Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-11-06
RoAp-MAklNe.



tant Subject.
The following extracts from The En-
cheering and Building Records prize
essay on road-making tby s C. Thomp-
son, New York;, contain many valu-
able facts:
A man can walk up slope of 100 in
100. and horse or mule can ascend an
incline of 100 in It's, and it has been
found by experiment that a horse pull
ing his maximum load on level can
pull but four-fifths As much If the slope
is made L in so. and this gradually
lessons until with a slope of 1 in 10 he
can draw but one-fourth as much as his
level load The maximum grade es-
tablished by the French Government
board OF engineers is in 20. The Holy
head road in Wales uses i in 50 as
maxim um, except in two cases The
road over the Simplon Pass averages
1:22 on Italian side. and to Il on Swiss
side, with one case of to IL and in this
State several turnpike roads are limited
by law to in IL. In laying out road.
| with regard to grades, have a continu-
Gus inclination in one direction and do
not allow any counter grades, for. in as
cending. each foot descended on a coun-
ter grade means just so much more rise
| to be overcome.
Where the BROADWAY is too wide it usual
| ~ results in no part being kept in good
| repair, while If it was narrowed the
whole could be kept in frsr-class condi-
\ ton at less expense, and a well-ke 1t
road of even twenty feet width is far
| preferable to a road but half maintained
of double the width. In laying cut Is
| may be advisable to take a strip con-
| siderably wider than the intended road
| bed. SO as to provide for possible con-
| tingencles in the future when the land
becomes more valuable. Lay out sGffi-
| GENTLY wide, but build only so much as
can be kept in thorough repair. The
essential requirements of a good road
| bed are that it shall be practically I'M
| yielding-smooth on the surface. and
| 1mperyious to water-and without these
requirements there can be but little
| durability.
For surface draining. bitches should
| be provided along each side of the road
having sufficient fall to promptly carry
| away any water that reaches them.
Where it becomes necessary to carry the
water across the roadway. culverts
should be provided All drains should
have continuous fall throughout their
! SUs luc size VIII QepenQ
upon the inclination and the amount of
water they are expected to carry. In
portions of the country where gravel is
easily obtained very satisfactory road
can be made by making the surface for
greater or less depth of gravel
Prepare the foundation so as to allow
for prompt drainage, and shape as the
| finished road is intended to be; make
| the side of the road planes, and not
curves, and then roll thoroughly to get
solid foundation. Put on a layer of
gravel from six inches to eight inches
in thickness, sprinkle thoroughly and
roll until very compact and firm Next
| spread another layer from four to six
inches of gravel, and sprinkle and roll
until the desired hardness and smooth
ness are obtained If the gravel has no
! binding material in it. a sufficient
| amount may be incor porated in the last
layer to cause 1t to take a good bond.
Where it is possible to get blue gravel
| or hard pan and clean bank gravel, the
two can be SO mixed as to give = surface
almost like concrete in hardness When
| the two are used together a two-horse
grooyed roller for the first layer will be
found very effective, and the material
should be quite wet while rolling. The
surface can then be finished with a
steam roller, or with q smooth roller
sufficiently loaded to give the requisite
weight In completing the surface OF a
gravel or other road, where rolling is
required. the weight of the roller should
| he as mu-h per inch as the weight per
inch on the tire of the heaviest vehicle
likely to pass over it, For ordinal V
traffic a very durable and economical
surface can be thus produced