evidence of durability from the actual use of
the Pavement.
The Nicolson has been in use over ten years.
Wherever it has been employed it has given universal
satisfaction. In those cities where it has been in use
for several years, the rapidity or increase of its introduction and demand is as the square of the time.
Where it has been used longest, the demand for it is
greatest-the more it is had, the more it is called for.
Which fact —unless it be supposed that the people of
our most thriving cities are at work with their eyes
shut, or are incapable of knowing what best meets




115
their wants-is the strongest evidence, in proof of the
superiority of the Nicolson, that can be adduced.
The following are some of the cities employing this
pavement, viz: Chicago and St. Louis; Milwaukee,
and other cities in Wisconsin; Detroit and Kalamazoo,
in Michigan; Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo, in
Ohio; Fort Wayne, in Indiana; Memphis and Nashville, in Tennessee; San Francisco and Sacramento, in
California; Portland, in Oregon; and Elmira, in New
York. It is now, also, beginning to be introduced
into New York city, Brooklyn and Philadelphia,
besides many other cities.
It was first laid in Chicago, in 1856; in St. Louis in
1860. The amount put down in St. Louis from January to October, in 1866, was about 60,000 square yards.
The amount ordered and contracted for in Toledo,
for the year 1866, as stated by the Contractcr, was six
miles, or about 125,000 square yards; and so on.
A detailed account, of its introduction, amount laid,
quantity ordered, satisfaction it has given, &c., in all
the several cities is not necessary. But as this part of
the evidence-the practical testimony-of its durability and success, will be principally relied upon by
many, a somewhat detailed account of its introduction
and success in one city, at least, may be desired. We
select Chicago. The history and success of the pavement in this city, is well described in the following
communication, which speaks for itself:CHICAGO, ILL., November 9, 1866.
Hon. GuY R. PELTON, President Board of Commissioners for
Improvememt of Broadway, New York:
SIn-We have been requested by Hon. Charles E. Jenkins,
of New York, to address a communication to you setting forth




116
the chief facts within our knowledge concerning the Nicolson
pavement in Chicago.
We annex hereto a tabular statement showing the exact
number of square yards of this pavement which have been laid
in Chicago each year since its first introduction.
This statement is made up from the sworn statements of the
city officers and it is entirely accurate. We also annex a statement showing the amount of said pavement for the laying of
which orders have been passed the City Council and which are
still to be executed.
It will be seen, by referring to these tables, that the pavement was first introduced into Chicago in the year 1856, when
a half block of it was laid on Wells street and the remaining
half of same block in the year following-the whole block con
taining some 1,700 square yards.
In the years 1858, 1859 and 1860 about 30,000 square yards
were laid, including Clark street, one of our most travelled
streets.
In 1861, 1862 and 1863 about 24,000 square yards were laid,
including Lake street.
In 1864 and 1865 about 42,000 square yards were laid, including West Lake street; and the order for paving Wabash
avenue passed and the work on it commenced.
In 1866 over 140,000 square yards were laid, including several of our streets of heaviest travel, such as South, Water,
Canal and Wells streets, and in the same year, 1866, orders
were passed by the City Council for the laying of about one
hundred and eighty-six thousand square yards (being more than
six miles).
The total number of square yards laid amounts to over
244,000 square yards, or something over eight miles of paving.
Nothing more conclusive than this statement could be adduced in evidence of the favor with which this pavement has
been and still continues to be regarded in Chicago.
The fact that, after ten years of experience of it, over
140,000 square yards or nearly five miles of it should have been




117
laid during this year and one hundred and eighty-six thousand square yards ordered to be laid, is the best possible testimony in regard to the estimation in which it is held by the public and city authorities.
It may be truly said that so far as our business streets and
leading thoroughfares are concerned it has supplanted entirely
every other kind of pavement in the public regard.
This result has taken place in spite of very great practical
defects in the execution of a good deal of the work. A considerable part of the pavement has been laid by contractors
who have taken contracts at a price far below what the work
could be properly executed for, and have been disposed to
make as poor a job of work as could by any means be got
through inspection.
But the inherent advantages of the pavement over all others
which have ever been laid here, and the confidence in its durability created by the experience had of the wear of that laid
on Wells and Clark streets (which we will allude to more
particularly hereafter) has caused it to maintain its position in
the public estimation, and while the defective work of the
contractors is strongly denounced the Nicolson method of
pavement is still universally approved by our property holders
and business men. This approval of it is specially decided
and unanimous among our teamsters and drivers and the proprietors of our livery stables, on account of the special benefits
which result to them from its use, as there is no pavement so
favorable to horses and carriages as the Nicolson.
No difficulty is experienced in the rapid and easy removal
and relaying and the repair of the pavement when required to
be taken up for the purpose of laying or repairing gas or
water pipes, and with proper care the pavement.so relaid can
be made as perfect as when originally laid.
In regard to the Durability of the pavement our experience
here is derived mainly from the pavement on Wells street,
Clark street and Lake street.
That which was laidI on the north half of the block on




