The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-06-04
FARM AND GARDEN.
HIGHWAY LOCATION.
An Important Subject Instructively Treat.
ed by an Oregon Man.


scientifically considered by the Oregon
Road club, of Portland, Ore. Itrecently
issued bulletin in which w. B. Chase,
a member of the club, gives some inter-
esting points on Highway Location"
The following lines are taken from his
paper:
To locate wagon road properly is a
work requiring no little thought and
careful consideration. To weigh all the
conditions, giving to each its proper
Importance, and finally to make loca-
ton in which conditions are balanced,
requires much time and thought, and
cannot be done in day. To be sure, it
is easy enough to say that a road over
which a team can haul a ton is better
than a road on which half ton is a
limit. But, maybe the people who are
to use the road have more horsepower
and time to spare than money. Again,
the traffic of district may be light, so
that it is cheaper, both at present and in
the long run, to endure the inconveni-
ence of steep grades than to reduce
them.
Again, the future development of a
district must be considered. A traffic
OF 20 tons day now may grow to 100
tons. The loss caused by steep grades
might be unimportant TO the losers in
the first case, but serious in the latter.
To express it differently, what does
grade cost the users? Or what effect
has grade on the traffic? What would
it be worth to the users of road to have
lighter grade? How far would you be
justified in spending money to go
around hill to avoid going over it?
All other things being equal, the farm
line is the place for the road. In the
middle west, especially i'll the prairie
states, the section line was generally as
good as any other, but i'll the hill coulI-
tries the locator ought not to be re-
quired to locate on division line, sim
ply because it is some ones farm line.
In the study of grades, the direction
of the heaviest traffic should be consid-
cred. Most of our market towns are in
the 1owlands, while producing districts
are higher up. Obviously, a hill down
which load must pass is not so objec-
tionable as one which a load must as
cend. You would not spend so much
money nor use so much distance to re
duce a grade which is down for the
most of the traffic, as you would for one
which must be assembled by the loaded
teams. Of course, the subject of direc-
ton of traffic cannot be considered as
oil IN Il - /
not to be lost sight of.
Enough undulation in a road for good
drainage is desirable, but heavy I'M
dulatiOn causes more loss of horsepower
and waste of time than any other one
mistake of the road locator. To go up
hill just to go down again ought to be
avoided, yet that is what we are doing
on most of our hill roads.
The locator, when laying out roads
connecting places of different attitudes,
should endeavor not to lose grade, that
is, when the grade has been brought
down to the desired level, keep it there:
or, if it has reached the desired altitude,
do not go down again.
We ought to be willing to make con-
siderable distance to avoid making an
upgrade in the direction of heaviest
traffic sleeper than five per cent. Grades
up to ten and twelve feet in one hun
dred are not uncommon in mountain
districts, but they are bad for any light
traffic. Keep your long grade lines be-
low five per cent. if possible, or, if they
must be sleeper, break the line occa-
sionally with short distance of easier
grade.
1t sometimes occurs that a valley road
miles long, has one or two bad hills in
its way. This is the place to spend
your money to reduce grade, either by
digging down or going around for this
one hill determines the hauling ca
pacity of your teams, which might haul
two tons over the miles of nearly level
valley road, and but half ton over the
hill. a road leading from one town to
another, or from densely populated
district to market or through manufac-
turing districts, ought to have lower
grades than simple neighborhood roads.
The traffic determines whether it will
pay to go around hill or over it. If it
is a poor road, those who use it must
suffer for it, either by hauling more
loads or increasing horsepower. Avoid
dead-level roads unless they can be well
drained. Avoid swamps, if possible. II
is very expensive to build good road
through "a marsh, and expensive to main
tain.
Do not lose sight of the drainage ques-
ton. 1t is easy enough to drain where
grades are, but dead-level valley roads
are too often a little earth thrown up
between two long frog ponds. Drain
these off, if possible, for, depend upon
it, drainage is the soul of a good road.
Avoid crossing streams, whenever pos
sible. Bridges add much to the cost of
a road.
III general, keep your grades as low as
you can consistently with the purposes
for which the road is built, and the
ability of the people to pay for work.
not forgetting that the better the Ioca-
ton, the less it will cost to build and
maintain the road.
Some persons think that the day of
the road horse is about ended, and the
roads should be located and built to
Euit some sort of 1nOSDr I do NOT chara