The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-07-01
CUTTING CUBAN ROADS.
Gen. Stone Instructs Troops How
to Make Way Through
the Jungles.

Washington, D.. c., June 23.-Brig.-
Gen. Stone, now on the staff of Mai. Gen.
Miles, has prepared a manual for the
use of troops operating in Cuba, covering
the most expeditions means of cutting
military roads through the tangled tropical
vegetation, swamps and underbrush,
through which the American army must
push its way in Cuba. Gen. Stone was
the road expert of the agricultural depart
ment, but on the breaking out of the war
Secretary Alger asked that he be assigned
to the military service with view to
making his expert knowledge available in
road-building through Cuba. He has
made a study of Cuban soil, vegetation
and timber growth, and besides a personal
ACQUAINTANCE with the country, he has
collected large number of photographs,
maps, etc, which show in detail the to-
With this material in hand, Gen. Stone
has framed his manual for military roads
in Cuba, which has within the last few
days been distributed to commanding Off
GERS for their guidance.
In opening roads through Cuba, Gen.
Stone makes good use of the guava tree
or bush; which grows in luxurious album
dance throughout the island. He gives
diagrams by which this is to be cut and
the boughs bound upward, making q
compact roll about the size of a small
log. These guava bundles known as
fascines. are laid lengthwise, one row of
bundles tapping over another, like shin
giles. There are successive layers of this,
bound together, making a serviceablee
roadway, strong enough for troops and
even for: field ordnance.
The manual lays down the following
general plan for Cuban road-making:
/ II the road is an important one it
should have about sixteen feet of travel
way, and, to allow for bitches on either
side, the ground should be cleared at least
thirty feet wide. Running through
party should be equipped with axes,
machetes. bush scythes and few forks,
and should be instructed to cut and clear
away all vines, weeds and small under
growth and to bind up into bundles all
small bushes less than an inch in d.
ameter at the ground, these bundles to
be kept for repairs of roads. If there is
with axes and saws, will chop out all
| trees, leaving the root in the ground. and
saw the trees into such lengths as will
allow the logs to be hauled or rolled off
the roadway"
II: is then provided that the gang
equipped with axes, hatchets and Irvine
| will cut the bushes and make the fascines
IL
The fascines are placed lengthwise, butt
end forward, and over them is a covering
Of earth about three inches deep. Each
additional layer of fascine has layer of
earth. The roadbed is So laid as to be
solid in itself, with bitches on each side
and with an So slope SO that a wagon
| may be driven off without upsetting. In
crossing low, swampy ground, a layer of
poles or canes is first laid lengthwise to
the road and the fascines on top. While
| these bush roads might seem insecure,
| they are, as a matter of fact, more solid
| than an ordinary corduroy road, the bundle
of bushes being crowded together with
croWbars until they lay with the solidity
Of baled hay.
Gen. Stones manual also gives direc-
tons for grubbing out timber where ex-
cavations are to be made, for making
sideways, and for the improvement of
sandy roads. Sugar cane, which is abun-
da Mt in many parts of Cuba. is suggested
as one of the best layers for improving
the sandy roads. The cane is laid upon
the surface and covered with about two
inches of sand, with alternate layers up
ward. Another Cuban growth utilized
for this purpose is the palm tree. The
fiber from the bark of this tree makes
one of the best materials for improving
sandy roads. Warning is given against
the use of pine needles, as they work to
the surface and are liable to be burned
off.
The manual is illustrated by a number
Of diagrams which show in detail how
these military highways through Cuba
can be best constructed. ::