The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-04-10
Road-Mal1ing Here and Abroad,

Country Gentleman.
In the United States, after leaving out few
sections, the amount of care and skill given to
roads is not in proportion to the intelligence of
the peopie-indeed. far from it, and it is diff
cult to realize that they are managed by the
same keen minds that show so much thought,
purpose and energy in other works, In country
districts the time given to roads is regarded as
an exaction to be paid with the smallest posi-
BILE percentage of fulillment, and the results are
such that the tax of bad roads is far more seri-
Gus than the road tax Wagons wear out; two
trips are made to carry the load that should go
i'll one; many high-steppng horse is ruined,
and from steep'pitches, short culverts and care
less distinctions there are frequent fatalities
and accidents
Leaving the mantraps of America the wan
derer abroad has a feeling of security come
over him when he realizes the care given to
English roads, and those who use them trim
and true from wall to wall never a rut, never
a round stone or steep PITCH he can drive at
full speed night and day i'll assured safety. If
dark, all vehicles are lighted, usually with
small red light showing behind to enable the
driver to know which way all traps" are going
He will see two or three times in each mile
spot where the walls take in space about ten
or twenty feet in extent from the fields, in
which broken stone is neatly piled From these
heaps that are safely out of the way, men with
barrows bear stone to every hole that is deep
enough hold fine metal" as the crushed stone
is called. No spots are neglected long enough
to permit them to hold water; consequently the
destructive action of wheels pounding into
wet spot is unknown, and ''stltch in time saves
many nine in road work and wear and tear
of men, beasts and wagons The water bar
that product of sheer stupidity, usually made to
turn water from track several inches lower
than the sides, is an unknown barbarity, and
should any one high or low obstruct the high
way in this or any other way, the remedy would
be immediate, and the people not shocked by an
enforcement of precaution.
Old country ideas are not as expansive as ours.
Men are not all born there to be President COM
petent to teach school, sell art works, run for
Congress, milk kicking cows and make roads
without preparatory study, as here, where we
breathe the gales of a boundless laud and take
airs to correspond There road work is a pro
fession as much as engineering architecture,
and the highest honors have gone to men like
Macadam and others. In many cases the road
owns neat cottages that are two or three miles
apart and here near their work live the men
who know the trade of road-making, and find it
a good one. They have certain sections under
their care where stream is not permitted to
run all through the spring months carrying two
or three loads daily of good material from rats
mile long, as with us. before they are diverted.
1t is attended to at once, and thousands of dol
lars are annually saved by the expenditure of
hundreds at the right moment.
Let any one drive over most American roads
IN the spring, with open eyes and wits, and see
what unchecked destruction is at wOlk-streams
are running in the tracks that the removal of
full of water until May or June, being worked
into brick-clay by weary teams to be burned into
lava beds by the sun, stones coming up by the
frost and lying to combat every passing wheel
until they are actually worn out, as are the
wagons that bump over them. And all this in
the midst of men with libraries in their houses
modern tools in their barns, keen brains in their
heads and horses of value eating their heads off
waiting for the roads to dry up so they can dance
out after long rest and lame themselves on the
first round stone! 1t was a wise discovery of the
late John Wilkinson, in his management of one
OF the first railways IN the State, that 81 the
track was worth 81 in the shop; and it win be the
era OF better days in roads when It's understood
that 81. % in days work, at the proper time,
the roads will save many times that sum in
and damage that only high priced mechanics can
repair.
But the road makers are not alone at fault
Our ordinary wagons are made to destroy roads,
with round, narrow tires and uniform track
the latter the best possible arrangement for put
ting all travel in line and making ruts. If roads
railroad tracks an even width of track
would, of course be the thing but for roads it is
just as far from saving as any possible inyen
ton Buying once trap" in England, as light
rigs" are called, the writer asked if it had the
ordinary width of track The honest maker
scratched his puzzled head and confessed he did
not know any such thing. When it was made
plain to him, he said there was no rule of the
kind, and just here is the secret of the small
wear and tear of foreign roadside wheel tread
is all over the road.
very large amount of light and heavy work
is done on two wheels, but the four-wheeled
farm wagons and vans are nearly always con
strueted with tires of not less than four inches,
and the front axle is shorter than the rear one.
The front wheels usually turn under When 60
ing in a straight line four tracks are made at
once, and farm roads are left even by distribu-
ted wear, which keeps them good, and in the
end results in economy. Light wagons are
made in the same way. II may be noticed that
a crooked road, where the curves are short,
wears well, and there is rarely rut at the
corner of street, for the simple reason that
there the hind wheels do not dig in the path of
the others.
There are some very good reasons known to
most intelligent people for planting corn in the
spring and picking apples in autumn; but there
is no equal reason for making roads only in
June, when it is too late to arrest the damage of
the spring breakup, and just in time to ruin
them for summer pleasure driving by putting on
soft earth from the bitches. There are days in
March and April when time is of less value TO a
farmer than in June, and them in many cases,
a few hours would prepare road for drying
with the first fine day, and save many loads Of
gravel Half the miles of road in many counties
are lower than the sides. Mud has splashed out,
dust has blown into the grass, and streams have
made free with the road-bed with no one to say
nay. When the sod is soft all this can be RENE
died. and the man who runs pillow in the spring
under this sod that is made of manure ground
limestone and fine earth, and puts it under
cover when dry, will see well rounded road and
have store of dry soil which, put behind the
cows in winter, will make manure almost ton for
ton with hay by the volatile but valuable gases
and liquids it will fix aaG retain.
If a water bar must be made mo path-master
should permit enc if well informedl do not let it
go square across the track to bring all up with
one jerk only to start with another; do not make
it diagonal to upset loads of hay with cork
screw twist, but if goodwill to man exists, make
il like very long letter V, with the point up
hill: thus it will shed the water better than any
other and be the least Objectionable form of a
bad thing.
Unless the roads are very favorably situated
with regard to good gravel, all that are subject
to a large amount of travel must in time be
made of broken stone This has been the re-
suit in all other counties, and time and grow
ing demand for good roads will force the practice
upon u.s. and it need not be a costly process if
J. II v,rifb ic