The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-05-25

intend the roads In the Bristol district
dition." In 1927 he was advanced TO the
high position of General surveyor OF the
metropolitan road.
"Macadam did not consider any foun-
dation necessary for q road other than
the natural soil In good dry state, that
substratum Of large stones was unneces-
sary, aud he gave preferences TO soIt;
rather than hard bottom. The metal
must be broken stones and these must DO
applied broadcast, or scattered, not
dumped in irregular heaps, until q depth
OF six to ten inches Is obta1oed; ana the
grade of the land adjoining. sufficiently
to allow the water TO drain away. readily.
He treated even swampy ground In the
same manner. His rule for determining
the proper size for road metal was that
none of the stones ought to be larger
than would :Pass through ncs q ";sha swo,tscn =
Other eminent road engineers, however.
prefer the two-inch guage ring, and some
advocate two-and half inches.
Contemporary with Mackadam was
Thomas Telford. the eminent engineer.
stones was indispensable for the construc-
tion of first class road. for the reasons,
that it has to sustain great weights ana
violent percussions, and that in moist
places, or in storms these foundation
stones form drain to dispose of the
na mater thus keeping 'hs road sapfaes r%
of stones was set by hand edgewise, close
ly and firmly. In the middle Of the road
they were inches In depth; at feet from
the centre 5 inches; at IL feet, inches,
and at Is feet, inches. They were set ON
their broadest edges and lengthwise across
the road, and the breadth OF the upper
edges was not TO exceed inches. All in
terstices were filled with stone chips firm-
ly wedged or packed by hand with light
hammer, so that when finished there was
n convescity Of inches in the breadth of
Is feet from the centre Then followed
the coating of 9 inches in depth Of broken
stones, inches being first applied and
worked in by carriages and horses, and
the ruts being carefully raked in until the
whole become consolidated; afterwards
the remaining 2 inches were applied.
"In some places in England at the pres.
ent day, where steam rollers are in use,
the ground is first levelIed and rolled;
then the foundation Of either natural
shaped or broken stones Is laid twelve
inches thick and rolled down to nine
inches. Over this is spread a layer or
ballast of clay five inches thick and rolled
solid to three inches. In some districts
this is cheaper than broken stones and the
ballast serves to fill up the interstices in
the bottoming. Upon the prepared sur
face of the ballast are laid the small
broken stones which form the surface of
the road. These are put on in two sue
cessive layers each three inches and rolled
to two inches. With the last layer Of
small stones, about half an inch Of
sharp sand is mixed and the two rolled
together in plenty of water.
1.-THE practice on the continent of Eu-
rope is much the same as in Great Brit
ain. In fact says Capt. Francis, V.
Greene. the correct principals OF modern
road building are not due to either Mac
adam or Telford, but to a French engi-
neer, Tresaquet, who anticipated them in
every detail by about thirty years. In o
memoir prepared in 1775, Tresaquet ad-
vocated the small angular fragments Of
broken stone of Macadam, and the rough
paving foundation of Telford.'
'In Scotts Treatise on Farm Roads
to which AS well to other works / am in-
debted for much information concerning
the subject of roads, their cost is placed
at from 65 cents TO o. 4S per lineal yard
or say 81 2-3 to ~ 1-3 cents per running
foot on probable width of fifteen feet
Capt. Greene says of New York State,
many of the existing roads contain an
abundance Of stone, which could be taken
up, broken and relaid after the manner
in which Macadam rebuilt the roads Of
England, the cost of which is stated in
his memoir to have been as low as 5000
ScSe
of labor since Macadam's time, the cost
would now be about g., 500 per mile.
''The cost of repairs, however, is COM
paratively small, requiring little labor
and the minimum amount OF material.
Capt. Greene says of the roads in France,
The actual cost per mile of maintaining
the national roads, (all macadamized), is
given in Debauve's Manual, for each OF
the eighty seven departments 1t varies
from $50 to $500 per mile, with an average
of $50, of which about half Is for labor
and the remainder for materials. For
maintaining less important roads the
average cost per mile is as follows: De-
partmental roads Sl35; important local
roads s92; ordinary local roads s57; by
roads S42.' a tax OF Pa mills or cts.
only on a dollar, would raise in Rhode
Island on its valuation Of 1928 $50, $50 u
sum exceeding the amount OF $50, 900.
This would be sufficient to construct 32s
miles Of State roads in the best manner al
the rate OF e.. 500 per mile.
LET us 20 back in our minds to a per-
iod covering $50 years and preceding our
bus times when this district was unde
veloped save here and there the swiftly
running streams were turned in their
riotous course through rudely constructed
| fumes to impart portion of their latent
| power to water wheels which ground
the corn and wheat raised on the cleared
| lands,
"(And) where the denser grove receive
No sunlight from above,
But the dark foliage intervenes
In one unbroken roof OF leaves,
Underneath whose sloping caves
| The shadows hardly move"
| Prelude TO "voices Of the Night"-Lonefellow
Communication from house to house
| and with the mill aud the market was ex
| clusively on horse back. No carriages
| no wheeled vehicles save two-wheelec
carts were in use, hence there were only
bride paths through the forests at first
When the population increased the ne
cessity of wagon roads was manifest and
| and petition was presented to the Colo
nial Assembly, asking that a jury of 81,
men be appointed to lay out suitable
| highway to enable the petitioners to gel
to mill and to market, and that the sait
highway be opened and the action of tn,
| Jury confirmed. We fixed, therefore, in
the Colonial records that highways were
thus laid out in Kingstown, in 1403. on,
great highway from Pawtucket to Paw
catuck in l7l3, and one from Providenc,
to Plainfeld through Warwick and Wes
Greenwich in the same year. 1t will b'
remembered that Warwick extended Il
the Connecticut State line at this time
and that Coventry was set off from War