The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-03-26
= 2
GOOD ROADS NOTES.
A Safe Prescription.
Where roads are bad,
A littlo gravel
Well used wilt add
10 joys Of travel.

Roads, Water. Tires, Iiuts and Mud.
The proposed automobile race be-
tween an American aud a French ma
chine has brought the attention Of the
public to the wretched condition Of
American roads. The French automo-
bile has shown an average speed Of
thirty miles an hour for a long dis
tance, while the best the American
machine has been capable Of is a little
over sixteen miles. The difference is
ascribed solely to the bad roads over
which the American machine was com
PEELED to travel. Referring TO this,
Chairman Otto DOrner, of the L. A.
". Highway Improvement Committee.
speaks Of one Of the causes for the
miserable highways. lie says
Next to water, the greatest enemy
Of good roads-yes, Of an rtads is
the narrow tired wagon. Narrow tires
and water, acting together. have given
our country roads a third dimension.
They are not only so many miles long
and 80 many rods wide. but they are
deep-so deep, alas, at times that
travel over, OF rather, through them,
is next TO impossible.
"A heavily loaded wagon always
leaves its tracks on the highway. and
the depth Of these tracks deDenIs upon
the material Of which the road is built,
the weight Of the lead and the width
OF the tires. TIE rut formed by the
passing wo son forms a trough for the
rain. which, instead Of running of to
the size, as 1t should do, remains to
sina into the roadway aud soften il.
lhe next wagon, finding the ground
softer. digs its wheels deeper into the
surface, and so the work Of demorali-
zation and destruction continues.
"a wide tire. on tho other hand,
instead Of forming a rut, will roll and
harden the road surface. BY the use
Of wide tires, every loaded wagon can
be turned into an effective road roller
and made to improve the roadway in
stead Of helping to destroy it. All
that is necessary to make the best
road in the world is to make it solid
and to give it a hard, smooth surface.
Nothing so much needs to accomplish
this as the frequent use Of road rollers.
Wide tires are road rollers, aud there
fore ro8d makers. Narrow tires are
road destroyers. II wide tires could
be adopted for general use, every
loaded wagon. whish to-day helps to
cut up and destroy country roads,
would become an active factor in their
improvement.
Experience has repeatedly proven
that hauling on wide tires requires
less tractive force than is needed for
the narrow-tired wagon under the
same conditions. Director Waters, Of
the Missouri Agricultural Experiment
Station, who has made very extensive
tests on the subject, characterized
especially by their scientific accuracy,
declares that six inches is the best
width Of tire for q combination farm
anc road wagon and that a large NUM-
Der Of tests show, without q single
exception, a difference in draft in favor
Of the broad tires ranging all the way
from seventeen TO 100 per cent.
"The principle Of wide tires is so
generally acknowledged in Europe
that laws have been passed in each
country prescribing their use. Austria
requires tires Of at least AZ inches
width, increasing as the load to be
carried exceeds 81 tons. I'm France
all freighting and market wagons are
turned into road rollers by being re-
quired to have tires from three to ten
inches wide. Germany requires four
inch tires for all wagons used for
heavy loads, nd Switzerland requires
that they shall be provided with tires
Of six inches. These regulations have
been adopted for the protection Of the
high-class European roads built during
the present century.
''Now that the adoption OF State aid
has solved the financial problem con
nected with road improvement in the
United States, care should bo taken
that tbe roads we build are not de-.
stroyed by narrow tires. Country
districts receiving financial aid for
road purposes ont Of the State Treas
ury shonld do all in their power to
encourage the use Of wide tires. This
has been accomplished in some places
by exempting all wide-tired vehicles
from taxation.