Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1902-05-03
ABOUT GOOD ROADS.
People Are Awakening to the
Need of Them.


report of its Grand Jury. urging
the immediate construction of modern
road from end 20 end of the county, is
already stimulating its neighbors to
suggestions of the same sort. Recent
correspondence and contributed articles
in The Chronicle and The Democrat and
News, of Cambridge, have urged move
ment, for road improvement i'll Dorches-
ter On the other side, The Observer, in
Centreville, published the news under
q "double head" On the lowest part
of the shore a sense of the general lack
is asserting itself.
las yet Worcester county has not
taken any steps in this direction" says
the LcdJer- Enterprise of Pocomoke City.
"and the time has come when we must
do something or our neighbors will have
much better roads than we. $3.50 y
What better plan could be adopted by
our county authorities than the build
ing of road from Pocomoke City to
Snow Hill on scientific priciples.'
1.-The Caroline county grand jury,
says the Salisbury Courier, "made a
good plan to follow in Wicomico y =
This project if carried into execution
here would mark the beginning of a
practical system of good roads for this
county. xxxx This could not all be
secured at once, but in the course of "A
few years it could be accomplished and
the benefit would be incalculable. .
The main thing TO do is to make be-
ginning"
"Wicomico might work down similar
lines to advantage" declared The Sails
bury .ldrcrtjSer. One of the owners OF
The idyrtiScr is the author of Wicom.
ico's latest road laws. which is a better
one than that it supersedes.
Mr. johnson, road engineer of the
Maryland Geological Survey, says:
1.-The chief difficulty, is the
lack of any hard material near
the road to be improved. The
road beds are nearly all composed of
sand. Shells are the only material fol
topping which is within easy reach.
The hard materials for the surface OF
the road must therefore be brought
from distance On the other hand
the grades of Caroline are lower than
any others in the State. Their general
absence removes, of itself. one of the
gravest distractions which the road
builder i'll northern, and western re-
gions of the State must get over. In
some counties they consume Il great
part of his money.
Shells on a sand foundation make an
excellent road The results are very
much better than in cases where clay
forms the subsoil. Shell roads are nd
mirable under some conditions, but
heavy traffic wears them out quickly
and they suffer rapid dissolution under
the chemical action of rain water. The
expense of maintaining them i'll the
best order thus becomes high. The
stretches of the prospective road which
bear the most travel should, accordingly
be surfaced at the outset i'll more dur
able material than the shells afford. AS
said before this would have to be OBJ
tanned outside the county.
Shells would make an admirable
foundation for the more refractory ma
terial likely to be laid on them. The
qualities which lessen their value when
they are used alone will add to the val
ue of most harder materials which may
be used over them. Their solubility
gives them cementing effect which
would make the road surface more dur.
able. If this plan were followed the
citizens of the county could enjoy the
use of a good shell road while they inn
proved it gradually until it became a
piece of the most approved construction.
"The importation of material is com.
mon in many localities where the high.
ways are good. Fantucket i'll Massa.
chusetts, brings trap rock to its roads
all the way from the Hudson river. One
Massachusetts contractor freights his
stone all over the State rather than use
local rocks of an inferior sort. Most of
those inferior rocks, by the way, are
better than anything on the lower part
of the Eastern Shore of Maryland
Only few days ago Howard county
shipped large consignment of rock
material from Frederick.
The Susquehanna deposits are the
most obvious source from which Caro-.
line might draw its supply of refractor y
material. Some of their rocks are ad.
mirably adapted to sustain a moderate
traffic. Without figuring closely,
should say that the Caroline roads
might be topped with it for something
like $1,000 mile.
another excellent material at com
mand is the Stag of the steel works al
Sparrows Point. | was told year age
that this might be obtained for road
purposes, and | suppose it may be haC
now 1t is not only very refractory, but
cements very strongly. This Stag coulC
be transported quite as cheaply a:
rock and it ought to be cheaper 10 de
liver on the road. "
1.-The Surveys first report on tn,
Highways of Maryland happens to con
tain a mapped outline of the very rout'
suggested by the Grand Jury of Caro-
line All the facts we could cOllcc
about the county before the report wen
tn press are given i'll the report. Gen
eral subjects such ms materials, thel