Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1897-04-24
COSTLY ROAD WORK.
F1imsy Culverts and Temporary Road
ways That Are Extravagant.

AAhAb Aho AhCeNA
ways That Are Extrayagant.
The San Francisco Mining and Scientific
Press has the following valuable sugges-
lions about extravaganza In road building:
Considerable has recently been said In
roads in California. II is to be borne in
mind that a large amount Of money Is an
nually expended for "road work" In the va
rious counties-one man writes that In his
county 40 per cent. Of the taxes collected
are so expended-but 1t sometimes happens
that that money Is not wisely or 1udiclously
spent.
stances of extravaganza in road making.
The lower picture shows a plank ~culvert,
which looks economical, but Is really a tax
consuming device.
Substructures of perishable material are
always extravagant, though the first cost
has an economical look on paper. They con-
sumo a large amount of timber and afford
opportunity for a large amount OF wage
paying. Every time a plank gives out a
whole lot of county machinery is set at
work and the cost Of repairs Is enormous. A
case has been cited In which a man and
team were sent to put a plank In a bridge a
few miles distant. He started out leisurely
in the morning, got a plank from a lumber
yard and proceeded to the broken bridge
four or five miles away. Arriving about
lunch time, he ate his lunch and then I'M
loaded the plank. He found that he had
bought a twelve-inch plank instead of a ten
inch, and was forced to leave the misfit
plank in the gap and return to town. AS
1t was too late In the day to return he I'M
hitched and turned in for the night. The
next morning he went again to the lumber
yard and got a plank of the right width
and started again for the broken bridge.
Arriving there he found that some one had
stolen the loose plank which he left in the
gap, but he succeeded In mailing down the
new one and got back to town that night.
When the bill came In against the county 1t
of course included the cost Of two planks
and two days time of man and team to put
one plank In a bridge-.a job which should
have been done In half a day. All perish
able substructures are likely to be very ex-
pensive In this way, and that Is the reason
why permanent, imperishable structures are
50 s. cheap IN the end: The l,, plank culyert
|stant patching and renewal, and will there
fore in a few years cost many times as much
as a cement and glazed sewer-pipe culvert
would.
The upper picture on this page is just as
eloquent in its way. 1t represents the con-
struction Of a roadway over a lava plain In
Tehama county. The plan has been to roll
the rocks to one side and thus clear a way.
but the material beneath was Of such nature
that the roadway soon became dangerous
Land almost impossible. Five times, there
More, new roads were arranged to take the
place Of those worn out, and the picture
Ehows four of these abandoned ~roadways.
asst year, on advice of the Bureau of High
ays, the people undertook to build a mac
lamized road of the rock which lay all
bund. There was no public money avail
e, so one man advanced the money to
a rock crusher, the neighD0rS subscribed
200 days labor of themselves and teams.
hers subscribed food and provender for
han and beast while the work was in prog
ess, and the result Is the macadamized road
right of the picture. 1t has cost less than
did the five WORKOUT roads, and 1t will last
for az lifetime with a little care and watch
fitness, 1t was a hard place to build a road,
for there was no soil into which excavation
could be made to hold the broken rock in
place, but by piling up the loose rocks on
each side, and making a crushed rock road
way between these retaining lines Of large
rock, the difficulty has been overcome.
This, too, shows how a good job will be a
permanent Improvement and thus enter
into the actual wealth and resources of the
county, while a poor road Is not only ex-
pensive, but represents no Investment at all.
because it has no durability or permanence
In 1t.