Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-02-05
About Country Roads.

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on roads of the country. If they were
capable of being transported, we should
not be tempted to exhibit them at any
international fair. Our highest authOf-
ity on the subject declares that the COM
mon roads of the United States are in
ferior to those of any other civilized
country. All our citizens who have
been abroad agree in the above opinion.
Even the barbarous Turk" construct
better roads than the civilized Ameri.
can. We "beat the world " in the mat
ter of wheeled vehicles of every kind,
but we pay very little attention to the
roads over which they are run. We
have neglected the science and art oi
road-making almost entirely. Few
treatises on the construction of such
roads have ever been published in the
country, and they have had a very linn.
tied sale. With road on nearly every
section line, one may travel hundred
miles without finding an expert at road
making.
There are various things that serve
to account for the badness of our roads.
The country is new, and the cOnstruo-
tion of fine roads is usually the result
of considerable time. Our population
is scattered, and to supply all portions
of the country with good roads would
involve heavier tax on the community
than is required in countries that are
densely peopled. In the West, where
the roads are generally worse than in
any section of the country, farmers are
commonly engaged in improving their
property, and they find it hard to make
public improvements at the same time.
AS d rule, the roads are more numer-
GUS than the wants Of the general pub
lie actually require. Every farmer,
even if he owns but forty acres of land,
wants road on one side of his prem
ises, and he expects that it will be laid
out, constructed and kept in repair at
public cost. The great number of roads
serves to make them all very misera-
BILE.
Our numerous railroads have oper-
ated against the construction of earth
roads OF the excellence of those found
in foreign countries. The fine roads
seen abroad were generally made be-
fore railroads were thought Of, and the
present generation is only taxed to keep
them in repairs. Many portions of the
West were supplied with railroads be-
fore any earth roads were constructed.
This being the case, settlers only con-
cerned themselves about roads leading
from their farms to the nearest station.
In some sections 80 omanyrailrOads were
projected that farmers waited to see ii
one would not pass their doors before
they thought to construct a common
road to a station on some existing rail
way line at considerable distance from
their places. AS q rule they were
heavily taxed in some way for the rail
roads, and they accordingly thought
themselves too poor to spend much on
common roads.
In many portions of the prairie region
of the West materials for the construc
tion Of public road-beds are scarce, and
the ordinary soil is as bad for making
roads as it is good for producing crops.
It is SOFT porous, retentive of moisture,
and easily washed. On the low and
dat prairies there are few facilities for
proper drainage. The bitches made at
Lhe sides OF roads for the purpose of
carrying off water are easily filed with
earth, owing to insufficient fall. In
many cases the bitches become simply
reservoirs for holding water. The por-
lus character of the earth of which the
'oad is constructed causes il to absorb !
he water and TO keep it saturated for
lays and weeks after rain. Such is
he action of the water in bitches on
he roads they are intended to drain
hat the public highway affords much
poorer passage for teams than the ad-
dining private fields or open prairivs.
Another thing that has operated
against the construction and mainte-
lance Of good roads is the general lack
# local pride concerning them. Towns
mulate each other in the construction
4 school houses and other public build
ngs. There is great rivalry among diff
erent denominations about the build
ng of elegant churches. But there
GEMS to be no pride, emulation or
pirit Of rivalry on the subject of fine
Dads. It is often difficult to find hall
n a village Of sufficient capacity to &C
the people that will assem-
lie at a meeting called in the interest
Il some projected railroad. But q
Meeting held for the purpose of arous-
ng public sentiment on the subject of
Ietter earth roads, on which anyone
an travel without cost, would not be
.ttended by dozen people, and most
( them would be opponents of the
Measure. Still the wagon track will be
sed fifty times where the car track is
mployed only once.
Farmers and other people living in
he country often complain of the ex-
.ense attending the construction of
.ood roads. They do not like to pay
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