The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1886-08-07
Road Paving Material.
BY JOHN 7. CAMPBELL.

bh JOhN - Shhi
When we consider the great Importance
of good roads, and the many things that
can be made available for paving them, we
arc almost struck dumb with wonder at the
meagre use that Is made OF the fair TO good
material 30 lavishly furnished us by ma
ture. SO many people prefer to trudge
along the steep, winding and muddy road
over which they have once successfully
travelled, that II Is too often much easier
for those of broader conception and greater
enterprise to follow the roads OF their sei,
pid neighbOrs, than to make the effort and
endure the vexation of leading them into
better paths. Mankind In the mass pro.
gress and move forward much like the
waters, crowding and jostling each other,
moving only because those who are ahead
are trying to keep out Of the way of those
who are following, and those who are fol-
lowing are trying to keep up with those
who are ahead. Thus moving, they wan.
der, like the running water, along the most
roundabout courses, making their channels
more crooked by erosion, until two bends
are worn into each other, making cut
Off" and by pure stupid luck, find shorter
road while apparently trying to make a
longer one.
How often have we labored and worried,
both our teams and ourselves, along a
muddy road when near by, and parallel
with it, clever stream had piled up gravel
in tantalizing heaps
Coal slack, coal ashes and coal cinders
make fair to good roads, yet in many parts
of the coal belt of the state, the people are
pulling through the mud in plain sight of
80 hat ri al C,,thniapf IN oil
the roads in their neighborhood, and are
heard to lament the condition OF the roads
and the scarcity of gravel.
The best piece of road in Parke county
is section two miles long going west from
Rockville, which was the first we built
under the present gravel road law. Owing
to the supposed impos sibiity of getting
gravel, |, as the engineer making the sur.
vey and estimate, and afterwards superin-
tending the construction, used coal slack
for the under twothrds of the paving ma
terial, which we obtained from the Sand
creek coal mines, two and one half miles
north. east of Rockville, and covered this
with the upper third of the best gravel we
could get. Last winter this piece of road
was the only one that was not cut into
slush by the travel during the frequent
freezinss and thawngs. The west end Of
this road was built of excellent gravel, and
having much less travel than the east end
before described, went into slush and had
to be re-graveled in the spring. | have
forgotten the real cost of the coal slack,
but remem Der that ii was nearly twice as
cheap as the gravel which had TO be hauled
less than half the distance. The coal com
paLy donated the slack, and the railroad
gave favorable rates per car. The teams
could haul large wagon bed heaping full,
being two and half to three times the
bulk common gravel bed would contain,
In this the cheapness mainly consisted.
But, my brethren, 1t was distressing to
listen to the objections of the croakers at
the time 1t was being built.
In sandy districts which atilict the trav-
eler quite as bad as mud Except in relative
cleanliness), have very lately found out
that common straw is an antidote for that
heavy. miry, dragging of vehicles, which
Is as tiresome to the rider (out of sympathy
as to the team. -Four inches of loose straw
spread on sandy road, will in few days
grind into the sand, and become as firm
and hard as dry clay road. This may be
old knowledge, but 1t is new to me- and |
think, is generally unknown to road super
visors, for never saw it put on the sandy
roads as a remedy. | first noticed 1t last
summer, where a woman had emptied a
straw bedtck on one of the worst sand roads
| ever saw. The straw was worn out for
bed purposes, but was just right for road
purposes, as the finer it is broken up the
better. Since that time | have observed
every bunch of straw that happened to be
dropped on such roads, and have gone to
some personal trout lie to put it there myself
and observe the effects, which have in
every case been as before described. Straw
has been dropping on roads for hundreds
of years, and it may he that more observing
people than | have been aware Of its use
fuiness, but If So, why is il not used?
This suggests that il might be used ~
advantage on new gravel roads, when the
gravel is much mixed with sand and packs
slow 1t would give instant relief, aud
would not at all hurt the quality Of the
gravel