The weekly examiner., 1901-08-31

any grade the weight and number of
 wagons will depend upon the propor- l tion between material to be hauled
 up and freight back. On a properly
 constructed dry road four animals,
 averaging 1900 pounds each in
 weight, will haul $500 pounds, total ! weight, distributed between wagons
 and contents, up a 12 per cent. grade
 at the rate of about 11a miles per hour. Descending, the four animals will haul all that a wagon can hold l up, but in practice this amount rare l ly exceeds 16,O0O pounds on a single wagon or 10000 pounds on lead and trail, and the average is probably not
 much in excess of 10000 pounds on one wagon or 14,OOO pounds on lead
 and trail. When roads are icy heavy
 wagons tear up roadbed badly. But while 12 per cent. grade is admissible as maximum, roads of lighter grade are so much more eff
 cient and satisfactory in every way l that only he-gravesJ necessity should
 ever determine the maximum at 12
 per cent.
 1 Mountain roads are routes of trav | el between points of different alti-
 tudes. The most common, as we'll as l the most serious, mistake made in their location is the attempt to cover this distance by too short line. On
 12 per cent. grade every pound of freight going up is elevated 12 feet for each 100 feet of horizontal dis tance travelled. On an 8 per cent. grade it is elevated 12 feet in 150 feet
 of horizontal distance travelled, while
 on 6 per cent. grade it is elevated
 the same amount in 200 feet of hori-
 zontal distance; or, in other words,
 the distance required to get a 12 per
 cent. grade must De increased one half for an 8 per cent. grade and
 doubled for per cent. grade.
 Tables have been published giving
 the comparative weights which a
 horse can pull on different gradients;
 but no actual statistics have ever
 been compiled which show what
 would be the difference in perform ance in actual freighting between
 good roads of different gradients.
 The limit of load which a team can pull on any road is determined by the steepest place in that road. It is rare that a mountain road is built on which the maximum gradient is less than 12 per cent. It is also true that there are very few places where mountain roads have been construct ed that it was not feasible to secure a maximum under 12 per cent. The extra length that would be required is generally much less than one would at first suppose. Roads built on a continuous uniform grade are very rare. Many seem to go up steep places just for the sake of going down again, thus giving grade ad- verse to the heaviest traffic, which 1 ought never to be compelled to climb a foot in descending mountain. So far as the writer's study and ooserva- tion have extended, 99 per cent of all roads built for heavy mountain traf- fie might have had a maximum under 12 per cent. It is putting it very mod erately to say that a team will haul up 50 per cent. more load in the same | time between two given points on 8 road with an 8 per cent. maximum than it could haul on one of similar surface with a 12 per cent. maximum.
 The doom of the old-time mountain road in the west has been sounded, and the new roads that will replace l them will be built upon scientific l rules. The change may detract con siderably from the picturesqueness and excitement of a stage ride through the Rockies, but it will add to the wealth and prosperity of the ,oountain co11Dtry