Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1902-05-17

ROAD MACHINE PREPARING EARTH ROAD
or grader. 1t will do the work of thir-
ty or more men when the conditions
are such as to give the machine half
chance. 1t costs but few hundred
dollars, will save thousands. makes
better road than is commonly made by
manual labor, needs but few repairs
and rarely gets out of order. More
over. it cuts out the roots from the
weedy patches along the roadside and
forms n gutter which receives and car
ries off the surface water and If faith
fully employed will more than pay for
itself in Il single season.
Then, too. in the matter of gravel and
stone a few hours exploration in most
neighbOrhOods will bring to light plenty
of material that is vastly superior for
rOadmaking purposes to that found in
the lines of the adjacent rOadwayS
Most of this material has rested in its
original bed for ages and is substantial
ly'wOrthless for any purpose aside from
the work of the rOadmaker If gravel
it should be clean, sharp and gritty.
and il not naturally of this quality it
should be cleaned as fully as possible
by passing it through cheap screen
with moderately coarse meshes.
Before being put in the road, unless
the original soil is of a dry. sandy or
porous nature, line of three inch
draintilc should be laid beneath the
roadway and about four feet deep IT
possible, for, although this is not com
monty regarded as necessary according
to the established American practice. it
adds vastly to the pernlanence OF the
roadway and insures its dryncsS at
times when the gravel would otherwise
disappear in the soft mud beneath.
Where stone of fair quality can be
easily obtained. n macadam road is
neither very costly nor very difficult
of construction. 1t is a common notion
among farmers that the construction of
n road on the macadam plan is com
plicated. difficult and expensive under,
taking. Nothing could be further from
the truth. A few intelligent farmers.
equipped with IL few hundred dollars
worth Of machinery, can make Il mae
adam road as permanent and efficient
as could be desired.
The same engine that drives steam
thrasher will operate stone cruSher.
and stone cruSlIrrS are becoming Not
only popular. but indispensable" to the
rOadmaking outfit of every Intelligent
rural community Great quantities OF
field stone can he selected from among
the harder powders which lie so album
dainty upon the surface in many OF
our counties. and If each farmer who
now works out his road tax in the old
fashioned way would contribute few
dollars to the purchase of cruSher
and give a little of his time to the haul.
ing Of stone to the town stone heap he
would be both amazed and gratitied mt
the speed with which the stone breaker
would convert those powders into
great heaps OF road metal. ripe and
ready for place in the improved road
way.
a practical attempt at this kind of
Improvement i'm towns where the
wealth of the community is not sutfi'
cicnt TO warrant expensive worl: under
the direction of an engineer will lead
10 the most salutary results and by an
object lesson prove to the users of pub
lie highways that the biggest tax ever
imposed upon the rural population OF
the country has been the tax OF the
mud road.