The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1892-06-23
GOOD ROADS. -
(From the Gospel Of Good Roads. ~
CHAPTER XVI.


In January, 1890, the New York
semi-weekly Tribune published COM
munication from Mr.. D. A. Brake, who
stated that the town of Sweden, Mon.
roe County, N. Y, then owned stone
crusher and hired men by the day to
run it. In the spring of 1889 the town
appropriated $4,000 to crushed stone,
aud according TO Mr.. Brakes estimate
this sum was sufficient to furnish stone
for five miles of perfect road. The
stone was donated and the town paid
for hauling and crushing, while the
different road districts hauled the
crushed stone from the pile and put it
upon the roads where needed. Mr..
Barke continues: II think that money
thus expended goes ten times as far as
any other in making highways. In
the last three years the town Of Sweden
has made about twenty miles of road so
good that team can haul As large q
load in this open muddy weather as in
summer. The land is clay and the
roads not laid with stone or gravel are
simply fearful. It would pay person
to go long distance to see what has
been done to the roads in the town of
Sweden. When the roads are all made
with crushed stone and fences removed
from the bleak places where snow
drifts, the millennium will not be far
away"
Another thing; you ought to have
roads that you could be proud of. If
there is any improvement in your town
or county which makes it worth men,
tioning, you are bound to tell of it.
You never saw an American town hav-
ing good roads whose people did not
know that their town was superior to
yours; they knew the value of a good
road and they talk about it. I have
been telling you what Mr.. Nevins says
about the Orange roads in New Jersey
and what Mr.. Beadle says about the
improved roads in Parke county, Ind
lana. You see that they are both proud
Of the fact that they belong to progres
sive communities; their children Can 20
to school when yours cannot; their
wives and daughters can visit the neigh
bors, attend church, 60 to the village
and get little Of the pleasures of life.
while yours are shut up at home by the
overwhelming bondage of bad roads
In spring and fall they are engaged in
continual warfare to keep the house
clear of mud that is tracked in by every
body who steps outside the limits Of
the door-yard. The carpets become
Oiled with gllt which tends to wear
them out in one-half the time they
would otherwise last, and your cloth-
ing suffers in similar way. In sum-
mer it is dust ms! cad of mud, but in
whatever time Of year you take it, a
dirt road is not only an intolerable ex-
pense to the farmer but an intolerable
labor making huisauce to the farmers
wife. Somehow it seems to be CON-
mon notion among farmers that dirt
road when dried by the summer sun
and worn into fairly good condition by
passing vehicles, is as good a wagon
| road as can be had for the purposes CT
farm traffic. This is a stupendous
mistake. Every dirt road sinks more
or les, 1T the point Of contact with the
wheels Of IL heavy wagon. If the road
is composed of soft material the de-
preston is, of course, greater, but
whether OF soft gravel or clay it always
exists in some degree. Many years ago
an instrument was made, a kind of
''spring balance" by which it could be
;sscertaincd exactly what power was
necessary to haul 4 loaded wagon over
| roadways made of different kinds OF
| materials. This instrument has been
| made in different forms and used on
| hundreds of different occasions, so that
! its results were proven to be of great
value. 1t was found by these expert
ments that horizontal force required
to draw wagon aud load of twenty
one hundred weight over "Telford'
road was ouly forty-six pounds, show.
ing that the load was lifty-one times
greater than a power required to haul
it. TO haul the same load upon a
gravel road ('aid on earthly required a
| power Of l47 pounds or three times
that found necessary on the Telford
road. These results show that the
| hauling Of loads upon gravel roads,
which are commonly believed by tile
farmers to be as good as any, cost
about three times as much as upon q
well-made Telford road. The expert
ments which am telling you about
were somewhat extended, and their re-
suits were so interesting that they
might we'll be studied by every person
interested in tue Improvement of
| country roads.
TO he continued.)