The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1901-09-05
GOOD ROADS. TRAIN.
ns EDUCATIONAL TRIP PROVED HIGH
LY SUCCESSFUL.
Farmers Interested In the Movement
For Improved Highways - Rapid
Transit Needed In Agricultural
Districts.


Districts.
Good roads were made in samples by
the National Good Roads association
during it's special trip which ended re-
Gently, and as a result the farmers and
owners of acre property throughout the
farming districts Of the south have
come to the conclusion that it will pay
to have good earth roads, well drained
and so hardened that the heaviest
wagon can make good time in order to
reach a railroad depot with freight.
The special train of the National
Good Roads association, which has
been travelling for three months
throughout the south, carried machin-
cry and implements in order to prove
the benefits accruing from properly
constructed roads. 1t was recognized
from the outset that the majority of
the roads in the United States would
be earth roads. The majority Of the
present dirt roads are impossible in
hot weather. The success of the Ma
tional Good Roads association aroused
enthusiasm everywhere, and the result
of the trip may be that congress will
appropriate a large sum of money for
the building Of country roads.
''The trip of the association proved
conclusively," said President W. H.
Moore, ''that rapid transit is just as
much needed in the farming districts
as in large cities. If the farmer can
get his products to the nearest railroad
station in quick time he saves not only
his load, but his wagons. He can do
this on a good road. The present dirt
roads are mere apologies. A rain will
make them impossible. They are not
drained properly. The association
tried to show how to build dirt road
and how to drain it so that it would
remain hard and fit for travel all the
time"
During the trip, which lasted for
three months, the association showed
southern farmers the best methods of
building roads by constructing 20 miles
OF earth roads and three miles of mac
adam. The climax Of the trip will be
at Buffalo Sept. Is to 81, when the con-
ventiOn of the international Good
Roads association will be held. Presi-
dent Moore says that states usually APP
propriate about $500 mile for earth
roads, and that the money is wasted
because the roads are not constructed
to prevent blockades by storms. The
special train, with it's steam rollers,
graders, traction engines, ditchers,
plows and stone crushers, was meant
only as a feature in the object lesson
to farmers in order to carry out the
plan for good roads.
"We began at Flossmore, % miles
from Chicago" said President Moore,
''to show what a good earth road
meant. We constructed half mile.
The farmers began to realize that 1t
would be better for them to have good
roads, because they could ship their
products quicker. The association fig
ured out that the United States was at
peace with the world. Consequently
the only problems were for internal
economy. There is no doubt that this
country is far behind Europe in the
quality of it's roads. This may be &C
counted for because the distances are
so great in the United States. There
can be no excuse, however, for poor
roads between small cities and farming
centers.
'"The trip was amply justified by the
enthusiasm of the farmers who wit
messed the sample rOadmaking. AT
New Orleans we built one and one-half
miles of earth road which was good
enough for automobiles. Farmers
wagons could make double time on the
road after it was finished. We showed
local boards the best methods Of build
| ing earth roads by putting in drain
tiles for the road itself so as to carry
off surface water, and then by con-
structing bitches to carry off the deep
drainage.
cat Natchez we built one mile of
earth road and filed in 20 feet at one
point. At Vicksburg, Miss, we built
road up to the National park, and dug
up cannon balls, skulls and many
relics of the civil war. At Greenville,
Miss, we ran against the buckshOt soil,
but we put in drain tiles and showed
the farmers how to make a good road.
Then a mile of road was built at
Clarksdale, Miss, where the gumbo
soil was handled.
1.-THE engineering difficulties were not
many, and if roads were constructed
scientifically instead of being left to
country boards the farmers would ben
eft. We had large conventions at Jack
son, Miss; Jackson, Tenn; Louisville,
Hopkinsville and Owensboro, Ky. We
built 500 feet of macadam at the last
city. At Cairo, Ills, we tried the ma
vaculite in building half a mile of road.
One of the suggestions made by the as
ISOLATION was that oil be used to sprin-
kle the roads at certain periods, so
that water would trickle off into the
bitches. The convention at Buffalo will
include the members of the National
Highway association, of which General
1 - - IL