The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-05-25
An Interesting Essay on Common
Road Building.
READ BY Mr.. GREENE OF CLYDE.
Common Sense Applied to the Road Ques-
tion-Mr. Thompson Makes an Ad-
dress-The Four Children at Natick-
other Valley News.

roads and how to improve the highways
of the town of Warwick and neighbor-
ing towns.
Among the prominent persons present
were d. M. Thompson Of Providence, gen.
eral superintendent of the B. b. a. X.
Knights mill; the Hon. Henry S. Greene.
Clyde; o. d. Tillinghast, II. w. Potter.
River Point; Lucian Searle. River Point;
DR.. Aram w. Colvin, Phenix; Robert
Reoch, manager OF the Clyde Print works;
Frank Greene OF the firm of ;.
II. Greene g. sons. p :; frest0n e;Ifs
Kn,ght ,ng agent W.b.ter 81 rhf RuT6f yai agent Of
tns Natick mills; William NJ; SPHINX,
superintendent of the Natick mills;
Oliver s. Raker, +. Walker, OF the Busi-
ness Mems Association j. Q. Dow. of the
NEWS; J; T. McNeiiis, Oh ,he % Joarnat
the telegram. Ozias ID. Tillinghast then
introduced Frank Greene, president OF
the Pawtuxet Valley business Mems AS
sociation, who, after few brief introduc-
tory remarks, introduced the Hon. Henry
print works, River Point, VINO spoke as
'sThe evils of the prevailing system of
repairing highways are proclaimed not
only in Rhode Island, but throughout the
made to arouse the whole country to ac-
tion in reforming the entire business.
Pamphlets, letters, memorials and mag
azine articles have been published and
widely circulated among the people.
These are written by men eminent as
civil engineers, as practical road builders,
and prominent in all public improve
ments, and all of them show in their
writings the most intimate acquaintance
with the subject. They leave no stone
unturned in digging TO the bottom OF THIS
matter of highways, to prove the terrible
waste of animal power, the wreckage OF
vehicles and loss of money attendant up
on the present bad state OF our roads.
They have carefully collected, analyZed
and reduced to u practical statement ana
recommendation, vast amount OF III
formation derived from both European
and American sourc s..
''M are by no means the first English
speaking people who suffered long from
wretched thoroughfares, for In the latter
part of the seventeenth century the high
ways of Great Britain were i'm such u de-
plorable condition that travellers not only
p lost their way, owing 10 there being no
lines of demarcation, but were compelled
In case of bad weather TO cross the nelds
to avoid being stuck in the mud, and
sometimes to alight aud lead their beasts
A yiceroy on his way ~ Ireland In 1865,
over the great route through Wales TO
Holyhead, was five hours In travelling
fourteen miles, aud was. forced to walk
part of the way. his wife being carried in
a litter. His coach was borne after him
on the shoulders and by the arms of men.
Prince George Of Denmark about this pc
riod visited Petworth Mansion in Eng
land and was six hours going nine miles
Rich men always travelled with four or
six horses to each carriage, and even with
these were occasionally Embedded in
auagmire. Pack horses were used on by
r,pds a,d went at a very tedious pace, so
abominable was the state of the roads.
.......,ey says The markets were
often inaccessible during several months.
1t is said that the fruits OF the earth were
sometimes suffered to rot in one place.
while in another place, distant only few
miles, the supply fell far short OF the de-
mand.'
lone chief cause of the badness of the
roads seems to have been the detective
state of the law. Every parish was bound
to repair the highways which passed
through il. The peasantry was forced to
give their gratuitous labor six days in the
year. IL this was not sufficient hired
labor was employed and the expense met
by parochial rate" Macaulay then
goes on to comment upon the injustice Of
this law, which compelled TO this service
the sparsely-settled rural districts through
which some Important roads passed, and
which contributed very little TO their
prosperity, while 1t was mainly used 10
to another adjoining these poor districts.
BY an act OF Parliament toll bars were es-
tablished and turnpikes constructed. but
not without great opposition and diff
Guilty, for people bear accustomed taxa
Gion, absurd and unjust though it may
be. far more willingly than the most
reasonable impost which is new. There
are now over 80 600 miles Of turnpikes in
Great Britain.
'At this very period of which Macau-
lay graphically wrote, there existed on
the continent Of Europe aud in parts OF
Great Britain the remains OF roads con-
structed by the Romans in the manner
shown on the sheet before you. he lines
of the road being first established by dig
ging parallel trenches fixing the wild h,
all the eartn was taken out until salts
factor bottom was reached. This was
ramn ed hard, or cemented II necessary
10 secure a soIid foundation. The lowest
Stratum o. stones was sometimes laid in
mortar aud above these other strata OF
stones and concrete. the courses some
times reaching four in number. Finally
the surface, or pavement consisting of
polygonal blocks of stone were laid in
mortar and were nicely jointed. The
paved portion was about 10 feet wide and
on eacn side were raised stone causw8ys
and beyond these were sidewalks about
eight feet wide. The cross sec tion of u
street in Pompei illustrates this construc-
tiop. The three blocks rising above the
grade of the roadway are stepping stones
to facilitate the crossing from one side Of
the street TO the other side. Apparently
the astes OF the chariots used in Pompeii
were high enough TO pass over these step
ping stones.
''however durable the ancient Roman
roads are they are only commendable in
that respect, for Horace, who died eight
years Is. c., stated that the most famous
one, the Apyian Way. which was con,
structed by Appius Claudius Coecus, 3 1.
Is. c., was less fatiguing to those who
Travelled slowly They demonstrate the
important fact, and one which road
builders. both past and present, are quick
to recognize, and that Is the necessity
and inestimable value of a soldid hsse OF
foundation.
1T was past the middle Of the eighteenth
century before Macadam began to estab
lish the remarkable improvements which
are associated with his name. and which
continue to he applied to the best modern
roads. Observing among other objec
tions to the prevailing mode of repairing
highways by distributing ordinary grave
over them, that the smooth. rounded
-. a