Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1902-04-04
BRATTLEB0R0 LOCAL NEWS
ROAD COMMISSIONERS MEETING.

c. W. Gates, an Expert Road Builder,
and His Experiences in Franklin
Permanent" Roads viii Not Last
Forever.
Pursuant to the call of the state
high way commissioner, j. O. Sanford
of Stamford, the road commissioners
of Windham county who were able
met in the Brooks House yesterday to
discuss matters of interest pertain
ing to road building and maintenance.
These commissioners were present:
Brown of Athens, Hale of Dover,
Eames of Brattleboro, Walker of
Dummerston, Prouty of Grafton,
Thomas of Guilford. Stewart of Lon
dondelry, Whitney of Putney, Allen of
Stratton, Mason of Townshend, Akley
of Vernon, White of Wardsboro, But
terrified of Westminster, Gleason of
Wilmington and Jennison of Wind
ham. Mr.. Sanford said in his open
ing remarks that there was a smaller
representation than he had met at
any of the county meetings thus far
this year.
Mr.. Sanford made a brief address.
citing some of the hindrances to good
road work One of these is the policy
of changing commissioners whenever
something comes up that does not
suit the voters. No less thought
should be given in the selection of
road commissioner than in the Sc
lection of material for a fine building.
Ignorance and criticism are also him
ORANGES. The selectmen often pinch
the commissioner in order to make a
.,,I IL l..
a part of the appropriation in order
to have enough money to carry on the
winter work is a hindrance. In this
connection the speaker said it was i'm
possible to tell what any winter would
bring forth, and he held that the ex-
pense of the winter work ought always
to come out of the general fund in
stead of out of the appropriation.
Mr. Sanford introduced c. w. Gates
of Franklin as an expert road builder
Mr. Gates said what he learned he
learned in the hardest way by actual
experience. When he was road COM
missioner in Franklin he divided the
town into districts and assigned a
man to each district to be sure that
the bitches were kept open and to
look after other details as necessary
Il
better condition and surplus was on
hand at the end of the year. Mr.
Gates spoke at some length of the
way he constructed stone roads in
places where the roads were difficult
to maintain. In building stone roads
the stones should be placed with the
points up and should be filled in level
full with broken stone and then COW
prpd with pnOd loan orava1
latter being preferable.
Mr.. Gates said in regard to perma-
nent roads that some had the idea
that permanent road would last for
ever. He asked the commissioners to
disabuse their minds of that idea. The
most permanent road needs some re-
pairs, and the reports of the state
roads in Massachusetts and New York
show that the cost of maintaining
state roads is about $50 mile, which
is about double the cost of keeping
up the Vermont dirt roads. For this
reason Mr.. Gates said he preferred a
good gravel road to a so-called perma-
nent road He also spoke of the ne
cessity of proper drainage. Water
never should be allowed to collect
near the road bed. A few minutes
spent in opening a drain will many
times save a large amount of money
which otherwise must be used in re-
pairing on account of washouts.
At the afternoon session there was
a general discussion as to what was
best for individual cases which were
cited, and many valuable suggestions
were brought out. The attendance
was somewhat larger, several COM
missioners coming in who were not
present at the roll call