Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-11-12
FOR GOOD ROADS.
Oakland Has Simple but Effective Plan Of
Solving the Question.

general question following this decision
is, How can we have them:" In reply,
the town of Oakland may be with au-
thority, proudly hold up its hand and
say, Follow my example, and in five years
before the Goth century shall have
dawned. the cry for good roads, extending
as it now does over the whole country,
shall have been fulfilled"
And this example, set by this town is
neither a difficult or an expensive one. 1t
is simply placing the money ordinarily
expended, in the hands of competent
commissioner who intends to attend to
business, do his work thoroughly, caring
not for discouraging remarks of others,
and when he has built adj the good roads
he can with the money appropriated, stop
after making the Others passable.
For years the town of Oakland has
raised annually the sum of S2S00 in cash
which has been expended under the dis
trict' system, and all this time the roads
of the town have only been kept in the
ordinary barely passable'' condition in
common with all the country roads of
the State. At the last spring election
it was voted by a small majority to place
this S2S00 in the hands of u road
commissioner When the citizens came
to the vote for this new officer, the choice
fell upon Samuel 7. Hersom, the well
known deputy sheriff, and the results as
experienced by the citizens of the town,
and seen by the journal reporter in a
drive over some Of the more important
pieces of road. show how wise choice
was made in selecting the man who was
to expend the S2S00 and assume the re
sponSibility of better roads for the town.
In the spring Mr. Hcrsom commenced
his work right i'll the heart of the village
streets. The street running along in front
of the depot had become flattencd allow
ing the water of every little shower to
stand in puddes which soon became deep
mud as the heavy teaming from the
freight house passed over it. He dug
bitches along the side and carted on nice
gravel, rounding the surface to "A true
grade and today after whole season 5
tcaming of thousands of tons of trucking,
and after the heavy rains of last week the
road is hard and firm as baked clay.
Go further down this same street to
ward the bridge. There is IA stretch of
500 or more feet where corner of IA
muckcy bog is crossed This is the street
over which all the coal and iron is hauled
to the woolen mill, the scythe factories
and the numerous other mills and indus
tries along the stream and in turn the
products of these mills hauled back to the
depot. From time immemorial this 500
feet of muck road has been that distance
Of deep mud, almost impossible in spring
and rarely drying in the longest summer
drouth.
Here Mr.. Hersom took new course.
He commenced with che plough and
scrapcr and did not stop until seven or
eight feet of that muck had been taken
out and cartcd away. This trench he
filled with ledge rock and houlderS which
he had in making improvements else
where and the under drain thus formed
he covered with a foot or more of gravel.
Since this new road was built over 1000
tons of coal and equal amount of other
freight has been cartcd over it, and still
is in perfect shape and the old muck
hole" which has been dreaded by beast
and cursed by man for decades is a
thing Of the past.
Perhaps the greatest improvement
made by Mr. HerSom is the removing of
the ledge above the bridge, by the Dunn
Edge Tool Company factory, Here the
old road was built over a bluff of the ledge
from which it pitched to the bridge at
angle of descent of at least one foot to the
ward One old resident told the Journal
man that he never drove up or down that
incline, either in light or heavy team,
in his life, without being frightened
Here Mr. Hcrsom commenced and put in
blast holes eight feet deep, and took out
that amount of solid rock This refuse
rock was hauled to fill the trench for
the drain under the new road across the
muck hole as above noted. and last week
when the work was completed there was
left a hill of gradual descent. not so steep
but that span Of horses can haul ton
over the place as easily as they could
barrel of flour and bag of meal in the
same wagon before the excavations were
made A short distance beyond another
ledge, though not as large as the first,
has been taken out, making in all piece
of road which future generations can
thank the present for.
Nor has Mr. Hersom expended all his
time and money within the village limits
Oakland has 75 miles of road and all of
this has been put in nice shape. The
above mentioned Improvements are per
manent ones. The outside improvements
are temporary, waiting for the appropria-
tion of the next year ; $500. The work
on the outside roads has consisted of ditch
ing where needed, filling up rough places,
digging out protruding boulders and rak-
ing small stones from the travel of the
roads wherever they appeared. The
Journal man of course did not 60 over all
of the towns - miles of highway, but he
did go over some stretches of road which
he was Obliged to walk horse over last
year. and found them in nice shape, free
from rocks and ruts. He talked with
Mai. Small of Dunn Edge Tool Co, W.
NJ. Aver, superintendent Of the Somerset
Railroad. Postmaster Mccartney and
many others who have heavy tcaming
or drive a great deal on the country roads
about the town for pleasure, and all
spoke in enthusiastic terms of the excel
lent results of the towns experiment in
doing away with the district system and
adopting commissioner, and also in
the most commendable terms of the work
which has been accomplished by Com
missioner Hersom with the money placed
at his disposal One of the most en-
expressed himself in these terms,
ave don't take a back seat for any town
in the county in the matter of good roads,
and we can teach them all lesson and If
r