Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-08-29

the local roads are OF gravel. The s-
! gineer-in- chief has charge of an -
roads in the department; under him ny,
engineers having charge of certain 5s.
tricts, and under each Of these are srrs-
intendents and OverseeTs, each in cRar-
of certain length of road, and win y.
certain force of labOrers and the no.
sary materials for keeping the raa5 Oh
ways in good order. II Is. in short H.
same system of constant I-srar--.,
maintenance, and repair which is i'm --i
on every one of our principal RAILROAD.
but which is never applied to our rla5s
The fundamental principles of main
tenance, as laid down in the Manuel -
instruction, are only two In uguba-
VIZ: l. The removal of the daily Wen.
of the road > whether in the form of r,~5
or dust. ,. The prompt replacement ~
this wear by new materials.
Each road is divided into section.
called cantons; on heavily Travelled
roads n canton may be only one br,
dred yards long, on light roads il MOI
be a mile; and to each canton there +,
a workman known as a cantouuiar NH.
is responsible for the condition of rEs
road in his canton. He lives i'm tho
immediate vicinity, and is utr=-s5
to be on the road from ; a. n. +--
p. m. in summer, and from sunrise f.,
to sunset in winter; he can rest two har,-,
for his MONDAY meal, but with This ev-
ceptiOn he must be always az work no.
tween the hours above stated. Hsbq.
the following tools, viz, wheeIlar-or
iron shovel, wooden shovel. pick iron
scraper, wooden Scraper, broom i,o1
roll 1Nar lerr
His duties are, l, to keep the ruf-srs
clear so that the water can run Off frea,v.
2, to scrape off the mud in wet wealth.,
and sweep Off the dust in dry weather
so as to keep his canton ALWAYS Glenn.
3, to clean OF the snow as far as r,..f-
BILE, and break up the ice on the surface
of the road and in the cutters during the
winter; 1 to pick up all loose stones
break them, and pile them i'm rsr-
ularly shaped piles on the side of the
road, ready for use in repairing ruts and
holes; to keep the mile-posts i'm gooi
order: 8, TO take care Of the trees border.
ing the road.
The six adjacent cantonuiars form
squad called a brigade, which is under
foreman known as a cantCnuier-chef. and
forms the unit of working force. Sew
eral brigades are placed under the cha-rs
of a cOnducteur, or superintendent. VIII,
has charge Of a section of forty 20 fifty
miles of road for the good order of which
he is responsible, and every part of which
he must inspect and report upon twice
month. Several sections are placed uD-
der an engineer, who has charge of all
the roads in an ACCOMPLISHMENT. or town
snip, and must inspect every part of them
once in three months. Finally, the en-
gincer-in-chief has charge ofaU the roads
in the department, or province, eighty
seven of which constitute the territory OF
France.
During the winter, when the repairs
are heavy, and whenever a general re-
surfacing of the road is undertaken, the
regular cantonnIers are assisted bv
auxiliary labor hired for the time being.
The broken stone required for such work
is furnished by contract.
1t should be borne in mind that this is
not paper organization, or code of for
gotten statutes, but an actual working
system in full operation to-day. It is the
result of l20 years of thought and IaIota
devoted to an important subject by
some of the best minds in France, and
roads to be found anywhere in the world.
The cost is surprisingly small, consider
ing what is accomplished The actual
cost per mile of maintaining the natioGa,
roads (alI macadamiZed) is given III
Debauye's Manual for each 1.-THE eighty
seven departments. IL varies from sixty
dollars to five hundred dollars per mile,
with an average of $50, of which about
half is for labor and half for materials,
For maintaining less important roads ihe
average cost per mile is as follows: De-
partmental roads, SI3j; important loa.
roads, 1872; ordinary local roads, So; by
roads, S42.
1t would seem as if q somewhat ana
Joyous sytem might be devised in Amer
lea, by which the roads in each state
might be placed in charge Of the state
engineer, the repairs in each county TO be
made by the county surveyor accord
ing TO the instructions of the state en-
gineeT, a uniform road tax of say mills
to be levied throughout the state, but the
amount OF taxes raised in each county to
be expended in that county. With an
estimated valuation in the state Of New
York of 81 POO 900 900 Exclusive OF cit!
property for the census of 1890, sucla
tax would yield So 900, 900 per anuum
for the roads of the entire state; and TINS
sum judiciOusly expended, according 10
well-digested plans and under cOmpete1.
would in a few years reDulu
nearly all GU, important roads and man
tain them in good order. The present
system of independent action or Inact.ol
by each board of county commissioners
known to be a complete failure VIVA
it costs for the entire state cannot us
for there are no statistics on inc
subject. Possibly if the statistics were
available it would be found that the Jol4'
cost is fully as great as the sum ABOVE
although the result IS almost
As for toll roads, and comPl--
sorry labor or a tax in lien thereof, ils.
are both out of date at the end OF --'
century.
In brief, then, the only system Iy'
good country roads, as shown DE u-
veTsal experience, is a bed OF s,ol5,
broken into small angular fragments anu
thoroughly, rolled, and maiutaLA5I u
good order by a small force Of la0oIe''
under proper organization and supeNSl
ion, constantly at work summer a1-
winter in cleaning off the road ana u
pairing any defects the moment the! a.
pear; to which must be added from l--s
to time, according to the amour
traffic and resulting wear, a genera -
newaI of the road surface with the SILL
materials.