St. Paul daily globe., 1892-05-06
CONSTRUCTING DIRT ROADS.

By dirt roads is meant those which
ale formed Of the natural soil found in
the line of the roadway. explains the
Orange Judd Farmer. 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 coun-
try districts, and especially on the lines
Of crossroads which connect the main
highways. Dirt roads. at their best,
are greatly inferior to Macadam and
TelfOrd roads in every essential of
good highway in durability, cost of
maintenance, drainage, tractiye quail
ties, and, in many locations, in point of
economy also. But the dirt road
Is here, ana the public hand must be
directed to its treatment. The :
First and Most Important Essential
for the maintenance of dirt road may,
be stated in single word-drainage. 1t
is the one thing that can neither be dis,
penSed with nor neglected. Most dirt
is soluble, and is easily displaced under
the softening influence OF rain, and this.
process is haStened in the dirt road by
the passing of heavy wagons over the
wet surface. On every mile of road
way within the United States there falls
yearly al average of 27,000 tons Of
water-a heavy, limpid fluid, always
seeking the lowest level and directing
itself to the nearest outlet. Water is
hard to confine and easy to release, and
| yet, through sheer neglect OF the SIM
plest principles of drainage, water is
the most active destroyer of our country
roads. In providing for the drainage Of
dirt road we should first of all make
it our duty to
Consider the Material
of which the roadway is composed. If
heavy, viscous clay predominates. the
ordinary side bitches should he of good
depth, and in many cases they will even
then be inadequate for thorough drain
age without the addition of center
drain running midway between and
parallel with the side bitches. The
center drain should of course be filed
with loose irregular boulders, cobbIe-
stones, broken bricks or similar filing,
covering line of tiles at the bottom,
and should be connected with the side
bitches by cross drains carrying the
water outward from the center drain at
frequent intervals along the length of
the roadway. Center drains, though
often greatly needed for the improve
ment of country roads, are not in COM
mon use, writes Isaac B. Potter in the
Century. They add somewhat to the
cost of the roadway, but in most cases
add considerably more to Its value, and
should be employed in all situations
where sand or gravel cannot be had to
relieve the
HeaViness and Water-HOIding
Properties
of the clay. If gravel, sand, or other
porous material can be conveniently or
cheaply obtained, the center and cross
drains may often be dispensed with by
mixing the gravel or sand with the clay
roadway, so as to insure porous and
Selt-draining surface layer, which should
not be less than ten inches in depth, and
should be laid on a rounded or sloped
SubsOil. so as to insure easy drainage
into the side bitches. In locations where
the prevailing material is of a loose, .
sandy nature, the difficulties of drain
age are more easily overcome. and side
bitches, if found necessary at all. may
be made of moderate depth and left
open. without lncurring the risks and
dangers of travel that prevail where
the deeper open bitches are used for
draining heavier soils. But, on the
other hand, the light and shifting nature
of sandy road material destroys its
value as surface layer for an earth
roadway, and its deficiency in this re-
Spect
Is Most Easily Remedied
by the addition of stronger and moro
tenacious substance, such as stiff clay.
When mixed with sand in proper pro-
portions (Which in each case depend
upon the nature of the clay and sand
used, and which can be best determined
by experiment., this composition affords
many advantages which make it supe-
rior TO roadway which was either sand
or clay when alone. The sand serves to
quicken the drainage and to destroy the
sticky. tenacious qualities of the clay,
while the clay supplies the quality of
cohesion in the substance of the road
surface, cOunteraeting the shifting quail
tiles of the sand, and making the road
way more easily packed and rolled, and
more likely to retain Its proper grade
and slope.