Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1858-07-20
The Improvslneat Of Roads.

certain tests Of the degree of IT, civilian Ion ana
;heir improvement keeps pace With the advance
s,f the nation In numbers. wealth, Industry, and
science-ot III which il i At once an clement
and an evidence.
Orthe evils Of bad roads we ofSovth-westera
Wisconsin have abundant opportunity OF know
inc something. Not remarkably good at best
every year finds them growing worse in every
essential particular. Every farmer who euclos-
e. new peioe Of ground along any road, man
ACE, RI set lis fence across it in such manner
a. to throw IL into one or more hollows at the
same time that he increases It's length. Thus
the distance 70 he travelled Is continually Ia
] creasing, the hills and muddy holIows becoin-
/ iug more numerous, the sideling slopes, worn
+ full Of ever growing rats, becoming more side
Ing all conspire 10 render the passage continu-
allv more difficult and dangerous
4 Itvould seen as though the very first step
taken in this direction, would have awakened
Is to the necessity of adopting a system of locat-
ing all important roads permanently before the
ground had become occupied. But It is better
g. begin late 10 correct an evil than to allow il
10 90 on becoming more difficult to eradicate and
at the same time more impossible to bear.
propose TO state some facts, and give some fig
ures demonstrating the utility and profit of well
directed outlay in Locating and Improving our
common Reads
L has been found BY careful experiments
made v it'll tie eynanometer that on level clay
roads in s,ond condition the draueht Is 80 Of
the load. On good McAdamised roads leo and
on paved roads 100 Of the load. Clay roads
when softened 81 rains. SHOWS or thaws, require
a much greater draugLt, but varying greatly -
Il Is probably within bounds to say that on an
average Of the year, on clay roads. the dra0ght
Is fyt less than Is Of tie load. BY Clay roads
I mean such IS IRE laid Ga tie ordinary clay and
loan surface o. This county. An average team
horse viii draw, a. indicated by the dynanom-
eter, at % miles an hour, . hours q day 1873
pounds Of actual draugbt that is, Ne viii drag
1 IN a wagon over a AcAdapised level road, so
times that much. or i tons, while over a COM
mon clay road in its average condition and level
only one ton. The difference Is in fact prob
ably greater, but it is within bounds to say that
the cost OF transportation can be retcucd to "a
by converting cur ordinary clay roads into good
NcAdauised roads. This however Is on the
supposition that our present roads are level
TT ey are in fact far from being 20. Level roads
IL such country as ours are Of course is lrapozs-
Ibe but let rs examine the advantage TO be
gained BY reducing our present steep gradients
to more moderate ones the draueht On n smooth
bard read, IS Increased by ; on an ascent Of
foot il 4 doubled 81 an ascent q I foot in 81
quadrgplcd on one Of / foot in 40. whilst on one
Of foot in ). which Is not greater than many of
steep a5cen.s on roads III this vicinity. the
drtueLt Is more than { Tins what ii would be
on q level 1t the same time that the power Of
tLe horse Is greatly diminished because his
weight cannot act 50 directly on a slope The
maximum load that can lie drawn ou ! road Viii
of course he no more than can be drawn up lis
steepest slopes. If these are short and not very
frequent the horse can generally exert twice lis
usual strength uron them. If the s.eeuest
slopes are in , we may put the maximum
loat, tie sanlc rs If the rolling gradients were
iu TO- These may be reduced in two WAYS
either ~ cutting down hills and filing up hol-
lows or hv winding around the sides OF hills so
rs 10 make q gradual and easy ascent from base
"a Summit To determine the exact location Of
road IN billy country So Is TO secure the
GREATEST economy of draueht time and expense.
il one Of the incest problems in Engineering
science. and one tue solution eff which IS Of
more Importance in an economical point Of view
rian tia, Of any other problem ia Road max
iur.
Let rs Suppose 4 road 10 lave limiting rrad.-
e,.t- on in 10. Ifthis could lie reduced to
H. a 1t lie expense Of Increasing the distance
ny =, lie load might bc treb,ed while lifetime
would Pc increased by - The comparative
cost II transportation Ia ills case between tLe