The Arizona sentinel., 1888-07-21
GOOD RURAL ROADS.
Essential Points to Be Observed in The
 Construction.

Essential Points to Be Observed in Their Construction.
 The ideal road is far in the future, and always will be, since the said ideal will ever outgrow any possible reality. It is almost always assumed by writers on rural topics that path-masters are stupid and incompetent, but whoever will compare our present roads with those of twenty years ago must admit improvement in that time. Culverts, then covered with rattling plank and having to be rebuilt every year or two, are now of stone, smoothly covered with earth; wooden monstrosities called bridges over the larger streams, which Were expected to go off with every freshet, are being replaced by structures of iron, resting on massive masonry; the grades grow easier, the roadbeds are more compact; the priceless bar has cured the washing of hilly roads; fewer loose stones are tolerated in the track; and last, but not least, the road gangs work much bet ter. The essentials for a good road are travel enough to make it solid, prompt removal of water and clearing of stones from the track. No con- structive genius will avail in the ab- sence of the first; but disposal of wa ter in these parts at least is largely a question of bars. It is easy to turn up your nose at these; to invent worthy substitute is another matter. When 1 read of roads rounded up in the center without bars 1 imagine a porous soil absorbing the rain as fast as it comes; here a wagon track half an inch deep will lead the water the whole length of the slope, however nicely the roadbed may be rounded. The washing begins in the bottom of these tracks, little gutters are soon formed, and the first pouring rain fin ishes the road. Within my acquaint- ance those who preach against bars and in favor of rounded up roads are people who never drive, and who therefore know nothing of the sensa- tions of one who is trying to balance his wagon on the summit of such a construction. Nor are rounded roofs permanent; the settling and working outward of the earth soon makes them fat as ever
 Diagonal bars are relic of the dark ages; the right way is to bring earth and make gentle mound upon the un- broken roadbed and square across it. Then set sharp blow just within the edge of the track and cut furrows with a quick descent into the ditch. They will be of slight depth where the wheels cross them, but they should be widened and smoothed out there. Much tax is wasted on the valley roads in hauling creek gravel to fill up the holes. It is loose and rattling for while, then it is ground up and disap- pears entirely; by the next spring it makes as good mud as the original earth. A gravel formation many feet deep is one thing; gravel dumped hero and there with a water-tight subsoil just beneath is another. lam satisfied that a better way for level roads would be to make artificial grades, rising gently, say two feet in six rods, then descending at the same rate, scooping out the edges of the road toward the ditch at the meet ing of the slopes, though 1 must con- fess have never done it myself. The rounded-up ro,.d looks well on paper, but the water never leaves the wagon tracks; you will see it standing for many rods, like an adjusted spirit level. every wheel cutting deeper until bad ruts are formed, whatever the slope toward the ditch. Another step of progress would be to make some one responsible for the condition of the track while the ground is bare at least. A bar gets worn down in dry time so the water can get over it; the first we know, a hill is almost impossible, when few shovels of earth at the right time would have saved the road. It is coming to be a custom to expect the path-master to see to it more or less, to make or order repairs after the tax is all laid out, but the system will bear extending. We should not only hope and trust that ditches and bars will work until new tax is laid; we should know that they will.-E. s. GI- bert, in N. r. Tribune.