The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1892-05-19
DIRT ROADS.
Best Methods of Maintaining
Country Thoroughfares.
Proper Drainage is the Essen
tial Feature of Improvement.

By this term (dirt roads, is meant those
roads which are formed of the natural
soil found in the line of the roadway.
They are so common as to be almost
our only roads outside of town and
city limits, and will for many years
be used largely in country districts,
and especially on the lines of cross
roads which connect the main high
ways. Dirt roads, at their best, are
greatly inferior to Macadam and Tel
ford roads in every essential of good
highway in durability, cost of main
tenance, drainage, tractiye qualities,
and, in many locations, in point of
economy also. But the dirt road is
here, and the public hand must be
directed to its treatment. The first and
most important thing necessary for the
maintenance of dirt road may be
stated in 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 fastened in the dirt
road 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
27 900 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 de-
stroyer of our country roads.
In providing for the drainage of a
dirt road we should first consider the
material of which the roadway is
composed. If heavy, viscous clay
predominates, the ordinary side
disohes"should be Of good depth, and
will even then, in many cases, be in
adequate for thorough drainage with
out the addition of centre drain run
ming midway between, and parallel
with, the side-ditches. The centre
drain should of course be filled with
loose irregular boulders, cobble-
stones, broken bricks, or similar fill
ing. covering line of tiles or fascines
at the bottom, and should be connected
with the side-ditchcs by cross-drains
carrying the water outward from the
centre-drain at proper intervals along
the length of the roadway. Centre
drains, though often greatly needed
for the improvement of country
roads, are not in common use. They
add somewhat to the cost of the road
way, but, in most cases, considerably
more to its value, and should be en-
ployed in all situations where sand or
gravel cannot be had to relieve the
heaviness and water-holding proper
ties of the clay. If gravel, sand, or
other porous material can be con-
veniently or cheaply obtained, the
centre and cross drains may often be
dispensed with by mixing the gravel
or sand in plentiful quantities with
the clay roadway, so as to insure as
nearly as possible a porous and self
draining surface layer, which should
not be less than ten inches in depth,
and should be laid on tie rounded or
sloped sub-soil so as to insure easy
drainage into the side bitches.
In locations where the prevailing
material is of loose, sandy nature,
the difficulties of drainage are more
easily overcome, and side-ditches. if
found necessary at all, may be made
of moderate depth and left open, with
ont incurring risks and dangers of
travel that prevail where the deeper
open bitches are use for draining
heavier soils. But. on the other hand,
the light and shifting nature of sandy
road-material 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 stronger and more tenacious sub
stance, such as stiff 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 deter
mined by experimenD, this compost
tion affords many advantages which
make it superior to roadway COM
posed of either sand or clay when
used alone. The sand serves to quick