Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-07-21
Improved Roads.

convention that the senators this day
chosen, when elected, should use every
proper means in their power to secure the
passage by the General Assembly of an
act, just, equitable and economical, where
by the present system OF highways, may
be practically and scientifically improved
upon general and uniform plan through
out the state.
This resolution adopted by the Wind
sor county republican convention is the
first expression OF the kind in the state
and indicates promising growth of
public interest in the important matter
concerned. There has been remark
able increase of attention given road
making through large part of the
country in the last few years, and YER
mont shonld keep up with the process
sion, although the conditions are not
the same here as in some places.
The greatest economical need Of
better highways is doubtless in some
parts of the West where heavy crops
have to be hauled a considerable dis
tance to the railroad and the soil is
not naturally adapted to making roads.
If in district devoted wholly to grain
raising the crop must be hauled an av-
erage of five miles and the roads are
at some seasons utterly impossible for
loaded teams and never good, it is OBJ
vious that excellent highways would
make great saving in money. Some
engineers have made estimates IN re-
gard to the matter for Illinois and 9TH
er similarly situated sections which
show the cost of improving the roads
to be fairly insignificant beside the ad-
vantage to be gained. And, not only
would the value of farms be generally
and greatly improved, but in many
cases good roads would bring under
profitable cultivation land which is now
practically worthless except for graz
ing.
The case is different in Vermont from
what it is in the parts of the country
indicated, for several reasons. In the
first place, the products of the farm
generally take the form of butter and
cheese, stock and poultry and other
things more portable than grain, so
that the use of the roads for freighting
is relatively small. Again, the soil
here is generally well adapted to road
making. This is especially truein the
east part of the state, where the clay
found in some of the western counties
is unknown and there is practically no
''sandy road away from the larger
streams. In Windsor county, for in
stance, the soil away from the rivers
makes for light traffic about the best
road ever found. The loan packs
readily into a highway that is at once
firm, soft and elastic, easier for both
man and beast than any artificial road
made. But with this advantage in
soil, and all over Vermont, come
faults which are unknown in the West.
The first is in location. Most roads
in this state were practically laid out at
haphazard in the very beginning of
settlement and 90 straight along, up
hill and down dale, and often in the
very worst possible places. In many
cases the settler marked the way thro'
the forest to his ''pitch" by blazing
trees, this way became bride path
and road for OK sleds, and in time
was regularly worked and perhaps
surveyed and laid out, and its position
fixed the places of the houses along its
course. Roads located in this way
were invariably radically wrong in one
respect of the first importance. The
courses of streams, which they should
have followed, we're carefully avoided
by the settler because the ground was
wet there. In the cases of the larger
streams this defect was generally cor
rected by building new roads after the
country was cleared, but in many cases
it was even then impossible to abandon
the old roads because farm buildings
had been located upon them and both
highways have to be maintained.
With this faulty locating, and part
ly because OF it, came faulty construc-
ton. Very heavy grades were con-
stantly established which an engineer
would have avoided without any ex-
pense whatever, roads Of course incline
to wear trough shaped and then came
the abomInable water bar to prevent
washing. The bar came because Of
the grade, and inclined to grow to such
enormous dimensions AS IN effect t.
materially increase the grade, for
where the bar exists the maximum
grade, which fixes the load to be haul