118
Wells street in 1856 (the first ever laid in Chicago) was taken
up in July of the present year (1866) when that street was
raised to grade, and relaid with the same kind of pavement.
It was then in tolerable condition, and would probably have
lasted for two years longer, making in all twelve years.
The travel on that street has been very heavy. The pavement was in close proximity to the Wells street bridge, connecting the North and South Divisions of the city at that
point.
Wells street leads to the Galena Railroad, over which there
is an immense traffic, and teams very heavily loaded with
flour, grain, pork and merchandise passed over the pavement
in great numbers. Owing to the level character of our streets
it is the custom here to draw very heavy loads. Twenty-five
barrels of flour is a very ordinary load for a pair of horses,
making, with the team a weight of over three'tons, and much
heavier loads than this are often carried.
During business hours the travel over this pavement was
very continuous as well as heavy.
Mr. Reuben Cleveland, who was formerly the Superintendent
of Public Works for Chicago, has recently testified under oath
that, in June, 1859, some blocks of this pavement on Wells
street were taken up by direction of the city, under his supervision, for the purpose of determining in regard to the -Durability of the pavement, with a view to deciding whether or
not to construct more on the same plan. It was found on that
examination that the blocks had worn down three-sixteenths
(3-16) of an inch per year, and that they were perfectly sound
in every respect. The same gentleman, in Nov. 1865, visited
the same pavement and took out of it two of the blocks and
one of the short strips. These, he testified, were then in as
sound and perfect a condition as when first laid down, and had
worn down one and one-half inches in the nine years, being a
little more than cne-eighth of an inch per annum. One of
these blocks and the strip were recently sent by us to New




119
York, by the hands of Mr. Jenkins, and will by him be submitted to your examination.
The pavement on Clark street was laid in 1858. This street
is one of our principal thoroughfares, and since the pavement
was laid upon it has taken the greater portion of the heavy
traffic in the southern portion of the city. Teams going to the
Southern Michigan, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh Railroads pass
over portions of it. The block between Randolph and Washington streets, near the public buildings, containing the city
and county offices and the court rooms, is the theater of an incessant and heavy travel. This street was raised to grade (just
previous to being paved) with about three feet of soft filling
material, and, in the haste to get the immediate use of the
street, the pavement was completed as fast as the street was
filled, and before the filling had any time to settle  The consequence was that a settling took place afterwards, the effect
of which was to cause the rows of blocks to become curved
and swayed out of position, in some places to the extent of
nearly two feet deviation from the right line of their original
courses as laid. This fact was established by the statements
under oath of L. L. Bond, Esq., for many years a member of
the Committee on streets of the Common Council. Notwith.
standing this extraordinary swaying of the courses of blocks
the integrity of the pavement was not impaired, but after eight
years of such wear as we have specified it is still a good pavement and will, with repairs in some portions, continue serviceable for several years longer. It has during this period received
no repairs of any importance. In our judgment the action of
the pavement, under such a trial, as this on Clark street has
been subjected to, is very strong evidence of its durability.
We are informed by the Chief Engineer of the city that in
cases where the blocks have to be relaid, the wooden foundation beneath will generally be found in good repair and amply
sufficient as the support for a new superstructure of blocks.
This is an important consideration with respect to the expediency of laying the pavement upon any street where (as on




120
our Broadway) it would be subjected to a very continuous and
heavy travel, and where the interruption of the travel for any
considerable period would be a matter of serious public inconvenienlce and of heavy loss and damage to business interestsbecause the mere removal of the blocks and the relaying of
new ones could be effected in so short a time as not to involve
any long delay in the use of the street
The longest continuous piece of this pavement in Chicago is
that which has just been completed on Wabash avenue. This
is upwards of two miles in length and makes a magnificent
drive, which is the admiration of the city. It has become a
great thoroughfare and is the favorite resort of our citizens for
driving, and every fine afternoon will be found thronged with
the finest equipages in the city.
The advantages of this pavement over every other which has
been laid here are, that while it affords an excellent foothold for
animals which prevents them from slipping, it at the same time
possesses a smoothness of surface which renders it an easy roadway for the drawing of heavily loaded teams. The effect of
this pavement in preventing injury to the feet and limbs of
horses is, as compared with any stone pavement, a very import 
ant advantage, not only in view of the prevention of needless
suffering and injury to the animals, but as a matter of economy
to their owners.
Another very important consideration, so far as our principal business streets are concerned, is the freedom from noise
which it secures. The pavement is as noiseless as is consistent
with safety and, in the summer time especially, this feature of it
is found to be a very great advantage over any stone pavement.
It is also a paving which can be very easily and with little expense kept clean and free from dust, and in winter the
non-conducting materials of which it is composed operate to
keep the ground beneath from being affected by frost.
These are the principal facts within our knowledge respecting the introduction and use of the pavement in Chicago and
the advantages which it har been found to possess.
GOODWIN & LARNED.




