Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1892-05-27
Dirt Roads.

BY this term is meant those roads
which are formed of the natural soil
found in the line OF the roadway.
They are so common as to be almost
our only roads outside Of town and
city limits, and will for many years
be used largely in country districts,
and especially on the lines OF cross
roads which connect the main high
ways. Dirt roads, at their best, are
greatly inferior to Macadam and Tel
ford roads in every essential of a
good highway; in durability, cost OF
maintenance, drainage, tractive quail
tiles, and in many locations, in point
of economy also. But the dirt road
is here, and the public hand must be
directed to it's treatment. The first
and most important thing necessary
for the maintenance of a dirt road
may be stated in single word-drain-
age. 1t is the one thing that can
neither be dispensed with nor neg
lected. Most dirt is soluble, and is
easily displaced under the softening
influence of rain, and this process Is
fastened in the dirt road by the pass
! ing of heavy wagons over the wet
surface. On every mile Of roadway
within the United States there falls
each year an average of $1,000 tons OF
water-a heavy, limpid fluid, always
directing itself to the nearest outlet
and seeking the lowest level. Water
is hard to confne and easy to release,
and yet, through sheer neglect of the
simplest principles of drainage, water
is the most active destroyer of our
country roads.
In providing for the drainage of a
dirt road we should first consider the
material of which the roadway is
composed IL a heavy, viscous clay
predominates, the ordinary side-ditch-
es should be of good depth, and will
even then, in many cases, be made
quate for thorough drainage without
the addition Of centre-drain run
ming midway between, and parallel
with the side-Gitches. The centre
loose irregular boulders, cobble-stones,
broken bricks, or similar filling, COW
ering a line of tiles or fascines at the
bottom and should be connected with
the side-ditches by cross-drains carry
ing the water outward from the cen
| ter-drain at proper intervals along
the length Of the roadway. Center
drains though often greatly needed
for the improvement Of country roads,
are not in common use. They add
somewhat to the cost Of the roadway,
but in most cases, considerably more
| to its value, and should be employed
in all situations where sand or gravel
cannot be had to relieve the heaviness
and water-holding properties of the
clay. If gravel, sand, or other porous
material can be conveniently or
cheaply obtained, the center and CT oss-
drains may often be dispensed with
by mixing tie gravel or sand in plen-
tiful quantities with the clay road
way, so as to insure as nearly as posi-
BILE aporous and self-draining surface
layer, which should not be less than ten
inches in depth, and should be laid
on the rounded or sloped subsoil so
as to insure easy drainage into the
side-ditches.
In locations where the prevailing
material is of a loose, sandy nature,
the difficulties of drainage are more
easily overcome, and side-ditches, il
found necessary at all, may be made
of moderate depth and left open, with
out mourning the risks and dangers
of travel that prevail where the deep
err open bitches are used for draining
heavier soils. But, on the other hand,
the light and shifting nature Of sandy
road-material destroys its value as a
surface layer for an earth roadway,
and its deficiency in this respect is
most easily remedied by the addition
of a stronger and more tenacious sub
stance, such as stiff clay. When
mixed with sand in proper proper
tons (Which in each case depends
upon the nature of the clay and sand
used, and which can best be deter
mined by experiment., this compost
ton affords many advantages which
make it superior to a roadway com
posed of either sand or clay when used
alone. The sand serves to quicken
the drainage and to destroy the sticky,
tenacious qualities Of the clay, while
the clay supplies the quality of cohe-
sion in the substance OF the road-sur-
face, counteracting the shifting quail
tiles of the sand, and making the
roadway more easily packed and
more likely to retain its proper grade
and slope.-Ceatmy.
A Wonderful Tinle-Piece.