Arizona republican., 1898-03-13
STONE ROADS AND STREETS.
TBy W. E. Voorhees,

under the pressure or wagon
 wheels and it has therefore
 much better tractive qualities
 than the common dirt road. This
 can be plainly illustrated by placing g
 wagon on a hard floor of wood, iron ol
 stone, when it will be found that the
 total amount of floor space covered by
 theswagon wheels is very small. Now
 the wagon and it's load must either be carried on this small amount of space
 or the surface of the road must yield and thus supply a greater space, and it follows that the harder the road sur face the less power will be required to move the load.
 The surface of every dirt read yields to greater or less extent to the pres sure of the lead; when dry and hard it yields little but when wet and muddy it yields very much; as the wheels sink into the soft material they form depression, from which they must be drawn, which is the same in effect as moving over a constant ob- struction, thus greatly increasing the draft. Careful tests conducted to de- i termine the amount of power required to draw load over different kinds of roads, show that team can draw from three to four times as much on a macadam or te1ford road as it can on a good dirt road
 But this is not the only advantage which the stone road possesses over the dirt road. All seasons are alike to the stone road; it is just as good in winter as in summer, in wet weather as in dry. It is only slightly suscept- ible to the action of rain, frost and wagon wheels, and is therefore the ideal road for every community where stone is to be found
 There are few people, of course. who prefer the dirt road to the stone just as there are some who prefer bacon to beefsteak Some years ago the writer knew of a man who had lived for many years in the state of Illinois and who had never had oc- casion to use a macadamized road; while on trip east he was driven over the magnificent highways of Union county, N. J. Strange to say he did not like the experience claiming that the roads were too solid and that the noise of the horses hoofs and wheel tires annoyed him. Most of us, how ever. are not so sensitive; there is but one thing about the stone road we do uCI ldNOT dUU UQdL IS US cost.
 In road making, as in everything else, it is impossible to get something for nothing. A good road costs mon ey, and the better the road the more it costs. The idea prevails very gener- ally that no stone road, outside of the regulation macadam or teIford. will be satisfactory, and it is for th's reason that many communities have been de- from off Tor r,fi fo c4,. stone roads of any kind This is a mistaken idea; while high grade tel ford and macadam roads are the best roads, and are easily within the reach of cities, large towns and wealthy su- burban districts, they are generally considered too expensive for the or dinary country district where the en- tire tax rate of a single town for one year does not equal the cost of one mile of such reads; but in recent years it has been discovered that, owing to the marvellous improvements which have been made in mechanical ap- pliances, excellent stone roads can be built for very insignificant figure. These roads, which will be described presently, while not equal to ma cadam or telford roads, will last for many years and will serve every pur- pose of the more expensive roads in so far as comfort, convenience and easy going are concerned.
 It will be the purpose of the writer in this brief article, therefore, to of fer some general instructions, not only for the construction of macadam and telford roads and streets, but for the cheaper class of roads referred to above. For city streets I would rec ommend the telfcrd system as being best adapted to heavy traffic; for side streets and those leading out of the city, where heavy hauling is subordi- mated to light driving, I would advise the use of macadam, and for the outly- ing country roads I would suggest the building of the cheaper form of stone roads. Taking up these systems in the order, the first to be considered is MACADAM ROADS AND STREETS. While John Loudon Macadam inaug- urated the system Of road building which bears his name, it must not be understood that macadam roads were discovered in a day: the system as it now exists is the result of long years Of development. Strictly speaking a macadam road is an earth foundation i covered by a layer or roof Of small i broken stones. This layer of stone is not designed to carry the weight of the traffic which passes over it, but Is simply crust or covering, and its most important function is to keep the earth foundation dry and solid. If the earth foundation becomes wet and soft, the stone covering will sink into it, and the horses feet and wheels of passing wagons will scatter the stone and the road will soon become useless. AS has been well said by some writer, You cannot float a raft of stone on a sea of mud.'
 Grade-The first work in the con- struction of a macadam road or street is to fix the grade, and, as it is work of no little importance it will usually be found best to secure the services of a competent engineer to establish the grade. The grade should be as easy as possible. In no case should it be