Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1898-01-21
GOOD r loads LESSON.
GOVERNMENT SAMPLE OF HIGHWAY
CONSTRUCTION.


CONSTRUCTION. 3
1hrss Kinsls OF lGoads shown % Geneva
Il. r. Most Of the Work Done ~ Ma
shines- Varieties Of Rock UssA-Prepar-
4 i.s Foandation. Rolling and sprinkiins.
The road inquiry division Of the de-,
partment Of agricultureSwas organized
nndcr tho direction OF General Roy
Stone aud has continued the education,
~ work on the subject Of roads by means
sof bulletins issued from time to time
and by the construction Of sample roads
II different parts Of tho United States.
The first Of these sample roads was
completed at New Brunswick, N. j.,
last Juno The second was started at
Geneva. N. Y, and is by far the Ion.
gest yet built. Others are planned, in
course Of construction or completed a t
Evansville, Ind Lynchburg, Va; II
ion, N. Y; Kingston. r. l.; Orono,
Me. Warren, Pa, and Columbus, ..
The sample road at Geneva was plan
ned Inst spring, Tho original estimate
Of it's cost was 50. 900, Of which the viii
lage contributed $4,000, the township
So, 900 and residents Of Castle street,
in which the road is laid, $4,000. The
government furnished free of charge the
roadbuilding plant. consisting Of u rock
,rusher of a capacity Of l50 tons Of
broken rock III q ten hour day, one set
Of screens, one road grader, two dis
tributing carts and one 20 ton road
roller, The government also furnished
the special agent III charge, while the
village aud town furnished material
and labor ~ 81 Ill,
The sample road as constructed is
about ~ miles in length. For the first
half mile the roadway is IS feet wide
and s inches deep, the 8 inches consist
ing Of foundation of 5 inches of broken
field stone with surfacing Of inches
of broken trap rock. For the next three
quarters of Il milo the roadway is IA
feet wide and s inches deep, while the
final quarter Of mile is & feet wide
and 8 inches deep. The first portion is
q sample Of macadamized village
street, the second Is q first class coun-
try road for general use in thiokly in
habited sections, while the third is q
very cheap but serviceable road for
more thinly inhabited regions None Of
these is suitable for the heavy trucking
Of cities. On each side of these sample
sections is an ordinary dirt road thor
oughly rolled, intended for light driv.
ing in dry weather. ~
The road is machine built through
out, comparatively little human labor
being used. The most important ma
chine is the roller, which may be used
either as road roller or as perambu-
lating pickax. When it is to be put to
the latter use, its two rear wheels, each
Q feet in diameter and Is inches wide,
are fitted with SO case hardened steel
teeth inches in length. The wheels
make revolution every ten seconds,
and in ten hour day do an amount Of
work equivalent to that performed BY
500 men with picks. After the old road
hid been torn up by this machine the
loosened material was scraped to one
side by the grader. When . sufficient
depth had been reached, the new sur
face was thoroughly rolled in order to
form the base Of the new road. On this
base was then laid the five inch founda-
tion course of common field rock. The
foundation rock is Of all grades Of hard
ness and friability, and includes shales,
standstones, limestones, quartzites and
grantees. It was broken to size about
~ inches square. The foundation was
sprinkled and thoroughly rolled, the
machine passing over it q score Of times.
The surfacing course Of broken trap
rock was then laid, thoroughly sprin'
killed. and rolled. s@..,... I. .'t .1s
When the road engineers first visited
Geneva, they said that q large proper
tion Of the ordinary rocks of the field
were suitable for the surface layer of
the road. Closer examination Of the
rock piles showed that it would require
an expert sorter to select the material
which could be used. Accordingly it
was decided as a matter Of economy to
use trap rock from the Hudson high
lands for all the surfaoing. Trap rock is
said to be superior to most other rocks
for surfacing because it is not friable
or dust forming. The trap rock was
crushed to the proper size at the quar-
ries and hauled to Geneva in canal
boats The size is somewhat smaller
than that used for the foundation.
Above the surfacing was added q very
thin layer Of trap rock dust, to act AZ a
cushion, protecting the underlying
stone from the action Of wheeled vehi-
oles and the feet Of animals from the
QUITTING action Of the stone. The value
Of this dust filling ia increased BY the
small quantity Of moisture added from
time to time BY means Of . sprinkling
cart After being laid the dust layer
was heavily sprinkled and rolled for
several days The constant rolling
forces the rocks into close contact and
holds them there. The sprinkling In.
creases the ease with which the angu.
lar pieces slip past each other. They
grind together and form = nearly per-
feet union when the 30 ton roller moves
over them. When these angular pieces
ere rubbed together In this way, q small