The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-07-14
Use of Oil on g g
6 Streets and Roads.

on streets and roads has attracted a great
zeal OF Interest. The experiment had been
successfully made prior TO that time. but
since then, of course. IL has been placed
. before the public IN more prominent
manner. AS was told OF In The Post az
tne time the matter has been taken up
ny County Judge vasmer OF Harris coun
~ with very satisfactory results. In view
OF this fact the following extracts from az
article by Theo. F. White in tile Cito
graph. published at Realsnds. Cal, will
De OF more than usual interest Mr.. White
IS supervisor Of the fourth California farm
lng district and Is an acknowledged au-
tu9tity on the subject.
The writer begius bis article with the
caution that the methods In vogue In that
county may need TO be intelligently varied
~ meet the conditions encountered IN
otner localities. ut has been an expert.
ment with ds. successful ISIS true, bur we
iii mXpiu not pretend to lay down rules tnat
VIII apply In all cnses There may have
20 pc more or less experimenting In each
section 70 TIT the varying conditions.
We commenced using oil on roads In
S1Su beInardlno county In the spring or
1870. Mr. De Camp OF the California
Dustless Roads company hrst brought u
70 our attention. We examined some roads
~ Los Angeles county that had hccn
treated by his company the year before
We were tayorably impressed with the
results and made contract with the
u roads in the vicinity OF San Bernai-
ulno. Redlands. Highland, Rlalto and Col.
ton the contractor to put on three appl-
e,hsliohs OF OIL during the season and keep
t9e roads free from AUST from the LIST II
Slay To the LIST of December. The con.
tract price was S2o4 per mile II viii be
PerceiNed from this that the idea was 10
Keep the dust down, TO use oil Instead Of
W3tef' ana the contractor used Just enough
on 10 accomplish this. The results were
ioa me most part satisfactory.
but IN, 1900, with the knowledge we
had gained, we concluded to undertake the
Dung OF roads ourselves. We advanced
d step. and while keeping the dust down
attempted TO build up a surface that would
TAKE the wear of trayel In otner words, 10
use on as an important element in max
ing permanent roadhed, and with one
apphcauon put on during June and July
we obtained better results than with the
thIee applications put on by the contractor
that the oil put on before entered into
the results obtained in 1900
rms may have been the gpse In soma
measure on Few spots. but for the most
part The light sprlnkling put on in 1899
were Worn OUT by December. and the roads
were not In the best condition to go
summer the oil evidences were but slight
30 that we may gay that on most OF our
Ioads where We nsed oil In 1900 we were
We did not skimp the quantity. but
poured on from 100 to 100 barrels 10 the
mile. eighteen feet wide, aud in parts even
There are 100 to 1870 barrels OF oil to
each tank car. so TINT considering the
nlnerence between city streets and coun
try roads, a car to the mile would he a
fair calculation; TINS the Carrollton ava
nue. commissioners have enough oil TO test
t"0roughly mile Of the roadbed
~
I'VE obtained a good wearing surface,
and the roads so treated are In excellent
condition to go through the winter. The
quantity Of oil needed next spring or
summer viii be much less than that used
the previous year.
I'VE have obtained the best results Oh
roads the material of which when packed
down forms a drm hard roadbed Six
months ago would have adylsed against
tue use OF oil on loose sand or loose al
luylal soil But experience mas modified
somewhat my IDEAS IA regard to- this
nm not yet prepared TO advise lts use ut
loan soil but from experiments mnde goo
results can he got on loose alluvial soil,
short stretch Of such road WINS treat
ed In 1890 to one heavy application Vt oll
the dust was kept down that season In
was put on, and II commenced To pack
ana Is now a good rond. lighter mp
pHcnlou next summer, with some building
up VIII evidently make II an excellent rond
Quicker results are obtained hy Dut
ting on loose sand or sandy -aluvlal roads
surfaclng Of hrmor material and packing
Il
rOadbed should be firm aud hard II should
be porous enough to absorb the hot oil
60 depth Of about an inch The surface
may be TOO light to do this; In which case
a thin covering of sharp sand should be-
spread over IT, ANY sand or sandy soil
VIII do, hnt sharp sand will pack the best.
our Mr.. Glover had section of road
running ont of Cotton made OF llmestone
the surface WIS very compact lie spread
over 1t thin layer OF sand before olling
and got good rcsuns Tight clay roads
that Fton
dust WHOM the oil is 10 be applied shonld
be treated In the same way, the sand
LAYER % be from one-haf to one Inch thick.
lt Is useless 70 apply oil 10 road the
material " which Ia strongly charged with
nlkaN The alkall unltcs with the iii.
I m2lEies Soap, WHICH the arst rain dis;
be surfaced with some good material be,
fore oliuE
II j. necessary to have the roadbed M
wen drained for an oiled road as il is
Tor macadamized road; the oil will keep
the water out from above but provision
must be made against It's coming in from
ut is necessary that all the loose cover,
Ing Of the road shall be saturated with
and penetration secured into the
frmer srrioce below the deeper the better,
IL Is necessary for good results that
's surface ~ the road should be perfectly
dry and the warmer the Temperature tina
better the oil penetrates and unites with
the road material. For this reason II is
better 10 apply the oil between tue hours
OF % q. m. aud sunset.
The oil is applied hot. from 200 degrees
Fahrenheit mp. As oil and water will moi
mix we'll II should not he applied on
wet surface. The oil should run as freely
rs water and s0tWste the ground as quick,
49, hence the benefits Of heating When
near rehpcries the oil Is secured at ten.
pelNture OF from $50 to 300 degrees
AT san Bcrnardino there Is a heating
Plant with tanks containing a carload and
the oil Is heated by steam coils TO TEN,
nernturc Of about BOO degrees
The hot oil is run from the tanks into
oN wagons holding about twenty barrels
toi fofty.two gallonsl, which require two
- four horses 90 draw 10 place of dis
ulhution, according 10 condition Of roads,
cistihce, etc, We have taken on five OF
six miles from place OF heating. Ten to
twelve miles ] should say, would be the
practicable limit And II the distance is
even as much as six miles I would sue
ecSt that the hauling tank be iacketed IA
retain the heat. From the oil wagon the
OH IS run into distributor and sprinkled
90 lunrcd over the road The California
Justices Roads company makes q machine
lnat bitches on behind the wagon and dis
trbuies the oil over q strip six feet Wide;
three strips wide being the usual width
OF application. This distribution has opei
lhgs SlN inches apart, opened aud closed
10y valves, operated by levers II also has
stirring fingers and drags for going over