Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1892-05-06

y
leaders here and in brooklyn are
now only considering whether they
had not best be up and doing, so rs
to get on the crest OF the ground
swell for Cleveland.
THE DOCTRINE OF GOOD
ROADS.
1t is encouraging to note The in
creased general interest taken in the
question Of good roads, us shown hy
the discussion OF the means of get
ting them. a monthly magazine,
Good Roads, is devoted to the i'm
provcment Of the public highways.
Articles Oh the value OF good roads
lnvc appeared i'll various magazines.
and The three prize essays on road
construction and maintenance con
tributod to an engineering periodical.
nave been reprinted III convcnir:,,
form rs Il handbook for .o,! makers.
Within few months, 800, tho Ssat,.
Department has issue.i :. consular re-
port on the subject of streets AID
highways i'll foreign countries, SO
that it will not be flr lac, OF thco
re;ical instruction that our road
makers make bad highways.
The three prize cssnys are most
valuable, for they set forth clearly
and intelligenlly directions for bald
ing {" COOL road, and for keeping it,
once built, i'll good condition.
The question of road construction
divides itself into three parts: Tn
location and plan OF the road, tie
building of the same, and the sur.
facing of the road when built.
AS for the location OF the roa !. suf
ice ii to say that it should be- ms
nearly straight and rs nearly level a,
1t can he, with due regard to econo
my; and that to avoid hill y road
may be heightened probably as mucli
as fifteen times the vertical height 10
he avoided by The delour.
The building OF The road, once lni.!
out, is of the very first Importance
Into tho question of building enter
the elements os Drainage and con
strnction OF the bed on which tLc
traffic surlace is 10 rest, and OF these
elements the former should command
the more attention. Drainage must
oe thorough it must be provided moi
merely for the water that runs from
the surface to the sides, bat also for
that which percolntes through the
surface, SO that none can lie beneath
the surface. There must be lonyi
tudinal drainage by means of gut.
ters, and sub-surface drainage also,
both longitudinal and crosswise, so
tfat every drop that reaches the
road may be removed before it can
do harm. AS Father Tom said to
the Pope, Every .dhop ov wnther
you put in spells the punch
The Importance of drainage in Sc
curing good road is duo to our Sc
we're winters; for let water lie under
the roadbed, and the first hard frost
will freeze it, when the surface of the
road will be broken by the expan-
sion OF the ice, aud the first step will
be taken toward making the best
road bed.
AS to the material of the road it.
sell, we quote the winner of tho first
Prize:
For earth roads. as commonly
built. there is but little to be said,
and they should only be tolerated in
Il new country or where there is alb
sointely nothing but earth of which
to make road. Yet with earth alone
n very passable road can be made
and maintained, il sufficient care is
taken TO have it thoroughly drained
and the surface of proper shape. The
persistent care with which some of
the so-called road surveyors i'll the
country excavate the material which
has washed into the cutters and re-
place il upon the center of the road,
Gems 10 Indicate belief that The
pNnera oi uInu a...ll.s ....i rn OH