Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1897-01-22
Our County Roads.
Harpster, Idaho, Jan. 10,

Our County Roads.
81 Harpster, Idaho, Jan. 12, '97.
EDITOR FREE PREss:-It is not
necessary to draw attention to the
condition of our roads, as glance
is all that is necessary to see what
they are like. While travelling
the other day I noticed in a num-
Der of places where wagons had
} dropped down SO deep that they
were dragging ON the hubs and
axles. The amount of money ex-
pended the past year for repair
ing roads is undoubtedly lost; and
as road labor and money is about
to 60 into the roads again, will it
not be lost also? AS we are get
ting more roads and the traffic is
yearly increasing the amount to be
expended will therefore be greater.
Taking into consideration the
amount of freighting that will be
done this yoar, the roads cannot
positively stand it; considering the
nature of our soil and the amount
of wet weather we have here, with
from twenty to fifty hundred
pounds on wagon with one and a
half inch tires, it is bound to cut
through. We will never have
roads fit to travel unless we adopt
the wide tire system, which will
help to make good roads instead
of cutting them to pieces. The
amount Of keeping up our roads
would not be one half what they
are at the present time.
Recent experiments made at diff
ferent experimental stations prove
that the draft of wide tired wagons
is lighter on both hard and soft
reads, but great deal more on
soft. A good illustration could be
drawn from the moving of the Re-
lief creek company's new machi-
merry. The boiler, loaded on
trucks with about four inch tires,
carrying load of nearly sixty
hundred, did not cut down over
one half inch; other wagons loaded |
with twenty-five hundred with
inch and half tires cut down from
one to three inches on the same
soil. The following was published
in Rural Machinery:
"It should require no argument
to convince an intelligent man
that the tendency of a narrow tire
on a heavy wagon is to tear up
the surface of roadway construct
ed of any loose material packed
together, while the tendency of the
wide tire is to compress the ma
terial under it, and thus serve in
a large measure as road maker
and not as a road destroyer. The
preference of farmers who have
used them as farm wagons, with
very wide tires is we'll known.
By a careful test it has been found
that two horse team will haul
$50 pounds more across ordinary
unplowed ground.with three inch
tires than they will haul with one
and one-half inch tires; and $50
pounds more than with one inch
tires. The reason is that the wide
tire passes over the ground, while
the narrow one cuts into it. This
is true to even a greater extent on
soft roads and to less extent on
hard roads; and the narrow tire
not only increases the draft but it
destroys the road. Most of our
roads are periodically leveled SO
that with the rolling effect of wide
tires they would soon become
smooth enough for carriage driv-
ing. But few rains followed by
the cutting action of narrow-tired
wheel reopen the ruts, pry all the
loose stones to the surface and fur
nish an excuse for continuing the
use of the narrow tires. Such
shameful waste and destruction
should be stopped by laws which
discriminate against the wheels
that destroy and in favor of those
which pack the surface of our
roads,"
Hoping the Taxpayers of
of Idaho county will give this their
careful attention. 10. TERNAN.