Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1897-11-19
Something on Roads.

Mr.. Ed3tOr II am so glad that In a late
issue OF the Sentinel YOU said that the i'm.
provement of our roads should be OF interest
TO all, and that it is a subject the discussion
of which should make nobody mad. That
Is the kind of subject that have been hunt
ing for some time, and having been under
straining expansion for several weeks for
want of a subject. by your announcement.
| will to day unbind the safety valve and
relieve my torturjng expansion on roads,
The unsightIy road scrapcr that stanls.
and has stood for months. and will updoubt
edly continue to stand Al our front gate for
the next six months-an object ever present
to nv vision, an object lesson in Montgnm
cry road making, reminder of the kind of
work too often done on our roads.
The Quarter of a mile section of road IN
on which this unsightly scraper, with its
dozen or more adiustabIes, is a "pass" be-
tween two long stretches of hills, which after
the heavy rains of August was almost as
difficult 10 travel as the now famous Chill
coot Pass. The storm left this niece of road
In such wretched condition that our Com.
missioners were requested to have il thor
oughly repaired, and one of our farmers WAS
employed to do the work The farmers
bill Tor the work was about fifty dollars, and
suppose he did as much work as any other
would have done for that sum as no one was
ever known to throw gratuitous shovelful
| OF dirt for the benefit OF the general public
Well, concluding that the work was hon
esty done, would like TO state Why, in
my opinion, this washout occurred. First,
| if fifty dollars worth OF honest work had
been done on this piece OF road five years
ago, the down-pour OF August would not
have affected IL; the expense would have
been very slight IN those five years; the
road would have been in good travelling
condition, whereas, on account of the def.
clent work, 1t Was sometimes almost i'm
passable.
well" you will ask, what are you GO
ing to do about II ?" am sure an article in
the paper is not going to do any good.
Maybe suggestion may tickle the ear OF
some reader. Maybe one OF our honorable
Commissioners will say, That's true"
Let the repairs be thorough as far as they
go. PIoughing a furrow on each side of the
road and scattering u shower of dirt over
the roadbed excites either laugh or
curse that such work should be done, and
that the county should nave to pay for such
useless work
Some supervisors are so conscientiously
opposed TO putting the county to useless ex
pense that they put no neediul work at all
on the road. They think they must make
their work show" along their entire section,
even II the work" b. merely the blowing
OF iurrow on each side OF the road with
the loose dirt left in the furrow to be washed
away by the first rain. OF course this is an
injury to the road, as every sh rvelIul of
dirt is needed TO raise the middle of the
road, when in many places the roads are 50
narrow that sufficient dirt cannot be oh.
tanned to ridge the road properly. Many of
our roads, instead of being ridged, have
channels in the middle, and such roads
must be bad roads until they are raised sui
ficiently high in the centre to turn the water
to both sides
The defect of the work on the section Of
road recently repaired consisted ia turning
the water several times across the road,