The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1893-02-04
AMERICAN ROADWAYS.
They Arc Not What They should h
Some of the DIFFICULTIES to he Overcome.

They Arc Not What They should BE.
Some of the Difficulties to he Overcome.
A study of statistics, showing the dis
lance over the average wagon roads Of
the country through which a load Of
wheat will pay its transportation,
would tend to convince any one Of the
wealth producing, labor saving and food
ch%eapening effect of good roads. A farm
twelve miles from a railroad station in a
district with good roads is worth more
than n equally as good three miles
away from the railroad. where the roads
are as bad as they are in many farming
districts where the land is rich. OF
course the main trouble is that the peo-
pie are not yet educated up to the posi-
bilities in roadmaking. In no part of
the country are the roads what they
should be.
1t seems worth while then for all in
telligent people to have some general
notion concerning the simpler facts i'll
volved III the science and art of road
making. With such persons the study
of these matters may well begin with
certain Fundamental conceptions as to
the essential relation Of these construc-
tons. All highways are intended to af-
ford a hard, smooth and as nearly as
possible horizontal surface over which
that great instrument of civilization, the
wheel, with its burden, can be made to
move with the least possible friction.
Every unit of friction which is ncoun
tered is a measurable element of cost,
| atfhar II, fin,a nnyra. 1,. la,n,trn fD fba
road and carriage. For every foot of
distance he traverses the wagner is in
curing a tax. If he is conveying the
weight of a ton to market the amount of
this tax for q mile may, under favorable
conditions, not exceed five cents. From
this minimum scale Of expenditure, with
the advancing degradation of the way,
the cost may increase until it amounts
to ten or twenty times what it is in the
ideal though seldom realized state Of a
highway. AT n certain stage in the &C
emulation Of the tax even the more adj
venturous, wisely, though without clear
reckoning, regard the way as econom
ically impossible.
The first difficulty to be encountered
in the making of good roadways is what
the engineers call the profile of the way.
The great majority of country roads are
constructed on the idea that the shortest
line between two points is the most de-
sirable one to follow, yet from a practical
standpoint, when the nature of the soil
and the general contour of the country
to be traversed are taken into considera-
ton, just the opposite is the case. The
load which could be hauled over a direct
route is sometimes about half as heavy
as one that could be hauled over a longer
one where grades are not so steep and
other conditions are more favorable.
Difficult as is the task which the sur
= veyor has to meet in planning a high
way, the work is relatively simple al
compared with the more detailed part o.
his duties when he comes to determine
the exact form and structure of thu
roadbed. These features have to be re
0 lated to q much entangled set of natura
and artificial conditions. He must ther
\ take into account the general nature o
n the traffic for which the way is to b.
o used, the quality of the underlying eartl
as regards it's solidity and the effect o
= the water upon it, the penetration o
@ frost and its effects, the dangers arising
V from the securing action of the rain ant
the character of the materials to be uset
g In bWHng the Travelled way.
The accumulated experience Of NOR
than a century serves TO show that Onl,
q in rare cases can we find condition
10 where the materials of the soil or Of tn
subsoil are fit for the construction O
roads. The reason for his is simple. |
" is found in the fact that the processe
which affect the earth's surface and pre-
duce the debris suited to the Uses c
h plants tend to divide the rocky matte
into more or less distinctly rounded bits
which have soft outer surfaces. Whe,
II ever the shearing strain of a wheel
q brought upon this detrital matter tn
st particles generally move over each Other
. so that the greater part of the pullin
d force which is applied to the vehicle
8 expended in a kind of blowing work,
task which is about as far removed fro,
x the legitimate business of traversing
If way as can well be imagined.
I'd The best exemplitication of this elias
" of action is found where n road is tloore
N with gravel. One can there clearly 81
Or and hear the effects of the shearing a.
Or ton which the wheel produces on tt
~ materials, and from this example he mo-
ct readily perceives that the first object
at the roadmaker is to keep the substance
90 which form the bed firmly in place. Roa
engineers, therefore, have come to Il
conclusion that the staple or standa,
AS foundation for roads must consist
al broken stone, the angular faces of Il
vs. fragments SO driven together that thu
ad will cling unmoved under any pressu
as which vehicles will bring upon them.
be St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
National League for Good ROads.