121
STATEMENT of the whole amount of Nicolson Pavement laid in the city of
Chicago.
Time                                                                                  No. of sq.
when                              Streets on which laid.                              yards laid.
laid.
1866      Wells street North, half of block between Lake and S. Water......                  800 00
1857          do        South' do       do       do    do                do...         932 00
-      Washington street, from La Salle to Clark..........................            1,707 00
3,439 00
1858-59  Clark street, from Randolph to Polk.................................    24,551 00
1569          do         do       do   do Lake..............................              2,091 00
1860      Central Ave. do   S.Water do  do...............................      1,728 00
1859-60  Alleys in Blocks 38, 16 and 19 in Orig. Town.........................            1,576 00
29,946 00
1861      Lake street, from Wabash Avenue to Bridge........................    16,263 00
1862          do        do         do        do Central avenue..................            3,340 06
"      S. Water,   do Franklin street  do Lake street.....................              3,135 33
"'    Wells street bridge and approaches..                                                375 00
1863      Intersection of Clark and Randpolph streets...................                  597 03
"6            do        do         Madison streets................          567 30
24,267 72
1864      West Lake street, from Water to Holstead..........................              13,868 45
"      Iceland Queen Engine House......................................                  192 88
1865      Wells street, from Madison to Van Buren...........................    10,256 67
" Wolcott street, from Kinzie to Michigan.............................                   1,065 33
"'     Michigan, from Cass to Clark.................................                   6,742 99'      Dearborn, from Madison to Monroe.................................                 2,267 55
"      South Water, from Wabash Avenue to Michigan....................                  1,701 37
do              do   Clark      do Franklin...........................            5,755 05
42,256 29
1866      Wabash avenue, from Randolph to 22d street......................               67,311 00
it     West Randolph,  do   Holstead to West Water.....................    16,766 00
"4        do Madison,   do    do          do Bridge.........................    13,206 67
i"     Van Buren,          do   State    do River...........................    11,130 43
"      Wells street,       do   Van Buren to Taylor........................    11,514 00
cc          do            do   Lake to S: Water.............................            2,349 33
Van Buren,            do   State to Michigan............................            1,580 22
Canal,                    do   Madison to Lake............................              6,798 79
Washington,           do   State to Michigan avenue...................  4,109 08
"      Sherman,           do   Van Buren to Harrison street.................            2,642 02
"      Griswold,           do       do      to Polk...........................          4,172 05
~"    Approaches to Rush street Bridge....                                             1,082 00
142,661
RECAPITULATION.
In 1856 and 1857................   3,439 00
do 1858-9 and 60.................  29,946 00
do 1861-2 and 3................... 24,267 72
do 1864 and 5.................... 42,256 29
do 1866.......................... 142,661 59
242,570 60 Total sq. yd.. laid.




122
Statement of the amount of Nicolson Pavement which has been ordered
to be laid by the City Council, and recommended by the Board of
Public Works of the city of Chicago since September 1866, not
yet executed or put under contract:
ESTIMATED
1866.                   STREETS WHERE ORDERED.                NUMBER OF
SQ. YARDS.
Milwaukee avenue, from North Des Plains to North Halstead.............................................     5,431
Monroe street, from State to Michigan avenue...........    3,079
Blue Island avenue, from  Harrison to Twelfth street......  17,262
Halstead street, from Harrison to railroad crossing......   21,992
Milwaukee avenue, from West Indiana to Elston road....  18,610
Halstead street, from Lake to Harrison.................    16,000
La Salle street, from Madison to Jackson...............   8,381
North State street,from Michigan street to Chicago avenue   11,000
North Well street, from  River to Kinzie...                  1,802
Michigan avenue, from Twelfth street to Twenty-second
street...........................................  30,000
Pine street, from Michigan to Chicago avenue........  11,000
Haddock place in Block 19....................                  514
South Clarke street, from Polk to Taylor...............     4,529
Franklin, from South Water to Madison................   9,600
North Clarke, from Bridge to Chicago avenue..........    19,425
Milwaukee avenue, from Kinzie to Indiana.............   5,431
La Salle street, from Washington to Madison............    2,069
186,128
GOODWIN & LARNED.
In  an  interesting article entitled  "Chicago,"  published in the "Atlantic Monthly" for March, 1867, the
Nicolson pavement is thus alluded to:
"The principal streets are now paved with stone, or else
with that ne plus ultra of comfort for horse and rider, for
passer-by and ladies living near-the Nicolson pavement.
*       *        *        *        *        *        *        *
Some parts of the mind are well cultivated there. Chicago
is itself a college to all its inhabitants. When we see a boy
reading in Roman history an account of the Appian Way, we
say that he is improving his mind.  The Nicolson pavemen




