The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1896-06-11
FARM MDvGhRDEN.

| FARM AND GkRDEN.
HIGHWAY LOCATION.
| A l.port.n. Subject Instruetivsly Treat
I'd BY IN Oregon Man.
Good roads are being practically and
scientifically considered by the Oregon
Road club, Of Portland, Ore. 1trecently
issued bulletin in which w. B. Chase,
. 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 In .
work requiring no little thought and
careful consideration. TO weigh all tina
:onditions,! giving, to each it's proper
Importance, and finally to make q loca-
ton in which conditions are balanced,
requires much time and thought, and
cannot be done in aday. To be;sute, 1t
IL easy enough to say that. a;road over
which . team can haul ., ton 10 better
than . road ON which half q ton is q
limit. But, maybe the people who ore
toNuse the road have nero, Horsepower
and time to spare than money. Again,
the.trat3c Of - district may be light, 80
that it IL cheaper, both.at present and in
the long run, to endure the inconvent.
ence ofesteep grades than to reduce
them.
Again, the future development Of
district must be considered. A traffic
OF 20 tons q 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 in the prairie
states, the section line was generally rs
good as any other, but in the hill coun-
tries the locator ought not to be re-
quired to locate on q 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
tho lewlands, while producing districts
are higher up. Obviously, hill down
which . load must pass Is not 30 objec-
tionable AZ one which load must as
cend. You would not spend 10 much
money nor use 50 much distance to re-
duee a grade which is down for the
most Of The traffic, as you would for ono
which must be assembled by the loaded
teams. OF course, the subject of direc-
ton of traffic cannot be considered "a
closely as in railroad work, butit ought
not to be lost sight Of.
Enough undulation In q 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 tho road locator. To go up
a hill just to go down again ought to be
avoided, yet that is what we are doing
ON most of orr 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, kept 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 arc 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.
It sometimes occurs that a valley road
miles long, has one or two bad hills in
it's 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 a ton over the
hill. \ road leading from one town to
another, or from densely populated
district to market or through 1nanufac
turing districts, ought to have lower
grades than simple neighborhood roads.
The traffic determines whether it will
pay to go around a hill or over it. If it
is a poor road, those who use it must
suffer for it, either by hauling more
loads OF increasing horsepower. Avoid
dead-level roads unless they can be well
drained. Avoid swamps, if possible. 1t
is very expensive to build good road
through 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 little earth thrown up
between two long frog ponds. Drain
these of, if possible, for. depend upon
it, drainage is the soul Of a good road.