The Oskaloosa herald., 1892-06-16
GOOD ROADS IN IOWA.

Mr.. Potter,a authority in road max
ing, has an article in the Century Mag
azine on this topic, from which we take
these practical suggestions:
The first and most important thing
necessary for the maintenance of dirt
roads may be stated in a single word
drainage. 1t is one thing that can
neither be dispensed with nor neglected.
Most dirt is soluble, and is easily dis
placed under the sOftening influence Of
rain, and this is hastened in the dirt
roads by the passing of heavy wagons
over the wet surface. On every mile
of roadway within the United States
there falls each year an average OF 27.-
GOO tons of water-a heavy, ,limpid fluid,
always directing itself to the nearest
outlet and seeking the lowest level.
Water is hard to confine 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 COM
posed. If heavy vicious clay pre-
dominates, the ordinary side bitches
should be of good depth, and will even
then, in many cases, be inadequate for
thorough drainage, without the addi-
tion of center drain running midway
between, and parallel with, the side
bitches. The center drain should of
course be filled with loose, irregular
bOulders, cObble stones, broken bricks,
or similar filling, covering line OF
tiles or fascines at the bottom, and
should be connected with the side
bitches by cross drains carrying the
water outward from the center drain
at proper intervals along the length of
the roadway. Center drains though
often greatly needed for Improvement
of country roads are not in common use.
They add somewhat to the cost of the
roadway, but In most cases, consider
ably 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 proper
ties Of the clay. Ii gravel, sand or
other porous material can be con-
veniently or cheaply obtained, the GEN.
ter and cross drains may often be dis.
pensed with by mixing the gravel or
sand in plentiful quantities with the
clay roadway, so as to insure as nearly
as possible porous and self drainage
surface layer, which should not be less
than ten inches in depth, should be
laid on the rounded or slOped subsOil
so as to insure easy drainage into the
side bitches.
In locations where the prevailing
material is of a loose, sandy nature,
the difficulties of drainage are more
easily overcome, and side bitches, if
found necessary at all, may be made
of moderate depth and left open, with
out incurring the risk and dangers of
travel that prevail where the deeper
open bitches are used for draining
heavier soils. But, on the other hand,
the light and shifting nature of sandy
road 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 substance, such as
still clay. When mixed with sand in
proper proportions (Which in each case
depend upon the nature of the clay and
sand used, and which can best be de-
termined by experiment. this compost
tion affords many advantages which
make it superior to roadway COM
posed Of either sand or clay when used
alone. The sand tends to quicken the
drainage, and destroy the sticky, ten
aci0us qualities of the clay, while the
clay supplies quality of cohesion in
the substance of the road service,
counteracting the shifting qualities of
the sand and making the roadway more
easily packed and rolled, and more like
ly to retain its proper grade and slope.