123
has ten times more thought in it than the Appian Way; why
is not an urchin improving his mind who stands, with his
hands in his pockets, looking on while the workmen arrange
the little blocks and pour in the odorous tar?
The New York Evening Post, of February 27, says:
"The enterprise heretofore exhibited by Chicago in the
raising of the grades of her streets has been unexampled, and
we see that the same spirit still prevails. The Board of Public Works have laid out an immense sum in the way of bringing to grade and paving with the Nicolson pavement a number of streets, the cost of which would be appalling to almost
any other city. The list embraces considerable portions of
sixteen different streets, amounting in all to five or six miles.
No other pavement than the Nicolson-which has there had
its most thorough trial-seems to be thought of."
The same paper, at another time says:
" We notice that the Chicago papers contain an announcement
that during the next year [1867) the Board of Public Works
propose to lay about eight miles of Nicolson pavement on the
principal avenues; and we notice also that the City of Memphis, which is the only municipality that owns the patent right
for its own limits, advertises for proposals for about six miles
and a half of the Nicolson pavement. It is evident that ex
perience confirms the good opinions of those who have used
the pavement."
Official Opinion-Correspondence between the Mayors
of Brooklyn and Chicago.
Although any amount of further confirmative testimony of the success of the Nicolson in Chicago can
be given, yet the following recent correspondence,




124
taken in connection with the foregoing report, and
statements will be sufficient.
As we are speaking only of Chicago, (as before
intimated,) we will give only the Chicago response:
[From " The Brooklyn Daily Union," February 6th, 1867.]
In consequence of the great interest excited by the proposed
introduction of Nicolson pavement into this city, and with the
view of ascertaining its worth from actual experience, his
Honor Mayor Booth addressed the following queries to the
official representatives of various cities, where the Nicolson
pavement has been tested, and has received the replies hereto
appended:
MAYOR'S OFFICE, CITY HALL, 
BROOKLYN, Jan. 16th, 1867.
SIR-I have been informed that you have the Nicolson
pavement now in use in your city.
You will do me a great favor if you will inform me upon
the following points:
First. What in your opinion was the principal reason
influencing the introduction of the Nicolson pavement in your
city?
Second. In your opinion is the use of it in your city likely
to be continued; and if so, why?
Third. Have you had it in use long enough  to test its
durability; and whether you have ol not, what is your opinion
with reference to this point?
Fourth. Can stone be easily procured in your locality for
the laying of the Belgian or aly other stone pavement, and
what would be the relative cost of these different pavements in
your city?
If you will have the kindness to give me, if possible, a very
early answer to these inquiries, I shall not only esteem it a
great favor but will be very happy to reciprocate at any time.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
SAMUEL BOOTH, Mayor.




12.r
REPLY FROM CHICAGO.
OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF PUBLIC     |
WORKS, CHICAGO, Jan. 24, 1867. 
HON. SAMUEL BOOTH, Mayor of Brooklyn:
DEAR SIR-The Mayor of this city, J. B. Rice, Esq., has
requested me to give you all the information I can in regard
to the Nicolson pavement. In answer to your first inquiry I
will say, there was no particular reason inducing an experiment in said pavement, other than the fact that we were dissatisfied with the stone pavements which had been laid here
from time to time. In answer to the second query I will say,
after a test of about ten years, we are so well pleased with the
pavement that we put down no other kind. We think it
quite as economical as the stone pavement, much easier to
keep in repair, easier to keep clean, less injurious to horses and
vehicles, and at the same time comparatively noiseless. For
these reasons I think it will be continued in use.
Third query. In regard to its durability, we have found by
actual test that it will wear, when properly laid, full eight
years-the floor remaining sound, upon which new blocks may
be set at considerably less than first cost.
In regard to your fourth query I will say that, although we
have pretty good stone of various kinds, we have none that
gives entire satisfaction. The difference in the cost between
stone and wooden pavement is about thirty-three per cent.,
the wooden pavement costing about that much more than
stone. Should you desire further information I will at any
time be glad to give it.
Respectfully yours,
J. K. THOMPSON,
Superintendent Public Works.
From the foregoing Report, statements and correspondence it will be seen that the amount of Nicolson
pavement laid and ordered in Chicago alone is nearly
half a million square yards; which, however, is but a




