The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1892-04-06


1=af|S1 workmen have made
~ " 4LA@@IE[ the trenches on Coal
'ti.- tii..---..s;zs.sEls and Main streets for
the sills and rails, the
subject of good street work has come to the
front again, The digging up of the streets
shows the false theory upon which the
so-called road improvements of the past
have been based.
That the condition of the common roads
has much to do with the prosperity of
town, raises it socially, commercially and
financially, widens its influence, and brings
it in touch with all the improving and
civilziug influences of the buster world
there can be no matter Of doubt.
The question asked is, How should
roads be nader" 1t should always be
remem bered that the hardness and smooth
ness of surface are two prime qaalitif in
every good highway; there should be
thorough drainage to prevent the softening
of the road by rain and food, and thorough
rolling.
A well known writer speaks on the treat
ment of dirt roads where they must be
tolerated. THE first and most important
thing necessary for dirt road may be
stated in a single word-drainage. 1t is
the one thing that can neither be dispensed
with nor neglected. Most dirt is soluble,
and is easily displaced under the softening
influence of rain, and this process is has
tened in the dirt road by the passing of
heavy wagons over the wet surface. Water
is hard to confne and easy to release, and
yet, through sheer neglect Of the simplest
principles of drainage, wster is the most
active destroyer of our roads"
The same writer says, that Macadsm
roads, when made with care, are infinitely
superior 10 the ordinary dirt roads, and are
most excellently adapted to suburban To-
calities where the travel is not too heavy,
and where the earth bottom can be made
firm and compact. 1t is not uncommon in
some of our states to find the idea pre-
valent with town authorities that the pur-
chase of stone crusher and the turning
out of large mass of broken stone which
can be dumped in irregular quantities
along the length of road, to be leveled
and worn down by passing traffic, will re-
suit in the formation Of Macadam road
and such process is sometimes miscslled
macadamizing. To say nothing of the
false economy generally entailed by such Il
process, it may be asserted to he not only
wholly unlike the method of road improve.
ment which Macadam instituted, but it is
in direct violation of the principles upon
which he most strongly insisted.
The evil results of this shif.less and un-
systematic use of broken stone may not
only be seen in the long and toilsome pro-
cess of rolling this material into passablC
shape by the wheels of wagon traffic, but
it involves questions of economy in use OF
material, and in the permanency of the
road itself, which ought to be considered.
In the first place the foundation for the
stone to be placed on q road should be
rolled many times with heavy roller and
should be shaped into convex cross sec
ton so as to insure the quick drainage OF
such water as may find its way through the
upper surface. The dumping of loose stone
upon the soft and fattened earth founda-
ton invites disaster in many ways, In the
first place, the loose, open texture of the
superstructure readily admits the water oi
rain and melting snow, aud this water,
passing quickly through the sieve-ike
material, still further softens the earth
beneath. Then the weight of the stones
themselves, added to that of heavy wagons
which pass over the road, serves to press
the local. angular stones down into the
soft earth beneath, while the dirt itseli
seems to permeate the body of the stone
and eventually to find its way to the
surface, where it forms into puddles aud
hastens the disintegration OF the entire
structure.
In this condition the passing Of loaded
wagons for a considerable time results in
the disappearance of the Macsdam stone
into the soft dirt and in such cases it toe
often happens that the remedy attempted
results in the adding Of new material in the
same negleetful and slovenly way al
marked the putting down OF the first. The
| writer feels confident that by the wastefu
process just described, enough stone ha'
bsen sunk into the earth foundation Of the
rosd bed to serve in the building of si1
times the same length of excellent Maea'
dam road.
The prettiest carpets and oil cloths a