The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1901-08-27

hAlANAGE is the most llODOS-
tant matter to be considered
In the construction OF earth
roads. No road. whether
earth or stone. can long remain good
without drainage. Drainage alone
VIII often change bad earth road to
good one. and the best road may be
destroyed by the absence of proper
drainage. Water Is the only agent
.hat destroys earth roads. Water and
art make mud. and mud makes bad
going. The dirt Is always in the road.
ana the water comes at unpropltious
ulnes' as rain or snow. The water
softens the earth. the horses feet and
wagon wheels mix and knead IT. and
IL soon becomes impossible mud:
nnaIly the frost freezes it, and the
second state of the road is worse than
the hrst-for time ut least. Further
IL the water is allowed TO course down
the middle Of the road it will wash
away the earth and leave gullies in
the surface that must he laboriouslv
filled up by the traffic or the hand of
man. No road, however well made
otherwise, can endure IL the water
collects or remains on it. Prompt and
thorough drainage Is vital essential
in all road construction.
A perfectly drained road will have
three systems of drainage. each OF
which must receive special Al .ention
II the best results are to be obtained.
This Is true whether the trackway be
iron, broken stone, gravel or earth,
and 1t is emphatically true OF earth
These three systems are, viz. under.
drainage, side bitches and surface
drainage.
Underdrainage-Many. If not most,
country highways could be consider
ABLY improved by thorough subdrain-
age. Most roads need underdrainage
even though water does not stand in
the side bitches. Most people appcar
to think that the sole object of tile
drainage Is TO remove the surface
water but this is only small part OF
the object of the underdrainage of
roads.
The most important object Of under
drainage Is to lower the water level i'm
the soil. The action of the sun and
the breeze will finally dry the surface
or the road, but II the foundation is
soft and spongy the wheels wear ruts
ana horses feet make depresslons be
tween the ruts. The first shower FL
these depressions with water, and TN
road is soon a mass of mud. A good
road cannot be maintained without n
good foundation, and an underlined
SOIL Is poor foundation. \ dry sub
soil can support almost any load. A
friend OF the writer, an intelligent
man and close observer, claims that
even In dry time the easiest digging
on or around farm is Just under the
surface of q road having no under
drainage. His theory is that except
In the road vegetation is continually
pumping the water up from the sub
soil and giving it out into the al.
while in the road the compact surface
prevents evaporation of the water in
the subsoil. Therefore, the road needs
undertakings more than the field.
A second object of UNDERTAKINGS
Is to dry the ground quickly after a
freeze. When the frost comes out OF
the ground in the spring it thaws quite
as much from the bottom rs from TIE
top. If the land Is undcrdrained the
water when released by thawin@ from
below will be Immediately carried.
away. This is particularly important
in road drainage, since the foun-
dalton Of the road Will then remain
solid and the road itself will not be
cut up like untitled roads.
a third. and sometimes n very i'm
portant, object of subdrainage is to
remove what may be called the under
How. In some places where the
ground is comparatively dry when it
freezes in the fall it will be very wet
In the spring when the frost comes
out-surprisingly so, considering the
dryness before freezing. The cxpla-
nation is that after the ground freezes
water rises slowly in the soil by hy-
drostatlc pressure of the water i'm
higher places; and IL it is not drawn
of by undertakings 1t saturates the
subsoil and rises as the frost goes out,
so that ground which was compare.
lively dry when IT froze is practically
saturated when Ii thaws.
The undertakings of road not
only removes the water but prevents,
or greatly reduces. the destructive eff
Aect OF ITOSt. frost Is destructive
only where there is moisture. The up
heaving action Of frost Is due to pres
ence OF water. Water expands OH
freezing and loosens the soil: when
thawing takes place the ground is left
spongy and wet. and the roads break
up" II the roads are kept dry they
VIII not break up Underdralnage
helps to keep them dry.
1t is the universal observation that
reads I'm low places which are tiled
dry out sooner than the untitled roads
on the high land The tiled roads
never get so bad as those not tiled.
There is no way I'm which road taxes
can be spent to better advantage than
In thing the roads.
Tile Drainage.
All roads, except those on pure sand.
can be materially improved by tito
drainage. This is the opinion Of many
farmers, I'm several communities, with
whom the writer has conversed on this