The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-01-08
AMERICAS WAGON ROADS.

May BE Remed1ed.
1t is pretty generally acknowledged
that the American wagon roads are the
worst that any civilized nation tolerates.
There are several principal reasons for
this.
First-They were originally laid out
without regard for scientific location.
Second-They were built with no
foundation but the soil, and the all i'm
portant subject of drainage received lit
tie or no consideration.
Third-They have never been subject
to a proper or even reasonably good sys
tenn of maintenance.
Fourth-Heavy traffic over them is
now almost entirely with narrow tired
vehicles, which cut the surface of the
roads and would doubtless form ruts in
well constructed highway.
These are the four principal reasons
why the roads are bad. The results OF
this melancholy condition are evident
to every person who has ever lived in OF
visited the country in the fall, winter OF
spring.
Although the statement may seem tc
be an extravaganza one, it is nevertheless
true that the "hard times" which the
American farmer talks about so much
are due more to the bad roads than to
any other one cause. This is especially
true in the olden states. There are vast
tracts of fertile farming lands in all
parts of the United States which are
practically cut off from communication
with the rest of the world during three
60, e
or two after every big storm even in the
summer. If the farmer has crops te
move he can only move them when the
"going is good" Bad roads may keer
his produce out of the markets for weeks
and in the meantime prices may drop SC
that the profit on his whole seasons
work is wiped out. Bad roads double
the time and therefore the expense OF
getting his produce from the farm tc
the market. Bad roads force him tc
keep more horses; wear out his wagons,
his harnesses and his temper twice as
fast as they ought to be worn out. Bad
roads rob him and his family Of the
pleasure of associating with their friends,
and change their home into prison fol-
months at time. Bad roads make life
in the country disagreeable, and drive
the best of the young men who are born
there, brought up there and needed
there to the city.
All this might be easily remedied, and
it will be remedied, for it has reached
a pass where it must be remedied. The
roads have already been improved in
some localities, and the good effect has
been so marked and SO immediate that
people of other sections cannot fail to
see it and profit by it.
Taking the measures of Improvement
in the same order that the faults have
been named, comes:
Justification. The idea that the
location of a road cannot be changed
without revolutionizing the community
is a mistake. There is no reason why
highways should rigidly follow farm
boundaries. The great desideratum in
location is the avoidance of grades. It
ton than it is to go over it. A pull upa
hill half a mile long will tire a team
more than five mile journey over a
level road. The Romans recognized the
disadvantage of heavy grades when they
built their roads, only they didn't bother
to go around; they had unlimited re-
sources of labor and funds at their dis
posal, and cut through the hills and
filed up or bridged the valleys. Where
it IS not advisable to avoid a grade by
making circuit, it is often well to fol
low the Romans example and cut
through or fill up. The earth taken
from the cutting may be used with COM
paratively little expense in filing up the
valleys. If the road is not wholly lev
eled this way the grade may at least be
greatly reduced.
Second-A foundation as solid as pos
sible should be made according to scien-
tific and approved methods. This
should be drained thoroughly. The best
road consists of foundation of large
stones covered with a surface layer from
three to six inches thick of small broken
stone. A road built in this way costs
money, but will last, if properly cared
for, for all time. It is legacy to pos
which every man
should wish to leave behind him when
he dies. Moreover, It is a fact that
many townships could build roads of
this kind with less money than is now
spent on keeping the old ones In unre-
pair.
Third-Any road, however good, will
be ruined if it is not intelligently re
paired. Repairs should be made as soon
as the slightest necessity for them ap-
pears, for the longer defect Is left to
care for itself the greater the rapidity
with which it will grow worse. One
man at moderate wages can, if he de-
.his'whole time to it, keep ten miles
Of broken stone road in constant and
perfect repair.
Fourth-No good thing will last if it
is not used carefully and inteligently.
The custom which prevails nowhere ex-
cept in America of hauling heavy loads
in narrow tired wagons would put ruts
in any road. Stringent laws should pre-
vent this. In severalEuropean countries
this rule has been adopted: -Four wheeled
drawn by two horses must have
tires ~ inches wide; four wheeled
wagons drawn by three or four. horses
must have tires four inches wide; wagons
drawn by five or more horses must have
tires six inches wide; two wheeled wag-
ons drawn by two horses must have tires
four inches wide; two wheeled wagons
drawn by three. or more horses must
have tires six inches wide. By thus put
ting greater road surface under heavy
loads the lasting quality of the road is
increased one-half. Moreover, the two
sets of wheels on four wheeled wagon
should not be allowed to 'ttrack." That
Il L u I f..
farther apart than the front wheels, SO
that they will not bear, upon the same
part of the road surface that the front
wheels have already strained. Wheels
are ''cramped" when, they turn corners,
and do notastrack." You never saw
one road turns off from an
other.
SWITZERLAND AND VERMONT.
One Has Good Roads and Prosperity, the