The Newtown bee., 1892-08-12
The Greatest Discovery of the Age

The Greatest Discovery of the Age!
 William Platt of Newtown, Ct, after many years study of the science of road construction, herein claims to be the first discoverer of the superiority of roads made wholly of cobble stones, sand or gravel over all other forms of road mak- ing. In five minutes walk from the Grand Central hotel in Newtown, Ct., may be seen circular driveway built by the writer about P years ago, made wholly of cobblestones taken from an old stonewall. This driveway has never been muddy, at any time of the year. Why has it not been muddy? Water is so heavy that it sinks instantly into layer of eobblestones, or sand, or gravel, as water will sink through a sieve full of large holes. How was this big sieve made? A trench was made with pick and shovel, about three feet deep, to pre- vent frost in Winter throwing the big top stones out of place. This trench can now be made with much less expense by the use of improved blows and heavy road scrapers. The larger cobblestones were thrown loosely into it filling it about half full. Then layer of the finest cobble- stones was thrown on top, on which were carefully placed, the best side up, the | largest stones, the larger the better. On each side of space not less than four feet wide, filled with cobble stones with in six or eight inches of the op,turf from the road side is placed even with the top of the large stones, after the large stones are placed, making a soft bed for horses to step on, while the wheels run easily on stone that will never wear out. Here the writer desires to call public attention to the fact that this superior road will cost the town little, if anything, to build, or to keep in repair after it is built. Abundance of stones, both large and small, are being freely offered along the route by the wealthy farmers, who wish so much to get rid of them that they of fer, also, to help load the carts employed to cart them to the trench where, for the first time, the stones can be made of any use, expecting to take their pay in les sened road taxes and in not being com pelled any longer to wade in deep mud, when they wish to come to town, in rainy weather.
 The writer here wishes to call public attention to another important fact. This model road is unlike, in every re- spect, the too highly landed and unneces- sarily expensive macadam humbug. Can anyone tell wherein crushed stones are a better material to make roads of than cobble stones, so plenty in New town? Can anyone tell why small stones should not be buried out of sight, forever, under the large stones, instead of being placed on the top of the ground, where heavy rollers cannot prevent their hopping up necessarily in the way of footmen and stumbling horses? But not the least important consideration, yet to be presented, is the fact, which the writ that our principal highways have been wrongly constructed so long that the oldest inhabitant can't tell when the present fashion of repairing them, by blowing on each side, originated. Ger tainly it is the most senseless fashion that ever obtained footing in this fallen world and it ought not to exist day longer. By scraping the loosened soil toward the middle of the road, the cen tre of the road is made the highest and it leaves a dangerous ditch uncovered on each side. In this age of fast horses and rapid transit, it is the cause, and the on- | ly cause, of most of the frightful road turning and collisions of countless car riages and maiming and killing of un- numbered horses, men, women and chfl- dren which would never have happened had the ground been left fiat, with no side ditches The writer herein claims to have made the most important discov- cry of the age, that of repairing the prin- cipal highways by blowing first in the middle of the road, instead of blowing on each side, as is generally practiced and scraping the loosened dirt away from the middle, thus broadening the road by filling up the ditches. This will leave the surface of the road nearly flat, as it ought to be. Ditches on the side of roads are not needed, if the road is com posed of cobble stones or composed of sand or gravel. Raising the ground a little, where the ditches are now. will make the surface slightly concaye and water will find it's way, when it rains, to the middle of the road and not to the outside, as it does now, making huge sieve of the highway, where the forma- i tion of mud will be an utter impossible ity.-[ William Platt, Newtown, Ct, ] August 4, 1892.