The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-08-19
CORRESPONDENTS.
The Road Question.


Mr.. Editor:-There is one thing in re-
gard to the onward march of events in
Vermont, and presume in other states
as well, and that is the condition of pub
lie highways, which to-day seriously in
terferes with her development.
The present methods of repairing and
improving the highway, to thinking and
scientific men at lesat, in this age of the
world, seem wholly inadequate to the
demands made upon them. In Benning-
ton county large part of the highways
even those most used are for quite
portion of the year almost impossible,
and this not from any NAL administra-
ton on the part of the road master but
from lack of knowledge how to pro-
coed and what to do.
There is certain piece OF road OF
which know, about two miles long on
which large sums of money are expended
every year, in fact in ten years there has
been money enough expended to make a
solid macadamised road and yet it is now
no better than it was ten years ago. On
this road there is more travel than any
other ten miles of road in town and yet
there were two months this last spring
when it was almost impossible and
where l have frequently seen a four
horse team unable to pull and empty
lumber truck out of the mud. This is
but a sample of what may be seen in
other parts of this county and State. On
this same piece of road in the last ten
wears. time and patience and wear OF
team and harness has been lost by lum-
bermen, merchants, farmers and doctors,
enough to build a solid road that would
hold any lead at any time of the year.
There is another piece of road which l
occasionally travel some eight or ten
miles in length one trip over which, uses
I'D nv carriage worse than drive of 40
or 80 miles on the ordinary highway.
Over this road l understand there are
drawn each year about five million feet
of sawed lumber besides wood and logs.
understand also that for series of at
least ten years there has on an average
been expended about 800 per mile per
wear. and yet so unadvisably has it been
expended that the road is not at all i'm
proved.
This is but a sample of what is being
done all about us in most cases not from
neglect or wantOnness but from want of
knowledge.
If these roads were put in proper
shape it would amount to the saving OF
hundreds of dollars each year in black
Smiths wheelwrights' and harness
makers bills to say nothing of the posi-,
bility of drawing larger loads and quick.
er time. Our railroads are vieing with
each other in improving the road beds SC
as to make quicker runs and haul larger
trains, while our highways are left fan
behind. Fifty seventy-five or one hun
dred years ago the present methods were
all that could be asked; but in these
days of rapid transit where the man
who gets his produce into market first
generally gets the best price, the present
condition is all too slow and too costly
But another thing under the common
methods of repairing the roads, in many
places, where people come out to work
out their tax they pay more attention to
story telling and resting on their hoe
handles than they do to the business il
hand, consequently time and money are
alike lost L. r. CLARK, NJ. D.