St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-01-28
Crude Oil Oh Country
Roads.

Roads.
Major N. Meigs, . civil englnre'
Of K-oknk. Ia, made short aa-
dress ut /, esterday's session Of the
Missouri Good Roads Association,
which III the opinion Ut many was
the most interesting part Of The
day's work. He opened new field
Of investigation, ami proposed ex-
periments in securing good roads
along : line practically unknown
outside OF = few localities IN the
East. 1t is his opinion that the U.s..
Of crude oil may prove . panacea
for bad roads in localities where
road material is hard to obtain.
He said his attention was first
directed to using oil On the hi*h-
wsys BY reading newspapers clip
ping from : Pennsylvania town. 1t
seems that . leaky oil pipe near the
town IN question WA responsible
for the discovery. This pipe was
near = place in the road that was
invariably impossible during tue
spring and fall rains. Where the
leak occurred in the pipe the ground
became saturated to some extent
with oil, and very soon it was
n0tlced that the mud dried up and
the surface OF the earth became hard
and remained SO. It appears tina:
SO notorious was this piece ri ban
road that tue effect Of the oil on il
became . matter Of 50 much COM
msnt that presently tue experiment
was repeated in other localities, and
with the same effect.
Major Meiys said that he sent .
letter to the officials OF the Standard
Oil Company and asked them to
furnish him sDme crude oil for tx
per,mental purposes. They for
wardcd tank containing $50 bar
rels, with their compliments and
wishes for success. Some eight
barrels If this oil have been used
on VIGOROUSLY muddy road near
K.okuk with most satisfactory re-
SALTS.
Major Meigs said that it vas no
trouble anywhere to keep dry roads
III good condition at minimum ex-
pense. OIL will prevent the earth
from becoming wet by forming >
waterproof crust. So far as he has
carried on experiments, . barrel Of
crude oil is sufficient for . strip Of
road 100 feet long and II feet wide.
The cost OF the oil at the wells is
about 90 cents barrel. No other
material, he said, is 50 cheap, and
no other will prove % effective. In
conclusion, he said that he would
send Oil free 10 all wishing to make
experiments il they would pay tue
freight.
Major Mcigs' speech caused .
great deal VI comment. 10 the
delegates 1t seemed 70 open an en-
sirely new field. Many questions
were asked him, all Ut which hs
answered as his information war
ran,ed. He explained the we'll
known theory that oil aud water
will not mix, and made it apply 10
the question Of good roads. The
earth was porous enough, he said,
10 retain the oil and cause It 70 shed
water, SO that where the oil took
hold moisture must depart. and
naturally the earth became compact
It is maintained that no roads are
50 good - dirt ones, when they are
dry, aud none 50 cheap. In many
localities material for constructing
macadam or gravel roads must BE-
brought long distances. and conse-
auensIy is quite costly. But from
what Major Meigs SAID u Wa
thought possible that with tue aid
OF crude oil earth could be utilized
ut . much less cost than macadam
aud gravel, even when the IstteI
was near at hand. - St. Louis