Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1898-03-04
GOVERNMENT ROADMAklNG.

| Work OF Construction Supplemented b.
Lectures by an Expert.
Several weeks ago the department OF
agriculture began its first experiment
in roadbuildiDg at New Brunswick,
N. j., under the direction of E. B.
Harrison. special agent Of the Office of
road inquiry.
The model road being considered is
the first Of several which the govern
ment is to build at the various expert
ment stations throughout the country.
The government furnishes a rock crush
or, screen, engine to drive steam roller,
spreading wagon and road grading ma
chine and two skilled operators. The
city furnishes the material, carts and
laborers.
The road will be Of macadam pattern.
An inferior grade Of traprock is found
In abundance near New Brunswick and
this is being used in the substructure
Of the road. The superstructure is OBJ.
tained from the traprock deposits in
the neigAborhood Of Flainfeld and the
Oranges.
The model pavement will have q
depth Of about nine inches and the foun-
dation be made Of small, wedge shaped,
broken stones Of as nearly the same d.
mansions as possible. The roadbed will
be prepared by thoroughly rolling with
q steam roller weighing about ten tons.
Every hole will be carefully filed with
the same material that composes the
rest of the roadbed. and the finished
CROSS section will be formed by two
grades of ono foot in 80 feet from the
sides, uniting at the center, with the
apex slightly rounded. Four inches of
crushed stone will be spread on tho
carefully prepared roadbed to form the
foundation of the substructure. The
largest of these stones will be crushed
SO fine as to be able to easily pass
through two inch ring, and the small
est will be about half All inch in diam
eter.
This foundation will then be sprin-
killed., making The stone as wet as posi-
bic without softening the roadbed, and
the roller passed over it few times
until the stone is only slightly disturbed
by the teams returning with the empty
carts. The first foundation is hot made
deeper than four inches, because it has
been found that greater thickness
causes the stones to ''elbow" together,
of their sharp corners, making
the "bonding," which is the great de-
sideratum, very slow process, if not
an impossibility.
When the first foundation has been
sprinkled, second coat of
similar stone three inches in thickness
will be applied. After the stone has
been well "bonded" to this extent it will
again be sprinkled. and while very wet
q thin coating Of traprock screenings
will be most carefully spread over the
surface, just thick, enough to fill the
small spaces between the stones. The
size Of the stones Of this last applica-
lion, which is called in the parlance of
the "binder," will be
from half an inch in diameter to the
anest dust. When the work has reached
this stage, it will be left untouched in
the dry state as long as practicable to
harden and bind. The application Of
water and the passage Of vehicles will
70 prevented as long as practicable.
As the work progresses Mr.. E. B.
Harrison, who Is directing the work for
he department Of agriculture, will de- :
liver lectures explaining the process Of
laying the road. Rutgers college stu
Tents in the agricultural department !
md farmers will be invited to attend /,
he lectures and witness the work.