Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1902-03-26
ROAD BUILDING.
,crrcAL SUGGESTIONS BY
y SANFORD, OF VERMONT.
.rs ADDRESS AT THE COUNTY COM
NE MlssloNERs CONVENTION IN
ELLSWORTH.
lcontinued from last 'cees)

,,star running down the rosor ne
'"' 90, turp 1t of. / said: ''It Is not
". s,,.iuess 10 do ID. Ii Is bis function TO
,,,,xen of the town, and this thing
-, % be done By the town commits
-, You ought TO have elected good
So ~ commissioner, aud he should have
- ~ section men to look after these
~,-,.n II takes quite an effort to
Yen the right spirit In these section
.na get them interested. We should
~ 70 them: ii want you to look after.
~. rad after every shower. You know
.s.,i, ia the water that destroys the road.
60 country roads never wear out.
So wash out and freeze out and go to
- nv neglect, and nothing else. We
rant TO stop that. and ! want you to help
:. Charge In this pass book every time
-, M out TO look after the road, and
.h.rge enough. l shall sec you occasion
.l,. and pay you."
WHARF the commissioners have taken
anne such way as this they have had no
sifsculty In getting good section men,
,na all the slight defects are remedied at
0pee. Anot her important thing In con-
psetion with the establishment of sec
linn men. is to have them provided with
GOOD tools. A great many towns have
,o,a machine. but majority OF them
h.sa nothing further. We are handi-
e,ppsd: we are away down in the A, b, c,
a, This business. Each OF these section
men should be provided with a new
.sosel-one OF the long handled, round
tainted shovels-and be should always
ssffy Ii with him on the road. This
.seus the road free from loose stones that
are no. only a nuisance to travel but a
great injury to the road. Every time the
sbeel strikes one OF these stones II grinds
and tears and destroys the road. We cam
20, aEord to have them In the road.
This section man keeps the loose stones
90, keeps the bitches clear and keeps the
ru!yerts open.
Here Is place that IL getting low. A
little mud hole is beginning, and next
year 1t will take crew OF men TO Ok IL.
Nos flew shovelsful OF material remedies
ii. Twas literally astonished TO see how
the roads improved In our town, aud |
wss greatly sstonished to see how little II
ccetl ia. maintained hem.
This Is au economical method OF road
maintenance, In my judgment. In some
towns In our state we have ranges OF hills
and valleys between, with thoroughiares
running through them. 1t has been
found that the most economical man
sgement OF these thoroughfsees that have
lot Of hard traffic upon them, Is TO have
one man working upon them sill sommer,
Instead OF periodically working them, AS
Is being done too much.
10 my own town we have road six
niles long where more than 100 teams
pass daily, many OF them heavily loaded.
We had paid out more than 81 600 year
On that road, and II was In miserable
condition. We employed one man to
work the road alone all summer. He paid
~ for a horse, and the town bought a
art and harness, and he worked that road
Alone. He began at the lower end and
worked mile the first day; the next day
be worked mile. II took him six days
70 cover the road, and the next week he
eid the same thing, aud he did 1t all sum
ner. His bills at the end OF the summer
we're s225 The took some of the hayIng
sason for work In the tleld), and we had
soe.ter road than we had had since the
memory OF man. He used good jadg-
nehs In the selection OF material, and
'ook some pains to find the best, and that
what you ought to do here.
DO not use poor road material, Tor In all
road building the material Is not 5 per
cent. OF the cost. His method was to put
1his material into the very first mud holes,
ish' 10 The center. paying no attention
70 Tue border. This was wide thorough
ARE And at night he went over the sec
'i0n and picked up all the loose stones
aaa put them where they would never be
s'lched again. Il revolutionized the
''aa' IN that town. At the next annual
meeting the town voted to elect the same
COMMISSIONER for three years, and that he
'."1inue the same method. The expense
" road maintenance was cut down more
saan one-hsli, and the roads were better
'nah ever before. / state this to you,
ss"''emen, aud ask you to do what you
'essons6ly eau to bring about better
''''sm OF road maintenance.
ROAD BUILDING.
.'0s ~ regard TO road building, | have
lA''ed ny objection against the Macadam
'ne expense OF building 1t and the
snse OF maintaining 1t. II Is a good
a ana beautiful to ride upon, but you
20 pity your horse. A gravel road Is
=, W. iOf horse. am greatly In favor
- ssyei roads. We are building them
guy mile, whereas the Macadsm
COSTS more thousands. We are doing
maa. small way. Every town in Yer
- ~ 'ois year Is building section OF
we call permanent road. We have
NJ a'ohe crusher, but we do 1t In this way
s,,1 .oad commissioner, after advising
p,,a. ns seieetmen and usually with the
!, pal taxpayers, decides W hat section
tbs e. a. road shall be built this year. Then
~ n's' thing to do is to study the road,
ten. history, and find out what the
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