The age-herald., 1901-11-20
Machines Begim the PreIimi- nary Work of the Good
 Roads Demonstration
CONVENTION WILL
 MEET THIS MORNING
Programme Includes Addresses By Mayor Drennen, President Moore and Others-Work Will Be
 Continued All Day.

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 The Good Roads Convention meets Y ' at 10 o'clock this morning in Seals < < Hall and will be called to order by & ' B. F. Roden. -A < Addresses of welcome will be made : \ by Governor Jelks and Mayor Dren- < ' nen and President Moore of the Ma -< I ' tional Good Roads Association will \ < respond . > The demonstration of good road <. < building will be continued near < < Spring street, Avondale at T o'clock < < this morning. The elevating grader, % < machine which lifts three cubic < | < yards of earth per minute and loads . . it on wagons. will be used about 10 ' < clock. N
 
 Notwithstanding the muddy, sloppy weather the good road experts hauled out their machinery yesterday morning and started work on the road from Avon | dale to Birmingham along Avenue A. On account of the mud, which was at least | twelve inches deep at Twenty-fourth l street and Avenue A, the plans had to be changed and work was begun at the oth- CT end of the proposed road, where the soil was not so saturated with water. By 8 o'clock the machines were ready l and the first earth was broken at Spring street by ordinary wheel scrapers A grading machine was then brought into use and the six days trudge to Birming- ham had begun.
 | The first work was shaping the road bed so as to allow the proper drainage on each side This is done by raising the center and cutting down the sides. The grading machine worked perfectly and by long blade rolled the earth to the center with mechanical precision. PROPER CONTOUR OR
 | SHAPE OF ROAD.
 1 The road experts say the proper contour the slope-to roadbed like the one at Avondale is a rise of one inch to the foot. In 12 foot road this would make a drop to the side of one foot which Is deemed suhicient to carry off the water I About two hundred yards of the road l was shaped up when heavy slant was encountered that will require the dig | ging of deep cut.
 1 In this work the most interesting ma chine carried by the good roads train | will be used. It is called an elevating | grader and not only cuts the earth away but carries it up an elevator and dumps the fresh dirt into the wagons as they pass by. Eight horses are required to | pull this machinet-four in front and four l behind. This grader will move three cu- | bic yards of earth in one minute, which | is the average work of one hundred and twenty men. Three cubic yards of earth | will weigh from six to seven and one l Iolf fn ha Of l water in the soil. The power of the ele- vating grader IS marvellous and 1t is said | to be the most successful machine ever operated in road building, Underneath | it is a series of heavy and peculiarly built blows which penetrate the earth to a depth of about two feet. As this earth | Is turned over it is caught on a wide belt which pulls 1t upward about ten feet | and to one side of the machine. Wagons can be driven under this shaft and the l dirt carted away to the place desired. | This machine is used extensively in northwestern states for digging ditches. A smaller crew of men were at work yesterday near Thirteenth street blowing up earth to fill in low place near that 1 street. Further than that no work could be done in the direCtlOn or the clly on account of the deep mud
 BEGIN AGAIN
 THIS Mo RNING.
 President Moore and Secretary Rich | ards of the good roads train are very 1 hopeful and say "a little thing like mud and rain can't stop their work for the l cause of good roads in the United States" They hope to do a hard days | work beginning at o'clock this morning 1 and if in the power of men and machines | they say Engineer Erwin will have the l road completed from Avondale to Bir- r,ingham by the time their train is scheduled to leave the city.
 Several members of the good roads | party spent yesterday looking around the district. They were astonished at the wonderful industrial development and were particularly interested in the huge slag beds around the Iron furnaces. They say this slag is the best material known for making foundations for road beds.
 CONVENTION MEETS