Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-31
ABOUT ROADS.
Some Interesting and Practical Sugges-
tons on the Engrossing Subject.
Bad Roads an Injury Amounting to Calamity.
System and Method Necessary
to Permanent Roads.
LIE pope in Austin Statesman.


rain. It is then, when his fields are too
wet TO work in, that the farmer can with
ont Inconvenience bring his produce to
market. But, unfortunately, the same
rainfall that prevents work in the fields
equally from its effect on the roads pre-
cludes his access to market, rs the
hauling of even an empty wagon
is then wearsome labor to
/ driver and team. The farmer must
therefore perforce sit idle, unable either to
/ cultivate ms land or market his produce;
! the latter perhaps spelling on his farm,
I instead of being proftablv sold to his city
/ customers. AT length, when few days
| of fine weather has dried his land
! and rendered the space between
! two fences called 4 country road
| passable he has TO determine which is 70
| him the least harmful, TO neglect
! his land or his marketing For it is
| just when his time should be di-
| veded between blowing his land and
marketing his produce that the greatest
and most frequent rainfalls occur; and
while he is grateful to Providence for
the beneficial showers that enrich and
invigorate ms land, he must think with
bitterness of the laws and administration
that, by its negligence of iuaetion, de-
prives him so unjustly of the use he could
then make of his time in the profitable
sale of his produce. While the impass-
able state of the country roads is q
calamity to the farmer, it is also
4 SERIOUS INJURY
to the residents of the cities, as, instead
of getting their daily supply of vegetables
and farm produce from the local farmers
and market gardeners, they have TO de-
pend on importation from other states to
supplement the deficiency due TO the i'm
passable state of the country roads; and
for these imported articles they must
necessarily pay a higher rate to cover
the extra cost and risk of transpOI tatiOn.
This in great measure accounts for the
vast importation of country produce into
the city from other states. The grocer,
or city purveyOr of these articles, must
always have supply on hand to meet
the demands of his customers, and when,
from whatever cause, he cannot depend
on the regularity of the local supply, he
must otherwise arrange, at even an en-
HANGED cost, TO meet the
daily demand. He must therefore
keep up his outer state trade
connection, even when it would be to his
temporary advantage to purchase from
the local producers. Thus while all farm
and garden products are at an extrava-
CANT price in the stores the local farmers
and market gardeners cannot always get
sale for the produce. The money that
should circulate locally to the advantage
of the general community is RENTED TO
benefit the citizens of other states Thus
the interests of both the
URBAN AND RURAL POPULATION
of the county are seriously affected by
the want of means of communication be-
tween town and country. In fine, it is
lamentable state of governmental adj
ministration when days rain paralyzes
the internal trade of a state and obliges
the citizens of an agricultural country
to depend for their food
supplies to importation from other
states. But even under the most
advantageous conditions of the weather,
the farmer is still seriously injured by the /
rough, crude state of the country roads,
badly aligned, badly graded, and full of /
holes and rutS. Thus, in bad weather, /
the farmer is virtually cut off from town, I
and in good weather, from the faulty |
construction and ill-kept conditions |
of the roads, the value OF his |
time and team are reduced one-haIf |
as on a hard, smooth surface, his /
team will draw n greater load in less /
time than on the ordinary i'll constructed /
country road. Moreover, not only is the |
power of his team decreased, but there is .
also the great loss by wear and tear on
his harness and wagon, due to the plung-
ing and jerking through the holes aud .
ruts. Again, there is, IS a rule, no well /
devised plan or order in the administra-
ton of the road fund and the construction
n try
By fits and starts,
WITHOUT SYSTEM OR METHOD,
attempts are made at repairs and i'm
and the money is then
lavishly and uninteHigently expended.
The work is entrusted TO an amateur, or
who has as much practical
knowledge Of roadmaking as he has of
anything else of which he is ignorant,
and, more frequently than not, few
months after such expenditure the
state of that improved road re-
sembles the state of the relapsed sin
ner. These remarks apply generally to
road management throughout the state.
It should be more generally known that
there is as muyh science required in road
making as in any other engineering work.
The most perfect system of roadmaking
in the world, perfect not only in the ex-
CCllCnl COAiu1lip1l VI t44G IOdub DuL also III
the economy of their construction, is that
on which, with other engineering works, l
was engaged during my sixteen years ser
vice under the government of British In
dia. The making of cheap and efficient
roads is as familiar TO me as blowing to
an old farmer. I have during my sixteen
years service either constructed OF. kept
IN repair, taking one year with another,
over one thousand miles OF macadamiZed
roads. The system and method in vogue
there is the result of the experience Of
nearly one hundred years; and as there
has been of late so many amateur and
THEORETICAL SUGGESTIONS
regarding the construction of roads I
viii, as briefly as possible, describe the
cheap and efficient method of road MAX
ny in India, which Is equally applicable
70 Texas as there is as much variety of soil
n the former country as in the latter
Having determined the points or places to
De connected by road, the country along
he proposed route is reconnoitered
md ba road thor, aTiuDo1 !