{"id":133,"date":"2019-02-07T06:43:33","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T06:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/?p=133"},"modified":"2019-09-17T05:07:44","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T05:07:44","slug":"interesting-facts-on-asphalt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/2019\/02\/07\/interesting-facts-on-asphalt\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERESTING FACTS ON ASPHALT"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Why do we call asphalt \u201cpitch\u201d? And where is the largest asphalt lake in the world?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Pitch Lake is the largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world, estimated to contain 10 million tons. It is located in La Brea in southwest Trinidad, within the Siparia Regional Corporation. The lake covers about 100 acres and is reported to be 250 feet deep <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Pitch Lake has fascinated\r\nWestern explorers and scientists, as well as attracting tourists, since its\r\nre-discovery by Sir Walter Raleigh in his expedition there in 1595. (The native\r\nIndians knew about it and showed it to him.) Raleigh himself found immediate\r\nuse for the asphalt to caulk<\/a>\r\nhis ship. He referred to the pitch as “most excellent… It melteth not\r\nwith the sun as the pitch of Norway”. Since its re-discovery, there have\r\nbeen numerous research investigations into the use and chemical composition of\r\nthis material. There have been countless theories, postulations, and\r\nconclusions as to the size, source, and origin of the asphalt.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 1887, Amzi Barber, an\r\nAmerican businessman known as “The Asphalt King”, secured a 42-year\r\nmonopoly concession from the British Government for the Pitch Lake for his\r\ncompany, Barber Asphalt Paving Co. It was from this source that many of the first\r\nasphalt roads of New York City, Washington D.C., and other Eastern U.S. cities\r\nwere paved.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It was the natives, the\r\nAmerindians, that showed Sir Walter Raleigh where the lake was. They were the\r\nones who named the black substance piche, which over time became to be known as\r\npitch. The natives had their own story about the origin of the lake. The story\r\ngoes that the indigenous people were celebrating a victory over a rival tribe\r\nwhen they got carried away in their celebration. They proceeded to cook and eat\r\nthe sacred hummingbird which they believed possessed the souls of their\r\nancestors. According to legend their winged God punished them by opening the\r\nearth and conjuring the pitch lake to swallow the entire village, and the lake\r\nbecame a permanent stain and a reminder of their sins. The local villages\r\nbelieve this legend due to the many Amerindian artifacts and a cranium that\r\nhave been discovered, preserved, in the pitch.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pitch_Lake<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

So there you have it!   Today asphalt is widely used in road\r\nsurfacing, pavements, sports facilities, driveways and many other uses.   We, at Bradley Asphalt are proud to use this\r\nversatile, natural, durable and recyclable product.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Please\r\ndon’t hesitate to contact us for any further information you require:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Denver\r\nOffice: 303-467-0631<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Colorado\r\nSprings\/Monument Office: 719-481-9411<\/strong><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why do we call asphalt \u201cpitch\u201d? And where is the largest asphalt lake in the world? The Pitch Lake is the largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world, estimated to contain 10 million tons. It is located in La Brea in southwest Trinidad, within the Siparia Regional Corporation. The lake covers about 100 acres … Continue reading “INTERESTING FACTS ON ASPHALT”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[11,150,151,139,154,152,144,149,138,137,142,145,146,140,136,148,153,147,141,143],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradleyasphalt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}