126
small portion of the aggregate amount laid in other
cities.
After so long and extensive use of this pavement, in
so many of our Western cities, with such entire satisfaction, to both authorities and tax-payers, that larger
and larger quantities of it are from year to year being
ordered and put down, it is useless and foolish to
contend that its utility and durability are not established beyond all cavil and doubt, and that, too, by
the incontrovertible argument of practical use and
success.
Economy of the Nicolson Pavement.
As previously shown, the difference in the cost of the
Belgian and Nicolson, in front of a dwelling or store,
in New York city, is $4.44 per annum; which would
only just about pay for one tire or one set of shoes, or
for mending one broken axle. Yet, were the Nicolson
in general use there would be, to offset this paltry sum
of $4.44, items of saving, amounting in the aggregate,
to more than the difference between paying ten times
the entire cost of the Nicolson against having the Cobble or Belgian put down for nothing.
Though it is impossible to state what would be the
exact amount of saving, yet it must be apparent to
any practical observer that the Nicolson would, at
least, save seventy-five per cent. of the cost of shoeing;
fifty per cent. of the cost of tires, and forty per cent.
of the breaks, wear and destruction of vehicles generally: and fifty per cent. of the wear, injury and,
destruction of horses. It would increase rents and, so




127
the value of real estate from ten to fifteen per cent. It
would diminish the injury to freight, and lessen the
damage to clothing, dry-goods and merchandise generally. It would greatly increase the ease, pleasure
and comfort of riding, walking, and transacting of
business.  It would save ninety per cent. of the repairing of pavements. It would diminish disease and
promote health; increase capacity of thoroughfares;
enable vehicles to bear, and horses to draw heavier
burdens. It would also save, at least, thirtb per cent.
of the expense of cleaning the streets.
To say nothing of damage to freight and clothing, of
pleasure, ease and comfort, of repairs of pavements, of
cruelty to animals, of increased capacity of vehicles,
horses and thoroughfares, or of the increased value of
rents, and the many other benefits-yet, when it is considered how immense is the aggregate cost of horses,
shoeing, vehicles and cleaning of streets; and how
infinitely greater is the entire cost of these than the
entire cost of pavements; and how much greater is the
percentage of wear and tear of these, on any pavement, than that of the pavement itself; and, too,
when it is further considered that such large percentages of saving of these greater costs can be saved by
an extra outlay of one or two dollars per square yard
for an improved pavement; then to object to such
improved pavement on the ground of its extra paltry
cost is the most gross and absurd violation of the first
principles-of the very axioms-of political economy
that can be committed. So absurd is this objection
that it can hardly be believed that any person, however ignorant, would venture to advance it. Yet there
are those even in high position as civil officers and
engineers, who, biased either by prejudice or pecuniary




128
interest, or some other extraneous influence, have publicly and seriously argued and set forth this objection,
saying the tax-payers will protest against having an
acknowledged good pavement that will cost only one
dollar more per square yard, though it save them other
costs, equal to ten if not fifty dollars per square yard.
It don't take long for tax-payers to see the folly of
trying to save money by putting three cents in one
pocket and losing a dollar from another-by putting
in the spigot and drawing the bung.
The saving on the shoeing of one horse, or on the
wear of one vehicle, or on the deterioration of one horse,
would more than pay the extra cost of the Nicolson
for one lot. The saving on these for one year would
meet the extra expense of this pavement for several
years.
The general and special fitness, economy and humanity, ease, comfort, pleasure and convenience of the
Nicolson pavement make up a combination of interests and inducements which must sqon demand its
general introduction throughout the leading business
thoroughfares, resident avenues and pleasure drives
of all principal cities.
It is too late to contend against this long- needed and
satisfactory improvement in pavements;-as well argue
against printing presses, railroads, telegraphs, sewing
machines and the like. The Nicolson pavement is no
longer an experiment; its utility is established; and
they who oppose its introduction stand in the way of
the public good. And the day is not distaht when
Samuel Nicolson will be publicly esteemed one of the
first benefactors of his age.