Mexico weekly ledger., 1902-11-20
GOOD ROADS MEETING.
D. Ward King Spoke to Citizens in the
Collectors Office at the Court
House Monday Afternoon,

"aru King, Of Maitland, No,
VINO Is sent out by the State, held an
INFORMAL meeting with the Comfy
hoad commissioners, supervisors and
some OF our progressive citizens AZ tho
court House Monday Afternoon for
the purpose of talking to them con.
corning the building Of better and
cheaper dirt roads.
The meeting was successful and as
a result 1t is probable that the ROAD
from G. A. Morris farm will be expe.
rlmented on to make a test of Mr.
Kings method. O. f. Clark. Col.
Clay, ]. A. Potts, Judge KEENAN, and
others are planning tests at other
points. 1t vas developed dur.
ing The meeting that Chas. Hill has
peen trying this plan on three miles Of
road at his farm, What he has to saw
Is found below.
cHAs. HILLS STATEMENT.
Il have tried Mr.. Kings method of
dragging roads and have found it to
De a great success. l have dragged
about three miles Of road past nv
place this season. When the roads
are dryand other roads are rough this
one is smooth. After heavy rains,
when other roads are cut in deep ruts,
there is very little mud on this road.
l have seen the time when other roads
were cut up into two or three differ
ent pairs Of ruts and a man would be
soreed to travel in one Of them
could not keep out of the rutland
these ruts would come right up TO
this drrgged road to each end of it.
The dragged road was perfectly
smooth.
1.-THE ground being smooth, it sheds
the water and dries quickly.
II have found that people coming
to town will come over to this road
from several miles on either side, be-
cause the road is so much better. One
day, when l was at work near the
house, l took particular pains to watch
the teams. ! could see the road
three-quartersr Of a mile the other side
of where it had been dragged, and the
teams came jolting and humping along
until they struck the dragged road,
where they all began to trot.
81 find the dragging just as benei-
Girl in the winter time as in the sum-
meri and also find a great benefit is
derived from dragging the roads in the
afternoon while 1t is turning cold,
when there is a probability of its freez-
ing up at night, the road being per-
fectly smooth the next day after the
ground is frozen.
81 only dragged the road about six
times this season, and IT took about
one and one-half hours for the three
miles each time-not over ten hours
for the entire season.
ANY kind OF cheap, homemade
drag that can be made in a few min
utes time will answer the purpose.
Mine is made Of three pieces Of 2x4, 8
feet long, set on edge, about II feet
apart, with three fencing boards nail
ed on top to hold them together,
can be hitched to with a log
chain In the ordinary manner. | find
that three pieces are better than two,
because they are rigid and will cut Off
the bumps and drop the dirt better in
low places. Put a strip OF iron on the
lower front edge on the 2x4 and IL will
10 more effective work, and will pre-
vent the edges from wearing round.
81 find that better results can be
obtained for the amount Of labor ex-
than any other method. If
some plan could be adopted by which
oil the roads could be worked by this
method at the proper time it would
be a complete solution Of the road
problem. A good plan would be for
the farmers to drag the road by their
farms at the proper time after the
We could then have smooth
roads the year around and with very
little trouble and EXPENSE