The Colfax gazette. [volume] (Colfax, Wash.) 1893-1932, 1902-08-08
BUILDING OIL ROADS
THE USE OF PETROLEUM ON HIGH
WAYS IN CALIFORNIA.
80" 1t Is Applied and What Has
been Accomplished - The Cost of
DoiAuhng Them Preservation
Against Stormy weather

building Them Preservation
Against stormy Weather.
IN an article on oiled roads in Cali
forn1a published in The Citrograph the
writer, Theodore F. White, says:
"Oil has been used number of years
for laying dust, but we are using it as
one OF the principal elements in build
ing permanent roads. We commenced
using Oil on roads in San Bernardino
county In the spring Of 1890 and made
a contract with company to oil twen-
ty-hve to thirty miles of roads in the
vicinity of San Bernardino, Redlands,
Highland, Rialto and Cotton, the con-
tractor to put on three applications of
OIL during the season and keep the
roads free from dust from the 1st of
May till the 1st of December. The
contract price was $204 per mile It
Will be perceived from this that the
idea was to keep the dust down, to use
oil instead Of water, and the contract
or used just enough oil to accomplish
this The results were for the most
part satisfactory.
But i'll 1900, with the knowledge we
had gained, we concluded to undertake
the oiling of roads ourselves. We ad-
vanced a step and while keeping the
dust down attempted to build up a sur
face that would take the wear of trav-
ell; in other words, to use oil as an i'm
portant element in making perma-
nent roadbed. We did not skimp the
quantity, but poured on a generous
amount, from 100 to $50 barrels to the
mile, eighteen feet wide, and we OBJ
tanned good wearing surface, and the
roads so treated are in excellent con-
dition.
"a road intended for Oiling to which
oil has never before been applied
should be carefully prepared some
months before. 1t should be graded
and crowned and rolled hard while
there is sufficient moisture in the ma
terial Of the roadbed to make it pack
well. If done when it is dry, a copious
drenching with water will be necessa-
ry. The oil is applied hot, from 200
degrees f. up. This is important, for
the reason that the oil is thick and
moves sluggishly when cold, whereas
it should be as thin and active as wa
ter to penetrate the road surface and
mix with any loose dust covering it.
In the neighbOrhood OF refneries the
oil can be obtained directly from the
refinery at a temperature of $50 to 800
degrees F.
''The hot oil is run from the tanks
into oil wagons holding about twenty
barrels of forty-two gallons, which re
quire two to four horses to draw to
place of distribution, according to con-
dition Of roads, distance, etc. We have
taken oil five Or six miles from place of
heating. Ten to twelve miles, | should
say, would be the practicable limit,
and if the distance is even as much as
six miles | should suggest that the
hauling tank be jacketed to retain the
heat. From the oil wagon the oil is run
into a distributor and sprinkled or
poured over the road.
pany makes a machine that bitches on
behind the wagon and distributes the
oil over a strip six feet wide, three
strips wide being the usual width of
application. This distribution has open
ings six inches apart, opened and
closed by valves operated by levers. 1t
also has stirring fingers and dragS for
going over the road after the oil is put
on to mix the dust and loose covering
of the road. This was designed for
dusty roads for laying the dust with
oil in place of sprinkling with water.
''The cost Of applying oil varies Of
course with the distance hauled and
quantity required. In one instance,
where the oil was hauled three miles,
two men and four horses put on sixty
barrels per day, covering a half mile
Of road twenty feet wide. The two
men, with four horses, were paid $3.50
per day. So in this instance it cost $15
per mile to apply the oil.
Zone great advantage in oil on roads
which we did not fully anticipate
when commencing it's use is the preser-
vatiOn of the road against washing and
cutting out from the winter storms.
We had a storm about a year ago
which wound up with fall of nearly
six inches in one night. The country
was flooded for a short time, many
bridges were carried off and great dam
age done in places to the roads We
had chance to compare the effects Of
the food on a graveled road without
Oil and a graveled road prepared and
oiled as above described.
can oiled road extends from Rialto
to San Bernardino. At one point it de-
scends on or s per cent grade. Here
the water rushed down the middle of
the road with great velocity, but with
out doing damage. Half mile south
another road, with about the same
grade, but without oil, was badly
washed. Such examples might be null
tiplied.
$50 our experience goes to show that
an oiled road not only stands the wear
Of travel, but resists the disintegrating
effect Of storm water"