The advocate., 1896-01-22

engineers Involves GnS cOFTSCC pTlnCl-
pie Of road construction, inasmuch as
it recognizes the fact that to construct
roads requires practical knowledge.
But such system would be expensive
and pretty sure to become a political
tax-eating machine. The people, if I
understand their temper, are not favor
able to an increase of the offices. The
practical thing to do is for the people
themselves to learn the art of proper
road construction, and this is not diff
ficult. Perhaps there is nothing in the
ordinary affairs of life that comes into
existence so much from chance and al
ways remains about as it is first made
as road or street. In the west, where
the roads are SO often run on the sec
ton lines, there is little more system
than in the older portions of the coun-
try.
The crook in the road remains, and
we waste time and horse muscle in trav-
cling the crook. The original hill will
remain for century, as if it did not
cost anything to pull load uphill. Yet
the principle of draught anybody can
understand, and the Importance of easy
inclinations in roads anybody can COM
prehend. For instance, the force nec-
essary to draw a wagon which with it's
load weighs six tons along level mac
adam road is 264 pounds. But on road
with an ascent of one foot in 20 the
force required is 456 pounds. Hills.
then, mean less weight to a load and
more trips or a larger number Of horses
to the load. 1t requires no civil engi-
neer at high salary to decide that the
hill is Improbable, and it requires no
high engineering ability to reduce the
incline; and yet the permanency of
hills in the road would indicate that
nobody ever thought of removing or re-
ducing them, and that nobody knew
how to it. Then it would be an insult
to the intelligence of any farmer to say
to him that the only way to construct
permanent roads is by the use of stone,
or gravel, or iron. The state does not
need to employ engineers to tell people
that; and comparatively little study
would enable any supervisor to build a.
road out of any of these materials.
The question as to what kind Of stone
is best might not be generally under
stood. Limestone is too soft, though
In our cities great many streets are
improved with limestone. But it will
not stand constant teaming. The hard
er the stone the better; and now the
construction of a good road consists of
making it of hard, tough stone or
gravel, at least six inches deep, or
deeper, if practical. Build it the best
you can. Put as much stone on it as you
can pay for. Certainly there should be
six inches Of stone. How wide shall be
the improvement? Wide enough for
wagon, with improved turnouts at rea-
sonable distances, on which wagons
meeting those coming from an opposite
direction can stand while the approach
Ing wagon passes. This will be the
cheapest plan and can be adopted even
when gravel is used, for only in excep-
tional instances in the west is gravel so
abundant that we can afford to use it
extravagantly. Now as to drainage.
This is an important matter. Water
must be kept off and out of the road.
The simplest manner of drainage is by
bitches on each side, and ordinarily
this method will answer all purposes.
II tiling is resorted to it is governed by
the same rule as field drainage.
AS 1t is practically out of the ques-
ton to make an artificial foundation
for the ordinary road, the natural foun-
dation will depend for solidity on