Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-21
OUR NAIL POUCH.
Road Making Suggestions.


To the Editor OF The Dispatch:
I have been reading up the public road arti-
cles, as published by The DISPATCH from time
to time as have been greatly interested In the
discussions, and have had some experience and
lots of observation. The majority Of yourlcorre-
spondents favor maeadamized system, which
is nodoubt the best and cheapest in the end;
but the expense Of it is the great barrier to its
general adoption. If the roads were all macad-
amized and the water allowed to run down the
wagon tracks of every hill .it would not be two
years until they would be as bad as
they are now. The trouble gen.
orally with country roads Is want Of care
and system in expending the money. The
roads in the country could be kept good eight
or nine months in the year by following or
adopting this rule.
First-Have someone In every school district
see that the bitches are kept open and the
water turned into them out of the wagon
tracks.
Second-Let the State appoint supervisor or
superintendent in each county and pay him a
good salary. and he In turn appoint one or two
or more assistants in each township and bor-
ough of the county TO oversee the work as it is
being done. the county superintendent to be
sistants examined by him. and no one appoint
ed who does not thoroughly understand his
6Ssn1s business. -, The ooropghs and townships
ehnes al and have the the work best sn6Sd
be done by the 1st OF July II done by that
time the work gets settled and hard before the
fall rains commence and there will not usually
pc bad roads more than four to six weeks be-
lore winter sets in. Ii you drive through the
country now you will find good roads on the
levels and gutter or two on every hill. The
water on the hills tears the road up and runs 1t
TO the foot of the hill, and the average super
VISOR Will tramp over 1t every day and not no
tice 1t, and complain that there Is so much
work TO be done that he cannot do one-half Of
April-would put three days work with five or
six men to turning the water of the hills
and opening the bitches by the roadside,
and keep that up for five years, the roads
would not require moro than two-thirds the
amount of work now required to keep them in
good repair.
Third-Another great mistake daily made is
filling mudhole with stone, as all know that
when hole is piled full of stones the first wet
spell there Is mudhole on each side worse than
it originally was 1t is fact that all good roads
In the country are in the sections where there
are no stones to put in them The best roads in
Pennsylvania to-day outside of the macada-
mized roads. are in Mercer, Crawford and Erie
counties. and there is no stone used. except in
swamps and lowlands, and in many of these
they use gravel. There is no way to prevent a
clay road from becoming nearly impossible in
a winter like the last. Butlf the roadmasters
would do as have suggested they would not
be nearly as bad as they are now. as the differ
ence between the system that suggest would
be almost as much in the wet season as the dry
one. hope that these few hints may be picked
up and applied fora few seasons by some road
master. GOOD ROADS.
PITTsBURG. August 1o.