The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-09-16

IN making repairs, however, no road
roller is available, tho ordinary "road
abraded surface and ia left to be com
pacted by tho passing vehicles. 1t is
essential to drain the road thoroughly
and wherever necessary to "croWn
the bed. The water must be conducted
under tho bed in stone culverts. II al
lowed to run over the surface of the
road the top dressing will soon be
washed away and the road destroyed.
Tho experiment of several hundred
years in Europe teaches that it is
much better to repair u roac. constant
ly than to work it by gangs at long
intervals. On tho Washington conduit
road, when tho travel Ia heavy, one
man Is employed for about every four
miles. AS soon as tho least imperfec-
tion Is discovered he digs out the place
and puts In fresh supply of stone.
Under the American system of work.
ing tho ordinary dirt roads twice q
year they are never in good order.
When not worked they are In ruts9 and
upon them they are in d still worse
condition for q while. The correction
of an imperfection whom it Is slight Is
both cheap and easy.
In Washington to crush and spread
tho broken rock on tho road with the
cost of labor about double that in
South Carolina, the cost was about 65
cents per cubic yard. The average
haul was about one mile, tho engineer
who ran the engine and crusher was
paid 1915 per month, and the laborers
or with q capacity of SO cubic yards
per. day costs about $500. The stone
was supplied to the crusher free. The
power required to crush stone Is very
great and cheap crusher will be con-
tinually breaking. Even with tho best
machine repairs are frequently nee
cssary.
One of the best roads in the District
Of Columbia is made of pebbles and
gravel from the Potomac river. Others
arc made of crushed stone supplied by
the city. Ordinarily the stone is
broken by machines, but there are so
many old negroes in Washingt ton that
the authorities allow them to make a
living by crushing the rock with a
hammer, One Of these old men will
crush half II cubic yard to cubic yard
day, receiving cents per cubic
yard.
The stono to be used must be such as
| will crush or wear into sand, so as to
be easily removed. An experiment
was made on a portion of the conduit
road with q kind Of gneiss which wore
on into pasty pulp when wet, and
impalpable dust when dry. This was
so annoying that other rock was sub.
stitutei.
The cost Of a road depends upon
width, amount Of travel and cost oi
mater ials. 1t is not advisable to have
| too narrow roadbed, for when al
| vehicles run in the same tracks they
soon wear away the road into grooves
and injure it greatly. About II feet
is good width as it allows choice O
track and enables vehicles to pass
easily. An Sfoot road might be liabl,
to wear into ruts. a cubic yard O
| crushed rock will cover 81 square fec,
& inches deep, so that about 1870 cubic
yards are required for mile Of roaG
| If feet wide.
The cost Of cleaning out parallel
bitches, the cuivcrts and making con,
tinuous repairs to the conduit road, as
the traffic is very heavy, is about $40(
per year. II the road is not built prop
crly it should not be built at all, as a
defective road is so disappointing that
it would delay for many q day the con.
struction of a good one. Better make
short piece at time thoroughly, a
road that has but 2 or 3 inches OF rock
and clay bed will soon 60 to pieces
the stone will be pressed into the clay
and every wheel will throw out small
stones with the clay in wet " Gather
or course where the traffic Is light the
| cost Of repairs will be much less thar
800 year.