The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-04-03
GRAVEL ROADS.



/ GRAVEL ROADS
How to Make Them and How Ia Get Them
John T.. LawrIc, Il civil engineer OF Brook
ston, Ind, sends the Chicago 1rijpRc the fol.
lowing hints for making gravel roads which
will be Of interest in this county:
Our roads are generally LAID out forty feet
in width. BY allowing three and half feet
on each side Of the road FOR iuOtpaths, there
will remain to be worked thrty-lhree feet, or
"a width OF two roads In a mile of road the
surface to be worked is Just four acres In
little more than the time it viii take good
team to plow a surface of four acres six inches
deep, the rOadbcd can be- made for one mile all
READY for tue best gravel the locality affords.
| say "thc best the locality affords advisedIy.
A man would be- u fool who would 60 naked
because he could not dress IN broadcloth and
cashmere If pure A | gravel cannot be ob.
tanned, take A ., or even |. We might bet,
ter wear blue Jeans than suffer the cmbarrass-
mcnt of complete nudity. The clay and gravel
mixed, such Us John +. Carr put on the road
in this township near Spears Corner, ana on
the north lcyec of Spring Creek, makes a much
better road than the bIaC; humus that had
been piled up IN these localities year after
year, with never good road and never an end
to the road work whic the mud-pilng lasted.
| One thousand seven hundred and sixty Gu.
BIC yards of gravel, or even ct clay ana gravel
mixed will complete the mile OF road good
enough for artillery.
In doing the blowing a little torcthought
will provide against the gravel being worked
off the road into the side bitches. The gravel
can be made to stay after 1t Is placed by lrSl
laying out two lands, side by side, each one roo
wide. On the centre lines OF the two lands all
the rocks now incumbcring the present roads
should be buried IN line to be covered by the
Flowing, unless they should be needed for cul
vert abutmcnts. When the two lands are
plowed and hOned up on the inside there will
| be two side bitches and Il hallowed out road
bed formed In the centre OF the road bed thus
| finished with the lone, run ShOvclplOW to
open a channel for an underdran, the centre
underdraln can be filed with the cOarsest and
and purest gravel obtanablc, until nearing
the culvert when, perhaps 1t would be better
to Law u few rods of tile. Then 0n with the
gravel, or clay and gravel mixed, rs the case
| may be, until the space between the ridges OF
the two lands Is filled and slightly rounded
| up.
| The theoretical width Of the road bed be
| tweca the two ridges is sixteen and a half feet,
| but practically. after allowing for the laps OF
the back burrows and the deposit made towards
the tops of the ridges by the hone, the width on
top of the gravel will be only twelve feet. None
of this WORK requires a"W auChope,' but any
| farmer can work up to the plan with such I'M
plemcnts as he keeps constantly Oh hand anu
with whose use he Is perfectly familiar. The
after work will consist in plOwlng over the
two sides, turning the burrows toward the
gravel until the side bitches are Of the desired
] depth, and also in Keeping up u good drainage
for the culver,s aud side bitches, and in repair
ing any holes which may be made IN the road,
which can be done annually by the polltaX
labor Of the district. The hands of an average
road district can make Il mile Of such road
every year and not feel the drain on the fnan
cial resources of the people OF the district. The
people can have these roads whenever they
really want them, and nobody is opposed to
| them. even the wealthy cattle men being IN
! favor of anything that will add to the value oI
their property without additional cost
| In regard to the cost OF q road of this de-
scrption something like an approximate est
mate can he made by calculating the time re-
CURED for the plowlng, honing and gravel
hauling. The first blowing will be four acres
to the mile of road. The honing viii take one
round with triple team. The opening of the
centre drain with II shovel pillow will be one
round mile in length to the mile of road
When the average distance from the gravel. pit
|
have been made in this locality, and one can
hardly 90 amiss in finding gravel on every
section by pursuing the method referred to
above After the gravel is put on the road
there will be two acres more blowing To the
mile IN order to reinforce the Hanks Of the
gravel and deepen the side bitches. The tile
required near Culvcrts will not average more
than ten rods to the mile Now let Us count
Iup:
Six acres Of blowing at Sl2j per acres : 30
| rwO acres hunng al 3Ilg cents per acre -
Opening center drains with shovel pillow 3ltg
Ten rods of tile at 80 cents per rod 49,. 100
Hauling ,160 yards Of gravel; II yards
per day at ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. vi 115 ,
inp ..'..,'...,....',....... 1900
Thus we find that we can have Il substantial
gravel road on the plan for ~ per rod. The
whole cost except, perhaps, 81 for bird 70 plank
and 81 for tile, will be ~ pay for work that
can be earned wv the hand, Of the road dis.
ItriCt
In order to Facet the contingencies OF rca-
sonablc damages for taking the gravel, lower
averages in hauling on account OF the inacccs
lblitv of gravel on some sections, and higher
wages for the work in case the owners of prop
crty conclude Ia work out their taxes instead
OF paying them in money, We can add $3.50
per mile, and still the cost per rod is only II %
Ii the cost Of a mile OF road should exceed the
annual road-taN OF the district the extra cost
can be credited t0 the taxpayers doing the
work in anticipation OF the next levy.
4 What | set out 10 prove WAS that the roads
of any prairie township in Northwest Indiana
can be made good under our present laws
whenever the people of u township are deter
mined to have good roads Ii 40 one objects
and the prairie people are determined 10 have
good ruuds, now i the tImc--iu anticipation
Of the township elections 10 he hcld ncN'
: month-to canvass every township for a Inv,
man Tor Trustee, aud 10 canvass every road
, district in the township for 1--we mcn for Su
, pervisors, who will carry out in good faith
, under the laws, the directions they may rCcclv,
/. frnm Their snncrinrs in rink II The AfnrcsAiN